Hamblen County Board honors teachers, wins $5,000 healthier-schools grant

The Hamblen County Board of Education on Dec. 9 recognized school-level teachers of the year across its elementary and middle schools and announced district winners while also reporting new grant funds for school safety.

Board members named school-level honorees from 18 schools and announced district winners: Casey Harrington (elementary), Tracy Hall (middle school) and Wendy Davis (other category). The board noted winners received certificates and monetary awards: a $100 check at the school level and a $500 award from HCXL for district winners.

The board also reported a $5,000 award earned through a "Healthier Schools" challenge during an event in Nashville. "We were actually getting a little nervous for what Hamblen County got," a board member said while presenting the check and thanking Kelly Smith for the work to meet program criteria.

District staff reported a recent E-rate audit closed with no findings, credited to Harold Jones and his team for recordkeeping. Katie Collins, the district's grant writer and communications director, said the district received a $3,500 mini-grant from the American Association of School Administrators to fund security cameras at Union Heights' playground and parking lot; the board will consider formal acceptance of that grant at next month's meeting.

"This is from my pre k class," Miss Lambert said while introducing a Fairview Marguerite pre-K performance that opened the recognitions portion of the meeting. Responding to the children's presentation, a board member quipped, "If you don't smile after seeing that, you need to check if you got a pulse."

The board closed the recognitions portion with congratulations to staff and reminders that the district moved into the "advancing" performance category this year, progress leaders said they hope to build on going forward.