Lenoir City Schools honors district Teachers of the Year

The Lenoir City Schools board recognized multiple Teachers of the Year at its meeting, celebrating veteran and new educators across the district.

At the elementary level, the board named Holly Dickerson, an RTI/intervention teacher, as Teacher of the Year and Morgan Rollins as New Teacher of the Year. An elementary school representative described Dickerson as an experienced intervention leader who also steps into administrative duties when needed and said Rollins’s interview and early classroom work ‘‘was infectious’’ and led staff to offer her a job on the spot.

At the intermediate/middle school, Heather Brooks was recognized for 27 years of service, with colleagues praising her ability to build student confidence — especially in mathematics. At the high school, Stephanie Eubanks was acknowledged for more than a decade of teaching and contributions to upper-level coursework. McKenzie Bragan, in her third year of teaching, was honored for strong student engagement and for serving as a trainer on engagement strategies. Julie Depp was named the iLearn Teacher of the Year in recognition of roughly 29 years of service.

Speakers said the district’s CNI department designed commemorative T-shirts that will be given only to this year’s Teachers of the Year and new Teachers of the Year as a way to start a new tradition. The board arranged time to take photos with honorees at the meeting.

Why it matters: District recognition highlights retention, early-career hiring successes and professional development work. Board members noted that honoring long-tenured educators and welcoming newer teachers serves morale and community messaging as the district pursues capital projects and budgeting decisions this year.

What’s next: The board’s routine business continued after the honors; no personnel actions involving the awardees were taken during the meeting.