The spirit of Patriotism runs deep in Jefferson County Schools. Each school hosted unique and well-attended Veterans Day Programs to honor our local veterans. Students, teachers, staff, parents, and community partners worked together to pay tribute to those who have answered the call to arms. We appreciate that so many of our local heroes chose to spend some time with our students, strengthening their understanding of service and sacrifice. Happy Veterans Day and many thanks to all who have served!

Brandie Conrad has been named Jefferson County Schools' K-4 Teacher of the Year. Mrs. Conrad teaches 4th grade math and science at White Pine School. She has four years of teaching experience, and this is her second year with Jefferson County Schools. Mrs. Conrad jumped in making a positive impact right away. She re-established the National Beta Club for elementary school students. She helped with her school's initiative to increase participation and engagement with iReady MyPath. Additionally, she has become an active member of the school's community engagement committee that creates pop-up events throughout the White Pine Community.

Mrs. Conrad's students had excellent growth and achievement on spring TCAPs. She uses a variety of methods to assess her students success in math and science throughout the school year. She especially values student discourse. "Student discourse is a vital component in my classroom as active participation in class discussions, asking and answering questions, and having students respectfully analyze each other's work helps indicate a student's level of understanding. Providing opportunities for students to participate in active and meaningful math and science discussions helps students develop critical thinking skills, communication skills, and learn different perspectives that will allow them to be successful throughout their academic and personal development."

White Pine School Assistant Principal Chris Woods had this to say about Conrad, "Mrs. Conrad is an excellent choice for the district teacher of the year. Not only is she an expert in her content and with delivery of instruction, the care and dedication she gives to her students is unmatched. Mrs. Conrad's students routinely excel in the classroom, and this is because of her passion for teaching and her desire to see students achieve beyond their expectations."

Jefferson County Schools' 5-8 Teacher of the Year is Heidi Booker from White Pine School. Mrs. Booker has 15 years of experience teaching English Language Learners. She has been the driving force behind Familia ESL, a Hispanic parent association for the school community. The collaboration is organized around parents' needs and how school personnel can help. They offer adult English classes upon request. The association hosts cultural celebrations through Cinco de Mayo, a community garden, and a Salsa night fundraiser. Booker says, "Familia ESL has strengthened relations between White Pine School and our families. We have increased volunteer opportunities with our parents in the school. We have improved communication and translation to help our families. We have expanded inclusion of other ethnicities beyond the Hispanic community."

Mrs. Booker uses a variety of assessment data to ensure that her English Learners are growing and achieving. She also measures success on an improved, consistent level of engagement in the classroom. She states, "I measure their successes based on their abilities to transfer and apply the language skills learned in my classroom to content or grade level classrooms. We focus on critical thinking, reading synthesis and comprehension, writing across the content, formation of sentence complexity, and the use of new vocabulary in a different context."

"Mrs. Booker's impact in the classroom is immense, but her influence reaches far beyond the walls of White Pine School. Her dedication to students is seen with any visit to her classroom through delivery of instruction and the mutual care and respect that is displayed. Mrs. Booker is also an integral part of our community outreach efforts as she helps plan events to involve all stakeholders," state Ron Overton, Principal of White Pine School.

The 9-12 Teacher of the Year for Jefferson County Schools is Hillary Love. Mrs. Love teaches computer applications to 9th grade students at Patriot Academy. Students in Mrs. Love's classes take certification exams for Microsoft Word, Microsoft PowerPoint, and Microsoft Excel. Thus far in the semester 89% of her students passed the Microsoft Word certification and 97% passed the Microsoft PowerPoint certification. Mrs. Love says, "Computer applications students are finding more ways to be successful than just taking a certification test. I have students that come to me daily telling me things they have used from my class in their other courses. I have upperclassmen see me and tell me how useful the content from my class has been to them throughout high school and beyond."

At the beginning of this school year, Mrs. Love saw that FCA (Fellowship of Christian Athletes) needed an additional sponsor. She stepped into that role helping every Wednesday morning by signing kids into FCA and by providing marketing for all FCA events at Patriot Academy and JCHS. This year FCA hosted a pancake breakfast to show compassion and love to students and staff. FCA also hosted a See You at the Pole event complete with donuts and drinks. It was a great way for many to start the day positively. Mrs Love was the softball coach for 13 years serving in that role from 2008 to 2021. Under her leadership, the program earned a state championship. She also restructured the middle school softball program volunteering her time so that girls could play ball as one unit for a seven year period of time. She helped over 20 student athletes get offered college softball scholarships. "Being able to work and get these young ladies to compete on the next level will be one of the biggest accomplishments in my life," Love says.

Jefferson County High School Principal Randy Rogers had this to say about Love, "Mrs. Love is a model educator who cares about all of her students. She works with her students so that all of them are able to learn and experience success in her class. We are lucky to have someone like Mrs. Love in our school system. Great teacher and even a better person!"

One tool that Jefferson County's educators have at their disposal is iReady My Path. For students in kindergarten through eighth grade, iReady My Path is personalized learning on a device. Our students take a diagnostic assessment in reading and math three times each year. iReady My Path takes that information and provides lessons based on what students know and need to learn next. Research suggests that there is a "sweet spot" for the effectiveness of using the personalized learning platform. That sweet spot is 30 to 49 minutes on the program across the course of the week in both reading and math.

Schools track the amount of time students spend on My Path to ensure that students are not spending too little or too much time on the platform. Schools also monitor how well students are doing on personalized lessons. There are incentives to motivate students to try their best at the school-level, the grade-level, the classroom-level, and the student-level.

In the spirit of celebrating both literacy and Halloween, students at Dandridge Elementary, New Market Elementary, and Rush Strong School wore creative and colorful costumes inspired by their favorite book characters. This unique blend of literary enthusiasm and spooky festivities is a delightful way for young minds to showcase their love for reading while enjoying the Halloween season.

The combination of literacy and Halloween celebrations through book character costumes is a win-win for students, educators, and parents. It encourages a love for reading, fosters a sense of community, and provides educational benefits that extend beyond the Halloween festivities. As students parade through school corridors dressed as their favorite characters, they not only celebrate the magic of literature but also contribute to a vibrant and imaginative learning environment. Plus, you'll notice that our children weren't the only ones who enjoyed dressing up!

Throughout the month of October, several schools took part in Red Ribbon Week, a nationwide initiative that emphasizes the significance of leading a drug-free life. The week was marked by engaging activities and dress-up days centered around empowering students with a commitment to a healthy and drug free lifestyle.

Piedmont Elementary embraced the spirit of Red Ribbon Week by incorporating Halloween costumes into their dress-up days. Students donned their favorite spooky ensembles, proudly declaring "Boo to Drugs" as they paraded through the school grounds.

At Maury Middle School, each day of the week had a dress-up theme. One day was "Team Up Against Drugs." The school corridors were filled with students proudly wearing jerseys or school shirts, showcasing their unity in the fight against substance abuse.

Rush Strong School took a unique approach to Red Ribbon Week by inviting local heroes to meet with students. Representatives from the fire department and police department joined forces to educate students about the consequences of drug abuse. The visit included an exciting display featuring a police helicopter, a tank, and a drug-sniffing dog, captivating the students' attention and reinforcing the message that the community is committed to keeping them safe and drug-free.

Jefferson County High School hosted a Trunk or Treat event again this year. There was a huge turnout and lots of smiling facing, some smiling faces were hidden under costumes of course! On behalf of the children of Jefferson County, thank you to all who made the event Spooktacular!

Dandridge Elementary and Piedmont Elementary held Trunk or Treat events as well. Thank you to everyone that volunteered their time to ensure our students had a special event!

On Thursday, November 9, Mt. Horeb Elementary hosted their annual family Reading Night. The evening featured a book walk around the stunningly illustrated, Winged Wonders: Solving the Monarch Migration Mystery. Families walked through the school reading an enlarged version of the book, pausing along the way to complete activities. Since Winged Wonders focuses on the migration of monarch butterflies, families enjoyed: creating monarchs, tagging their monarch to later track its migration on a giant map, dancing like butterflies, studying butterfly tongues and wings under microscopes, exploring how butterflies pollinate, planting seeds for butterflies, and learning more about the scientists that discovered where monarchs go in the winter. At the end of the book walk families were given a copy of the book, Winged Wonders, to enjoy together at home!

Maury Middle School held a family literacy night with the theme "Let's Glow Read." Maury Middle School partnered with the JCHS Thespian Society and English Honors Society to perform read-alouds and skits. There were lots of games, prizes, and fun throughout the MMS halls. Additionally, the bookfair hosted their family night and numerous community partnerships were represented including the health department, JCHS HOSA and Rescue 180.

Thank you to those that donated food for teachers including Martha's Market, The Unkind Raven, Tinsely Bible-Drug Co., and Perkins Restaurant.

It's tradition for school cafeterias to serve a Thanksgiving meal with turkey and the fixings on the Thursday before Thanksgiving each November. This year we served 4,760 student meals and 1,192 guest meals across the district.

The gymnasium at Mt. Horeb is pictured below where 422 guests took part on November 16. Thank you for all of your hard work to provide the delicious meal, JCS cafeteria staff!

The 7th Brigade Commander, Colonel Edwin Chilton awarded the Legion of Valor Bronze Cross for Achievement to Cadet Jenilee Worley for outstanding achievement of scholastic excellence in military and academic subjects, leadership and physical fitness over the past three years.

This highly coveted award is presented to less than 80 Cadets out of over 470,000 Cadets currently enrolled in all branches of JROTC in high schools across the nation. This equates to being in the top .02% percent of all Cadets across the country. It is the highest award offered by Cadet Command.

Her selfless service, professionalism and dedication to duty are in keeping with the finest traditions of JROTC service and reflects great credit upon herself, the Patriot Battalion and Jefferson County High School.

Cadet Worley also received the coveted 7th Brigade Commanders Coin from COL Chilton for her outstanding performance