Sullivan school board recognizes teachers, principal and supervisor of the year

BLOUNTVILLE — Sullivan County public school leaders honored five employees of the year Thursday night and did some budget housekeeping during a potentially record-setting meeting that lasted only nine minutes. However, the board also during a non-voting work session before the meeting got an update on the school system's online school program and two proposed day care centers that could open in the fall. In another virtual move, so to speak, the board between the work session and meeting met in executive session, closed to the public and media, to discuss present or pending litigation virtually via computer with Knoxville-based school board attorney Chris McCarty. QUICK MEETING, QUICK YEAR Board Chairman Matt Price near the end of the regular meeting said the nine-minute meeting, 6:30-6:39 p.m., was the shortest one to date in his memory and that he sees the school year quickly progressing. However, the meetings will get longer as preparations for the 2026-27 budget loom. "I can't believe its 2026, and we're already halfway through the school year," Price said of the 2025-26 school year that began its second half for students Tuesday. The board honored the following employees of the year for the system: • Third grade math teacher Jackie Seto of Rock Springs Elementary; • Sullivan Central Middle special education teacher Ally Light; • West Ridge High criminal justice teacher Brad Lawson; • Indian Springs Elementary Principal Mark Pendleton, who got a standing ovation from about two-thirds of the audience; and • Systemwide Transportation Supervisor Justin Steffey. The winners will go on to compete against peers from other school systems in the area, a process of the Tennessee Department of Education that eventually ends up with statewide winners. The three teachers will compete with peers in their teaching levels, although eventually a single statewide teacher of the year will be chosen. In recent years, Missy Testerman of Rogersville City School won 2023-24 state teacher of the year in Tennessee and then national teacher of the year for 2024, and Dobyns-Bennett teacher Bryan Kerns won state teacher of the year in 2024-25. OTHER ACTION The only vote was on three housekeeping revisions to federal title grants, approved 7-0. During the work session, however, Secondary Education Supervisor Brent Palmer gave the board an update on the school system's online school program, called Sullivan Online. He said it has 170 students in grades 4-12, with six at the elementary levels, 29 in middle school and the rest in high school. Answering questions from board Vice Chairman Michael Hughes, Palmer said a goal for the program is to work to attract more former or potential in-district students to the program, which is in its second year. He said most students from homeschooling backgrounds enroll online to get either courses like upper-level math or career technical education. All told, he estimated 1,000 to 1,500 in-district students are not in the county school system, although he said an exact number is difficult to determine because students homeschooled from kindergarden are not easily identifiable until and unless they enroll in a public school. On the other end of the age spectrum, Director of Schools Chuck Carter gave an update on efforts to open two child care operations for ages 0-4, one at Sullivan East High and the other at the West Ridge High annex at Sullivan Middle School, in the former vocational area of what used to be Central High. The cost would be covered by grants, and the operations would cater to school system employees but extra space would be available to the public on a first-come, first-served basis. He said a meeting with the Tennessee Department of Human Services in early December went well, with a request for tweaks and refinements in the grant application. He said the plan is to open both in August of 2026, with work-based learning students to be part of the day care staffs. Their pay and the pay of adult employees would be paid by grant funds and tuition charges.