News and Views

 June 2004     

 

   

 

   Will someone please tell me where this school year has gone? It seems as though just yesterday we were enrolling students and now we’ve completed graduation and are mailing out final progress reports.  My Mom always said, “When your busy time just flies by.” That must be the case. This has been a year of many educational and physical achievements, and a year of which we can all be proud.

   The end of school is a time of celebrating accomplishments tempered by a little sadness. We are very proud of our graduates and the great things we know they will achieve. At the same time we’ll miss their presence on our campus.   We will also greatly miss three long-time members of our TSB family who are retiring. Ms. Joyce Bledsoe, YSW supervisor, has played an important part in our cottage life program for twenty-five years. Nurse Mary Smith has been dispensing student care and love from the clinic for over twenty years. “Coach” Clayton Cardwell, teacher and mentor, is retiring after three decades of educating visually challenged students. All will be sorely missed.

 

             Awards and Accomplishments

 

   On May 27th we held our annual Awards Day ceremony to celebrate student accomplishments. Students were recognized for a variety of achievements. Awards were presented for Perfect Attendance, Citizenship, Classroom Improvement, Braille Achievement, Extra-Curricular Activities, Academic Excellence, and subject area awards. Space and time do not allow me to mention all, but I would like to give recognition to Scott Bell who received the Donelson/Hermitage Exchange Club ACE award for improvement and to Ronny Hodge for receiving the Mark Mantooth Award for overcoming multiple disabilities. 

   In addition, there are four prestigious awards honoring TSB alumni. The B. P. Rice Music Award was given to Robby Mogan. The Margaret Hale Braille Award was won by Michael Grace. The J. M. Warren Business Award went to Kristina Swan. The Gerdie Wisdom English Award and the Esther Mae Davis Library Award were won by Lori McLerran.

   We resumed an old tradition this year and recognized our athletes at a special banquet in their honor on May 20.  Athletes were treated to a steak dinner with all the trimmings and a special guest speaker, Larry Stone, one of the game day hosts on the Tennessee Titans radio broadcast.  In addition to team and individual recognition, two students were recognized as our Outstanding Athletes of this past year. Congratulations go to Susan Gwinn and Joey Banks, as well as all student athletes, for their effort and achievement.

   On behalf of the students and their parents, I would like to extend a special thank you to the athletic coaches, forensics coaches, music instructors, tutoring teachers, and volunteers for ALL those after school hours and weekend trips made to enable our students to succeed.

   While I have my bragging hat on, let me share a little secret that most of you know nothing about.  A group of elementary teachers, who wish to remain anonymous, came to me at the beginning of the year with a plan to teach their students the value of earning money, saving and the joy of sharing with others. They wanted to reward their students with a small amount of money each week for good class behavior and completing assignments. They also wanted their students to save a part of their earnings and to donate a portion to a charity. They needed about one thousand dollars for the project. Frankly, I couldn’t figure a “legal” way that the state auditors would accept to aid them in the financing of this effort.  To make a long story short, these teachers went right on with their plan and paid the students from their own pockets. The good news is that I think we have something worked out for next year.

NO, let me correct myself, Parents. The good news is that these are the kind of folks who are teaching your children.  I could cite many YSW’s, teachers and other staff across our campus who have given extra time, money and effort because they care deeply about our students.

 

Graduation Day

 

   Commencement ceremonies were truly special this year. We were honored to have Congressman Jim Cooper as our speaker. Valedictorian, Lori McLerran gave an inspiring class address, and Salutatorian, Tricia Romano led us in the pledge to our flag. What would Graduation at TSB be without the beautiful voices of our chorus, led by Ms. Judy Denning.

    The highest honor that our school can bestow on a student, the Holmes Award, was given to Ronny Hodge and Amanda Shirley.

    Thanks to the financial support of the Alumni Association and many hours of hard work by TSB’s maintenance staff the Bell Tower and the surrounding grounds have been spruced up and look better than new.  It was a beautiful day and a beautiful ceremony.    

   Good-bye Lori, Tricia, Scotty, Dani, Michael, Ronny, Terrell, Tremaine, Robby, and Zac. All the best to you as you begin the next adventures in your lives.  You have left our campus but you will always have a special place in our hearts.

  

Getting Ready for Next Year

 

   Parents, in the next week or so, you will receive registration packets for next year. There have been changes, so PLEASE read over the material carefully.

1.             We are requesting that your student’s                                    health care professional review the “Health Information Form” to be sure that all information is current and correct.

2.             Several families have stated that registering on Mondays has been a real hardship. We are going to try something new this year. We will register students on Sunday August 15th from 1:00pm to 5:00pm.

3.             Every student MUST have a parent or guardian who has the legal right to sign “permission forms” present at registration.

4.             Day Students should also register on August 15th. We will not accept students who arrive on local busses on Monday unless they have been registered by a parent or guardian.

5.             Next year we will be reviewing our School Improvement Plan. Parents and Students play an important role in this process. You will hear more about this effort as time goes on. The first step is for you to let us know how you feel about the services we offer you and your student.  PLEASE take a few minutes to fill out and return the Parent Questionnaire.

 

   Our staff values the trust you give us in providing a quality education for your child. This process is a partnership. It is important that we work together with mutual respect and trust. Thank you for a great year!

 

Respectfully,

Jim Oldham, Superintendent TSB