Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...

BY NIC MILLER
STAR STAFF
nic.miller@elizabethton.com

Carter County Schools announced Friday the district received the Best for All District award for the 2021-22 school year.

“There were 68 districts that were chosen for this award, which means that less than half of all districts in the state were given the award,” said Carter County Director of Schools Dr. Tracy McAbee. “This award is given to districts across the state who use over 50% of their ESSER grant money to directly affect their students.”

McAbee said some examples of projects that directly impacted the students of the Carter County School System were more of high quality materials, additional teachers, or hiring teachers’ aides.

The ESSER grant funds were given to school districts to assist with the impact of COVID-19.

“These have been a rough two years, with teachers and assistants having to miss work, students having to participate in online learning, and many other factors making things tough not only on us but many other school districts,” McAbee said.

And while school systems nationwide suffered, McAbee pointed out that students were hit the hardest.

“It is very clear that students got the worst of this pandemic. We saw all kinds of issues with students not being able to be in the classroom with their teachers or their peers, as well as many social and mental issues taking place because of the pandemic,” McAbee said.

McAbee said the award is something to celebrate and recognizes the hard work of all.

“I can’t say enough about what this award means for the school system. When the pandemic started in March of 2020, everyone was coming together to help our students in any way possible. So to hopefully be coming out of this is a big deal, but to see how this school community works hard to provide for students means so much,” McAbee said.