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BY IVAN SANDERS
STAR STAFF
ivan.sanders@elizabethton.com
The Elizabethton Board of Education on Thursday approved two grants and recognized several students for their recent accomplishments in choral and sports.

Blackburn, Childers, and Steagall, PLC was approved to provide ESSER Pre-Monitoring preparation services through June 30, 2024, at a cost not to exceed $56,200.

“This is a grant provided by the state to help us with ESSER pre-monitoring and it just made sense to use Blackburn, Childers, and Steagall because they already do our audits for us and they have agreed to that,” said Elizabethton City Schools Director Richard VanHuss. “We won’t have to take a penny from general purpose or school funds, so we are pleased number one that they were willing to do that and the fact that the state provided that funding to that so it will provide our staff an extra layer of preparation before that monitoring report is required.”

The board gave approval for the grant, 5-0.

Also, the BOE was asked to approve a Math Implementation Grant Application from the Tennessee Department of Education. This was part of the process to be able to receive the grant if it was approved.

“This is another grant opportunity from the state department to help us with the implementation of the new math curriculum that would start in the 2023-2024 school year,” said VanHuss. “Next year would be the process where we would select a text for that and this grant would allow us to contract with a third party to help us understand the standards and those different materials that we have to help us with that math implementation.”

The approval came as VanHuss was describing what the grant would cover.

The Board of Education also recognized the Elizabethton High School Chorale department students who achieved many successes during the year. Those recognized include students who participated in the regional choral competition and those named as All-State students.

Elizabethton wrestlers were recognized for their success in the 2022 season with four qualifying for the state tournament in Franklin. Also, the Elizabethton Lady Cyclones were recognized for over-achieving in the 2021-2022 season as they won the district, region, and sectional title.

The Lady Cyclones lost in the first game to eventual champion Upperman. There are no seniors on the team.

The next board meeting is scheduled for 5:30 p.m. on April 21, 2022.