Thursday, January 16, 2014
School Board Appreciation Week
Press release
The Tennessee School Boards Association has set Jan. 19 – Jan 25, 2014 as School Board Appreciation Week in Tennessee as a time to build awareness and understanding of the vital function an elected board of education plays in our society.
Lawrence County School System is joining all public school districts across the state to celebrate School Board Appreciation Week to honor local board members for their commitment to Lawrence County and its children.
“It takes strong schools to build a strong community, 
and these men and women devote countless hours to making sure our schools are helping every child learn at a higher level,” Dr. Bill Heath said.
“They make tough decisions every month and spend many hours studying education issues and regulations in order to provide the kind of accountability our citizens expect.”
The members serving our district are as follow: 
Chairman Brenda Jacobs, Roberta Brazier, Ricky Mabry, Donna Wells, Jerry Campbell, Kevin Caruso, Nicky Hartsfield, Michael Kilburn, and Duke Snider.
The key work of school boards is to raise student achievement by:
• Creating a vision for what the community wants the
school district to be and for making student achievement the top priority;
• Establishing standards for what students will be expected to learn and be able to do;
• Ensuring progress is measured to be sure the district’s goals are achieved and students are learning at expected levels;
• Being accountable for their decisions and actions by
continually tracking and reporting results;
• Creating a safe, orderly climate where students can learn wand teachers can teach;
• Forming partnerships with others in the community to solve common problems; and
• Focusing attention on the need for continuous improvement by questioning, refining and revising issues related to student achievement.
Heath explains, “School board members give the Lawrence County citizens a voice in education decision making.
Even though we make a special effort to show our appreciation in January, their contribution is a year-round commitment.”
