OBION COUNTY SCHOOL DISTRICT AWARDED "BEST FOR ALL" DISTRICT BY STATE

Earlier today, the Tennessee Department of Education announced 68 school districts received statewide recognition as a "Best for All District" and Obion County Schools was among those honored.

South Fulton Elementary Principal Sandi Bigham and South Fulton Middle/High School Principal Laura Pitts, joined Principals from Hillcrest Elementary, Ridgemont Elementary, Lake Road and Black Oak schools, as well as Obion County Central High School Friday morning at the Obion County Board of Education Central Office in Union City, for the announcement, which had been embargoed by the Tennessee State Department of Education prior to Feb. 11.

Director of Schools Tim Watkins praised the system's teachers and staff for their efforts to ensure the physical and mental health of students, throughout the pandemic, while responsibly utilizing ESSER funds, investing over $9 million to enhance learning, provide materials, supply high dosage tutoring and low student to teacher ratios in the classroom, and instill a sense of belonging, respect, pride and achievement, while meeting and surpassing academic goals set.

Watkins also thanked the Obion County Board of Education members and Obion County Commissioners for their support, financially and otherwise, in assisting the school system's operations.

Lauren Kendall, Communications Director for Obion County Schools, thanked businesses who provided the morning's refreshments, as well as gift baskets provided to each Principal.

The large delegation on hand for the celebration, had the opportunity to participate in a statewide live video feed, as announcements were made regarding schools to be honored.

The Best for All recognition program awards benefits to school districts that designated historic amounts of federal relief funding directly for student achievement to improve academic outcomes.

The department announced the Best for All recognition program in July of 2021, sharing financial, operational,

celebratory, and resource benefits awarded to the selected Tennessee school districts.

Their intentional work to plan, designate, and spend historical federal funding amounts directly on student achievement was designed to improve academic outcomes.

"Best for All Districts are meeting this critical moment in time head on, building upon statewide momentum to

focus their efforts on students-first work and outcomes. I couldn’t be more proud to celebrate their systems, communities, and teams who are so well-deserving of this recognition as we accelerate achievement each day moving forward!" said State Commissioner Penny Schwinn.

Beginning in 2020, the U.S. Congress responded to the global COVID-19 health pandemic by passing several

pieces of legislation, and as a result Tennessee is benefitting from over $4.5 billion for K-12 education

to be spent between spring 2020 and fall 2024.

Through three rounds of funding referred to as ESSER (Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief)

1.0, 2.0 and 3.0 funds, over $3.58 billion was to flow directly to local school districts to decide how to spend.

Best for All Districts strategically planned for and invested in ways that were likely to accelerate student achievement.

To qualify for the Best for All recognition program, a district would have been required to have spent an amount equal to 50% of its ESSER 3.0 award amount on proven, research-based strategies to raise student academic achievement and is participating in the TN ALL Corps tutoring grant program to provide students with high dosage, low ratio tutoring opportunities.

Further, these districts will have the opportunity to celebrate #BestForAllDay, a statewide celebration opportunity to recognize school districts across all grand divisions who are leading in their strategic spending, thoughtful planning, and student first investments.

Districts were invited to plan a local celebration, inviting their community members, stakeholders, partners,

families, and students to celebrate their upcoming work connected to key strategic investments.

Furthermore, districts were encouraged to use this opportunity to recruit additional members for their tutoring programs and support opportunities.

In addition to the Obion County Schools District, other districts honored included: Alamo City Schools,

Anderson County Schools, Athens City Schools, Bartlett City Schools, Bedford County Schools, Benton County Schools, Blount County Schools, Bristol City Schools, Cannon County Schools, Carter County Schools, Cheatham County Schools, Cleveland City Schools, Clinton City Schools, Crockett County Schools, Metro Nashville Public Schools, DeKalb County Schools, Dickson County Schools, Dyer County Schools, Dyersburg City Schools,

Elizabethton City Schools, Etowah City Schools, Fentress County Schools, Franklin County Schools,

Gibson County Schools, Giles County Schools, Grainger County Schools, Greene County Schools, Grundy County, Schools, Hamilton County Schools, Haywood County Schools, Henderson County Schools, Henry County Schools, Hickman County Schools, Houston County Schools, Jackson County Schools, Jefferson County Schools,

Knox County Schools, Lauderdale County Schools, Lawrence County Schools, Lenoir City Schools, Lexington City Schools, Lincoln County Schools, Loudon County Schools, Manchester City Schools, Maury County Schools,

Milan Special School District, Monroe County Schools, Moore County Schools, Morgan County Schools,

Murfreesboro City Schools, Oak Ridge City Schools, Paris Special School District, Putnam County Schools,

Rogersville City Schools, Rutherford County Schools, Sevier County Schools, Shelby County Schools, Sweetwater City Schools, Tennessee Public Charter School Commission, Tennessee School for the Blind, Trousdale County Schools, Unicoi County Schools, Union County Schools, Washington County Schools, Wayne County Schools and

Wilson County Schools.