The Anderson County School System received an Award last week for having the Best School Appreciation Program in East Tennessee. Anderson County Superintendent Dr. Tim Parrott accepted the award presented by Utrust at their Member Appreciation Dinner at the Tennessee Titans Stadium in Nashville.
All schools in Anderson County participate in the program that encourages students to recognize and express appreciation to school employees who do things to make students’ lives better every day. The award included $1,800 or $100 for each of the eighteen participating schools in Anderson County. Pam Crawford is the System Coordinator for the appreciation program in Anderson County.
Each school has a student A-Team (A for Appreciation) that plans and leads activities to honor each school employee on one of eight theme-based appreciation days during the school year. To honor employees, students do a variety of things to honor employees including writing notes of appreciation, making announcements and sing familiar songs with rewritten lyrics. They also make signs, banners, cards and other decorations to honor employees. They usually provide tokens of appreciation but the emphasis is on sincere expressions of appreciation. To honor the superintendent, each school holds a drive to benefit a charity of their choice.
In addition to the A-Team, most schools have a G-Force (G for Gratitude), consisting of two students in each classroom who lead and encourage fellow students to express appreciation to employees throughout the year, not just on appreciation days.
Superintendent Parrott said, “We want our students to realize that each employee in Anderson County Schools has an important responsibility in making our schools run efficiently.” He continued, “We think an important part of our students’ education is developing the habit of expressing appreciation. We are fortunate to have outstanding employees in each of our schools and we love the way our students help make them the most appreciated employees in Anderson County.”
“Every citizen in Anderson County should be very proud of the excellent appreciation program in Anderson County Schools,” said Utrust Administrator Dr. Dan Tollett. “Students in Anderson County Schools are expressing sincere appreciation to employees every school day. And, every appreciation day in Anderson County Schools is fun for both employees and students.” He continued, ‘Appreciation is a basic skill, every bit as important to the success of students as any subject taught in school. More Tennessee schools teach appreciation than in any other state and no school district in the country does it better than Anderson Country”
Utrust is a statewide organization that sponsors the Utrust Appreciation Program and promotes excellence in employee relations. Utrust also administers unemployment compensation for local school boards in Tennessee. Utrust distributed more than $5 million in mini-grants to its members in the last five years to pay for things that teachers and principals need but were not funded in their budget.
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