In a year when many traditions were halted, the students and faculty of Indian Trail Intermediate School knew there was one annual event they could not let pass.
Each year Indian Trail students and staff partner with the Second Harvest Food Bank for a school-wide food drive.
In a typical school year, Indian Trail hosts the food drive in November, but COVID-19 protocols made the process a little different this year. The result was the same, however: Indian Trail came together to support its community.
âThey just love it,â said Indian Trail teacher Misty Davis about the project. âThey love being helpful and having a mission. Our students have really appreciated the opportunity to serve others in our community.â
Plans to create a fully online academy in the Johnson City Schools system were in place even before the COVID-19 outbreak forced students and teachers to remote classrooms.
And if thereâs a bright side to the pandemic, said Superintendent Steve Barnett, itâs that it did allow the system to refine and troubleshoot its approach to remote learning before officially launching its online school.
More than 600 students have expressed interest in the Johnson City Virtual Academy, which will start in August. School officials have currently limited the online school to grades 5-12.
Barnett doesnât, however, expect enrollment for the virtual academy will be that large in the first year. He anticipates 200-300 students will ultimately meet the systemâs expectations for success in a virtual format.
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Johnson City Schools plans to officially transition to two middle schools serving grades 6-8 on Aug. 3, 2022, a change that school officials expect will help alleviate overcrowding.
âIt seems like quite a ways off, but itâll be here before we know it,â Todd Barnett, the systemâs middle grades supervisor, told members of the Johnson City Board of Education on Monday evening. âThereâs a lot of people doing a tremendous amount of work behind the scenes to make sure this happens successfully and we do things right by our students and by our community.â
Currently, students in the city system attend Indian Trail Intermediate School for grades 5 and 6 before moving to Liberty Bell Middle School for grades 7 and 8.
BrightRidge is funding a new broadband expansion that will bring internet service to another 1,051 rural locations in Washington County.
Officials with BrightRidge said the broadband expansion is made possible by work the utility did last year with the help of $2.47 million in Tennessee Emergency Broadband grants it received in August from the Tennessee Department of Economic and Community Development.
BrightRidge matched that grant funding, which was part of the Coronavirus Relief Fund, with $617,828 in local funds to bring the total cost of the project to $3,089,143.
According to a news release from the utility on Thursday, fiber trunk lines installed under the grant funding have allowed BrightRidge to provide broadband to additional customers in need of better internet service.