York Institute recognized as one of the state’s exemplary districts by the Tennessee Department of Education for last school year.
The designation is the highest honor a school district can receive. York Institute Director of Schools John Bush said York Institute has been making academic gains over the past few years, and last year’s TVAAS gradings pointed toward the district’s excellence. He said the school district realizes the honor is a high watermark.
“It’s something we are very, very proud of,” Bush said. “I can’t say enough about you know our teachers and our students, cause they are the ones that put in the hard work, put in the sweat equity, you know, for that to happen.”
York Institute is one of 14 school districts statewide to receive the top designation. Bush said digging in during Professional Learning Community meetings has contributed to the district’s recent success.
“We really do a great job in our PLCs using data that we have to inform, you know, future instruction, to also inform which students need intensive remediation, or sometimes the data tells us we just need to do a whole class reteaching,” Bush said.
Bush said it is known that rural school districts have their own set of hurdles. Bush said becoming an exemplary district is not easy.
“It’s hard for everybody right now, wherever you are at to find and to retain highly qualified and highly effective classroom teachers,” Bush said. “We are in a true drought. That’s everywhere in the state, but it’s especially so in the most rural parts of our state.”
Bush said the district focused on creating better futures and opportunities for students.