Local teachers encourage students in community

HAYWOOD COUNTY, Tenn. — Local school teachers are leaving the classroom and going into neighborhoods to get students excited for the school year.

“Just felt the need to get out and meet the community and learn about the community where I was going to work,” said Dr. Tressy Halbrook, principal at East Side Intermediate School.

Halbrook has been at the school for just a year and a half, but she says she wants her students to be excited to be there.

“When they see us coming to them, I think it just lets them know how important we know they are to the education of their child,” Hallbrook said.

So, last summer they did a bus ride through Haywood County, getting students excited and ready to go to school.

Halbrook says it went so well they wanted to do it again this year.

Halbrook says they’ll pack the bus with water, popsicles and books, then hit the streets to meet the students.

“They come to the bus, we recognize them, and the other principals are there so if the students are a little older, they recognize the teachers they’ve had in previous schools,” Halbrook said.

They left East Side Intermediate School at 5:30 p.m. Thursday to visit seven neighborhoods.

“We truly are there for their children,” Halbrook said. “We want the experience they have in school to be the best experience they can get through their education, through the relationship we make with them.”

They’ve also been doing some beautification projects around the school like painting columns outside to make it more welcoming for students and parents.

“I think it’s really important for the kids and families to see our excitement about them entering our schools and to kick off the school year like that,” Halbrook said.

The first day of school for Haywood County students is Friday, August 2, for a half day.