Melanie Crain, Anderson Elementary School third grade teacher; Mende Peters, System-wide Elementary Music Teacher; and Julie Halstead, Tennessee High School English teacher, have been named Bristol Tennessee City Schools System-Level finalists in the 2010-2011 Tennessee Teacher of the Year competition.

The program is sponsored annually by the Tennessee Department of Education and is designed to promote recognition, respect, and appreciation for teachers; to stimulate interest in teaching as a career; and to encourage public involvement in education.

These teachers will now compete at the region level for the opportunity to advance to the state level, where they would have the opportunity to become the Tennessee Teacher of the Year. Region-level finalists will be honored at an awards banquet in Nashville next October. Congratulations and best of luck in the state competition to each of these teachers.

Calendar change announced

The 2009-2010 Bristol Tennessee City Schools Calendar includes 181 student days, which is one more than the state requires. The extra day was built in to allow for the NASCAR spring race date at Bristol Motor Speedway which was unknown when the calendar was approved by the Board of Education in January 2009. NASCAR has recently announced that the 2010 spring race at Bristol Motor Speedway will be held on March 20-21. As such, Bristol Tennessee City Schools will now be closed on Friday, March 19.  

The beginning of the THS Tradition 

Tennessee High School is the only high school in the state to carry its state's name. Its history is old and steeped in tradition. It has its beginning as a public school in 1888 when a group of 72 Bristol citizens petitioned the city to provide a free public school. Their petition was passed by the Board of mayor and aldermen on April 10, 1888.