​Three Cheatham County School District educators have been selected as members of the first Tennessee Rural STEM Collaborative.
 
Kristin McQueen of Ashland City Elementary School and Brittany Crouch and Emily Wong of East Cheatham Elementary School will participate in the yearlong cohort, which is designed for rural educators to share promising practices in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Math) education, seek solutions to local education challenges and develop capacity to promote lasting change within their own communities.
 
Forty-five educators representing 24 counties across Tennessee were competitively selected for the Collaborative.
 
The Tennessee STEM Innovation Network, a public/private partnership between the Tennessee Department of Education and Battelle Education, recently announced the launch of the first Collaborative.
 
Within the Collaborative, there are three regional cohorts that will map the STEM resources and potential partners unique to the educational landscapes in West, Middle and East Tennessee.
 
The Collaborative provides a stipend for teachers to engage with the program and implement their proposed solution within their own communities.
 
“The Rural STEM Collaborative brings together a geographically diverse group of educators passionate about providing the highest quality STEM instruction for their students and exposing them to career opportunities,” said Wes Hall, director of the Tennessee STEM Innovation Network.

Even though Cheatham County Schools will not be in session on Aug. 21 for the once-in-a-lifetime total solar eclipse, the district is embracing this science phenomenon with excitement in the classroom leading up to the big event.

During the morning meeting at East Cheatham Elementary School on Monday, fourth-graders gave an overview of the eclipse.
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In the classrooms, various activities highlighting the eclipse took place.

During the first week of school, ECES teachers participated in a contest. They were asked to submit a quote about the eclipse and tie in the fact that ECES is a Leader in Me school. 

The winning quote came from fourth-grade language arts teacher Melissa Adams Jones, who received a gift basket filled with moon pies and Sundrop. The quote is on the school’s marquee.

Students will be participating in a contest this week.

Students in grades 2-4 will create an acrostic poem using the words solar eclipse.

Students in grades Pre-K-1 will write a sentence or draw a picture telling about someone they think shines as bright as the sun and why.

The student winners will be announced on Friday, which is a Black Out Day. All students and teachers will wear black in preparation for Monday’s eclipse.

​The Cheatham County School District has named Brian Black as the new dean of students at East Cheatham Elementary School.
 
Black, who most recently taught at Harpeth High School, is a 2006 graduate of Millikin University in Decatur, Ill., where he earned a bachelor’s degree in secondary education-social sciences.
 
He began his teaching career as a special-needs paraprofessional at Attea Middle School in 2006 and gained a full-time teaching position at Springstead High School in Spring Hill, Fla., in 2007. 
 
He has taught high school in Tennessee for the last seven years, including the past four at HHS.
 
Black said, “I am really excited to begin this new adventure at East Cheatham Elementary School. I will miss the day-to-day interactions with the faculty and students at Harpeth High School. I'm very grateful for the opportunity to build new relationships with the students and staff at East Cheatham Elementary, and I'm ready to begin this new adventure.”
 
Black lives in Nashville with wife, Janna, daughter, Addison, and their four-year-old dog, Stella.

East Cheatham Elementary School showcased its new “The Leader in Me” program with a special Leadership Day on Thursday.
 
ECES implemented “The Leader in Me” program in August.
 
“The Leader in Me” is Franklin Covey’s whole school transformation process. It teaches 21st century leadership and life skills to students and creates a culture of student empowerment based on the idea that every child can be a leader.
 
“We are in our first year of the Leader In Me process and it has been a wonderful transformation. When I came to East Cheatham three years ago, I quickly learned what an amazing group of teachers and staff worked at our building. Our school had poor academic performance, attendance and behavior issues. I felt like we were missing something and we had the potential to be great,” said ECES Principal Wendy Cox.
 
Cox said Eli Perkins, a Franklin Covey representative, dropped by the school one day and left ‘The Leader In Me’ book. Over the summer, I read the book and felt this process was our missing link. With the support of our supervisors, our leadership team was able to visit other Leader In Me schools and see how the transformation took place into very successful schools,” she recalled.
 
Cox added: “As a faculty and staff, we all read the book and quickly started getting the ball rolling in becoming a Leader In Me school. We received a grant from the Leader.org organization to fund this process at East Cheatham.”
 
All faculty and staff received training over the 7 Habits at the beginning of the summer.
 
“Over the summer everyone painted our building and completely transformed it into a new school. The change in culture at East Cheatham has been remarkable. The students and teachers are practicing the 7 Habits and our academics, attendance and behavioral issues have improved dramatically. The attitude of our students and staff has created a wonderful positive environment. East Cheatham Elementary is such an amazing place. Students are being empowered to set their course in life and learning the 7 Habits to become successful, happy adults,” Cox said.