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Coach Puckett is married to Erin Puckett and has two sons, Campbell and Cayden.

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East Side Elementary (731-772-1233)
Haywood County Virtual Academy (731-772-9613 Ext. 6020) 

Parents can also review additional resources from Haywood County Schools and the Tennessee Department of Education by visiting https://haywoodschools.com/hcs-third-grade-retention-update/. 

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For additional details or support with registration, please contact Sarah Aitken at 731-772-9613.

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Cameron will continue his academic journey this fall at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University where he will be studying Aerospace Engineering. He was awarded an $80,000 scholarship from Embry-Riddle, the Margaret Ann Welch Memorial Scholarship ($1,000), the First United Methodist Church James Sumner Sharpe Memorial Scholarship ($500), and the INSOUTH Bank Scholarship ($5,000). 

 Congratulations Cameron and best wishes on your new journey! 

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The purpose of this meeting will be to discuss Building Improvements and Organization.

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A note was discovered in the girls’ restroom near the Haywood High School Little Theater Friday, January 27, 2023 before 9:30 a.m. The note stated, “Be ready for Monday” among other threatening statements. The matter was investigated by school administrators and the Brownsville Police Department. Three female students have been charged with Level IV Physical Threats to Others and will face consequences as outlined in Haywood County Board of Education Policy.

This afternoon after dismissal, six or seven gunshots were fired on Penny Lane, behind the HHS campus. All students safely returned to the building and were safely released by HHS staff. Brownsville Police Department officers are currently investigating the incident on Penny Lane.

The shots fired today do not appear to be connected to Haywood High School; but in an abundance of caution, extra security measures will be in place at tonight’s Tomcat basketball game at HHS. Additionally, extra security measures will be in place at Haywood High School on Monday, January 30, 2023, including metal detectors, random backpack searches, and extra officers available. Haywood Middle School will conduct backpack searches. All other Haywood County Schools campuses will have additional security. All Haywood County Schools will be open Monday, January 30, 2023.

Art Garrett
Interim Superintendent

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The closest thing we have to a pause button for life is a camera.  Cameras are everywhere now, and while we can debate whether that’s good or bad, one of the clear advantages of that easy access is that we’re able to capture more of these moments that we hope to always remember.  Unfortunately, the photos of the memories we capture often don’t do justice to the event itself.  Amateur photography doesn’t quite frame a moment in the most accurate way or truly reflect what we were feeling during that time.  Thankfully, there are people who know just how to do that.

Haywood High School Sophomore, Trenton Evans, is one of those people.  Trenton is a burgeoning photographer who has been honing his craft for the last few years.  He captures the moments that students experience at Haywood High School on the dance floor, athletic fields, and any other place where student activity is happening.  He is able to frame those moments in a way that communicates the emotion of what is taking place.  He can not only freeze that moment from a visual perspective, but transfer the emotion and beauty of it, as well.

Trenton got his start in photography a couple of years ago with support and encouragement from his family.

“I got into photography two and half years ago.  My brother really encouraged me to start taking pictures,” Trenton explained.  “My parents surprised me with a camera on Christmas Day, and I was so excited and proud.  That really changed everything for me.”

Once Trenton got his camera, he started developing a personal style when it came to the pictures he would take.  Like anything that’s new, there was a learning curve and when he looks back at those early pictures he made, he can tell quite a difference compared to the pictures he makes today.

“There’s a big difference in the photos I’m making now and the ones I was making when I first started,” he said.  “I’ve really learned a lot about different types of photography and what styles work well in certain situations.”

At Haywood High School, Trenton will photograph sporting events, social events, and capture other moments that occur at the school.  Most of those pictures would be considered action shots that frame a person in the middle of a physical movement.  And, while Trenton enjoys taking those types of photos, his preference is more of a portrait style of photography,

“Portrait styles really show emotions.  When I take the pictures, I can immediately tell if it has emotion or not; I want it to give something back to the person who views it,” he said.  

As Trenton evolves as a photographer, his style is evolving as well.  He is discovering the connection between his eye and the camera and how that relationship is growing and allowing him to focus on different aspects of shooting.

“When I hold the camera up to my eye, I can normally tell what’s going to be a great shot or an amazing image.  But even with those really good ones, there’s room for improvement,” he explained.

Once the shots are taken, the next step of the process begins: editing.  In any mode of the creative world, editing is the least glamorized but most important aspect of the creative process.  Editing is where the fine details of an image or a piece of art or writing emerge and calcify to make the finished product whole.

“I spend a lot of time editing; it takes a long time.  I want my images to be perfect in my eyes and really match my style,” he said.  “When I’m editing, sometimes I have to pull back from the computer and kind of reframe what I want the image to look like.  Plus, my eyes need to rest in order to see the true colors of a photo.”

As far as his evolving style is concerned, Trenton definitely has one that he’s perfecting – bright and bold.

“My style is bright and bold.  The picture is natural, but still is able to tell a story,” he explained.  “It lends itself to shooting in natural light, and I love shooting in natural light, so that involves a lot of outdoor work which I like.”

As Trenton continues to see growth in his work and his business, he’s thinking about next steps.  He knows that he wants to continue to improve and grow his photography brand, but he’s realizing that he’s seeing a lot of options on the horizon.

“One of my plans after I graduate is to find a college that focuses on photography, but also builds my skills in other areas,” he said.

Any creative artist has inspiration from artists who came before them.  Trenton is no different.  His biggest influence is an African-American photographer based in Atlanta.  

“A photographer that definitely inspires me is Mark Clennon.  He’s a black photographer who lives in Atlanta and is very inspirational,” Trenton said.

Looking at Clennon’s photography, it’s easy to see why he is a big influence to Trenton.  Most of Clennon’s photos are striking portraits that convey emotion against a backdrop of strong colors that allow the subject of the photo to stand out even more.  

For Trenton, the love of photography was immediate and only continues to grow.  

“As soon as I got into photography, I loved it.  I knew it was something I wanted to do for the rest of my life,” he said.

Haywood High School and Haywood County Schools are both lucky that Trenton found this passion a few years ago.  His work benefits the district and the school, and his creativity is something to behold.  

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Public education is in the middle of a seismic shift. The importance of creating Career/Technical pathways for students is at an unprecedented high. As industry continues to grow and shift toward more programming oriented work, the pace for education to keep up with these changes is rapid. 

Even during this period of evolution in education, one constant still remains: reading is fundamental to any and all types of academic success. 

There are countless studies that emphasize the importance of a student being able to read on grade level by the time that student is in third grade. Students not on grade level in reading by third grade have a much lower success rate for future academic success. Knowing this data and seeing that many students were behind in reading as they progressed through each grade, Haywood County Schools, in partnership with Instruction Partners, instituted The Reader/Writer Project last school year. 

Director of Elementary Education, Sarah Aitken, led the implementation process of The Reader/Writer Project.

“We started the Reader/Writer project in 2021. In 2019, we realized what we were using in intervention for our young readers wasn’t really supporting them in building strong literacy skills. We started a conversation with Instruction Partners to see how we could change it,” Sarah said.

In partnership with Instruction Partners, teachers at Anderson Early Childhood Center and Haywood Elementary School began the work of implementing the Reader/Writer Project in their respective schools. At its core the Reader/Writer Project is a 45-minute instructional block dedicated solely to targeted, small-group foundational skills instruction. The instructional time is also individualized to meet each learner’s specific needs. 

Students are given a benchmark assessment at the beginning of the year to measure where they are on their personal reading path. From there, students are placed in microphases based on the results of their benchmark assessment. Then, the magic starts to happen.

Cindy Currie is a kindergarten teacher who has seen how the Reader/Writer Project (RWP) has helped her students grow leaps and bounds.

“We start each year by giving a benchmark test and based on those tests, students are placed in microphases. These microphases are learning targets that are specifically for that child depending on their need,” she said. “I make my lesson plans based on where each child is in their microphase. So, during Reader/Writer project time each child is receiving lessons and intervention based on their personal microphase and learning goal.”

The work and preparation for the 45 minute block of the RWP is intense and detailed, but the results are undeniable. Students are given intensive, individualized lessons based on their microphase that allows them to build skills based on where they are as a young reader. Because of this, students are able to learn and build knowledge at a pace that works for them rather than trying to learn at a universal baseline. Cindy has seen firsthand how effective the individualized instruction of the RWP has been for her students.

“I see kids right now who are advancing so fast that I’m constantly changing microphases. I have kids who came into the year on the lowest micorphase – they didn’t know their beginning sounds – and right now these kids know all their sounds and phonemic awareness and now they’re reading,” she explained.

While any Kindergarten teacher would appreciate seeing so much growth, Cindy internalizes the growth on a personal level because she’s seen what it’s like if students aren’t reading on grade level as they age.

Before Cindy was teaching young readers, she taught middle school students. She saw many students who weren’t reading on grade level and was heartbroken trying to figure out the best ways to help them. Reading interventions for older students often fall short because there is so much remediation that has to be done because students were so far behind.

“This is my third year teaching kindergarten, but I was a middle school teacher before that. I was doing intervention for eighth grade students, but saw how much they were missing when it came to reading. That has really helped me to see the importance of what we’re doing now with students at an early age,” Cindy said. “When you have eighth grade boys walking down a sixth grade hall to meet with me because they’re way below where they should be when it comes to reading, it really opens your eyes. This work with the Reader/Writer project is my redemption for those kids we failed. We didn’t fail them on purpose, but now we know how to do better now.”

When work as substantial as this is being done, it’s extremely important to share it. Instruction Partners reached out to Sarah to discuss presenting the success story of early literacy in Haywood County Schools, and she didn’t hesitate when it came to which teacher she wanted to ask to present.

“When we learned about the “Learning Forward” conference, Instruction Partners asked me to find a couple of teachers who could present because we knew the work we were doing was worth sharing,” she said. “We were doing walkthroughs and we went to Ms. Cindy’s class and were blown away when we saw how well everything was working. She had internalized this whole process; her data looked amazing; her students were making incredible gains. So, it was an easy decision for her to be the one to present.”

The Learning Forward Conference was held in December at the Opryland Hotel in Nashville, Tennessee. Teachers from all over the United States and Canada attended in order to learn strategies from districts who were finding sustained success in the implementation of programs that were student-focused and showing academic progression.

“We had people from Canada, from the West Coast, from New Mexico, from New York all at the conference, and we’re very proud of the work being done in Haywood County. We wanted to share our story with them because we have some of the best in the state,” Sarah said.

When Cindy presented to the crowd, she couldn’t help but recall her time as a middle school teacher and the frustration she would see on her students’ faces when they would struggle to comprehend text. She relayed that story to the crowd as she spoke and noticed that it resonated with them, too. 

“I shared what it looks like in my classroom on a daily basis and the sense of urgency we have about teaching kids to read. It’s sad when you see kids who are older, and they’re not reading on grade level,” Cindy said. “It was amazing to see the response we had. There were a lot of people that needed to hear this.”

As every district is continuing to find their footing after two abbreviated years of learning due to the pandemic, early literacy in HCS is growing leaps and bounds due to the implementation of the Reader/Writer Project, but also because of the talent of the teachers in the district.

“By the time COVID ended, we had a good plan in place for the next course of action which was the Reader/Writer project,” Sarah said. “We talked about the best practices – phonemic awareness and phonics – that would best prepare our students to be reading on grade level by the third grade. Everything we’ve done has been anchored in the science of reading, and we’ve really seen our young students flourish.”

Sarah knows what all educators know – that having the right people in place to implement the programs is more important than simply having the programs. She also knew who to point the audience to when the presentation was over.

“I had people ask me some questions, but Ms. Cindy was the expert there. She’s the one doing the work every day, and people at the conference wanted to learn as much as they could from her.”

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For Haywood Elementary School First Grade teacher, Wychickia Watkins, Haywood County is home and always has been. She attended school from Kindergarten to her senior year in Haywood County Schools, and now she’s teaching in the same district where she grew up. Not only is she teaching, but she’s doing it at a high-level. Wychickia was named Teacher of the Year at Haywood Elementary School this year. 

“I’m so honored and ecstatic to be named teacher of the year at my school. I’m so proud that my co-workers voted for me to represent Haywood Elementary School as teacher of the year,” she said.

Even though Wychickia grew up in Haywood County Schools, she didn’t attend Haywood Elementary School. Her elementary years were spent at East Side.

“When I was young, the schools were split – county and city – so I didn’t go to Haywood Elementary, but I did grow up here in Haywood County,” she said. “I’m proud to come back and teach in the school system where I attended. It’s a little different than when I attended school, but the same values are there and the same representation.”

From an early age, Wychickia knew she wanted to be a teacher. Her pathway to becoming a classroom teacher didn’t follow the traditional route, however. Her first years in a classroom were spent as an Educational Assistant. Her peers saw her passion and talent for working with students and encouraged her to pursue her teaching license. 

“I always did well in school and had some great teachers in HCS that inspired me to go back and be a teacher,” she recalled. 

While her pathway to teaching wasn’t direct, Wychickia was always certain about what grade level she wanted to teach once she found her way to the classroom.

“I never thought about teaching middle or high school. I’ve always wanted the younger kids; they’re more energetic. I do well with younger kids. This age, kids are still sweet and engaged and ready to learn,” she said.

When Wychickia was in school (and even now as an adult), she loved to read. She’s taken that passion for reading and parlayed it into an engaging and exciting classroom environment where young learners can see her love for reading and make it their own.

“I tell my kids that reading can take them anywhere. I may be grounded in this room, but when I open a book, I can go anywhere. I can’t stress that enough,” she explained. “It is very important that students at this age learn the basic skills of reading – phonics, phonemic awareness. We need to develop a love of reading in students this age, so I try to share my passion for reading every day in class.”

When Wychickia was an elementary school student in HCS, she was with the same teacher all day for every subject. As a teacher now, however, Wychickia gets to teach Reading while her partner teacher teaches Math. This arrangement allows Wychickia to teach two groups of students during the day while focusing on her passion of teaching Reading.

“We do partner teaching here where my partner teacher will teach Math and I’ll teach Reading. We’ve done that for four years and it’s refreshing to teach two groups of students each day rather than just staying with the same group all day long,” she said. “As a team, we’re trying to do all we can to get our students reading on grade level by the time they leave the first grade.”

Regardless of the subject matter that Wychickia teaches, she knows that there are core values every great teacher should have. She understands that students are far more than test scores and have individual personalities, lives, and stories. 

“If you’re going to be a good teacher, you have to have passion for your students. You have to love your students. You have to remember that everyone doesn’t come from the same background,” she said. “I think I’m great at building relationships with my students; I get to know them individually. I also show them that I’m human. I tell them that I make mistakes, and once a teacher can do that, students realize that they care about them and that they’re human.”

In the end, Wychickia is beyond grateful that she gets to do what she loves in the place where she grew up. 

“I’ve always wanted to be a teacher. I’m living my dream right now – teaching students every day.”

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Any successful organization has a core set of goals and values that guide the decision making process. For Haywood County Schools and Haywood High School, a top priority is ensuring that students have access to various post-secondary opportunities while still in high school. Whether that’s AP access for all, multiple dual-credit and dual-enrollment options, numerous Career/Technical pathways, or the JROTC program, students at HHS have a plethora of opportunities to choose from when it comes to pursuing post-secondary success.

It’s one thing to see those options displayed on a PowerPoint or a brochure, but when a student is able to take advantage of those opportunities and personify how those opportunities can give that students a head start in their post-secondary life, well, that’s the best kind of story to tell.

Asia Silas is nearing the finish line of her high school career. While many people can reasonably see high school graduation as the conclusion of a chapter, it’s actually the opening of a door that can lead to endless possibilities. That’s how Asia views it at least.

“This year went by so fast; I only have a little bit of time left until I graduate,” she said. “I’m excited and nervous, but I’m not sad because there’s more to come afterwards.”

In Asia’s case, there’s A LOT more to come after graduation.

As Asia looks beyond her May graduation date, she sees a future that was beginning to be built four years ago during her freshman year at HHS.

“I’ve been in Air Force Junior ROTC since I was a freshman,” she recalled. “Starting out, I honestly took ROTC as a way of not having to take as many classes. My brother – who was also in ROTC – encouraged me to take it, too. I ended up falling in love with the program because of the mentors I’ve had in it.”

The JROTC program is a military-themed character development program offered to help high school students develop their capacity for citizenship, leadership, character building and service to the community. Through this program, Asia also gained unique insight into the workings of the military and was also able to earn Early PostSecondary Credits (EPSO’s) that helped her land a higher pay grade when she enlisted in the military.

“Because I was in JROTC for four years, I earned EPSO credits – the longer you’re in the program, the higher ranking you’ll have when you start in the military. A higher ranking also means higher pay,” she said. “I just enlisted in the military recently and entered as a Private First Class at an E-3 pay grade.”

More importantly, enlisting in the National Guard will allow Asia to attend the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga for free once she completes her training.  Not only will Asia complete the basic training aspect of the National Guard, but she will also earn her EMT certification during the process which will lead to her program of study at UTC.

“I’ll graduate in May, and eleven days after that I’ll start my National Guard training in Oklahoma.  I’ll be there for three months and then move to Fort Sam Houston in Texas and complete my job training there. I’ll be finished December 7, 2023 with basic training and have my certifications. More importantly, I’ll have my college paid for by the military,” she said. “In January of 2024, I plan to enroll in the University of Tennessee-Chattanooga and major in Nursing and eventually become an Anesthesiologist.”

Along with being enrolled in the JROTC program since her freshman year, Asia has also taken advantage of the Health Science pathway at HHS. Through this pathway, she has been able to earn her Certified Nursing Assistant certification and will be taking Phlebotomy her last semester of high school. Being able to earn EPSO’s in Health Science classes directly connects to her future goals beyond college.

“I’ve been taking Health Science courses at HHS since my freshman year. My classes got switched up a little bit, but right now I’m taking my CNA course and have the certification test this week. Next semester, I’ll take Phlebotomy and hopefully earn my Phlebotomist certification ,too,” she explained.

As if Asia’s future plans and high school career weren’t enough to celebrate, she recently was chosen as an alternate to participate in the Flight Academy. 

The Flight Academy is a Chief of Staff of the Air Force scholarship and was created to address the national pilot shortage and allows students selected to the program to earn their private pilot’s license for free.  

The purpose of the Flight Academy is to provide an opportunity for selected cadets to earn their Private Pilot Certification (PPC) while simultaneously increasing an interest in aviation. In addition to earning their PPC, cadets will also earn college credit. 

Because Asia found so much success in high school and the JROTC program, her JROTC instructor, Major Delores Dailey, recommended Asia for the program.

“I had to fill out an application and have my fitness score in a certain range. The process was tedious, but being accepted is a tremendous honor,” Asia said. “Major Dailey really wanted me to apply for it, so I checked it out. She sent a recommendation letter on my behalf.”

The acceptance into the Flight Academy is the icing on the cake of a high school career that has been filled with Asia taking every advantage of the opportunities presented to her at Haywood High School. Along with being on the sidelines as a cheerleader for Tomcat football and basketball, she can also be found running on the Track and Field team. Pairing her athletic accomplishments with her experience in JROTC and dual-credit Health Science pathway along with being a Ready Graduate, Asia is truly the personification of what Opportunity Haywood looks like at Haywood High School.

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Press Release – Flight Academy

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