By Chip Brown | Maynardville@gmail.com

"We are getting far more for our buck. Union County teachers and the system have been asked to do more with less for years." - Union County Schools Director Wayne Goforth addressing the Knox County Commission.

Again this week I can report that steel was hung and blocks were laid. In fact the exterior block and brickwork are done. What is being done now are the interior walls (Figure 2). Each bolt that is tightened brings us one step closer to a new Paulette School.

Tightening bolts and laying block bring us closer to a new school but it just doesn't make for interesting reading. That is why I want to take this week to discuss something else. The perception of Union County and a Union County education.

Sometimes we that choose to live in Union County find that surrounding counties tend to put us down. Whether real or imagined that is the perception. It can come at ballgames or even on television. We can have a four car wreck in Union County and it gets bumped off the news by a fender bender in Knoxville. For years this sort of thinking has led parents in our county to take their kids to Knox County Schools. But suddenly we are faced with a school system bursting at the seams with students. Why? What changed?

A recent study has placed the Union County School System in the top 10. We ended up at number nine out of the top ten schools. Where did that come from? I'm going to attempt to explain it. For several years we have had teachers pushing along ignoring the sentiment other counties had for us. They continued to teach through the adversity before them. Moldy classrooms, leaky schools, a heating system that was inadequate etc. They continued to teach though their pay would likely be higher elsewhere.

Up through the teaching ranks of the Union County School System came a Director of schools that recognized the issues at hand. Together teachers that would not accept second best were met with a Director who knew Union County could compete. This Director once taught class at Maynardville elementary in the gym separated from another class by a sheet strung on a wire. Unlike Directors from the so-called great counties he had met adversity and learned to use it to better the children he mentored. Some of those same children came back with teaching degrees to join in at our schools.

I saw the fire at Big Ridge Elementary. By the time I got there Wayne Goforth was already on the scene and Roger Flatford (Principal) was out front greeting concerned parents. And do you know what I saw? I saw these two men talking to the parents. They weren't in front of cameras giving statements prepared by a press secretary. They were both talking to parents...Parents that called them Roger and Wayne.

A year ago politicians were saying that building a new school in Union County was out of the question. There was no hope for a new school. Here we are a little more than a year later watching it being built.

Now have a look again at this quote:

"We are getting far more for our buck. Union County teachers and the system have been asked to do more with less for years." - Union County Schools Director Wayne Goforth addressing the Knox County Commission.

That quote was by Wayne Goforth Director of Union County Schools at a Knox County Commission meeting. He had been asked there to explain to the Knox County Commission how we were building a school for 4.5 million dollars. When did we go from being made fun of as a county to being asked how we accomplished something?

The new Paulette Elementary is a turning point in our county. I see a perfect storm rising in our midst. A new four lane highway, a new bridge, a new school...Union County is changing! And it is one of those rare changes that seems to be for the best. Some people are concerned with change, and I count myself among them. I want our county to change but I worry we will lose the small town atmosphere that makes us special. But then I go to meetings and see people call our Director Wayne instead of Doctor this or that. I see people walk up to our Chairman of the School Board and say, "Hey Brian!" This tells me my hometown is still alive.

I know recently someone referred to Paulette as Wayne's new school. I also know he bristles at it being referred to that way. He recently remarked to WBIR, "I'm not thrilled for myself, I am thrilled for this community and this county that they had the foresight to look at their children's future and build these schools so their children can get a great education."

Now large counties are beginning to look at us all the way to Nashville. Studies have shown over and over that smaller community schools have the best test scores. Mr Goforth once told me that the breakdown of the community, neighbor helping neighbor started when schools were consolidated. I think that may well be true.

“We have always believed that small learning communities are the best. It shows in our county.” - Director Wayne Goforth in the Union County Shopper.

It seems to me that people are looking for a simpler time these days. Possibly a return to Mayberry. Yes Mayberry now has a T-1 connection, a four lane highway, new schools etc. but the people are still the same. I still get a lot of my news at the barber shop or local diner.

Recently the Middle School needed a new gym floor. We could have spent the money but we had people step up. One person donated the flooring at cost, other parents donated time and expertise to lay the floor. Even more parents donated time and effort to pull up the old flooring.

This all comes down to leadership and teamwork. One person does not make a project but they can inspire others to join in. No one person has all the answers but teamwork means allowing others to lead at times. Never before has so much of our county gotten behind a single project. Schools are our future as are the students inside them. Paulette is the future of Union County. It returns us to the model of Big Ridge, Sharps Chapel etc, where community means something.

I believe that Paulette Elementary is already educating Union County. It is teaching us that no is not an answer, that it is possible to do what others call impossible. Paulette has taught me that Union County is divided into districts by man not by the people. It has taught me that given a good project our county will come together and demand what it wants and needs.

Back in the 70's a movie was filmed in our county just north of the Paulette School. The name of the movie was The Lolly Madonna War and starred Rod Steiger and other notables. The premise of the movie was rivalry between Union County families and there is little doubt it was historically accurate of the area at that time. Watching that movie today we can see several landmarks that are still there. But what does seem to be more extinct today in our county is the conflict.

No, Paulette school is not what brought our county together. But it does symbolize what is possible when someone tells a Union Countian something is impossible.

The photos in this article depict:

FIGURE 1 = Drain sections and inspection hatches brought to the site for the new school.

FIGURE 2 = Interior walls being built beneath the steel.

FIGURE 3 = Roof decking recently delivered to the site. This is the deck that the metal roof will lay upon. Having this decking helps in wind load and stops sweating and condensation found in shingle and first generation roofs.