What’s Right With Our Schools: East Lake Level 5 Status
CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. (WDEF) – We continue our tour of local schools that have achieved Level 5 Status. At East Lake Elementary, teachers from as far away as Knoxville are driving in to be a part of that success. It’s easy to see why.
April Gregorich is a 4th grade Math and Science teacher at East Lake.
She says, “We have to trust that our students can do the work and we have to challenge them. It’s not about let me let me bring it down. It’s like let’s keep them in a challenging level and let’s see what they can do and then help them reach that bar we set for them.”
Dr. Jasmine Farrow is the Principal at East Lake.
She says, “We have to not think about their limitations and lower instruction. We have to continue to give them the same opportunities that every other student has in Hamilton County. I just make sure that we have planning practices and teaching strategies that continue to build and support them. Do you have that 603 kids here at East Lake Elementary. And about 420 of them receive ESL services; that means that they are English speakers. English is their second language. Our ESL team is my biggest team, so I have 12 full-time teachers who teach English.”
April Gregorich adds, “I think our growth has been amazing. I mean we have just worked so hard the last couple years to get to where we’re at but a lot that’s helped us overcome our obstacles has been our administration. Dr. Farro and Ms. Caufield, our coaches, Miss Colson, Ms. Hixson has been essential to us learning how to grow as a school.”
Dr. Farrow concludes, “We have a lot of teachers who travel back-and-forth to come here. They live in Ellijay, they live in Cleveland even teachers live in Knoxville that continue to choose Eastlake Elementary every year as opposed to a school that is closer to home. Just because of the positive atmosphere we have here and all of the support we have in place for both students and teachers. Just making sure that our students again know and understand that we have strong beliefs in them. And they to have the same strategies and abilities as students all over the county, and just for us to receive this recognition is just another celebration of their abilities in their learning.”
