Little Tennessee Valley Educational Cooperative (LTVEC) hosted our annual Awards Banquet to honor exceptional local educators on Thursday, January 17, 2019 at at Kinfolk Farms in Lenoir City. “This event was a time to celebrate over 47 years of services from Little Tennessee Valley Educational Cooperative. More importantly, we were celebrating our outstanding educators in the East Tennessee region. The amazing work they do each day in the classrooms, the schools, and the community makes East Tennessee an outstanding place to live, to work and to grow,” said LTVEC executive director, Pam Potocik.

Two deserving educators from Sweetwater City Schools were honored with the Exemplary Educator Recognition Award for Dedication to Excellence in Education: Debbie Hutchins, Sweetwater Primary School Speech Therapist and Abbey Krauskopf, Brown Intermediate School Special Education Teacher.

Per Rodney Boruff, Director of Schools for Sweetwater City Schools, Debbie was selected because she has “taught 30-plus years. She is devoted to seeing her students make progress. She consults with teachers and parents regularly. Debbie has taught summer school and provides tutoring after school when needed,”

While introducing Debbie Hutchins at the awards ceremony, Darrin Nichols, principal of Sweetwater Primary School, had nothing but praise for the unreal dedication she has to her speech students, even learning to play the guitar so she could sing with her students. He summed up his remarks by saying, “We love her at Sweetwater Primary School!”

“If I had to describe Abbey in a couple of words, it would be passion and dedication. Every time we walk into her classroom, her students are working on something and they don’t even realize that their working. All the kids love her,” said principal of Brown Intermediate School, Heather Henry, at the awards ceremony. “We’re extremely lucky to have her.”

According to Rodney Boruff, Director of Schools for Sweetwater City Schools, Abbey Krauskopf was selected to receive the award this year because “Ms. Krauskopf exemplifies what is meant by the word educator. Her relational based teaching strategies ease students’ anxieties and foster their own beliefs that they can truly succeed at any task. Her classes hold a joy for learning and students blossom under her guidance. She is truly an asset to the faculty at Brown Intermediate School.”

About LTVEC: Founded in 1971, Little Tennessee Valley Educational Cooperative (LTVEC) is a public nonprofit agency formed by local school systems in East Tennessee. The agency is governed by a board of directors including member school system directors, school board members, and county commissioners. LTVEC promotes collaboration among member school systems to develop needed educational services in the region. The cooperative provides a variety of services to member and non-member school systems in East Tennessee and throughout the state.

LTVEC provides the following services: the AT Center, which provides assistive technologies (AT) that can help reduce barriers to learning for students with disabilities that affect physical, cognitive and/or communication skills; the Birth-to-Three Program, which is a nationally recognized program that provides early intervention services to infants and toddlers and education and support to their families; the Extended Learning Program, which provides before and after-school programs that focus on hands-on learning, community involvement, STEM activities, daily tutoring, and physical fitness opportunities; and, School Support Services, which provide vision services, speech, occupational, and physical therapy.

News and Events

LTVEC News and Events

Sweetwater City Schools Exemplary Educator Award Winners