Elizabethton City Schools has finalist for supervisor of year

An Elizabethton City Schools administrator has been chosen as one of the finalists for supervisor of the year. Travis Thompson is one of nine finalists for supervisor of the year. Thompson is employed as director of student services by the Elizabethton City School District. "It is truly an honor to be recognized as a supervisor of the year finalist," he said. "This recognition reflects the hard work and dedication of our incredible staff across Elizabethton City Schools. Together, we will continue striving to provide the very best opportunities for every student, every day." The Tennessee Department of Education announced the finalists for the 2026-2027 teacher of the year, principal of the year and supervisor of the year this week. There were nine finalists in each of the three categories, coming from all eight Centers of Regional Excellence areas in the state, as well as the Shelby County-Municipal area. In its announcement, the Department of Education said "this year's applicants were incredibly strong and showed the commitment and talents of our educators across the state." Only one of the 27 finalists comes from the Tri-Cities area. The school system has now had two supervisors of the year finalists in recent years. The first to be considered was Myra Newman, the school system's assistant director of schools. Thompson grew up in the region, graduating from Sullivan East High School and obtaining his undergraduate degree from East Tennessee State University in 2006. He obtained his educational specialist degree from Lincoln Memorial University. In addition to his accomplishments in education, Thompson is also 30-year veteran of the Marine Corps Reserves. Thompson's experience with the Marine Corps Reserve helped him in one of his proudest achievements at Elizabethton High School; the establishment of Elizabethton High School's Navy National Defense Cadet Corps program in 2020. That program has continued to grow. He feels this has been one of his biggest accomplishments as a supervisor program because it gives students a wide variety of experience in addition to the chance to pursue a military career. He said the leadership and other skills are valuable in many career opportunities. Thompson said he has always considered the needs of the whole student in his work in student services. One area where he has seen improvement has been in the improvement of attendance and overcoming chronic absenteeism. He said the school system has seen a 7% improvement in attendance. The teacher, principal and supervisor of the year awards for the state will be announced on Oct. 1.