This letter is in support of Jim Watson for the Hamilton County School Board District 3. Although I am not a resident of Hamilton County, based upon my knowledge of Jim Watson as a person, as an educator of students and colleagues, and as one who never tires of promoting science education in the community, I want to say that Hamilton County would be missing out on a hard-working, dedicated, and loyal board member, if he is not elected.
I have known Jim Watson for over 40 years. He was in one of my classes at UT Knoxville, and we began collaborating on a number of educational activities from the time he began teaching at Red Bank. His enthusiasm for educating students has never ceased. Only a few weeks ago Jim recruited a cadre of Hamilton County teachers for professional development at a workshop on geology in the Smokies.
Based upon my experience with pre-collegiate educators in the very first Lyndhurst Project at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, in 1991 I formed Tennessee Earth Science Teachers (TEST), an organization dedicated to enhancing earth science education for Tennessee K-12 teachers. Jim Watson was the first president of TEST and he remains a loyal and dedicated member today. He was honored twice by the National Association of Geoscience Teachers as an Outstanding Earth Science Teacher and served a second term as TEST president. I would vote for him in a heartbeat.
Don Byerly