By Terry Witt – Spotlight Senior Reporter

                Levy County School Board member Ashley Clemenzi gave a moving tribute to departing Yankeetown Principal Teiko Denee Hurst this week, describing her as a dedicated, smart administrator who loved the children of her school.

            Speaking at the school board meeting Tuesday, Clemenzi said Hurst has resigned her position “after a pretty rough year at the school” and has found a couple of opportunities she has decided to pursue.

            “She is one of the smartest cookies I know. We’ll be able to replace her with a smart person, but it will be harder to replace someone that was such a fit for Yankeetown,” Clemenzi said.

            Clemenzi said Yankeetown is a very unique part of Levy County. She said it is rural or poor and “it is a very special place.” She said Hurst told her she had a special bond with Yankeetown, having come from a similar situation in a small rural town.

            Hurst was the sole administrator at the school and dealt with discipline on her own, “which was trying at times,” Clemenzi said.

            She knew some school children came from poor backgrounds and she bought things the kids couldn’t afford out of her own pocket.

            “I’ve been there many times when she would be at Walmart buying backpacks for children who did not have a backpack,” Clemenzi said. “I can’t begin to describe the things that I have witnessed at Yankeetown with the children who are in need, children who don’t have running water, children who don’t have electricity; she would take and she would bathe them, give them deodorant, just go above and beyond what a principal does and she will be sorely missed, but more importantly, the children will miss her.”

—————–

School Board Regular Meeting May 25, 2021; Posted May 28, 2021