BIOGRAPHY

Mrs. Traci Freeman
RTI/504 Coordinator
B.S.- History 6-12 certified
Tennessee Wesleyan College
Elementary Certification
University of Tennessee Chattanooga
M.A.- Instructional Leadership
Tennessee Tech.
ED.S- Instructional Leadership
Tennessee Tech.
Highly Qualified
27 years experience

On August 11, 1993, I entered Rural Vale as a 4th grade teacher and stayed there for 2 years.  Twenty-five years later, and I'm still here!  After two years in 4th, I was moved to 6th-8th grades English and History teacher. That lasted for many years until our little school grew allowing for me to be a History teacher, which was my dream job!  I'm now the veteran teacher in the building and have seen a lot of changes within the school and community.  My co-workers make me feel complete and loved!  It truly is a wonderful close-knit family.  Many students I see now are children of former students!  I've been out of the classroom for seven years and have experienced the role of RTI (Response to Intervention) Coordinator and have worked with K-8.  I truly love this role as I see myself back in grade school struggling with reading and/or math.  This is a personal endeavor for me!  I have said many times that I wished there was RTI back when I was in school for I surely needed it!

 

I grew up in Central FL and moved into the valley at 21 years old.  I've been married to Roger for 33 years, and he went to RVS as well as his mother worked here for years.  I taught both of our boys, so this little school has a lot of profound memories embedded into my heart! 

 

Roger wears many hats as a supervisor in McMinn County Schools but is known as the Safety and Equity Supervisor.  Our oldest son, Justin, passed away in April, 2019 in OK, at the age of 34.  Our youngest son, Alix, is 30 years old and lives in Knoxville.  He is our extreme sports and fitness freak!  After years of traveling around the country supporting his motocross dream, we now support him in his many Ironman athlete endeavors.  Last year, we traveled with him to Nice, France, for the 70.3 Ironman World Championship. It's a testimony that one can be from a small, rural background, attend a little country school, and accomplish his/her dreams of competing on the grand scheme while traveling the world!

 

Justin had two children, Jasper (13) and Jagger (9), and Pappaw and Gigi love spending time with them when we have them.  Jagger lives in UT with his mother and visits each summer for Gigi's Summer Camp!  Jasper lives nearby and visits more often.  We love doing the Gigi Thing on the weekends!  

 

Roger and I love the beach and would love to retire in the Keys in our motorhome.  We also love spending the weekends on our boat on Tellico Lake and fishing.  Just being in God's sanctuary and feeling His beauty all around provides me with comfort, peace, and understanding that everything is going to be all right!