Cloteen Ward is Educator of the Week

By Charlotte Underwood

LAFOLLETTE, TN (WLAF)- Educators make a difference in students’ lives every day. For many students, having a school employee who cares and goes that extra mile can be the difference in a successful education and graduation. We’ve all had that teacher, or school employee who inspired us or helped in some way. That’s why WLAF and Eagle Tire Pros salute all of our hardworking educators with a weekly feature.

Cloteen Ward is Eagle Tire Pros Educator of the Week. She works in the cafeteria at LaFollette Elementary School. She has been with the school system for 22 years. She worked at West LaFollette Elementary first, before moving over to LaFollette Elementary in 2008 when the new school was opened.

Ward was born at LaFollette Hospital and attended school at West LaFollette, LaFollette Middle, and CCHS before graduating in 1983.

She said receiving a nomination as an educator of the week was a “great honor and that she was humbled and felt very blessed by it.”

When she’s not working at the school, she can be found at Indian Creek Baptist Church out in Pinecrest. She also loves to garden and sew clothes and make things, and “fix clothes for her kids.”

She and her husband Cecil have two children, a daughter and a son, as well as seven grandchildren, who she loves to spend time with. The four older ones are grown, but the three younger grandkids come over every weekend.

“We ride bicycles and play basketball and have a great time; I love my kids and my grandkids, they are very important to me,” Ward said.

You could say working for Campbell County Schools is in her blood as many of her family members also worked in the school system. Her grandmother Carry Wilson worked in the cafeteria at West LaFollette, and her grandfather Theodore Wilson was a janitor at West LaFollette after he was injured working in the mines. Her grandpa’s nickname was “Speedball”, because he “drove about five miles an hour.”

Ward’s husband Cecil worked in the school system as well for 16 years as a janitor until he retired in 2020.

“My mother Edith Green worked at West LaFollette, and we always said, I’m not going to do that, because they have hard work, but my mom called me one day, when my son had just turned eight months old, and they needed someone really bad and that’s how I got started,” Ward said.

When she was in school, she had several educators that made a difference in her life.

“Jane Dora Asbury worked at the high school, and she was home economics teacher then and she was one of my favorites. Ms. Sharp, my sixth-grade teacher at West LaFollette was another favorite, she was a good teacher … and Bob Greene, Lord, I loved him, he was wonderful as well,” Ward said.

Her favorite part about working for the school system is children.

“I love the kids, they make your day, that is my favorite part, we try to help the kids out, sometimes some of them just need that little extra hug during the day,” Ward said.

She also said she enjoyed working with her co-workers at LaFollette Elementary and that they were a good team.

Every Thursday, WLAF’s Charlotte Underwood features the WLAF – Eagle Tire Pros teacher of the week. That educator also receives a free oil change from Eagle Tire Pros. To nominate a teacher for teacher of the week honors, please send your nomination to wlaf@1450wlaf.com. (WLAF NEWS PUBLISHED-04/30/2026-6AM)