One Man Puts His Stamp on a Community

By Trinity Eddington, Tori Rasmussen, and Mary Roark

If you drive down Oak Ridge Highway through our little community, you will pass Karns Elementary School. And if you happen to be there in the mid-afternoon, you will be greeted by the sight of young children enjoying a break from learning on the swings and the monkey-bars. And if you happen to let your eyes drift from the kids, you might notice a weather-beaten, wooden sign that says, “Ben Burnette Playground.” And you might wonder, as we did, who the “Ben Burnette” is and why this place of joy was named for him. And if you read on, you will find the answer. 

Carrying an old cardboard box full of memories and a framed picture of Karns Elementary School, the “larger-than-life” former Karns Primary/Elementary principal, Mr. Ben Burnette, greeted us. Through an hour of lively and interesting conversation, we were pleasantly surprised to discover a deeper insight into his impact on the Karns community.

Born in Alabama in 1936 but raised in Fountain City, Burnette’s presence has been felt in Knoxville since “the get go.” After graduating from Central High School in 1954 and Carson Newman in 1959, he joined the Tennessee Air National Guard to “dodge the draft” so he could “choose what [he] wanted to do.” The result was a teaching career beginning at Shannondale in 1960. Two years later, the Guard was called into active duty due to the Berlin Wall Crisis which put being a teacher on pause. When he returned, he taught and principled at a number of schools, including Powell, before reaching Karns Primary. 

Appointed in 1981, Burnette began his thirteen-year-long position as principal at Karns Primary. He instituted many changes and innovations that helped to bring KES into the forefront of education at the time. Burnette helped write educational software for primary school students. These programs included lessons on “clock arithmetic, the alphabet, number, and color word.” This innovation was of great significance to Burnette because of its abnormality at the time. He explains, “We had a computer in every classroom… long before most schools had computers, and that was because of my pushing for that.” 

Adding on to his agenda, Burnette found time to reward the students for good and improving grades. Former student and current Karns High journalism teacher, Mrs. Rachel Monday, remembers, “We always looked forward to the end of the grading period because if you got first or second honors then he would take you to Hardees and buy you a cookie, and if you were really lucky, he might pick you to ride in his Corvette to Hardees and then you were big stuff.” He also worked to include parents and other community members through new ideas. For example, he created an original pamphlet that “no other community has ever published” to promote the Karns area and its schools. He also held an annual “Grandparents’ Day” celebration to honor the impression of those relationships in students’ lives. Burnette’s influence was felt in a variety of memorable ways.

One of the major stages of Burnette’s career was in the joining of Karns Primary and Intermediate schools. Production on a brand new building began in the fall of 1990 and included many changes for the students. Unknown to many, sewage problems caused “you know what” to flood the new Primary commons, aka “the pit,” which led to another relocation for the first and second graders. Burnette recalls, “We were so crowded by the time they completed our part of the building,” but he ultimately believes the end result to be a “blessing.” 

Burnette has a framed photo of the elementary that he intends to donate to the school.

 

What many people might not know is that there was little funding in the budget for a playground for the new school. Burnette knew the importance of having such an area, so as he did with so many other things, he got creative. “We got the PTA to sponsor purchasing some equipment for it,” Burnette explained. In addition, the school held a major fundraiser in which the students would collect pennies to contribute. Monday recalls, “Each classroom had one of those giant plastic water-bottles, and families would save up all of their pennies, and we would bring them in envelopes or ziplock bags. There were competitions to see which classes could bring in the most pennies for the playground.” The playground offered the children an outlet for amusement and distraction that previously was not present. Since Burnette played such a prominent role in the project, it was dedicated in his name as the “Ben Burnette Playground.”

Burnette revisiting his beloved playground twenty-five years into his retirement.

With thirteen years of memories at Karns, Burnette decided it was time for retirement in 1994. “I was just ready to retire. I had been at it 34 years,” he describes. Being that his wife was also retired, they began traveling out of country. “I have been to Ireland twice… Egypt once… …Russia twice [and] South America a couple times,” he elaborates. He has also maintained a good relationship with former students through vacations and reunions. Kristine Berrier, a previous student and teacher under him, recalls, “He, and his sweet late wife Martha, have attended both of my children’s birthday parties, as well as spent time with us at Christmas.” Burnette had such an impact on Berrier that she named her son after him and describes him as being “a precious friend” and says she is “truly blessed to have known him.” 

 

Out of all his accomplishments, Burnette believes that reading to the first graders was “probably the most significant thing [he] did.” He describes, “I would go into the classroom in the beginning of the school year and talk to first graders about the importance of reading in their [lives] and really encourage them to work hard and tell them that I would be in to see them in the spring and listen to them read.” After hearing their improvement, he would give them a “stamp of approval” and “tell them how proud [he] was.” Despite the pressures of being a principal, Burnette made sure to devote time to listen to over 150 first graders.

When asked if he would have chosen another career if he had the opportunity to do it over, Burnette replied, “No. Money isn’t everything.” He became a teacher because of his “love for children” which helped him become a “better person.” 

“I had a lot of good children at Karns,” -Burnette

Special thanks to Mr. Burnette, Mrs Monday, and Mrs Berrier for their contributions and time.