October 23, 2025
Rutherford County Schools
Kaitlyn Benavides, the school library information specialist for Rutherford County Schools, recently received the Tennessee Association of School Librarians’ (TASL) Distinguished School Administrator Award.
A past recipient of the RCS middle school level Teacher of Year award, Benavides has held her current role since 2023.
Benavides has been highly active with TASL over the years.
Her nomination, in part, reads as follows:
“…She has led our librarians with grace and calmness. Kaitlyn instituted multiple days for librarians to be able to meet together and collaborate in very helpful fashion. Mrs. Benavides also was involved with instituting extra money for individual libraries to purchase books. According to Tennessee guidelines for school libraries, Rutherford County libraries now collectively are deemed Exemplary for average age per book. Mrs. Benavides has been a true leader and a passionate force for Rutherford County Schools for libraries not only in the state of Tennessee, but in the country. Rutherford County libraries, quite frankly, would not be where they are today, nor where they are going in the future, without Mrs. Kaitlyn Benavides.”