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Murray • It was just like the Grammys.

A smoke machine fogged the room, neon strobe lights illuminated the stage and hundreds of fans, in rock-star getups, screamed as winners collected their golden statuettes.

Except in this case, the award winners also had to occasionally turn in their front row seats to send stern, you-better-behave looks at the rowdy crowd.

Across the state, schools have been honoring educators for PTA Teacher Appreciation Week. At Longview Elementary in Murray, the school PTA treated teachers to a rock-star awards assembly on Wednesday. The event featured trophies, a red carpet and PTA-mom-paparazzi. It was just one part of a weeklong celebration at Longview, 6240 Longview Drive (560 East).

"It's really nice to feel appreciated," said Gayla Salmon, a second-grade teacher, of the event. "Our PTA has always done extraordinary things, but this is the top."

Salmon won an award for helping turn children into "butterflies." She wasn't the only one. Each school employee also took home gold.

Cafeteria workers won for the category "best food in the state." Custodial staff won for "the shiniest school." And special education teachers won for being the "most fantastic, fabulous, and great."

"Teachers are rock stars in many, many different ways," Anne Youngs, Longview PTA volunteer coordinator, told the kids, her voice shaking with emotion. "Teachers are rock stars to me because they have my children in their care more than six hours a day, and I trust them to take care of my little ones and teach them what they need to know."

PTA member Kelly Benson echoed that sentiment.

"Teachers do the most important job there is, and they don't get recognized for it," said Benson, who has a sixth-grader, fourth-grader and second-grader. "They do the hardest job."

The spirit of thanks wasn't lost on teachers, many of whom dressed as rock stars for the occasion, weaving colorful extensions into their hair.

"Teacher Appreciation Week is awesome," said fifth-grade teacher Trudy Gleason, who won the award for being a "stately" teacher because state history is taught in fifth-grade. "It really helps us to reflect on why we're here."

Blair Ewell, a first-grade teacher who won an award for "all the firsts," called it bittersweet. "You work all year to get to this point," Ewell said of such year-end celebrations, "and then you send [students] along to someone else."

Teachers weren't the only ones at Longview who partied hard Wednesday.

Kids cheered, jumping out of their seats in praise of their teachers. They waved glow sticks, plastic guitars and wore sequined hats and wigs to look the part. Each child was given a wristband to get into the event, just as they would at a concert.

"It's crazy!" said sixth-grader Gabby Golightly of the assembly, her voice barely audible over the din. "Everyone's screaming!"

Sixth-grader Trey Austin, wearing a blond mullet wig, said teachers deserve to be treated like rock stars because they're "amazing."

"They keep kids educated," he said.

After all, if anyone knows what teachers do, day-in and day-out, it's students. "I know for a fact," said fifth-grader Gabriel Black, "they work hard."