Student Voice: The School Board Enthusiasts Blog

🏫 School Board Enthusiasts 🏫
The UnifiEd Student Voice Team's School Board Blog

At this month’s regularly scheduled School Board Meeting, there were big changes and signs of big success within Hamilton County Schools.  In this blog, written by students for students, we will discuss the recognitions, presentations, items voted upon, and even our own thoughts and opinions on the School Board Meeting. Although the meeting was long and (at times) boring, keep reading to hear the juicy details of the Hamilton County School Board.  Here is a link to the agenda so you can follow along. 
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Recognitions
We have lots of successful teachers and principals here in Hamilton County; it is only fair they are recognized for all the hard work and amazing things they do for our students.  The first recognition of the evening was for the principal of The Howard School, Dr. LeAndrea Ware, as Principal of the Year for Hamilton County. Next, three teachers were recognized as Teacher of the Year for Hamilton County: Kristin Robertson, a ninth grade english teacher at Signal Mountain Middle/High School; Michele Jones, a fifth teacher at Middle Valley Elementary School; Sara Pratt, a fourth grade teacher at Apison Elementary School.  These teachers were all given a plaque and a $2,500 check from Tennessee Robotics in recognition of the accomplishments, as well as rings for Teacher of the Year sponsored by Jostens.

Students from Signal Mountain Middle/High School were recognized for their ACT Score and local Mock Trial competition achievements. Three (3) students were recognized for achieving a perfect score of 36 on the ACT.  These students were also a part of the Mock Trial teams that were recognized. Signal Mountain had two teams in the Mock Trial regional competition. The underclassmen team placed third in the competition and the upperclassmen team placed first in the competition and advanced to the state competition where they placed third in the state.

Delegations/Presentations
By far the longest section of the meeting was the presentations and comments made by the following delegations:

• The Librarian Leadership Team came to celebrate school library month and to advocate for equitable digital access across the county.
• The Be SMART Campaign
  • Aiming to help parents talk about gun safety with their children, as well as looking for support as they continue this conversation.
• Tom Bagley, Kate Caldwell, and Tricia Thomas
  • All members spoke that, based on their personal experiences, they felt that our students are suffering because our School Budget is too low.
• Hamilton County Code of Conduct
  • A concerned parent of a first grader at CSAS spoke that she was focused on the removal of corporal punishment for principals so students can feel safe at school.
• Leadership Hamilton County Schools- Graduation and Recognition of the Class of 2019
  • A program for community members to learn about leadership in Hamilton County Schools. One graduate spoke that “Investing in our kids is not only the right thing to do for our kids, but the right thing to do for our community.”
• Dr. Justin Robertson- Future Ready 2023 Update
  • Spoke about progress in future ready action plans and benchmark scores.  The School Board spent a lot of time discussing the impacts of this over the next few years and the impacts of this on our teachers; however, neither the impacts of this on our students nor the limitations of this were discussed.

Votes
Everything that was voted upon was approved unanimously.  They include:

• Consent Agenda, Sick Leave Bank Trustee, Textbook Adoption, Increase in Out of County and Out of State Tuition Rates, Schedule Sessions for 2019-2020, and  Zero Tolerance Appeal
• The Howard School’s Work-Based Learning Program Partnership with the City of Chattanooga
  • The city of Chattanooga will provide transportation, support, and 25 paid internships. Yay for Howard!
• Additional Funds for Track Work at Central High School and Brainerd High School
  • The board agrees there needs to be a better way to test the soil, but the technology is not there yet.

Our Thoughts

• Overall, the meeting was actually a success; however, it was somewhat confusing. We came into the meeting expecting to see our School Board Representatives prepare to make a positive change for the students of Hamilton County, instead we saw some School Board Representatives that were focused on costs and not the benefits for students.
• Additionally, there was much confusion during presentations due to the acronyms that were used and the possibly unrelated questions. As students, hearing the success happening all across Hamilton County is AMAZING, but the excitement is not shared across the board. News like this should be announced more publicly because students and teachers need to be recognized for their outstanding success. Throughout the meeting, the discussion frequently became hyper-focused on one topic. We feel that School Board Representatives failed to see the bigger, broader picture of how issues can be solved and how they affect our students, teachers, and county as a whole.
  • Meeting Rating: 8/10. We recommend going to the next School Board Meeting (next Thursday, April 25th), but expect some confusion and possibly some boredom. 
    • ​Editors Note - next week's meeting will include a BIG announcement from Superintendent Bryan Johnson so we also encourage all to attend.

Events/Announcements

1. April 19, 2019 - Spring Holiday (Schools and CO Closed)
2. April 23, 2019 - LC Advisory Meeting Missionary Ridge (Spring Creek Ele.)
3. April 25, 2019 - Budget Work Session 5:00 p.m. - Board Room*
4. April 25, 2019 - LC Advisory Meeting Harrison Bay (Smith Elementary)
5. April 29, 2019 - Superintendent's Honors Banquet - Convention Center
6. May 2, 2019 - Budget Work Session 5:00 p.m. - Board Room
7. May 9, 2019 - Budget Work Session 4:00 p.m. - Board Room
8. May 20, 2019 - Board Agenda Review 5:00 p.m. - Board Room
9. May 23, 2019 - Half Day for Students Last Day of School - Buses will Run
10. May 23, 2019 - Board Meeting - Regular Session 5:30 p.m. - Board Room