By Shannon Coan | Chattanooga Times Free Press
This week, more than 44,500 Hamilton County students return to the classroom.
Students and families can expect to see the school system maintain its focus on academic achievement and personalization, with students belonging and feeling accepted in their school continuing to be a big point of emphasis for the district.
“We want every student to have a good experience this school year,” district spokesperson Steve Doremus said in an interview. “That’s not the end all, be all. We still want to see academic achievement and all those other things, but we want everyone to have a good experience. That starts with … across the district having a good experience for all of our employees, our students and our students’ families to make sure that there are as few bumps in the road as we can have.”
The district also has new leadership with five newcomers having been elected to the school board Thursday. When the new members take office Sept. 1, the board’s makeup will be seven Republicans and four Democrats. It currently has six Republicans, three Democrats and two independents.
STAFFING
Hamilton County seems to be in good shape for staffing, with more vacancies filled ahead of this school year than at this time a year ago.
As of Monday, 96% of the district’s available positions have been filled, with the district having hired 430 teachers who are either new to the district or returning after working elsewhere, Doremus said.
Of the vacant positions, roughly 20 are for core content teachers, such as math, social studies and English language arts. The district is also looking for about the same number of exceptional education teachers, as well as for around 15 certified support positions, including school psychologists, social workers and speech language pathologists, Doremus said.
This year, the district reported 62 retirements and 357 resignations, creating 419 vacancies. The number of retirements was up compared to the previous year, while resignations decreased, Doremus said.
Principals have been working with community superintendents to develop staffing plans to ensure every student is served even if current vacancy levels persist, Doremus said.
Thirteen Hamilton County schools will welcome a new principal this year. At the district level, the MidTown and Missionary Ridge learning communities have new community superintendents, and the system named a new charter school coordinator.
NEW LAWS
Tennessee lawmakers passed a variety of laws that will affect K-12 public schools this year. They include:
– Defibrillators: Requires all public and private schools that serve high school students to have an automated external defibrillator that is accessible during the school day and during all school athletic activities. The AED must be placed in an unlocked location within three minutes of where practices and games are held.
– Armed staff: Allows some teachers and staff to carry concealed guns in school provided they meet several requirements, including training and background checks, and receive approval from the district’s director of schools, the school principal and a local law enforcement agency. Superintendent Justin Robertson said in April he would not recommend arming staff given the district’s ability to provide a school resource deputy or school security officer in every building.
– Transgender students: Requires school employees to pass on information about a student requesting to be addressed using a different name or pronoun to a school administrator, who must then report it to the parent. The law allows parents who were not informed, or were given false or misleading information, to sue the school district and subjects the district to legal action from the state’s attorney general.
– School violence: Previous Tennessee law made it a misdemeanor to threaten to commit an act of mass violence on school property or at a school-related activity. The new law increases the penalty to a felony. It does not apply to those with an intellectual disability.
– Baby Olivia: Requires public schools to include a video of at least 3 minutes in duration depicting the development of a fetus in the family life curriculum. The bill specifically mentions “Meet Baby Olivia,” an animation developed by anti-abortion group Live Action, but schools can choose to show a different ultrasound or computer animation instead.