Hamilton County Board of Education member Linda Mosley said on a radio broadcast Sunday that she would like to see the Benwood Initiative expanded to more than the 16 schools it serves.
"There are some really good initiatives that [the Benwood Foundation] has in place that I think could benefit every student in every school [in Hamilton County]," she said on WUTC 88.1, the National Public Radio affiliate of the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga.
"I, for one, am going to figure out a way to make that happen budgetwise because that's what it's going to take is dollars," Mosley said.
The Benwood Foundation's education initiative was put into action in 2001 to help eight local elementary schools. Grant money to these schools -- deemed among the 20 lowest performers in Tennessee at the time -- totaled $5 million.
In 2007, the original initiative was heralded as a huge success, with sweeping reforms to the way teachers taught and conveyed best practices to one another. That year another $7.3 million was awarded to eight more elementary schools.
Current grants are scheduled to run out by 2012.
Hamilton County Schools Superintendent Jim Scales said during the broadcast that the expansion could include middle and high schools.
"I think there are two things that we really need to be focused on: principal leadership -- leadership in the building -- and the quality of teaching in the classroom," he said. "So whether it's an elementary school or a middle school or a high school, those two things are very paramount."
Mosley and Scales were two of eight panelists who discussed the Benwood Initiative.
Before that, WUTC aired an hourlong documentary titled "Testing Teachers" that examined what helps teachers succeed in underachieving schools.
Half the program was devoted to the Benwood Initiative. A main figure in the documentary is Joe Curtis, a teacher at Hardy Elementary School, which was among the original eight Benwood schools.
Curtis, a 28-year veteran, was made one of Hardy's "lead teachers," positions created to mentor other teachers.
"Teaching and education is a process, and it takes time," said Curtis, who also was on the panel.
"I'm just hoping that Benwood stays around because they have ... validated our students in urban education. They have validated the teachers who work really hard with the challenges that we have to deal with every day."
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