The Red Bank School Advisory Committee, established last month to explore the possibility of the city forming its own school district, will hold biweekly meetings the second and fourth Tuesday of every month.
When the group first convened on March 14, members identified their first order of business: to determine whether the city has the legal minimum number of school-age children living within its limits to operate its own school district. They plan to approach the area's Hamilton County school board representative, Kathy Lennon, to determine how many school-age kids live in the city, since several of the schools within Red Bank take students from Chattanooga and vice versa.
City Attorney Arnold Stulce explained to the committee's five members that under state law, Red Bank must have a minimum of 1,500 kindergarten- through 12th-grade-aged students living within city limits to be able to form its own district.
He also recommended that the group - composed of former Red Bank Middle School Principal Johnny Pierce, Red Bank Chamber Council member Kathy Schein, Red Bank High School teacher Jamie Kerns, RBHS graduate Allen Turner and former high school teacher in Hamilton County schools Link Sparks, each of whom was appointed by one of the city commissioners - appoint a chair, vice chair and someone to keep records of meetings. The group named Pierce chairman, Kerns vice chairwoman and Sparks recorder.
Provided it makes sense for Red Bank to move forward with its research, Pierce identified four main areas on which committee members need to gather information: how the school system would be organized, how it would be funded, what facilities it could use, and whether to provide transportation.
Mayor John Roberts told the committee that he'd pass along research he'd received from the town of Signal Mountain, which also recently formed a committee tasked with determining the viability of starting a town school system.
Roberts said he doesn't expect the committee to come up with its recommendations in the very near future, adding that he expects it to take a year to a year and a half. If the committee does recommend the city establish its own system, the matter would be put to vote by referendum before any action would be taken.
"This is probably the largest task the city of Red Bank has ever engaged in," said Roberts.
While the group has established when it will meet, it is still deciding on location, with possible options being City Hall, the Community Center or RBHS. All the group's meetings must be public and advertised in the newspaper, said Stulce.