Superintendent Rick Smith listens during the meeting.A man who got married right out of Red Bank High School struggled for eight years to support his three kids and stay-at-home-wife on a $10-an-hour auto parts store job – until he scored a $30-an-hour computer-related job at Chattanooga’s Volkswagen assembly plant.
Hamilton County school board member Steve Highlander, who taught at Red Bank, knows the man and used him as an example at the board’s retreat Saturday morning of why the school district needs to offer more vocational training for students who aren’t college-bound.
“Vocational, for sure, we need,” said Highlander, whose district includes Central and Ooltewah high schools.
Board members spent four hours Saturday going over such matters as the school district’s goals, its strengths and weaknesses. They heard about Hamilton County’s scores on the statewide school Report Card released Thursday, learned how the the district promotes literacy, discussed public comment at board meetings and reviewed the new collaborative conferencing process that replaces collective bargaining with the teachers’ union.
Teacher morale was a challenge cited by school board member Greg Martin, who represents Hixson-area schools. Martin said he sat down for a two-hour talk with two dozen teachers at Loftis Middle School after the school board reduced health insurance benefits.