Listening tour highlights desire for more safety measures, collaboration in Hamilton County schools

Increased security and better communication were among the improvements citizens from the Missionary Ridge Learning Community said they’d like to see brought to Hamilton County Schools during the district’s latest round of listening sessions last week.

Schools within the Missionary Ridge Learning Community are Apison Elementary, East Brainerd Elementary, East Ridge Elementary, East Side Elementary, Spring Creek Elementary, Westview Elementary, Chattanooga School for the Liberal Arts, East Ridge Middle, Tyner Middle Academy, Collegiate High, East Hamilton Middle/High, East Ridge High, STEM School Chattanooga and Tyner High Academy.

Held at East Brainerd Elementary, the Feb. 26 gathering was the third of five stops along the listening tour, with the final taking place at Orchard Knob Elementary March 5. The meetings are designed to give parents, teachers and community members an opportunity to share their thoughts for the future of the school system.

Superintendent Bryan Johnson held more than 20 listening sessions during the 2017-18 school year, his first year in office.

Responses from last year’s participants were instrumental in the development of Hamilton County Schools’ five-year action plan, called Future Ready 2023, school officials said.

Feedback throughout last week’s session was categorized into five priorities: accelerating student growth; future-ready students; great teachers and leaders; engaged community; and efficient and effective operations.

Among attendees’ list of desires was a pitch for parent learning nights within the Missionary Ridge Learning Community, which participants said could serve as one way to spawn collaboration between the diverse section of schools within the community. The groups would discuss which initiatives and programs worked well in their children’s classroom and which did not.

“[It would be] an opportunity for all of us to come together and say, ‘Hey, CSLA is doing this in first grade. We loved it.’ Or, ‘Hey, East Brainerd tried this this year. It didn’t go so well. Maybe you guys can hold back next year,'” one community member explained.

In regards to effective operations, community members said they’d like to see more thoughtful building design in place to accompany electronic locking mechanisms on school entrances.

The school district has implemented a new visitor management system called Raptor in all 79 schools and installed new door locking systems as well as security cameras at school entrances. But parents pointed out that after being buzzed in the front entrance of many schools, visitors must follow the honor system to proceed to the office, which is sometimes down a hallway or around a corner. School officials have also been vocal about this safety shortcoming.

In December, the school board approved $33,500 for local Franklin Architects to assess and design safer entrances at many of the district’s schools where visitors now can openly access the school and its students without first encountering a front office or supervisory adult.

Participants at the listening session also floated the idea of bringing the school district’s busing in-house, as opposed to contracting transportation companies.

The school board considered running its own buses and expanding its pool of independent bus drivers in 2017. Financial officials within the system at that time told sitting board members that the district could save about $1.9 million a year by taking over busing, though the figures did not include the more than $10 million expected to buy a bus fleet.

For now, school board officials may have to choose between contractors Durham School Services and First Student Inc., the only two companies to submit a bid despite the district spending $40,000 on a consultant to help with the bid process. The board brought LEAN Frog, a Huntsville, Ala.-based consultant group, on last fall to help improve the efficiency of the district’s transportation operations.

Staff writer Meghan Mangrum contributed to this story.

Email Myron Madden at mmadden@timesfreepress.com.