The state education commissioner met with Hamilton County Schools Superintendent Jim Scales Tuesday to brainstorm ways to turn around Howard School of Academics and Technology.
State education officials want to tackle issues such as Howard’s 56.5 percent graduation rate, as well as low achievement at some of its feeder elementary and middle schools.
State officials hope to implement programs at Howard and about a dozen other persistently failing high schools around the state through a proposed state-run “Achievement School District.”
Although the plans are somewhat contingent on whether Tennessee wins federal Race to the Top money, Commissioner of Education Tim Webb said something must be done to help schools like Howard, regardless.
“The bottom line is, we have to do some things to get the situation fixed at Howard, so we have to come up with a plan,” Dr. Webb told the Chattanooga Times Free Press.
At Tuesday’s meeting, Dr. Webb asked Dr. Scales and his leadership team about their “wish list” for Howard. Their responses included ideas such as extended learning time during the day and reducing class sizes, Dr. Webb said.
Dr. Scales emphasized that no decision had been made about Howard’s future and that helping the school improve means examining low achievement in feeder schools.
“We just can’t support Howard in isolation,” he said.
As of Tuesday evening, Howard Principal Paul Smith had not yet talked to Dr. Scales about the meeting. He said he was familiar with the Achievement School District concept, but said he was waiting for further details.
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