‘Partnership Network’ schools
Brainerd High SchoolDalewood Middle SchoolOrchard Knob ElementaryOrchard Knob Middle SchoolWoodmore Elementary
The state of Tennessee’s latest plan for Hamilton County’s lowest-performing schools, which does not include a state takeover of the five worst schools, was met with enthusiasm at a school board work session Thursday night.
State Education Commissioner Candice McQueen, who has visited the area several times in the past few weeks, presented the newest plan for the five schools previously known as the iZone schools. It includes a memorandum of understanding and the formation of a “Partnership Network.”
The network leaves responsibility for the schools – Brainerd High, Dalewood Middle, Orchard Knob Elementary, Orchard Knob Middle and Woodmore Elementary – to the district. It would include the formation of a 7-person advisory council, a state-funded partnership liaison to traverse the relationship and strategic funding.
This plan has evolved since the state first threatened to take over the schools, which have shown up on the state’s priority school list of the bottom 5 percent of schools for two cycles, in the fall of 2016.