Hamilton County Schools opened Thursday with expectations for a better future the highest they’ve been in years.
That’s new Superintendent Dr. Bryan Johnson’s blessing and curse.
The blessing is that the young superintendent is eager to bring change to a district that, to be kind, has endured several significant challenges over the last 10 years. The Hamilton County Board of Education picked him and wants to see him succeed. Movements such as Chattanooga 2.0 that have sought to change the conversation about the importance of education in the area are supportive. Citizens hope they can feel more confident about sending their children to public schools.
The curse is that the superintendent’s presence itself will not change the culture in schools. He cannot snap his fingers and create the new buzzword of “equity” in every school and especially in every home. He cannot change the past performance of the district’s low-performing schools that has them on the brink of being taken over by the state. He cannot guarantee student achievement and test scores will rise in all district schools during the upcoming year.
We want to tell the public to give him a chance, to allow him to settle in, to check out the lay of the land before he begins to make changes. The problem with that is we would be guilty of the same sentiment as that of parents, teachers and elected leaders who say the same thing about the district’s low-performing schools. Don’t involve the state, they plead. Allow us just one more year to turn things around, they ask.