On Thursday, the Hamilton County Schools system begins its 2016-17 school year. By the time it ends next May, we want to believe the district will have begun an historic turnaround.
The waning days of 2015 and first few months of 2016, after all, couldn’t have been much worse for the state of local public education.
First, a Chamber of Commerce-initiated report indicated only about a third of area students in the coming years will have the required level of education to take the type of living wage job offered in the area. It noted 15,000 jobs could not currently be filled by Hamilton County residents because of a lack of training, skills and education.
Second, standardized test scores showed district schools had fallen further behind the state and other metro areas in every high school test and on average ACT scores. The state Report Card showed the system’s schools trailed the state’s other metro areas in academic growth.
Third, the rape of an Ooltewah High School basketball player exposed, at a minimum, the lack of communication between the office of superintendent of schools and the Hamilton County Board of Education and between the superintendent and the public; the varying degree of education about bullying and hazing policies within the schools; and the lack of resolve on the part of the school board involving the effectiveness and contract of the superintendent.