Schools within the county’s small municipalities
Seven of Hamilton County’s 10 municipalities have schools within their limits, and 20 of the district’s 76 schools are within the six small municipalities. Chattanooga has more than 40 public schools, and the unincorporated parts of the county have about a dozen schools.* Collegedale: Wolftever Creek Elementary, Ooltewah Middle School* East Ridge: East Ridge Elementary, Spring Creek Elementary, East Ridge Middle School, East Ridge High School* Lookout Mountain: Lookout Mountain Elementary* Signal Mountain: Thrasher Elementary, Nolan Elementary, Signal Mountain Middle/High* Soddy-Daisy: Sequoyah, Soddy Elementary, Allen Elementary, Daisy Elementary, Soddy-Daisy Middle School, Soddy-Daisy High School* Red Bank: Alpine Crest Elementary, Red Bank Middle School, Red Bank High School, Dawn SchoolLakesite, Ridgeside and Walden have no schools within their boundaries.
By the numbers
* Hamilton County Schools: About 57 percent of the student body is white, and about 60 percent of students live in poverty.* Signal Mountain Middle/High School: About 93 percent of the student body is white, and about 13 percent of students live in poverty.* Thrasher Elementary: about 95 percent of the student body is white, and about 11 percent of students live in poverty.* Nolan Elementary: About 94 percent of the student body is white, and about 13 percent of students live in poverty.Source: Tennessee Department of Education
Signal Mountain, Tenn., residents were divided Monday night about whether to consider breaking away from Hamilton County Schools, but ultimately the town council voted to form a committee tasked with investigating the viability of the move.
More than a dozen community members spoke during the two-hour meeting, and the group that’s spent months researching the feasibility of forming a separate district shared its preliminary findings with the crowd.
“Signal Mountain schools have had success despite the Hamilton County Department of Education,” said Rob Hensley, speaking on the group’s months of research. “We are only able to address the symptoms of the problems rather than the underlying causes.”