The residents of Signal Mountain finally got their chance Monday night to ask questions about a possible breakaway from Hamilton County Schools.
For about eight months, the public was not able to ask questions while a seven-member School System Viability Committee studied whether the town could feasibly pull out of the Hamilton County Schools and create its own district.
Last week, committee Chairman John Friedl said questioning was not allowed during the panel’s work sessions because it would have “dramatically increased the amount of time we spent and it would have distracted us from the job we were doing.”
The committee’s 48-page final report was made public last month. Monday night’s community meeting was the first of several aimed at gathering public input about the possible breakaway now that the report has been finalized.
More than 80 questions were submitted online, Friedl said. Only some of those were addressed before opening the floor to audience members to ask questions.