Reporter’s Note
What are some stories or topics related to higher education, workforce development, colleges and universities that you’d like to see the Times Free Press cover? Email your ideas to mmangrum@timesfreeepress.com.
– Meghan
THIS WEEK IN EDUCATION NEWS
Hamilton County Schools leaders, teachers and students had a lot to celebrate last week.
District officials and the Public Education Foundation of Chattanooga were on top of the world when Superintendent Bryan Johnson announced that the district will add five more digital fabrication labs in the next year, adding to the 17 that already exist.
Hamilton County now has the highest concentration of such labs in the world, according to the International Fab Lab Network.
Sale Creek community members also were celebrating last Thursday when the school board approved a $2.5 million budget allocation to build Sale Creek Middle/High School a football stadium.
The new ball field was one allocation from $5.75 million in unexpected funds that the board voted to spend last week. Hamilton County teachers will also see an extra $555 bonus in their pockets later this year, and the remaining $750,000 will go toward the new fab labs.
Unpaid student lunch debt was also eating at a lot of community members last week, as the school board debated whether or not to allow high school students to charge school meals when they don’t have money to pay for it.
Meanwhile in nearby Walker County, Georgia, the number of students that receive free or reduced-price lunch varies greatly from school to school.
This week, higher education meets K-12 as University of Tennessee System President Randy Boyd visits Chattanooga to talk about the UT Promise scholarship program with Red Bank High School students.
UTC Chancellor Steve Angle will give his annual State of the University address – that was postponed due to Chattanooga’s water crisis earlier this month – and Gov. Bill Lee will visit Athens, Tennessee for the groundbreaking of the new McMinn County Higher Education Center.
Keep reading for these stories and more!