Difficult and passionate exchanges erupted between Hamilton County Schools board members and residents Monday evening after the board suggested relocating students from Howard Connect Academy, a no-zone magnet middle school, to alleviate overcrowding at the neighboring Howard School.
The Howard School is at 180% of capacity and is located next to Howard Connect, which has a capacity for 500 students and currently serves around 300.
The board held a facilities planning meeting Monday where members discussed solutions to the overcrowding at the high school among other rezoning matters.
While moving 500 students from the high school, which has 1,600 students, to the Howard Connect building would still put the school slightly over capacity, board members agreed it seemed like the most sustainable solution -- at least for the near term.
"All I'm asking you, as a grandmother raising a grandchild, do not close their school down," Cassandra Robinson, a Hamilton County resident, told board members.
Board member Karitsa Jones, D-Chattanooga, said the board had no intentions of shutting down the Howard Connect program but may consider relocating it as one of several options.
Those options include keeping Howard Connect in place and looking at satellite campuses for The Howard School and building a new school entirely. However, those solutions will take years, she said.
"I know that's probably not very palatable to a lot of people in this room," Jones said.
She added that because Howard Connect is not a zoned magnet school, meaning it does not draw students from an assigned geographical boundary but students opt in from all over the county, it's a matter of fairness to The Howard School students, who are zoned.
"That is the perspective we have to look at," Jones said. "When we think about kids that go to (The Howard School), that is a completely zoned school. The children that walk in there every day are zoned because of their address to go to that building. So, we have to make sure that they have a school to go to."
Overcrowding at The Howard School pushed staff and students to demand immediate action from the board. There are not enough lockers at the school, or seats in the cafeteria and too few classrooms.
In the short term, from January to May, Superintendent Justin Roberston said the administration and the board are looking at satellite locations and using some spare classrooms at Howard Connect to transfer around 200-300 students from The Howard School. He said they are also considering morning and afternoon school schedules.
"As somebody who's in the building every day, I feel the pressure," said Chandler Davenport, who teaches ACT prep at The Howard School. "One hundred eighty percent capacity is a lot. However, as a teacher, I know that one of the things our kids need most is consistency. And so while the inclination is to change something immediately, we have to consider the effects that that's going to have on our kids. Like we could throw out the satellite site and move 200 kids to a different location next week. That's going to take them out of their routine."
By fall, the district hopes to have a longer, more sustainable solution, which may involve relocating Howard Connect.
Community members asked why the district wouldn't consider rezoning The Howard School, on Market Street.
Robertson said that because of where the school is located and where its families live, rezoning would result in 96 students leaving.
County Commissioner Joe Graham, who represents District 11 where The Howard School is located, attended the meeting. He said he'd be willing to ask the commission for additional funds once the board determines exactly what is needed, whether it be a new building or money for locker renovations at The Howard School.
"Whatever the ask is, I represent that district," Graham said in an interview following the meeting. "I'm not afraid to ask for what we need. The reason I came is because I wanted to, first hand, hear the discussion. I've talked to several of these people in this room that have been reaching out to me. And so I wanted to let them know that I very much care and I really want to come up with a solution."
Board members asked the administration to bring back possible options for Howard Connect by the next board meeting. Board member Jill Black, D-Lookout Mountain, said she's working to schedule a meeting with The Howard School staff and students for more input in the coming months.
An official vote on a solution will likely take place before February's meeting.
Contact Carmen Nesbitt at cnesbitt@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6327. Follow her on Twitter @carmen_nesbitt.