In the Hamilton County Board of Education's first meeting as an 11-member panel, Tiffanie Robinson, an independent of Chattanooga, was elected as the new chairwoman in a unanimous vote. She steps up from her previous role as vice chair.
Members were spilt between two nominations for vice chair between Karitsa Mosley Jones, D-Chattanooga, and Joe Smith, R-Hixson. With Joe Wingate, R-Chattanooga, absent, the board opted to delay the vote until the next meeting.
"Thank you, everyone. I appreciate the opportunity," Robinson said. "I think the board has a lot of great work ahead of it for the year. And now, we've got 11 people and, hopefully, we can focus on building on the success that we've had and focusing on the problems that we know that our district is currently facing. I want to do a good job of leading everyone through that work."
Ben Connor, D-Chattanooga, was also appointed as the board's liaison to the Tennessee School Boards Association.
Robinson joined the board in 2016, narrowly defeating George Ricks, who had served for eight years.
Robinson succeeds Tucker McClendon of East Ridge, who left the Board of Education to run for Hamilton County Commission. Though McClendon lost his bid in the May primaries, Hamilton County Mayor Weston Wamp appointed McClendon as deputy mayor for education and workforce development.
Robinson serves as the president/CEO of Lamp Post Properties, a real estate fund and development group. She is also CEO and principal broker of SVN Second Story Real Estate Management and general partner at the JumpFund, an organization dedicated to activating women as angel investors.
The size of the Hamilton County school board was expanded from nine seats to 11 to reflect the redistricting based on the 2020 census.
Contact Carmen Nesbitt at cnesbitt@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6327. Follow her on Twitter @carmen_nesbitt.