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Saturday, November 14, 2026Nov 14

A guide to district staffing, new Tennessee laws as Hamilton County students head back to school

Staff photo by Olivia Ross / From left, Ava Card, Taylor Searcey, Kalifa Ford and Jada Moore pose for a photo with Scrappy at the Hamilton County Schools Back to School Bash on Saturday at Tennessee Riverpark.
Staff photo by Olivia Ross / From left, Ava Card, Taylor Searcey, Kalifa Ford and Jada Moore pose for a photo with Scrappy at the Hamilton County Schools Back to School Bash on Saturday at Tennessee Riverpark.


This week, more than 44,500 Hamilton County students return to the classroom.

Students and families can expect to see the school system maintain its focus on academic achievement and personalization, with students belonging and feeling accepted in their school continuing to be a big point of emphasis for the district.

“We want every student to have a good experience this school year,” district spokesperson Steve Doremus said in an interview. “That’s not the end all, be all. We still want to see academic achievement and all those other things, but we want everyone to have a good experience. That starts with … across the district having a good experience for all of our employees, our students and our students’ families to make sure that there are as few bumps in the road as we can have.”

  photo  Staff photo by Olivia Ross / From left, Angela, Sabrina and Kimberly Cox check out a fossil dig activity at the Hamilton County Schools Back to School Bash on Saturday at the Tennessee Riverpark.
 
 

(READ MORE: School leaders, students reflect as Chattanooga Preparatory’s founding class begins senior year)