A Signal Mountain committee looking into the viability of breaking away from the Hamilton County Schools system will hear firsthand from municipalities in Shelby County, Tenn., about their experiences leaving a county school system.
The seven-member group and Chris Howley, the town's mayor, will travel to Shelby County on Monday to spend three days talking with superintendents and mayors in several of the county's six municipalities that launched their own school systems in 2014.
Howley said he hopes the trip will help the committee better understand the inner workings of small municipal school districts as Signal Mountain continues to investigate whether it's a viable move for the mountain's three schools.
"This will give the committee an invaluable opportunity to speak with community leaders and school officials who have been through the process," he said.
Each meeting is open to the public. It also will be recorded and available for anyone to listen to after the trip, Howley added.
John Friedl, chairman of the viability committee, told the group during its regular meeting Wednesday night that some questions will be sent to the superintendents and mayors in advance of the visit.
"But otherwise, we will have free-flowing, open discussions with our hosts," Friedl added.
In recent weeks, a group of mountain residents has asked the town to stop the committee's work, arguing that it's unnecessary and saying they're fundamentally against the idea of leaving the Hamilton County school system.
The town of Signal Mountain contains three of the county's top-performing schools - Signal Mountain Middle/High, Thrasher Elementary and Nolan Elementary. The schools educate about 2,500 students and a very small share of minority and poor students.
If the town decides to form its own district, residents would have to vote to establish it, which would involve creating a separate school board and hiring a superintendent to oversee the district. The schools each would receive state and county per-pupil allocations, meaning Hamilton County Schools would receive less money because of a decrease in enrollment, according to the state.
The committee decided Wednesday night to release a survey that parents, educators and residents of the mountain can take to provide feedback. The committee discussed details of the survey for more than an hour, and hopes to make it available for the public to take online in coming weeks.
Susan Speraw, a member of the committee, created the survey that includes questions about the current quality of the schools' administrators, teachers, curriculum and enrichment activities, among other things.
"We don't really know what people's expectations are [for the schools,]" she said, adding that the survey would provide an organized and systematic way to gather the community's thoughts.
Committee member Charley Spencer questioned how the results will be used.
"Would we take the issues to [Hamilton County Schools] and say, 'These are the issues that have been raised,' and ask, 'What are you going to do about it?'" he said.
Later, Friedl said the survey is meant to inform the committee and town council about what the community is thinking and whether they are satisfied with the schools as they are now or want to see specific improvements. The answers received through the survey will not be used to direct a future school board if a separate district is formed, he added.
"We are simply gathering information that the responsible parties can use however they see best," he said.
Committee member Melissa Wood added that the group is not tasked with answering whether the mountain should start its own district, but whether it can.
"The 'should' part of it comes after we figure out if it can be done," she said. " That's when all the voices can be heard and the real debate begins."
The survey hopefully will provide meaningful responses that will help everyone answer the question about whether the mountain should start a separate district if it seems to be a viable option, she added.
In 2014, six municipalities in Shelby County started their own districts, just three years after the overwhelmingly black Memphis school district merged with the primarily white Shelby County Schools in one of the largest school mergers in the nation's history.
The establishment of those new districts caused a legal battle among the groups, setting some legal precedents and prompting new legislation to be passed in the Tennessee General Assembly, opening the door for municipalities like Signal Mountain to form their own districts.
Chattanooga City Schools and Hamilton County Schools merged in 1997 after city voters decided to get out of the school business.
Contact staff writer Kendi A. Rainwater at krainwater@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6592. Follow on Twitter @kendi_and.