Hamilton County Schools

Four new principals have been selected to lead schools for the 2020-2021 School year in Hamilton County Schools. The schools getting new leaders are Allen Elementary, East Brainerd Elementary, Daisy Elementary, and Red Bank Middle School. Three of the new school leaders are familiar faces in Hamilton County Schools. Two are stepping up to accept new assignments in the district as the school system prepares for challenges we face in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic and the devastating tornado that impacted the eastern part of our county.

Maggie Wilkinson, a senior at the Chattanooga High School Center for Creative Arts (CCA), is one of 161 high school seniors in the country named a 2020 U.S. Presidential Scholar. The U.S. Presidential Scholars award is one of the nation’s highest honors for high school students. Seniors selected exemplify academic excellence, leadership qualities, and community service. The distinction is presented on behalf of the President of the United States to seniors of high potential each year.

To celebrate the Class of 2020, Senior Video Features for Hamilton County Schools will highlight a senior from each learning community in May. The spotlight today is on Levi Jones, a senior at Soddy Daisy High School in the North River Learning Community.

Dr. Ashley Aldridge Wilson, principal at Nolan Elementary School, has been named the 2020 National Distinguished Principal from Tennessee by the Tennessee Principals Association. She is the only principal in Tennessee to receive the honor for 2020.

On Saturday, June 6, 2020, BlueCross BlueShield of TN (BCBST) Project SEARCH interns will graduate with an occupational diploma and a certificate of completion through Project SEARCH. The drive-thru graduation ceremony will take place in the driveway of the central office of Hamilton County Schools from 11 a.m. to noon.

Four teachers from Hamilton County Schools are among 30 educators across the state invited to participate in the 2020-2021 class of the Tennessee Educator Fellowship, the State Collaborative for Reforming Education (SCORE) announced today. Megan Autry, Orchard Knob Middle; Japho Hardin, a graphic design teacher at The Howard School; Rosa Heintz, a social studies teacher at Tyner Middle Academy; and Rebekah Reed, a fifth-grade teacher at McConnell Elementary will be part of the yearlong program.

We are reviewing the Top #10 highlights of 2019-2020 as we wind down to the end of a very unusual but successful school year. The highlight at #1 is the resilience of the Hamilton County Schools Class of 2020. The COVID-19 pandemic brought challenges to our community in March, but none were more affected than our seniors in the Class of 2020. At the beginning of March, seniors were considering attire options for the prom, thinking about the last few months with friends, and making sure everyone in the family had an invitation to graduation. In a few short weeks, everything changed for the Class of 2020.

Registration for School Age Child Care in Hamilton County Schools this summer finished with no need to hold a lottery to fill slots at the sites. Approximately 400 children were registered at the planned 25 locations for this summer. Five sites went over the 25 student limit in registrations, but we have already worked with parents at those locations to move children to other sites to get all children registered into a program for the summer.

The National Paideia Center as Paideia Schools for Critical Thinking announced this week that the Chattanooga School for the Arts and Sciences (CSAS) and the Chattanooga School for the Liberal Arts (CSLA) had earned accreditation by the national organization. During the 2019-2020 school year, only five schools in the country are on track to win accreditation, and Hamilton County Schools can lay claim to two of those five, as well as two out of only three accredited schools in Tennessee. CSAS and CSLA are two of the longest-running Paideia schools in the country, and the schools achieved this recognition during the very first year that accreditation became available.

We are reviewing the Top #10 highlights of 2019-2020 as we wind down to the end of a very unusual but successful school year. The highlight at #2 is the response of staff, students, parents, and the community to the COVID-19 pandemic and a tornado. March came in like a lion in 2020, and the lion decided to stick around for a while. The COVID-19 pandemic brought challenges to our community in March that no one imagined when the school year began last August. Then, we added the destruction of a major tornado that ripped through our neighborhoods on Easter Sunday. It was a memorable end to the school year, but tragedy brought out the formidable fighting spirit of the Hamilton County community.

Probasco Readers program winners for 2019-2020 are Middle Valley Elementary in first place, North Hamilton Elementary in second, and Apison Elementary in third. The program encourages the engagement of parents in their child’s reading, as well as having children reading every day for at least 20 minutes.

We are reviewing the Top #10 highlights of 2019-2020 as we wind down to the end of a very unusual but successful school year. The highlight at #3 is Hamilton County Schools produces historic gains in academic growth and achievement.