Dr. Bryan Johnson selected for Leadership Class

Superintendent Dr. Bryan Johnson is one of only 46 chosen for the seventh class of Leadership Tennessee announced on Monday. Dr. Johnson was selected from the more than 400 nominations for the latest group of Tennessee leaders who will spend the next year engaging in collaborative, non-partisan discussions on issues important to the people of Tennessee. He is the only superintendent or local school district K-12 representative selected for the new class.

“Selection to the seventh class of Leadership Tennessee is a tremendous honor, and I look forward to sharing the mission of public education to prepare Tennessee’s children to meet the challenges of the future,” Dr. Johnson said. “It is vital to the success of our families, communities, and our state that the children in our schools today have the skills necessary to succeed after graduation as they move on to college, or career. Innovative partnerships between schools, business and industry, community organizations, and the community are opening a new era of opportunity for the children and families we serve in our schools.”

Leadership Tennessee is an initiative of the College of leadership and Public Service at Lipscomb University in Nashville designed to bring together leaders representing the geographic and professional diversity of the state. The program is entering its seventh year of bringing leaders together to visit different areas of Tennessee, learn best practices, and analyze important issues faced by the state.

“Tennessee has a lot of momentum right now, but Tennesseans continue to face significant challenges that require new and innovative partnerships to overcome them. Each class brings its own unique perspective and insight to the conversation, and we’re excited about Class VII joining the Leadership Tennessee network,” Leadership Tennessee Executive Director Cathy Cate said in an announcement of the new class. “Each class comes together during the course of the year, having difficult conversations that challenge their points of view on issues in their communities, and we’re looking forward to Class VII and developing our seventh cohort around their chosen focus areas.”

Superintendent Johnson just completed his second school year leading the schools in Hamilton County and tremendous strides toward improvement have been experienced during his short tenure. He started the Opportunity Zone to address rapid school improvement in 12 of the district’s low performing schools. The changes averted a takeover of five of those schools by the state and led to a new partnership for improvement with the Tennessee Department of Education. Dr. Johnson launched Future Ready Institutes in the district’s high schools to make learning more meaningful for today’s teens and provide future-ready graduates prepared for success after graduation. The program was so successful in the first year that it was awarded the Urban League of Chattanooga’s Community Impact Award. Middle schools became 1-to-1 technology schools last school year, providing each student with an electronic device to open a new world of knowledge for children and teachers. Plans include expanding 1-to1 technology into high schools next year. The district developed a comprehensive five-year action plan called Future Ready 2023 to provide a roadmap for continuous improvement in the future for the community’s schools.

Advancements in the arts have led to the selection of Hamilton County Schools as a 2019 Best Community for Music Education, and an Ensuring the Arts for Any Given Child community by the John F. Kennedy Center. The district led the area in National Merit Finalists with nine, 25 schools were recognized by the state as Level 5 schools for academic growth, and 17 schools were honored as Reward schools by the state in the past year.

Dr. Johnson and the rest of the seventh cohort of Leadership Tennessee will meet for the first time in August.