Tag: Hamilton County

Wife of Hamilton County Superintendent Takes $90,000 a Year Job Working for Chattanooga Mayor Andy Berke

Chris Butler

  The wife of Hamilton County Superintendent Bryan Johnson has taken a $90,000 a year position as a senior advisor to Democratic Chattanooga Mayor Andy Berke. This, according to Berke’s spokeswoman Richel Albright, who said Candy Johnson joined Berke’s administration as one of his senior advisors. Johnson took the job last week, Albright told The Tennessee Star. Chattanooga City Council member Chip Henderson said Thursday that no one from Berke’s administration had formally introduced Johnson to the council, as is customary. “I will tell you we have not been briefed on the hire,” Henderson said. This, despite The Chattanoogan reporting Council member Demetrus Coonrod welcomed Johnson at Tuesday’s City Council Agenda Session. “Stacy Richardson, the mayor’s chief of staff, said she would discuss with council members ‘offline’ the role of Ms. Johnson at the mayor’s office,” The Chattanoogan reported. Albright said several people have advised Berke since 2013, most recently Hames McKissic, who left in 2018. “Mayor Berke is the final decision maker on positions in his office,” Albright said in an emailed statement to The Star. On her LinkedIn page, Johnson describes herself as an independent consultant. She also was the lead education policy contact for the Nashville Area…

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‘It Takes a Village’ Mindset Prompts Hamilton County Government Schools to Possibly Raise Property Taxes

Chris Butler

  At least one Hamilton County School Board member who favors a plan to hire 350 more school employees says government-run schools can do a better job than certain parents tending to a child’s social and emotional needs. As The Tennessee Star reported, many of these proposed new positions pertain to social and administrative work. Most school board members voted for a budget that includes these new positions. County commissioners must approve the plan. They may have to raise property taxes to fund it. School Board member Kathy Lennon said many children in the county live in single-parent homes, while children from two-parent families have it easier. Arguing on behalf of money for these new positions, she told The Star this week these children “are victims of their circumstances.” “So, yes, we (the school district) are their support system. We have to give them what they need. It is our responsibility as educators, as a community, to provide them with the resources they need in order to succeed,” Lennon said. “Some children don’t know how to go to school. They don’t get to come to school with a full belly. They don’t get to come to school with packs of paper and…

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Hamilton County Commissioner Tim Boyd Won’t Vote to Raise Property Taxes to Fund New School Employees

Chris Butler

  Hamilton County Commissioner Tim Boyd said it isn’t necessary to raise property taxes to enable the county school system to fund 350 new employees. This, even though better overall grades and test scores are among district officials’ main selling points for a plan that would create new counselors and school administrators, among other things. As The Tennessee Star reported, most school board members voted for a budget that includes all these new employees. But county commissioners must approve the plan, and doing so might require raising property taxes to generate enough revenue to pay for it all. Boyd told The Star Tuesday he can’t predict how other commissioners will vote, but he’s certain he’ll vote no. “The reason I am voting no is because this school system has adequate funding compared to neighboring districts in Georgia and Tennessee, and our funding per student in Hamilton County is above the state average for Tennessee and above the average for the states of Alabama, Georgia, North and South Carolina, and Kentucky,” Boyd said. Boyd said Superintendent Bryan Johnson is moving the school district in a positive direction with the resources it already has. “Let them continue without all these new jobs,”…

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Bill Gates Backs 17 Percent Hamilton County Property Tax Hike For Education, While School Board Member Questions Need for 350 New Non-Teaching Positions

Jason M. Reynolds

  Bill Gates says he will continue to pour his foundation’s money into Tennessee education initiatives and he seemed to endorse a proposed 17 percent Hamilton County property tax increase, according to an interview with the Chattanooga Times Free Press. The interview is available here. The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation has given more than $2.7 million to education initiatives in the Chattanooga area, the Times Free Press said. Gates told the newspaper his foundation does not take positions on school vouchers. He met with Gov. Lee and other state education officials in Nashville, the Times Free Press reported, to see if the governor and the state had placed a priority on education. As a result of his meeting, he said the foundation will make more investments in the state, having already spent about $34 million in Tennessee. Chattanooga officials hope to receive word of another Gates Foundation grant later this summer. Gates also spoke to the Times Free Press about the proposed property tax increase in Hamilton County. “How else do you get more resources for your school system unless the business community thinks, ‘OK, this is going to pay off for us,’ because they are the ones who are…

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Hamilton County May Pay More Property Taxes for School Social Workers

Chris Butler

  Hamilton County residents may have to pay 17 percent more in property taxes so the local school system can have enough money to create 350 new positions. And Hamilton County School Board member Rhonda Thurman told The Tennessee Star many of those proposed positions are unneeded. School board members have already voted in favor of the plan. Thurman was one of two school board members who voted no. County commissioners must still give the OK. They will likely have a vote next month, Thurman said. That extra money, if county commissioners go along, should generate an extra $34 million for the school district, Thurman said. Proposed new positions include counselors. graduation coaches, a data warehouse programmer, a testing coordinator, a director of social and emotional learning, new assistant principals, and a college and career advisor, among other things. The money would also pay for 15 new truancy officers. “We already have 10 truancy officers. That (addition) will get us 25. They’re just going to drag kids back to school who don’t even want to be there who then misbehave when they get back,” Thurman said. Thurman said a quote from former Republican President Ronald Reagan best describes how the…

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Hamilton County’s UnifyEd Officially Expands Into Political Arena

Jason M. Reynolds

A Hamilton County education advocacy organization seems to want to have it both ways – as a education reform nonprofit – and as a political action committee. Hamilton County education advocacy group UnifiEd says it wants to make sure every class has a “great teacher,” achieve “universal excellence by guaranteeing equal opportunity to all students,” get the community to support public education by increasing transparency and accountability, and prioritize public school funding, according to its website. Those sound like lofty goals. However, Hamilton County Board of Education members Joe Smith and Rhonda Thurman last May accused UnifiEd of politicizing the district’s desegregation debate, the Chattanooga Times Free Press said. The spat began with the board members speaking out against UnifiEd’s APEX Project.The project suggests the school system increase integration by redrawing attendance zones and providing transportation options to other schools, among other options, Thurman said. UnifiEd fired back at Smith and Thurman, the Times Free Press said: “These school board members’ stance and rhetoric is especially concerning given the long history of segregation in Hamilton County schools,” read a statement from UnifiEd in response. UnifiEd has pushed for cultural competency training, which has already been taking place in Williamson and Knox counties,…

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Pushed by UnifiEd, Hamilton County School Board Uses Consultants, Committees to Tell Community Its Schools Are Unequal in Diversity

Jason M. Reynolds

Williamson County and Knox County Schools have been making headlines with their white privilege and “cultural competency” training for teachers, but so far there is no sign that trend has spread to Hamilton County Schools – yet. Williamson County has forced teachers to learn about “white privilege” in required in-service training days, The Tennessee Star has reported in a series of stories. Knox County Schools are spending $170,000 out of their $928,677 in-service budget on cultural competency training for teachers. Hamilton County Board of Education has been working with diversity consultants for the past couple of years to desegregate schools through means that would include busing. They formed committees and workshops to label the district as inequitable for minority students. One diversity group attacked two school board members last year for opposing their plans. Dr. Marsha Drake, the district’s chief equity officer, launched an Equity Task Force in 2018. The Hamilton County Board of Education in May 2018 voted to begin seeking funding to pay for the Howard Group, a consultant agency, to identify “the larger factors that put some students on unequal footing,” the Chattanooga Times Free Press said. The board asked the Howard Group to work with the…

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Chickamauga Schools Superintendent Melody Day in Legal Trouble After Allegedly Trying to Scam Department Store

Chris Butler

Melody Day, the superintendent of the Chickamauga City School System, has reportedly pleaded no contest Friday to a charge she tried to bilk a department store in a price-tag swap scheme, according to The Chattanooga Times Free Press. According to the paper, the alleged incident occurred at a Belk department store in Hamilton County. “Day was ordered to pay the store $525.50 in restitution as part of her misdemeanor conviction for theft of property,” according to the paper. “She also was ordered to stay out of any Belk store and to go to counseling. If she follows all of those orders, Judge Gary Starnes told her, Day’s record could be expunged in a year.” Day would only reportedly tell The Times Free Press that she did as her attorney advised, and she said nothing else. “According to an affidavit, a Belk employee at the Hamilton Place mall store told Chattanooga police she saw Day walk into a fitting room with several clothing items. Some were on sale. Some were not,” the paper reported. “The employee said Day swapped price tags, paying a discounted rate for items that had been full price. In all, the employee said, Day engineered a $300…

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Despite Perceived Ethical Problems, Hamilton County Commissioners Allowed to Use Taxpayer Money on Generous Meals

Chris Butler

People in Hamilton County might not like it, but there are rules in place that allow county commissioners to spend generous sums of taxpayer money taking constituents out to eat. A local TV station, News Channel 9, seemed to demand a formal investigation into some of these expenditures, especially those involving Commissioner Warren Mackey. But, as Commission Chairwoman Sabrena Smedley told The Tennessee Star, you cannot investigate a commissioner for doing something the rules allow him or her to do. Smedley, though, said she is unhappy commissioners can spend vast sums of taxpayer money on these luxuries. She said she’s willing to discuss changes. As reported, Mackey spent nearly $2,000 in taxpayer money taking constituents out to various meals. “I have spoken to our county’s finance department when this story broke, and they have guidelines they adhere to, very strict IRS regulations and restrictions. Then we have policies in place that set the guidelines for how we can get reimbursed for expenses,” Smedley said. “They (members of the finance department) shared with me that Commissioner Mackey really can turn those in as expenses. They were reimbursing him because, according to them, there was nothing wrong.” Mackey did not respond to…

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JC Bowman Commentary: The Role of a School Board

JC Bowman
Tennessee Star

Local school boards reflect the needs and aspirations of the communities as well as the interests and concerns of professional and nonprofessional employees. We believe non-partisan control is what is best for our communities. This is best ensured when educational policy is made by representatives vested in the community they live, and whose undivided attention and interests are devoted strictly to education of the children in that district. What we stress in a nutshell: Public education is a federal concern, a state responsibility, and a local operation.

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Hamilton County Clerk Relents As Citizen Reporter Insists on Right to Make Video at Auto Tag Office

David Tulis

By David Tulis / Noogaradio 1240 AM 92.7 FM CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. — Staff at the county clerk’s office April 20 yielded to a citizen’s demand that he not be barred in making a Facebook video while standing among 35 other Hamilton County residents lined up to get auto tags. Clerk Monica Brown and sheriff’s deputy Terry Fowler had forbidden this reporter from making a video post for his Noogaradio and Nooganomics.com media outlets. The citizen insisted that under the state and federal constitutions he cannot be molested by officials. “There should not be any effort to block me, stop me, prohibit me, bar me or retard my labors, sir,” he insisted in a 10-minute phone call with Jim Lawrence, the operations manager of the clerk’s office. “I want to be unobstructed in the use of my equipment in this place where no one has an expectation of privacy.” “No, we’re not going to allow you to interview anyone in the building,” Mr. Lawrence insisted. “Now, if you would like to be outside, and ask people before they come in or after they exit, that would be one thing. But to actually stand in the middle of the room, no, because that’s…

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