Mayoral candidate Larry Grohn on Tuesday proposed reinstituting the Kirkman Technical High School as part of a 21st Century workforce development program aimed at creating more living wage jobs for inner-city Chattanooga. He said the call "comes after months of news reports on the failing state of inner-city schools."
“Kirkman Technical High took the immense potential of our city’s youth and turned them into the business owners and highly-skilled workers of today,” said Mr. Grohn. “When youth graduated from Kirkman, they had the tools and skills needed to obtain a living wage job, tools ready to enter the workforce. They started families and became productive members of our community, leaders in our community. As senseless violence claims more lives, we need the hope that education brings now more than ever.
"The Grohn administration it will set a goal of establishing a new technical high school in the inner-city within four years. The school will offer students in Chattanooga a free curriculum in trades-based education as well as STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts, and Mathematics) training. Currently, city high school students seeking vocational training have very limited options.
"Vocational education and workforce development is a very clear demand from our inner-city residents. This demand has been routinely ignored and underfunded. As Mayor, I will work to ensure that every child has access to great vocational education no matter their race, income, or background. When we moved technical training out of the inner-city, we took tools out of the hands of our youth and replaced them with guns. A living wage job is the best crime safety plan there is, and the surest way to get a living wage job is education in the trades while building our workforce.”
Councilman Grohn linked escalating rates of violence to the lack of opportunities provided for youth and young adults. Per research conducted by the Grohn campaign, African-American young adults under the age of 21 account for nearly one out of four victims of total homicides from the years 2013-2016. Of the group, the average age is 16, a year shy from senior year of high school.