HCDE Superintendent Dr. Bryan Johnson's Community Listening Tour is in the books.
Dr. Johnson spent the entire month of August crisscrossing Hamilton County, listening to educators, parents and community members in all nine HCDE Board districts. He heard from over 600 stakeholders about areas of success, challenges and answered questions.
The Tour began in District 6 on Aug. 3, at The Teacher’s Place and wrapped up Tuesday night in District 1 at Soddy Daisy High School.
At each stop, crowds spoke about and asked questions on several topics including teacher retention, deferred maintenance, new teacher mentoring, the leadership pipeline, parental engagement, arts education, and many other issues facing public education.
“I want to personally thank everyone who took the time to spend an evening talking about the ways to improve Hamilton County Schools,” said Dr. Johnson. “The amount of community support and engagement in Hamilton County is second to none. I am thankful to have so many great partners who share the same sense of urgency and commitment to excellence as we have at HCDE.”
Each meeting brought out roughly 50 teachers, administrators, parents, community members and elected officials.
“The purpose of the Community Listening Tour really was to hear from the community. That is why we chose to hold two-thirds of the stops in locations other than schools. Our goal is to take Hamilton County Schools into the communities we serve,” said Dr. Johnson. “This wasn’t just a one-time thing. We will continue to hold events of this nature to hear from our stakeholders for years to come. We want to be responsive to the concerns of the community and find ways we can continue to improve.”
HCDE will use the information shared to inform the work of the transition team and to guide the district’s strategic plan development.