School Board Also Discusses Vocational Training
by Dana Wilbourn
posted August 19, 2008
Leaders and supporters of the Chattanooga Girls Leadership Academy made an impressive presentation at Tuesday’s work session meeting of the Hamilton County School Board and were told their application showed excellent work and it would go on the board’s agenda for Thursday for an up or down vote.
Parents and children crowded the board room in support of the proposed all-girl academy. Maxine Bailey led the board through a slide presentation of the school’s mission and vision statements and innovations and 21st century skills the school will promote. Two parents spoke to encourage the board to approve the application.
Deputy Superintendent Rick Smith told the delegation that their application was the largest and most thorough application the board had received. He held up a 2-inch binder filled with material to emphasize his point. He complimented them for their completeness and all out effort to bring this to a vote. All four areas of the application that most be graded by HCDE scored at least 91% he said.
Two possible locations were presented for the charter school. The former Franklin Middle School and the James A. Henry School are suitable for initial enrollment and for expansion. The Franklin site was described as 40 years old and looks like new. The James A. Henry site was noted to have several advantages such as a nearby community center and ball fields. Chattanooga Housing Authority currently owns the James A. Henry building.
The application shows the school would start the first year with girls in grades 6 and 9. Grades 7 and 10 would be added in the second year. Year three would have grades 6 through 11 and the fourth and subsequent years would have grades 6 through 12.
Ms. Bailey said the single gender school will allow girls to develop management and leadership skills they might not develop in a traditional environment. The school will have a relentless focus on results, she said. Students, teachers, and parents will all be available online for each other. Each girl will receive a laptop that she will use in class and be allowed to take home for class preparation.
Ms. Bailey said accountability is also important to the school. Teachers and administrators will be accountable to HCDE, to the Tennessee Department of Education, to the girls and their families, and to the community. If the school fails to meet standards in any two consecutive years, the school could be closed, she said.
LaChanda Davis said she sees this as an opportunity of a lifetime for her daughter. She said she would not put her own life up as an example to follow, but this school could give her daughter opportunities that she never experienced.
Another parent, Jeffrey Willis said he is the father of all girls and grew up with all sisters. Although they out-vote him on every occasion, he sees that leadership is the missing ingredient. He said the single gender school will teach leadership and encourage bonding.
As part of the application process, Ms. Bailey said she traveled to New York and visited an all-girl school in Harlem. That school has a 97% success rate of girls going on and finishing college. Ms. Bailey closed her presentation by stating, “Chattanooga Girls Leadership Academy is poised to be another success story for Hamilton County’s public school system.”
Supt. Dr. Jim Scales told the delegation that the application will be on the board’s agenda for Thursday.
The board turned to a second agenda item and discussed career and technical programs in the school system.
Briggs Smith, director of Career and Technical Education, HCDE, gave a report of the current specialized academies in the school system. Enrollees in all academies total 14,288. That represents 52.4% of the 2007 total enrollment in Hamilton County schools.
Academies include business and technology, marketing, trades and industrial, career technology and education, and others. The graduation rate last year was 89.5% for students enrolled in one of the academies. If a student enrolls in a third year course, the graduation rate jumps to 94%, Mr. Smith said.
County Mayor Claude Ramsey has issued a 100-day agenda for improving the county schools to meet the needs of Volkswagen and other industries set to move into the area. Dr. Scales said that this agenda has no parameters. The board must decide how best to develop the academies (which are already successful) to meet the county mayor’s vision.
Dr. Kay Andrews, vice president of Education Initiative, Chattanooga Chamber of Commerce said it is necessary to match the needs of labor with the academies. The timetable has stepped up dramatically with the announcement of Volkswagen coming to Chattanooga. She said the positions graduates of the academies are vying for are with the spin-off companies that come with the assembly plant, not with Volkswagen.
UTC is offering a new degree in building and construction management. Academy graduates can now follow their academy degree with an associate degree at Chattanooga State or a bachelor degree from UTC, Dr. Andrews said.
Dr. Scales said that he has already had discussions with Dr. Jim Catanzaro at Chattanooga State about changes to the academies curriculum and the middle college program offered at Chattanooga State.
Dr. Scales also noted that Hamilton County’s single path curriculum (the academies) has been embraced by the Tennessee Department of Education and is being used as a model for other school systems.
Dana Wilbourn
dbwilbourn@yahoo.com
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