On Signal schools, a misguided attack, and presidential pigskin

Well, good Saturday morning to you.

I was prepared to write about the next steps for the Hamilton County school system and the folks on Signal Mountain looking for potentially better ways to educate their students after a meeting Thursday night among Hamilton County Board of Education members, the powers that be in the school system and the folks involved with the Signal Mountain committee exploring other options as well as members of Signal’s Town Council.

It’s fair to have expected a little more from the meeting at Nolan Elementary School. The meeting was polite. And seemed somewhat political.

While there was little resolution and less reckoning of what’s next, here are several quick thoughts:

I remain thankful to Chris Howley, Amy Speek, Dr. John Friedl and everyone involved in the Signal exploratory committee for trying to find ways to better serve the students on Signal. Simply put friends, that is what strong communities do. It may never amount to a meaningful change, but never doubt that their efforts are heartfelt.

It’s hard to wonder if the new school district leadership’s “community” conversations will be this much about the school system as a whole. Everyone in Hamilton County wants the entire system to be better, but everyone who attends a community meeting wants to know how the system is going to address their specific school. Thursday seemed, thanks to the reporting from this paper’s Meghan Mangrum, more like the state of the union than a community conversation.

If Signal’s exploration is a “distraction,” to use the words of several folks in the system, including Dr. Johnson, then why not let it go? If HCDE is distracted from myriad issues it faces by Signal, then let those schools walk. HCDE wants Signal to stay for obvious reasons. But what has or will the HCDE offer as reasons to stay? In fact, every town should be asking that.

In fact, if every “community” conversation moving forward is not about how the system is going to serve that specific community rather than ways that community can serve all the other areas of the county, then that’s not a community conversation.

UNFAIR TRUMP ATTACK

I read an opinion piece earlier this week saying that Donald Trump was the POSTUS — president of some of the United States of America.

It was in direct reference to the tax bill that the Trump administration and Republican Congress has passed. It also detailed how the tax trends affect various areas and how it will help people who do not make a lot of money in rural states.

That connection of course led folks to wonder if Trump was catering to a lot of the states he carried in the 2016 election. (Side note: Only in today’s political realm could the argument against this tax plan be that it helps the uber rich and the uber poor because Warren Buffett and the folks at the Golden Corral buffet have so much in common.)

Forget the spin for one second if you can, and remember this fact:

The basis of this complaint is that Trump was looking to aid the states that voted for him. Heck, every president ever elected has sided with the states that voted for him.

SPEAKING OF TRUMP

The Commander and Tweet is reportedly heading to Atlanta for the National Championship game between Alabama and Georgia.

Folks are saying that he is going because, in part, those are two of his base states. Maybe so.

But it will be interesting to see how Trump’s presence will change, at least on the periphery, the things that happen Monday night.

In a million years, we do not expect any of the Alabama or Georgia players to protest like the NFL players who have taken a knee during the national anthem this year. But what happens if they do, other than Nick Saban’s head exploding, of course?

Also, Kendrick Lamar, an award-winning musical performer who has had hits used as anthems to social protest, is playing at halftime. Will he make a political statement or do something in his show directed at Trump?

Who knows?

One thing that is for sure, though, is that no one can say we want our sports to stay out of politics in this case since our politics came to our sports.

Until next time.

Contact Jay Greeson at jgreeson@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6343.