THE SIGNAL SCHOOLS TWO-STEP

Participants at Thursday’s Signal Mountain Town Council meeting with Hamilton County Department of Education officials talked around each other like they were boys and girls at a middle school dance.

Town Council members wanted to know what school district and school board officials thought about their School System Viability Committee report, and district officials wanted them to know how neat they thought things were at the mountain schools.

With an issue as crucial as the town considering a separate school system, we don’t believe either side was communicating effectively or forthrightly.

In our view, with the report already saying a separate system is doable if a number of questions can be answered satisfactorily, both sides should be trying to see if an equitable solution could be worked out that would preclude the necessity of a separate system. Such a solution would keep the schools in the district but satisfy some of the educational desires of Signal Mountain parents and town residents.

By the end of the meeting, little new was gleaned by all in attendance.

Hamilton County Schools Superintendent Dr. Bryan Johnson and the school board, it was reiterated, don’t want the Signal Mountain schools leaving their system. They like what’s going on in classrooms there and believe the high-performing schools can be an inspiration for schools off the mountain.

Signal Mountain parents and residents already like what’s going on in their schools, and especially those who prefer a separate system didn’t need administration officials telling them what they already knew. A vocal number of parents and residents, it remained clear, oppose the move, but the question is whether that number is anywhere close to a majority of those who might vote on such an issue.

Not covered were when the questions posed by the viability committee that would hold up a separate system would be answered, or if they could be answered. Also only vaguely covered was what additional, if anything, the district might provide the mountain schools. General words about geographical support, about a mountain schools advisory committee, and about start times and safety concerns were expressed but not detailed.

Town Council members say they’ll have more meetings for public input, but we see little use in them. Instead, we wish there could be a non-binding vote on the potential of a separate system, but current Tennessee law doesn’t allow it. A significant vote on one side or another might have given the separation effort a push, or ended it.

Signal Mountain residents don’t need to kick this around for years without a resolution.