The Hamilton County School Board approved an amendment to add four half-days to the 2024-2025 calendar for professional development.
The move converts two full snow days into teacher planning half-days on four Wednesdays, for seven total half-days. Now every month except October and January has a half-day for teacher planning.
"We’ve been having this conversation for a long time,” said Deputy Superintendent Dr. Sonia Stewart, who said elementary school teachers especially want and need the planning half-days. They don’t have enough planning time scheduled into a normal day, she said.
She said the half-days are set every four weeks to fit curriculum cycles, so teachers can update their lesson plans throughout the year.
“The parents hate half days,” said school board member Rhonda Thurman, who voted against the measure along with board member Joe Wingate. Parents have to pay for childcare offered by the school system, she said.
Otherwise, parents hire babysitters, take the day off or leave small children at home alone, she said, and often teachers will tell the students they don’t need to come to school at all on half-days, she said.
“I have a problem with all these half days,” Ms. Thurman said. “They’re just wasted time at school.”
“The parents need to be put in this conversation somehow,” she said.
The state mandates that schools have 180 school days a year. The Hamilton County day is 30 minutes longer than the requirement, giving it 13 days to play with for emergencies and professional development.
The new calendar sets aside seven days for professional development, including half days, and six for emergencies or weather, instead of the eight designated this year.
FUNDING FOR SCHOOL BUILDINGS
Hamilton County Mayor Weston Wamp will speak with an “expert” for cost estimates for the major facilities projects, Superintendent Dr. Justin Robertson told the board, to give the board and the Hamilton County Commission “clear numbers and better ideas moving forward.”
The school board will incorporate these estimates and the latest bond issue details into its budget over the next two months. School board finance committee Chairman Marco Perez said a budget should be ready for approval in April and delivered to the County Commission for deliberation and a vote in June.
In January the County School Board unanimously passed a building program priority list. The projects, listed in years 1-3 of a long-range plan, are due to cost well in excess of $200 million.
The new Gateway School off W. MLK Boulevard, which is to include a new location for Center for the Creative Arts, is at the top of the school board list. Tied for second were a new Clifton Hills Elementary and a new elementary school for students at Alpine Crest, Rivermont and Dupont Schools.
Next was moving Dalewood Middle School to the Brainerd High campus and then a new Soddy Daisy Middle School. A new school for Soddy Daisy Middle at its current site was preferred by board members over the option of combining the school with Soddy Daisy High School.
RACING THE STATE IN MINIMUM TEACHER SALARIES
Dr. Robertson and the board are exploring options to raise the minimum teacher salary to $50,000. In May 2023 Governor Bill Lee signed a bill pledging to meet that minimum by the 2026-2027 school year.
“We are committed to getting to $50,000 before the state gets to $50,000,” Dr. Robertson said.