Growth meeting at The Howard School raises questions

CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. (WDEF) – The Howard School is one of the largest in Hamilton County.

Dr. Sonia Stewart the Deputy Superintendent said, “Howard High school is an absolute anomaly. It doubled in eight years. It out performed all the projections. We all got it wrong.”

Teachers and community members wanted to know the future for their school.

“Some of the recommendations that were brought last year was Howard Connect possibly moving to Orchard Nobb. That was one recommendation that was brought up,” Willie Bryan with The Howard School.

There have been some short term fixes.

Dr. Justin Robertson the Superintendent of Hamilton County Schools said, “We opened up some space at Howard Connect which there is maybe more space that we can look out there. Then we opened up supplemental staffing that has allowed for the choice academy. We did some short term things to get the day to day number of kids that are walking through the halls at Howard a little bit lower.”

Some solutions were brought for expansion.

“As well as giving us the space to build new buildings to help accommodate the massive amount of enrollment issues we are having, as well as security of putting in more lights, more parking, stuff that we need to fix it. It seems like pushing our property boundaries all the way over, getting rid of them and putting up buildings is something that, if it hasn’t been brought up before, should be looked in too,” Hugh Crawford with The Howard School.

Yet some questions were left unanswered.

Kessler Cuffman a community member said, “The thing is that even if they take over, the problem is still over capacity. So how do we solve the capacity issue?”

Notes were taken and will be compiled before being brought to the school board.