Superintendent Rick Smith speaks frankly about what’s next for Hamilton County Schools after failed contract buyout

Chattanooga, TN (WDEF) – An emotional Superintendent Rick Smith spent the better part of an hour working through where he and the Hamilton County Schools now go, after Monday’s decision against the separation agreement.

Superintendent Smith said, “I want us, me, I want this Board of Education, I think they want to do this, I want this school system to get back to doing the business that’s important, and I have not been able to do that. It’s been a distraction.”

Since the buyout was rejected, Smith’s contract remains in effect through June of 2019. And the superintendent says he sees no reason not to stay. Smith added, “I think there’s an opportunity now for us to sit down and talk.”

Smith says the decision has been weighing heavy since January 21st when the talks first began to start the separation agreement. “I wanted the Board to have time to do what the Board needed to do, so we went through that process,” he said.

But now Smith says he wants to move the Hamilton County School system forward. He said, “For me that starts with trust, that starts with confidence, that starts with developing a set of values and beliefs. I want to do my job, I want the board to have confidence in me, I want the Board to understand my expectations of them and hopefully their expectations of me.”

Smith says he plans to make changes for the future, including talking about re-opening the communications office saying, “We’re a big enough, complex enough system where it’s not just about this particular moment in time, we’ve probably needed a communications office since we merged.”

Superintendent Smith said he will bring up bringing back a communications position as early as this Thursday’s work session.