CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. (WDEF)- As Hamilton County Schools embark on a new year, teachers from every school descended on downtown Chattanooga Friday morning.
Over 5500 employees gathered at the Chattanooga Convention Center to kick off their brand new school year.
It was a raucous atmosphere as each school was recognized in the opening ceremony of the second annual Professional Learning Conference.
This allowed teachers to choose from 157 different sessions that discussed various topics.
Leaders say that teachers were vocal on the kinds of sessions they wanted to see.
Chief Talent Officer for HCS, Dr. Blake Freeman said, “The other sessions we learned last year was dealing with students on a personal level. How do you get to know students? How can we be invested in their wellbeing? How can we be sure as Dr. Robertson talked about today that every student is known and is known, and how can we as educators help them along their journey while they are at school.”
Superintendent Dr. Justin Robertson told teachers in his speech that they have far more demands today than when he was a teacher, which he says are for a variety of reasons.
Dr. Robertson said, “We’ve got uncertainty at the federal level. We’ve got a faster pace, higher expectations. The demands are just higher than they were 20 years ago.”
He also stated that the school system’s mantra is being quote, “Tier I First”, and focusing on doubling down on what has worked.
Deputy Superintendent Dr. Sonia Stewart said, “We have consistently see growth across content areas, across grade levels, and across special populations, and we want to continue closing gaps where we can. For “Tier I First” says that every single child that comes into our classroom, let’s set our expectations as high as we can and meet them there. If they need more, let’s give them more.”
They say any of the uncertainty broadly in education should not hinder their goals.
Dr. Robertson said, “What I hope to do this year is cut through those things that become distractions and focus on what we should do which is serving kids.”
The first day of classes for Hamilton County is next Wednesday, August 6th.
