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Hamilton County: Smith, Casavant spar over school performance

By: Matt Wilson
(Contact)

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Hamilton County Commission agenda session -- Sept. 25, 2008
Hamilton County Commission recessed meeting -- Sept. 25, 2008

Nearly halfway into the 100-day time frame given by Hamilton County Mayor Claude Ramsey to develop a plan for preparing students for coming industrial jobs, officials set a tentative date for a meeting.

At Thursday’s County Commission meeting, Commissioner Warren Mackey said the meeting between Hamilton County Board of Education members and commissioners likely will be Oct. 21.

School board Chairman Kenny Smith said the meeting will be “all business.”

“We’re not meeting just to put on a dog-and-pony show,” he said. “This will be a short meeting.”

But Mr. Smith’s next comment caused a stir among the commissioners and led to a testy exchange between Mr. Smith and Commissioner Richard Casavant.

“We are not doing a good job getting students ready to take these jobs,” he said.

Dr. Casavant, who is dean of the school of business at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga, took exception, saying it may be taken as an indictment of the county’s schools.

“You may be talking about vocational education and the end result of training,” he said. “I wouldn’t generalize that we’re not doing a good job in every school teaching children what they need to know to live life and get a job. I think many schools are succeeding quite well.”

Mr. Smith, who is director of the Chattanooga Electrical Apprenticeship and Training Center, said he and other training directors have seen recruits struggle with math on aptitude tests. He revised his earlier statement, saying, “We can do a better job.”

Still, Dr. Casavant asked whether Mr. Smith was commenting on the achievement of students in the school system.

“You made a general statement, and I don’t think you meant to,” Dr. Casavant said. “Many students graduate with great skill.”

Mr. Smith replied, “Let me rephrase it then. We’re not doing a good job of having citizens ready that Volkswagen, Alstom and those people will (have). Now what part don’t you get?”

Dr. Casavant said, “I don’t get that you’re basically saying 100 percent of the students aren’t prepared.”

Mr. Smith, his voice rising, shot back, “I didn’t say 100 percent of the students.”

County Commissioner Bill Hullander stepped into the conversation, relating a statistic he heard in a recent meeting with officials from Chattanooga State Technical Community College.

“Seventy percent of the kids that come out of Hamilton County schools that go to Chattanooga State, they’re having to take high-school math over again,” he said.

Mr. Smith later apologized for raising his voice to Dr. Casavant.

On Aug. 11, Mr. Ramsey asked commissioners and school officials to take 100 days to develop a plan to help prepare students for jobs such as the ones at Chattanooga’s new Volkswagen plant. He said Thursday he would not be in town to attend the Oct. 21 meeting.

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