KNOXVILLE, Tenn. — Parents, students and educators gathered Thursday evening for a meeting about the future of Knox County Schools, and to list out their top priorities for Knox County's public schools.
An advocacy group hosted the meeting — the Statewide Organizing for Community eMpowerment (SOCM) group. The group is hosting a series of school district events to hear from the community about their hopes for the future of Knox County Schools. All events take place from 6 p.m. to 7:45 p.m. and their locations and dates are listed below.
- October 3, 2023: West High School
- October 24, 2023: Spring Hill Elementary School
- November 2, 2023: Halls High School
Community members have a chance to share their ideas, hear from others and discuss how Knox County residents can best support public school students and educators. Following the series of sessions, the Knox County Education Coalition will prepare school budget recommendations directly informed by members of the community.
"We think it is important to dream together and create a vision for the schools our students and staff truly deserve. By organizing families and collecting community input to present to our school district leadership, we have the potential to create dedicated teams capable of making positive changes in our schools and supporting the good work of our educators, school staff, and administrators," said Erin Keck in a statement, a parent and teacher.
Children are welcome at the events and dinner is provided as well. The coalition said it would publically share findings from the listening sessions later in the fall.