CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. — Chattanooga-area residents in Hamilton County can apply to fill the District 11 seat on the Board of Education vacated by Democrat Jill Black in August, with commissioners planning an appointment to fill Black’s unexpired term on Oct. 28.
To be eligible, a person must be a qualified Hamilton County voter and live in District 11, which includes Alton Park, Lookout Mountain, Lookout Valley, East Lake, Eastside, Missionary Ridge and St. Elmo. Interested residents are asked to submit a signed letter of interest with name, address, contact information, confirmation of District 11 residency, eligibility and willingness to serve. A resume may be included.
Letters of interest can be delivered or mailed to the Hamilton County Commission Office Legislative Assistant Faith Pitchford at 625 Georgia Avenue or emailed to [email protected] no later than Oct. 16 at 4 p.m. The county public notice says the deadline is for advance review only and is not a condition of nomination or appointment.
At Wednesday regular commission meeting, Katherlyn Geter, D-Talley Center, who chairs the education committee, asked whether applicants would go through that committee. Commission Chair Ken Smith, R-Hixson, said his preference is that the education committee chair set a public panel interview for every interested candidate, and Geter said she would like to proceed that way.
The appointment follows a Sept. 2 session in which commissioners deadlocked 5-5 along party lines on a resolution that would have let voters choose Black replacement in the November election. The commission failed to declare the seat vacant before a Sept. 4 deadline, leaving commissioners to appoint someone for the rest of Black term, which expires in 2028.
Commissioner Montrell Besley, D-Alton Park, whose district includes the vacant school board seat, and other Democrats have questioned why the vacancy was not acted on before the ballot deadline. Republican leaders have pushed for a commission appointment. When Black announced she was leaving because her family was moving to Canada, Hamilton County GOP Chair Gail Greene said she wanted to see Republican Sherrie Ford placed in the seat. Ford, a retired longtime Hamilton County schools employee, ran for the District 11 seat in 2024 but lost to Black by 137 votes.
City data lists offices at 101 E 11th St, Chattanooga, TN 37402 and 625 Georgia Ave, Chattanooga, TN 37402, matching the Georgia Avenue letter drop-off. For parents and voters in Lookout Valley, Alton Park and the other District 11 neighborhoods, the Oct. 16 letter deadline and Oct. 28 appointment date are the near-term checkpoints before someone is seated through 2028.
Anyone planning to seek the post should treat the Oct. 16 packet as the practical path into the public interview process Smith and Geter described, even though the formal notice leaves room for floor nominations on appointment day.