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Knox County Schools opens year with armed officers in every school and $120M in pay increases, superintendent says
Summary
Superintendent Dr. Reiswijk said Knox County Schools will begin the year with a highly trained, armed officer at every school and highlighted more than $120 million invested in staff salaries over four years, which officials say has driven vacancies to roughly 10–15 districtwide.
Dr. Reiswijk, superintendent of Knox County Schools, said the district will begin the school year with “a highly trained armed officer in every school” and emphasized the role of staffing investments in strengthening safety.
The superintendent told reporters at the district’s annual Safe Schools, Safe Students press conference that the district’s three core safety strategies are armed officers, individualized school safety plans for each campus and a commitment to treat every threat seriously. “In the last 4 years, we’ve invested over a $120,000,000 into salaries,” Dr. Reiswijk said, linking higher pay to lower vacancy rates and stronger school staffing.
Nut graf: The district said those investments have helped reduce vacancies to a small number compared with past years. Reiswijk said Knox County Schools employs roughly 4,700 teachers; last year the district began the school year with six vacancies, and district leaders now estimate open positions are in the “10 to 15” range as final hires continue before school starts.
District leaders said the hiring focus is both to improve instruction and to bolster safety by ensuring consistent adults are present in classrooms, hallways and common spaces. Reiswijk named his senior leadership team members who worked on staffing and safety planning this summer: Keith Wilson (assistant superintendent of academics), Jennifer Hemmelgarn (assistant superintendent of business and talent), Garfield Adams (assistant superintendent of operations), Corey Lautner (assistant superintendent of strategy) and Andrew Brown (assistant superintendent of success).
Reiswijk also described ongoing communication protocols for incidents, saying families should expect periodic updates while response teams work: “Our communication team does a great job of trying to get something out ... every 15 to 30 minutes to update,” he said, adding that lack of minute-by-minute public updates does not mean the district is not responding.
The superintendent closed by urging community vigilance and reporting: “If you see something, say something,” Reiswijk said, noting many safety leads come from community tips.
The district plans to discuss safety and staffing in greater detail on an episode of the Education Blueprint podcast scheduled for Sept. 4.
