Officials are debating the best way to run a clothing center for Knox County students

KNOXVILLE, Tenn. (WATE) – The Knox County Schools Clothing Center is an organization that helps students who need clothes to wear to school. We heard from Knox County Schools and members of the Clothing Center on Tuesday about how the center should be run.

This comes after the center moved from the old Sears building to the Cedar Bluff Preschool. The Clothing Center began in 1935 during the Great Depression, when students’ need for clothing was great. Today it fulfills the same mission.

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For the past several decades, the organization and KCS have worked under a handshake agreement. That agreement is now in question when it comes to who controls operations. There are several options on the table for how it should work. The only issue raised by PTA members is two school system-funded positions that have not yet been filled.

“Where are the staff you promised us?” Sylvia Woods, president of Clothing Center PTA, said. ‘You’ve done it twice now to hire staff. Why haven’t we seen any of that?”

Woods has worked at the Clothing Center for more than four decades. She said they moved from their old location without warning.

“I went to the meeting in May and they announced, just announced, ‘we’re moving you out of the Sears building to Cedar Bluff,’” Woods said.

Kori Lautner, Assistant Superintendent of Strategy for Knox County Schools, told 6 News there were several reasons for the move. the biggest is accessibility for those living in the more rural areas of Knox County.

“It all comes from the fact that the need is not limited to one zip code. We know that the clothing needs are districtwide and we are a very, very large district,” Lautner said. “The idea of families driving to one location and in the center of the city is actually out of reach for families who live far away. In that step we looked at a distribution model.”

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This distribution model is how the center currently distributes clothing to those in need. Those who work at the Clothing Center do so as volunteers. They are not paid and take the time to sort, pack and ship the garments. Susan Hager, the vice president of the Clothing Center PTA, said they need someone full-time to process requests faster and more efficiently.

“The bottom line is it’s personnel. The most important thing we need is the two staffers that were promised to us by the school system,” Hager said. “They would work full-time, so they could work much more efficiently than volunteers who come once or twice a week and try to fill orders.”

Conversations about the right direction for running the Clothing Center began before the decision to move the group to Cedar Bluff Preschool.

“That’s a conversation that’s been going on for a long time in thinking about the capacity of a volunteer organization to do the work,” Lautner said. “The previous leadership of the facility was very honest with us that they were struggling to maintain leadership and stay afloat under a volunteer-led model.”

The members of the PTA had to overcome several obstacles when moving into their new building.

“We couldn’t use or access the computers here because we’re not employees, so we couldn’t get into their computers. We have that worked out, we use our own computers and our own email addresses,” Woods said. “We cannot see the child’s name, but we do have the name of the social workers and a code. We answered everything they told us or had to do. We all did that.”

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In a conversation with both KCS and the PTA, we were told that the two staff members promised to the PTA are in the budget for this school year. Woods says when they ask to talk to the people who have signed up, it’s continually postponed.

As for how the Clothing Center should be run, there are three options on the table;

Both sides sign a Memorandum of Understanding, or MOU, stating that the PTA will have control of the Centre.
Look for other community organizations to come in and help the center.
Knox County Schools controls the center internally.

If you would like to donate gently used or new clothing items, you can drop them off at 709 N Cedar Bluff Road. You are asked to call 865-594-3791 before showing up to make a donation.

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