14-02-2025
Knox County Schools seeking group to take over student clothing center operations
KNOXVILLE, Tenn. (WATE) — The Knox County Board of Education is looking for an organization to take over the operations of its clothing center, which distributes school clothes to more than 2,000 students each year.
Knox County Schools created the clothing center in 1935 during the Great Depression and has maintained operations for decades. Today, roughly 20 percent of the district's 60,000 students are considered economically disadvantaged by the state of Tennessee.
New program brings Knox County Trustee's Office to elderly, disabled residents
School officials are now asking agencies to apply to operation the 3,000-square-foot facility located at Cedar Bluff Preschool beginning July 1.
Organizations should email a letter of intent to by 5 p.m. on February 28. Formal proposals must be submitted to the Clothing Center Committee by Friday, March 14. Click here for details on what should be included in the proposals.
Presentations will be made to the committee on March 24 for review before a formal recommendation is made to the Knox County Board of Education.
How a clothing exchange is growing community at Sweetwater High
'The prior leadership over the facility was really honest with us that they were struggling to maintain leadership and to stay afloat under a volunteer-led model,' KCS Assistant Superintendent of Strategy Kori Lautner told 6 News in October.
Center volunteers have said that they were moved from their longtime location to the facility at Cedar Bluff Preschool without warning and that two employee positions funded by the school system haven't been filled.
Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
