March 4, 2026 – For National School Social Work Week, we celebrate professionals who show up daily for students, families, and staff. A great example of this is Tekia Grayson. She believes school social work is more than a career. It is a purpose. It is a calling. And in many ways, it is home.
A Chattanooga native and proud product of Hamilton County Schools, Grayson returned to the same district that helped shape her. That experience was so significant that she felt led to come back and make a difference for the next generation. Today, she serves students at Barger Academy of Fine Arts in Chattanooga, where her office is known for one important thing, safety.
When asked what she hopes students take with them after meeting with her, she answered without hesitation. “A safe space.” She understands many families are simply trying to survive.
“When you’re in an at-risk area, you’re in survival mode at all times.” Grayson says people often describe her as structured. “They always say that I kind of present as hard and very structured. But everyone knows that I’m the soft person, especially with my most troubled kids because they need that love.”
That love might look like extra time. It might mean helping meet a basic need. But above all, it means consistency and presence.
Her path back to Hamilton County Schools was not random. In fact, she describes it as something bigger than her.
“This job chose me."
After spending two years with Cleveland City Schools, she was redirected and found herself back in the district where it began for her. Looking back, she sees that season as preparation.
“I think it was God because I felt like I’m more needed here in this certain population.” At one point, she planned to take her licensure exam and move into private practice. She was also working in a psych respite setting. Then someone encouraged her to apply for a school social work position.
“Basically, it chose me. I was told to apply for a job and I did”
Returning home brought mixed emotions. “It was actually a fear because a lot of these parents I grew up with.” Serving families she once knew as classmates or neighbors felt intimidating at first. But that shared history has become a bridge.
A typical day in her role? As she puts it, “it could be all over the place.”
Her morning might start with a learning community meeting to “staff cases and discuss just protocols.” Soon after, she could be meeting with a parent, supporting a student through trauma, or checking in on attendance concerns.
Her advocacy stretches beyond students. “I am an advocate for everybody in this building.” She works closely with teachers and administrators, helping them see the full picture behind behaviors and challenges. “Starting with the students, it’s just knowing their lingo.”
She is clear about her role. “My role is not to be the authoritarian here. It’s to build rapport with you and talk to you, and build enough trust.”mOne creative way she builds that trust is through a simple card game. “We play Emotional Uno. That’s the way I reveal rapport with my kids.”
Inspired by Inside Out, she assigns emotions to each color. “So each color represents an emotion like the movie. “We have anger, happiness, sadness, and nervousness.”
She once used the game with a student who refused to open up. “She would not break. Like, I’m not telling you anything. So, that was my way of like, hey, what makes you happy?”
When asked who has influenced her most, she spoke about her cousin. “My cousin is just the balance of everything.” Her cousin encouraged her to pursue her master’s degree and continues to offer both accountability and support. “She’s kind of like the mother-sister. She’s always going to provide that balance.”
For anyone considering social work, Grayson offers simple but powerful advice. “Understand that with life comes rhythms. And sometimes you have rhythms where they’re high and you’re low.”
Her career has allowed her to work with people “literally from birth to death.” That perspective has shaped how she views service. “That experience teaches you alone that life is a journey and you just never know what to expect.”
Grayson’s work is here in Chattanooga, in Hamilton County Schools. In the same community that once poured into her. “This job chose me.”
And for the students who walk into her office each day, that calling makes all the difference.
