Austin-East Magnet High School: preschool hours and enrollment

Last checked Oct. 18, 2026. Sources: austineasths.knoxschools.org, Knox County Schools, the Tennessee Department of Education’s State Report Card and data files, the NCES school directory and the TSSAA.

Austin-East Magnet High School is a Knox County Schools high school for grades 9 to 12 at 2800 Martin Luther King Jr. Ave. in Knoxville. The school is inside Knoxville city limits.

Its executive principal leads a staff that includes an academy principal for the Academy of Entrepreneurship and Professional Services and a principal for the A.S.C.E.N.D. Freshman Academy, according to the school’s About Us page.

Who to call

• Front office: 865-594-3792, 2800 Martin Luther King Jr. Ave., Knoxville, TN 37914
• School website: austineasths.knoxschools.org
• Enrolling a new student: enrollment happens at the zoned school; questions go to the Knox County Schools Office of Enrollment and Transfers, 865-594-1502, according to the district’s enrollment page
• Buses: Knox County Schools Transportation, 865-594-1550, or the Daily Bus Report
• District central office: 865-594-1800

Principal

Executive Principal Rob Speas, according to the school’s About Us page.

Enrollment and teachers

• State count: 663 students in the 2024-25 school year, in the Tennessee Department of Education’s school profile file.
• Federal count: 666 students in the 2023-24 school year, with 64 full-time-equivalent teachers, according to the NCES directory. That works out to about 10 students per teacher.

State report card

Tennessee gives most public schools an A-F letter grade. The Department of Education says the grades are meant “to provide a snapshot of how each school performed during the previous academic year,” according to its school letter grades page. The grade combines indicators scored from 1 to 5: student achievement, academic growth, growth of the highest-need students and, for high schools, college and career readiness.

Austin-East earned a C for 2024-25, the latest grades published, with an overall score of 2.6 out of 5 in the state’s letter grade file.

The state’s 2025 accountability designation for the school is Priority & Comprehensive Support and Improvement, according to its State Report Card page.

Spring 2026 TCAP tests (share of students who met or exceeded expectations, all grades, from the state’s 2026 school assessment file):

• Graduation rate, class of 2025: 83.2% (139 of 167 students), in the state’s graduation rate file.
• ACT, 2024-25: average composite score 14.7, per the state ACT file.

The full report, with chronic absence and results by student group, is on the State Report Card page for Austin-East.

Attendance zone and feeder schools

Check any address with the KGIS school zone search, the lookup Knox County Schools sends families to. Zones do not follow city limits. About 97% of the zone’s area lies inside Knoxville city limits, according to our comparison of the district zone map and city limits published on KGIS; the rest is unincorporated Knox County.

From the district’s feeder pattern list, Austin-East draws from Holston Middle, Vine Middle Magnet and Whittle Springs Middle, some of them only in part.

Families who want a school outside their zone apply for a transfer. The priority window for the 2027-28 school year opened Oct. 1, 2026, and closes at 4 p.m. Tuesday, Feb. 16, 2027; a final window runs April 1 to June 1, 2027. Seats depend on space, are assigned by lottery-style numbers within priority groups, and transfer students get no bus service, according to the district’s transfer page.

Calendar and bell times

From the Knox County Schools 2026-27 calendar:

• Tuesday, Nov. 3: in-service day, no school for students
• Wednesday, Nov. 18: half day for students
• Nov. 25-27: Thanksgiving holidays, schools closed
• Friday, Dec. 18: half day; end of the first semester
• Dec. 21 to Jan. 1: winter break; students return Tuesday, Jan. 5, 2027
• March 8-12, 2027: spring break
• Wednesday, May 26, 2027: last day for students (half day)

Regular days run 8:30 a.m. to 3:45 p.m., and half days end at noon, according to the district’s school schedules page.

Sports and activities

Austin-East plays football in Class 3A, Region 2 for 2026-27, according to the TSSAA’s current alignments, with Kingston, McMinn Central, Meigs County, Scott and Sweetwater. In basketball it is in Class 3A, District 3, with Carter, Cocke County, Fulton, Northview Academy and Seymour.

The school’s athletics page lists baseball, boys and girls basketball, cheerleading, cross country, football, girls flag football, boys and girls soccer, softball, tennis, track and field and volleyball.

Follow the season on our Friday night football page and the high school scoreboard.

Programs

Austin-East is one of the district’s magnet schools, listed on the Knox County Schools magnet transportation page as Austin East Magnet High School. Students outside the zone apply through the district’s transfer process, in which magnet requests get priority.

More on Knoxville schools

• The school’s website and the Knox County Schools list of schools
• Every public school in Knoxville
• Our Knoxville schools guide for enrollment documents, the full calendar and school board meetings

Frequently asked questions

What grades does Austin-East Magnet High School serve?

Austin-East serves grades 9 to 12. It is a Knox County Schools campus at 2800 Martin Luther King Jr. Ave., Knoxville; the main office number is 865-594-3792.

What is Austin-East’s state letter grade?

Austin-East earned a C in Tennessee’s 2024-25 school letter grades, with an overall score of 2.6 out of 5, according to the Tennessee Department of Education.

What time does Austin-East start?

The school day runs 8:30 a.m. to 3:45 p.m., according to the Knox County Schools school schedules page.

What classification is Austin-East in for football?

Austin-East plays in Class 3A, Region 2, in the TSSAA’s 2026-27 football alignment.