Oak Ridge Today

Video: Driver of school bus that crashed not forced off road

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Information from WYSH Radio

The driver of an Anderson County school bus that crashed last week has been suspended until further notice after the in-bus camera recording shows that she was not forced off the road by an oncoming car veering into her lane as she had originally told investigators.

Last Tuesday, the bus carrying 43 children overturned in a grassy field off of Johnson Gap Road. Immediately after the crash, driver Tammy Moore told investigators that she had swerved to avoid an oncoming car that had veered into her lane, causing the tires on the right side of the bus to leave the roadway. The bus traveled about 200 more feet before rolling onto its side. [Read more…]

Council passes no-tax-increase budget

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Oak Ridge City Council Budget Meeting

The Oak Ridge City Council will consider the municipal budget, which is not expected to raise property taxes, during a second and final reading Tuesday evening.

The Oak Ridge City Council has approved a budget that does not raise the property tax rate in the fiscal year that starts July 1.

The budget provides $50,000 more for the Oak Ridge Chamber of Commerce than Oak Ridge City Manager Mark Watson had requested, and it gives city employees a 1 percent pay raise.

Council members deferred a request from the Oak Ridge Board of Education to match $50,000 in spending for one of two new school resource officers at Jefferson and Robertsville middle schools. City officials estimated the cost per SRO is about double the school system’s request, or more than $100,000 per year per officer, when the cost of a police car is included. [Read more…]

School board considers ‘high performing’ district designation, camera system

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The Oak Ridge Board of Education tonight will consider designating the school system as a “high performing school district,” purchasing a security camera system, and renewing the transportation contract.

Under a bill that recently passed the Tennessee General Assembly, the high-performing designation would allow the school system to use a teacher evaluation system that varies from the system established by the Tennessee Department of Education and add educational days to the district’s school calendar. The district could also apply to the state education commissioner for a waiver of any state board rule, regulation, or statute that “inhibits or hinders the district’s ability to meet its goals or comply with its mission statements.” [Read more…]

ORHS students place first on National Chemistry Olympiad Exam

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Eddie Anderson

Eddie Anderson

A group of 10 chemistry students at Oak Ridge High School placed first on the National Chemistry Olympiad Exam, a teacher said.

The 40-question exam is given to all second-year chemistry students and any first year students who want to take it, said Eddie Anderson, ORHS chemistry teacher, track coach, and science department chair. The school score is compiled by adding the Top 10 student scores. [Read more…]

Robertsville Middle wins best overall score at eighth-grade level in math contest

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Robertsville Middle School in Oak Ridge won best overall score and was recognized for being the top school in the eighth-grade level at the Tennessee Middle School Math Competition recently held at Pellissippi State Community College. Pictured from left to right are Mrs. Spurling (teacher), Quinn Bader, Logan Rumbaugh, Kaitlan Paine, Carinne Cheney, Abbey Greenhalgh, Andrew Whitus, Ben Kelley, Curtis Roberston, and Becky Hanaver. (Submitted photo)

Robertsville Middle School in Oak Ridge won best overall score and was recognized for being the top school in the eighth-grade level at the Tennessee Middle School Math Competition recently held at Pellissippi State Community College. Pictured from left to right are Mrs. Spurling (teacher), Quinn Bader, Logan Rumbaugh, Kaitlan Paine, Carinne Cheney, Abbey Greenhalgh, Andrew Whitus, Ben Kelley, Curtis Roberston, and Becky Hanaver. (Submitted photo)

More than 600 students from 40 area schools competed for the honor of being named the top middle school math students in East Tennessee.

The 2013 Tennessee Middle School Math Competition, now in its 13th year, was held recently at Pellissippi State Community College and was sponsored by Oak Ridge Associated Universities.

Farragut Middle School in Knoxville walked away with the No. 1 team ranking for the best overall score in both the sixth- and seventh-grade team categories. Robertsville Middle School in Oak Ridge took the No. 1 team ranking for the eighth-grade team category. [Read more…]

Anderson County D.A.R.E. program graduates 387 students

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Submitted

The 2012-2013 Anderson County Sheriff’s Department Drug Abuse Resistance Education Program finished its instruction at the end of the school year, and a total of 387 fifth-graders successfully completed the curriculum, a press release said. Each student earned a certificate of completion and was awarded a special D.A.R.E. T-shirt as an award.

This was the first year the new, updated D.A.R.E. program was taught in Anderson County Schools, the release said. D.A.R.E. “keepin’ It… REAL” continues to discuss issues such as drugs and peer pressure, but emphasis is placed on the students decision-making process, the choices students make, and the consequences of bad choices. Anderson County was one of the first in the state to be trained and certified to teach the new curriculum. [Read more…]

Federal spending cuts affect special education program in Oak Ridge

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Federal funds to Oak Ridge Schools could be cut five percent starting July 1 under the so-called sequester, and that’s led to staff reductions in the special education program.

Four positions would be cut at Oak Ridge High School and three elementary schools—Glenwood, Linden, and Willow Brook—under a budget approved by school board members on second and final reading Thursday. Two of the reductions would result in job losses. One is a teaching assistant position at Linden, and the other is a teaching assistant job at Oak Ridge High School.

Parents with children in the program have said they are concerned about how the students might struggle if they don’t continue to get the one-on-one help they need. [Read more…]

Perma-Fix awards scholarships from Roane Chamber high school career day

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The third annual Perma-Fix Career Day Scholarships have been awarded to a graduate from each of the five Roane County high schools. The students receiving the $250 scholarships applied for them during their junior year while participating in the High School Career Day, sponsored by the Roane County Chamber of Commerce.

The five graduating students receiving the Perma-Fix Scholarships this year are David “Tre” Pack, Harriman High; Patricia Howe, Midway High; Charlee Lee Roberts, Oliver Springs High, Eric Luffman, Roane-Kingston County High; and Kelsey Legg, Rockwood High. They all attended the Chamber’s 2011 Career Day. [Read more…]

School board approves one-time bonus, SRO funding, hears pleas to save jobs

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Oak Ridge Board of Education Budget

Oak Ridge High School students Miranda Lands, left, Michele Lands, and Matthew Stansberry present a student petition asking the Oak Ridge Board of Education to spare physics teacher Katherine Goepfert from budget-cutting layoffs.

The teaching jobs should be saved, students and parents told the Oak Ridge Board of Education during a special budget meeting Tuesday.

One of the teachers who could lose her job, Oak Ridge High School physics teacher Katherine Goepfert, or “Ms. G.,” has motivated students who have been in danger of dropping out, they said, and 109 students have signed a petition asking for her position to be saved.

“She’s just a good teacher,” ORHS senior Miranda Lands said. “She’s ‘busting her butt’ every day for our education.”

A few parents pleaded for the board to preserve a special education teaching assistant position at Linden Elementary School. They said their children require one-on-one attention, and they are concerned the students might struggle without that help. [Read more…]

Anderson County school bus rolls on side, three students possibly injured

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Note: This story was updated at 1:57 p.m.

An Anderson County school bus rolled on its side on Johnson Gap Road on Tuesday morning in the Dutch Valley community, and five students could have minor injuries, officials said.

There were 44 students on Bus No. 20, which transports students to Dutch Valley Elementary School, Clinton Middle School, and Clinton High School, said Jim Woodward, chief financial officer for Anderson County Schools. It crashed at Dutch Valley Road at about 7:50 a.m. [Read more…]

Halls Middle School students get ‘taste of science’ at Y-12

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Halls Middle School Visits Y-12

Daryl Smith of Y-12, left, demonstrates how a banana freezes when soaked in liquid nitrogen at New Hope Center to Miller Sullivan, center, and Tyler Young of Halls Middle School on Monday. (Submitted photo)

During a visit to the Y-12 National Security Complex on Monday, eighth-graders Miller Sullivan and Tyler Young learned what happens to a banana when it is submerged in liquid nitrogen.

Daryl Smith of Y-12 was one of four engineering, science, and history experts to give nearly 50 Halls Middle School students “a taste of science past and present at Y-12,” a press release said. [Read more…]

Roane Alliance kicks off Education Matters! fundraising drive

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Roane County Education Matters

Front row: Allen Lutz; back row (l-r): Carmen Van Horn, Gary Aytes, Chris Whaley, Leslie Henderson, and Chris Ayers. (Submitted photo)

The Roane Alliance on Thursday kicked off a fund drive to keep its Education Matters! initiative—a “Best Practice” program, according to the Tennessee Chamber of Commerce— continuing in the future.

The Education Matters! program funding is being cut as of June 30 of this year.

“The Education Matters! mission is that every child in Roane County gets some post-secondary education—and does well at it,” said Leslie Henderson, president and chief executive officer of The Roane Alliance. “Education Matters! is making remarkable progress towards that goal, but starting at the end of June this year, the program has lost its funding and we need the community’s help. [Read more…]