Oak Ridge Today

Weather cancellations, closings at schools, sporting events

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Snow was falling in Oak Ridge at noon Friday, and more was expected through Saturday morning. Schools and government offices have announced closures and early dismissals, and sporting events have been canceled.

Oak Ridge Schools said it has staff closely monitoring the weather and the roads. If a decision is made to dismiss early, a notification will be posted on Twitter and through Skylert.

The Oak Ridge-Halls basketball games scheduled for Friday night at Wildcat Arena have been canceled and rescheduled for Monday, January 23. [Read more…]

Middle School Math Competition is Saturday

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The Oak Ridge High School Mu Alpha Theta Math Club is hosting its first Mini Mu for any interested middle school students.

The club will have several types of math competitions, open to all levels of middle school students, on Saturday, January 7. Registration is from 8:30 to 9 a.m., and the competition is until 2 p.m. in the ORHS cafeteria, a press release said. Competitions include ciphering, individual and team tests, mental and speed math, and a poster competition. [Read more…]

Three more organizations raise concerns about school vouchers, to be discussed at Tuesday forum

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Three more Oak Ridge organizations have raised concerns about school vouchers, or the use of public funds for private schools. Some officials expect the issue of vouchers to be raised in the upcoming state legislative session.

The Oak Ridge Board of Education unanimously approved a voucher-related resolution in November. The school board doesn’t think vouchers should be adopted until the state’s Basic Education Program is adequately funded, and until all schools are on the same playing field. That means they would take the same tests and the same students, regardless of disabilities, Oak Ridge Board of Education Member Angi Agle said.

Although it was amended slightly, the resolution approved by the Oak Ridge school board in November “strongly opposes” taking funds from public education in any community in the state without agreement from a local school board, without a legal guarantee that the schools receiving the funds will comply with the same curriculum and testing standards required of public schools, and until the state’s Basic Education Program, or BEP, is adequately funded by the Tennessee General Assembly.

The resolution says the Tennessee General Assembly, the state’s legislature, will consider legislation in 2017 that would use public funds to pay tuition costs for students to attend private, religious, and non-religious schools. [Read more…]

Keep Anderson County Beautiful receives $20,000 grant

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Keep Anderson County Beautiful, or KACB, is the recipient of a 2016 Keep America Beautiful/Lowe’s Community Partners $20,000 grant. In mid-December, Keep Anderson County Beautiful said it is building an outdoor chess board at Robertsville Middle School as part of the grant. (Photo by Keep Anderson County Beautiful via Facebook)

 

Keep Anderson County Beautiful, or KACB, is the recipient of a 2016 Keep America Beautiful/Lowe’s Community Partners $20,000 grant, a press release said. Keep Anderson County Beautiful announced on its Facebook page that it has building an outdoor chess board at Robertsville Middle School as part of the grant.

The KACB grant is being used to improve the landscaping at Robertsville Middle School, the press release said. The goal is to develop a pleasant campus with shade structures, benches, picnic tables, trees, and other vegetation.

In mid-December, Keep Anderson County Beautiful, a nonprofit, volunteer organization, announced on its Facebook page that it is building an outdoor chess board at Robertsville Middle School as part of the grant.

This is part of the first phase in a larger plan to make RMS a center of outdoor community activity, to enhance the students’ day-to-day lives, and to improve the campus by giving it a more park-like atmosphere and additional recreational sports areas, the press release said. [Read more…]

ORAU hosts STEM Stories evening for local students

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Oak Ridge National Laboratory’s Lonnie Love speaking at STEM Stories. (Photo by ORAU)

 

Event aimed to inspire and educate possible STEM careers

ORAU recently hosted STEM Stories, an event aimed to inspire students of all ages to begin exploring the many careers available in STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) fields.

Hosted at ORAU’s Pollard Technology Conference Center, the event featured live talks by Oak Ridge National Laboratory’s Lonnie Love, pictured above, and Ian Anderson, pictured below. The two described the journey each had in achieving successful STEM careers. [Read more…]

TechShopz for middle school girls are coming to Oak Ridge

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Great opportunities for middle school girls interested in learning more about coding and technology are coming to Oak Ridge.

The first two events are “You Can Code” held on January 21 and “Infographics” held on January 28 at Roane State Community College in Oak Ridge. For more information and to sign up, visit www.orcsgirls.org.

These TechShopz are powered by TechGirls (www.techgirlz.org), a 501(c) nonprofit dedicated to reducing and ultimately eliminating the gender gap in technology occupations. [Read more…]

Oak Ridge Schools: State assessment results announced

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Oak Ridge Schools is pleased to announce that we have received our results from high school end of course assessment for the 2015-2016 school year. Only high school results have been released because testing was canceled for grades 3-8 last school year due to difficulties with the state’s assessment vendor.

We are delighted to report that Oak Ridge Schools excelled in high school achievement and growth as compared to the state. In fact, we outperformed the state in every subject area in every subgroup and in every single subscore.

Here are a few highlights: [Read more…]

Oak Ridge Schools receives $15K grant to implement Naval National Defense Cadet Corp

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Oak Ridge Schools Naval National Defense Cadet Corp Check

Oak Ridge Schools recently received a $15,000 check to implement a new Naval National Defense Cadet Corp program at Oak Ridge High School.
The check was presented by Jessica Steed, third from right, executive director of Oak Ridge Public Schools Education Foundation, or ORPSEF, and Kristin Waldschlager and Gene Sievers, both of CNS Y-12. Also pictured, at left, is Oak Ridge Schools Superintendent Bruce Borchers. (Submitted photo)

 

Oak Ridge Schools recently received a $15,000 check to implement a new Naval National Defense Cadet Corp program at Oak Ridge High School.

The check was presented by Jessica Steed, executive director of Oak Ridge Public Schools Education Foundation, or ORPSEF, and Kristin Waldschlager and Gene Sievers, both of CNS Y-12.

The check was presented at a December 9 meeting of the Oak Ridge Schools Advisory Board. [Read more…]

Watch: Linden students sing, raise money, collect gifts for Gatlinburg elementary

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The Linden Elementary School Choir performs a benefit concert to raise money for Pi Beta Phi Elementary School in Gatlinburg, where families lost everything in the recent Sevier County forest fires, on Wednesday, Dec. 14, 2016. (Photo by Heather Jenkins)

 

Students at Linden Elementary School in Oak Ridge sang, raised money, and collected gifts for Pi Peta Phi Elementary School in Gatlinburg.

Pi Beta Phi has almost 100 families that lost everything in the forest fires in Sevier County on November 28, officials said. The fires burned more than 17,000 acres, damaged or destroyed more than 2,400 buildings, killed 14 people, and injured many more.

Although Pi Beta Phi still stands, two students at the school, sixth-grader Chloe Reed, who was 12, and her sister Lily Reed, a nine-year-old fourth-grader, died in the fire. As of December 6, 95 of the school’s roughly 570 students were homeless. Five staff members also lost their homes.

In Oak Ridge, Linden’s third- and fourth-grade choir presented their Christmas Concert, a benefit for Pi Beta Phi, at Linden Elementary School on Wednesday, December 14. It was part of the Linden Kids Helping Kids initiative. [Read more…]

Tennessee Science on the Map: Fastest improving state on the Nation’s Report Card

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By Cathy Ginel

Have you ever run on a treadmill until you are out of breath? Have you ever gotten to a comfortable point and then pushed that speed up just a little more to give yourself a better workout? Tennessee science teachers are on the treadmill, have pushed themselves, are seeing results, and are gearing themselves up for more.

The Nation’s Report Card was recently released showing that Tennessee students grew faster than the national average in science. Tennessee is now ranked the fastest improving in the nation in science and has moved into the top 25 states in science. Tennessee has eliminated the achievement gap between male and female students and has narrowed the achievement gap between white, Hispanic, and black students in science. This encouraging news provided us with needed results and evidence that education changes in Tennessee are having a positive outcome with our students. Teachers are seeing results of their additional work and are pushing for even higher scores in the future. [Read more…]

Business sponsorships sought for robotics competition

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Roane State Community College and Morgan County Career and Technical Center are seeking business sponsors for a VEX Robotics Competition event that will be held January 12-13 at Roane State’s Clinton location.

The VEX Robotics Competition, presented by the Robotics Education and Competition Foundation, is the largest and fastest growing middle school and high school robotics program globally with more than 16,000 teams from 40 countries playing in more than 1,350 competitions worldwide.

Roane State’s Clinton Higher Education and Workforce Training Facility will host a state VEX Robotics Qualifier Tournament Competition from January 12-13. Approximately 30 high school and middle school teams are expected to participate, a press release said. [Read more…]

ORHS Brass Quintet at Band Concert this Thursday

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Santa with the Oak Ridge High School Brass Quintet: Michael Bytell-Lancer—trumpet, Logan Swain—trombone, Ty Dahl—trumpet, Travis Pitz—horn, and Issair Franquez—tuba. (Photo credit: Atom Ray Photography, Angela Carr, photographer; used with permission)

 

The Oak Ridge High School Brass Quintet welcomed Santa to Jackson Square on Saturday, and the Brass Quintet will be just one of the student groups to be enjoyed at the ORHS Band Concert this Thursday.

“Band directors Spence Milligan and Mike Spirko—along with the JazzKats, Concert Band, Symphonic Band, and Combined Bands—invite you to come and enjoy an evening performance with a little jazz, a little jingle—and a lot of jolly!” organizers said in a press release. “The always popular annual rendition of ‘Sleigh Ride,’ by Leroy Anderson, performed by the Combined Bands will surely make your season bright!” [Read more…]