Oak Ridge Today

School board approves budget that includes pay raises, seeks additional funding

Posted at
By Leave a Comment

The Oak Ridge Board of Education approved a budget on Wednesday that includes 3 percent salary increases and a request for an additional $538,048 from the city. That’s a 3.6 percent increase in city funding.

The budget was approved unanimously in the first of two readings this month. The second and final reading is at 5:30 p.m. Monday, May 23.

As approved in the first reading during a 15-minute meeting Wednesday, the budget includes the reduction of the full-time equivalent of four teachers and an increase in five technology positions. It includes experience-based pay increases known as step increases for staff. And it includes money to fund a 6.2 percent increase in health insurance rates and another 10 percent for dental insurance. [Read more…]

Lake City High All Class Years Reunion is July 2

Posted at
By Leave a Comment

Everyone who graduated, attended, or taught at Lake City High School is invited to the All Class Years Reunion from 5 to 8 p.m. Saturday, July 2.

The “Evening of Fellowship and Reminiscing” will be held at the school, now called Lake City Middle School, at 1132 South Main Street in Lake City, which is now known as Rocky Top.

Music, refreshments, and class photos will be part of the activities. There is no cost to attend. [Read more…]

ORHS Choral Department has Spring Concert on Thursday

Posted at
By Leave a Comment

ORHS Choral Department Collage

The Oak Ridge High School Choral Department will present its annual Spring Concert on Thursday, May 19, 2016. (Submitted photo)

 

The Oak Ridge High School Choral Department will present its annual Spring Concert on Thursday, May 19.

Students representing the five high school choirs will take the audience on a musical journey around the world, a press release said. Elizabethan motets, German art songs, Motown favorites, a selection or two from “Pitch Perfect,” and the ever-popular “Rainforest Sound Scape.”

“Join the ORHS Choral Department as we celebrate the school year and say farewell to our seniors,” the press release said. [Read more…]

Reminder: Public hearing, first reading of school budget this evening

Posted at
By Leave a Comment

Oak Ridge Schools School Administration Building

Reminder: The Oak Ridge Board of Education will consider the Oak Ridge Schools budget in the first of two readings at 5:30 p.m. today (Wednesday, May 18). The meeting will include a public hearing.

 

Reminder: The Oak Ridge Board of Education will consider the Oak Ridge Schools budget in the first of two readings at 5:30 p.m. today (Wednesday, May 18). The meeting will include a public hearing.

The second and final reading is scheduled for 5:30 p.m. Monday, May 23.

The school board meets in the Robert J. Smallridge School Administration Building at 304 New York Avenue.

More information will be added as it becomes available.

Oak Ridge one of 12 school districts to receive grants for summer reading programs

Posted at
By Leave a Comment

On Friday, May 13, Education Commissioner Candice McQueen announced the recipients of the 2016 Read to be Ready Summer Grant.

Earlier this year, in conjunction with the launch of the statewide Read to be Ready Campaign, the Dollar General Literacy Foundation gave a $1 million gift to the department to award for summer reading programs during the next three years. This spring, the department received more than 200 proposals and has selected 12 summer programs from across the state to receive funding, a press release said.

“With less than half of the state’s third-graders currently reading on grade level, we must approach reading in new and innovative ways,” McQueen said in the press release. “Read to be Ready summer grants will support individual communities as they tailor their approach to reading to meet the needs of the families they serve.”

Read to be Ready is a coordinated approach to move third-grade reading proficiency in Tennessee to 75 percent by 2025. The campaign seeks to raise awareness about the importance of reading, unite efforts to address the reading gap, highlight best practices, and build partnerships. Read to be Ready summer grants are designed to support students even after the last day of school, the press release said.

The awarded program recipients’ region, district, and director of the program are below: [Read more…]

Jefferson Middle School wins one of twenty 2016 Shape the State grants

Posted at
By Leave a Comment

Jefferson Middle School

Jefferson Middle School

Jefferson Middle School is one of 20 recipients this year of a Shape the State grant that includes the highly touted SPARK curriculum and its accompanying equipment for physical education courses. The grant includes an additional $1,000 for desired improvements to the wellness/nutrition/PE program.

Jefferson Middle School PE teachers will receive curriculum training on-site on September 19 and 20.

Robertsville Middle School received a similar grant last year, so this year’s grant will ensure all Oak Ridge middle school PE teachers have had the opportunity for the training, a press release said. [Read more…]

Oak Ridge High School has Honors Night for Class of 2016

Posted at
By Leave a Comment

Oak Ridge High School

The main entrance at Oak Ridge High School is pictured above.

 

Oak Ridge High School will celebrate the accomplishments of this year’s graduating senior class on Monday, May 23. The celebration will start at 7 p.m. in the Oak Ridge High School Performing Arts Center.

Those members of the senior class who have earned a “B” average and above through the end of their junior year will receive a cord and certificate to commemorate their outstanding achievement. [Read more…]

Proposed schools budget would include raises, ask city for more money

Posted at
By 3 Comments

The budget proposed for Oak Ridge Schools for the fiscal year that starts July 1 includes 3 percent salary increases and a request for an additional $538,048 from the city. As proposed, the budget also includes the reduction of the full-time equivalent of four teachers and an increase in five technology positions.

The budget was presented to the Oak Ridge Board of Education on Tuesday. The board has a work session to discuss the Fiscal Year 2017 budget at 5:30 p.m. today (Thursday, May 12) and a work session to review the budget line by line at 5:30 p.m. Monday, May 16.

If implemented as proposed, the budget would ask the city for a 3.6 percent increase in funding. It would also include experience-based pay increases known as step increases for staff.

It would include money to fund a 6.2 percent increase in health insurance rates and another 10 percent for dental insurance. [Read more…]

Schools budget presented to BOE this evening

Posted at
By 8 Comments

Oak-Ridge-Schools-Bruce-Borchers-March-28-2016

Oak Ridge Schools Superintendent Bruce Borchers

 

The budget for the fiscal year that starts July 1 will be presented to the Oak Ridge Board of Education at 5:30 p.m. today (Tuesday, May 10).

The school board will have a work session to discuss the Fiscal Year 2017 budget at 5:30 p.m. Thursday, May 12, and a work session to review the budget line by line at 5:30 p.m. Monday, May 16.

Then, the BOE will consider the budget in the first of two readings at 5:30 p.m. Wednesday, May 18. That meeting will include a public hearing. [Read more…]

Reminder: Volunteers raise money for community playground at Robertsville Middle

Posted at
By Leave a Comment

Robertsville Middle School

Robertsville Middle School in Oak Ridge is pictured above. (Photo courtesy Oak Ridge Schools)

Reminder: Robertsville Middle School is in the process of building a community playground, and volunteers have scheduled a fundraiser on Friday, May 6, that will feature food and music.

This playground will be available for use by all students but also will be built to accommodate the needs of the special education students. The playground will also be available after school and on the weekends for families in the community of the school and families in Oak Ridge.

Robertsville serves more than 700 students in grades 5-8 and presently has no playgrounds available.

“This truly will be a community playground, not only by those who use it, but by how it will be paid for,” a press release said.

The school is partnering with individuals, private businesses, and local companies to raise the $20,000 to build the playground, the safety chips, border around playground, and benches, the release said. RMS donated $4,500 to get the project started, and so far, more than $8,000 has been raised. [Read more…]

Smith of RMS to serve on American Library Association award committee

Posted at
By Leave a Comment

Scot-Smith

Scot Smith

Scot Smith, the library media specialist at Robertsville Middle School, has been elected to serve on the American Library Association’s 2018 Michael J. Printz Award Committee.

The Michael L. Printz Award is an award for a book that exemplifies literary excellence in young adult literature and is sponsored by the Young Adult Library Services Association (YALSA) and Booklist.

Smith was one of four librarians nationwide elected to the committee.

ORHS student wins first in Chemistry Division of national competition, earns $12,000 scholarship

Posted at
By 1 Comment

Thomas Colburn — Decomposition of Plastics

Thomas Colburn — Decomposition of Plastics (Photo by Oak Ridge Schools)

 

Oak Ridge High School senior Thomas Colburn was a divisional first-place winner in a national science and humanities competition in April. Colburn received a $12,000 academic scholarship.

He was announced as the first place winner of the National Junior Science and Humanities Symposium in the Chemistry Division on April 30.

Colburn and Albert Xue, both from Oak Ridge High School, were part of a five-student delegation that traveled from Tennessee to Dayton, Ohio, to showcase their research at the end of April. The Junior Science and Humanities Symposium is a tri-service U.S. Army, Navy, and Air Force program designed to encourage student research in the STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) fields. While more than 7,600 students competed at the regional level, fewer than 100 students were invited to give an oral presentation this year at the 54th National JSHS competition. [Read more…]