Oak Ridge Today

UCOR awards 33 mini-grants for local school projects

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UCOR, the U.S. Department of Energy’s cleanup contractor at the Oak Ridge Reservation, has announced the 33 winners of the UCOR Education Mini-Grant Program.

UCOR is a partnership between URS and CH2M Oak Ridge LLC.

The company said one of its primary objectives is to support and encourage education initiatives.

“The Mini-Grant Program was designed to recognize and support excellence in teaching by providing funds to assist classroom teachers for specific projects or curricula, focusing primarily on science, technology, engineering, and math, or STEM,” a press release said. [Read more…]

Parents, teachers, students show support for ‘venerated’ teacher under investigation

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Eddie Anderson

Eddie Anderson

Note: This story was last updated at 12:05 p.m.

About 200 people turned out at a school board meeting on Wednesday to show support for longtime teacher and track coach Eddie Anderson, who has been suspended without pay pending a police investigation, and to challenge some of the accusations made against him. Some objected to the process used by the school system, saying the reputation of a fantastic teacher has been sullied.

Anderson, an Oak Ridge High School chemistry teacher hired in 1979, was suspended without pay on April 30 while the Oak Ridge Police Department investigates an allegation of inappropriate contact with a former student. In the letter announcing the suspension, Oak Ridge Schools Assistant Superintendent Chris Marczak said the allegation was being turned over to the ORPD as a criminal investigation.

No additional details about that allegation have been released. Anderson’s attorney, Dennis Francis, declined to comment last week, and the Oak Ridge Board of Education and Oak Ridge Schools Superintendent’s Office have been advised to not comment until the investigation is complete. City officials have also not commented on the ongoing investigation by the Police Department.

In the meantime, most of the public discussion has focused on an April 11 track meet, the Taco Bell Invitational in South Carolina. School administrators said, among other things, that Anderson knew ahead of time that a hotel the team was going to stay in was “unacceptable and dangerous,” that he did not inform parents of the specifics of the trip and did not answer the phone when they called, and did not double-check student room assignments, which led to a girl entering a boys’ room through an adjoining door and engaging in “inappropriate contact.” [Read more…]

St. Mary’s School receives $10,000 physical education grant

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St. Mary's School

St. Mary’s School in Oak Ridge is one of 20 Tennessee middle schools to have been awarded a 2015 Shape the State grant to improve its physical education program. The grant, valued at $10,000, is funded by the BlueCross BlueShield of Tennessee Health Foundation.

In addition, St. Mary’s will also receive $1,000 to spend at its discretion for PE, nutrition, and wellness efforts. St. Mary’s first-year athletic director and physical education teacher Shannon Adcock submitted the grant in April.

According to the state Department of Health, about 40 percent of Tennessee children are overweight or obese. Obesity dramatically increases a person’s risk for dangerous health conditions, such as Type 2 diabetes, heart disease, and cancer. The Shape the State grants continue a longstanding practice of BlueCross’ Tennessee Health Foundation’s supporting efforts to fight childhood obesity in the state, a press release said. [Read more…]

New summer STEM Camp at Robertsville Middle School: Invention Project

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Robertsville Middle School is offering Invention Project, a brand new STEM summer camp for rising sixth- to eighth-graders from June 8-12.

Invention Project builds on the great success of the Camp Invention STEM program last summer, a press release said. STEM is an acronym that means science, technology, engineering, and math, but it is also an interdisciplinary educational approach that blends these fields, which are deeply intertwined in the real world and in how students learn most effectively.

The Invention Project summer camp features a variety of entertaining and educational STEM challenges to engage the inventor, artist, and entrepreneur in each participant, the press release said. [Read more…]

Oak Ridge Schools has five upcoming budget meetings in May

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Oak Ridge Schools will meet to discuss the Fiscal Year 2016 budget on the following dates:

  • May 13 at 5:30 p.m.—Budget presented to board
  • May 20 at 5:30 p.m.—Budget work session
  • May 21 at 5:30 p.m.—Budget work session
  • May 26 at 5:30 p.m.—Regular meeting of the board and public hearing of budget—First Reading
  • May 27 at 4:30 p.m.—Budget work session (if needed)
  • May 28 at 4:30 p.m.—Adoption of budget—Second Reading

Education Foundation grant takes English language learners on Titanic voyage

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Glenwood Elementary Ice Water Experiment

Students test the icy cold waters as they study the Titanic voyage and the sinking of the ship in a project developed for English language learners. (Submitted photos)

 

English language learners in Oak Ridge’s four public elementary schools are becoming experts on the Titanic as they conduct science experiments to learn about icebergs, build boats with straws, and explore the historic event as they read history and fiction.

The first- through fourth-graders are taking “A Titanic Voyage for English Language Learners,” a project helping them become more confident in their English skills through a variety of learning experiences. The four English as a second language, or ESL, teachers received a $1,544 grant from the Oak Ridge Public Schools Education Foundation last year to buy materials needed for the multi-school project.

The grant will also make possible a field study on May 5 at the Titanic Museum in Pigeon Forge, where students will draw on their studies to have discussions and ask questions as they build on their knowledge of the Titanic and of English.

“They are getting science, social studies, and all the language domains: listening, speaking, reading, and writing,” said Cherie Adcock, ESL teacher at Woodland Elementary School. “Their response has been great, and they are excited.” [Read more…]

AC budget process under way

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Information from WYSH Radio

As the budget process begins in earnest for the new fiscal year that begins on July 1, the Anderson County school system is seeking money to pay for employee raises, upgrades to school facilities, and to start a fund to pay for computer devices for each student beginning in the upcoming academic year.

The budget proposal recently approved by the Anderson County Board of Education is currently about $3.1 million out of balance, and in order to fully fund requests, it would require the equivalent of a 45-cent increase in the property tax rate.  Included in the request to the County Commission is roughly $2 million to fund 4 percent pay raises for all employees; $871,852 for capital projects like roof repairs and unfunded mandates from the state dealing with physical education and sports facilities; and $221,484 for textbooks.

The most ambitious request, though, is the creation of a reserve fund through the county government to set aside money to pay for computer devices for students similar to the reserve fund that has been set aside for industrial development. [Read more…]

OSHS announces graduation info

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Oliver Springs High School will present 84 seniors for graduation.

The Class of 2015 Graduation Commencement will be held on Tuesday, May 19, beginning at 7:30 p.m. The event will be held on the DJ Brittain Field. In case of rain, the ceremony will be held in the gym.

A baccalaureate service will be held Sunday, May 17, at 2 p.m. at Mt. Pisgah Baptist Church. The church is located at Highway 61 and Hen Valley Road in Oliver Springs.

ORHS teacher suspended without pay during investigation, superintendent says

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Eddie Anderson

Eddie Anderson

Oak Ridge High School science teacher and track coach Eddie Anderson has been suspended from his teaching duties without pay pending an investigation by the Oak Ridge Police Department, an official said Friday.

Information reported to the Oak Ridge Schools Superintendent’s Office on Thursday morning has been referred to the Oak Ridge Police Department for its consideration and investigation, Superintendent Bruce Borchers said in a Friday afternoon email. The information hasn’t been publicly disclosed.

[Read more…]

Oak Ridge teen garners state, regional, and national honors in archery

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Savannah Ward Archery

Samantha Ward takes aim with an Olympic style recurve bow at 60 meters in practice for national outdoor competition. (Submitted photo)

 

Savannah Ward, a freshman at Oak Ridge High School, shoots to win. Wielding an Olympic style recurve bow at 20 meters, she has come away with high honors in state, regional, and national tournaments in only her second indoor season of competitive archery.

Competing as a youth in the women’s age 12-14 category, Ward set a record and became the 2015 state champion at the Tennessee indoor competition held under the auspices of the National Field Archery Association on February 7-8. Her scores at the Smoky Mountain Archers venue in Knoxville bested scores at all three competition sites across the state—eastern, middle, and western Tennessee.

At state indoor championship competitions governed by USA Archery rules, Ward shot as a cadet (women age 15-17) and won gold at two other venues—in Columbus, North Carolina, on February 1, and in Conyers, Georgia, on February 14-15. In Conyers, she also won the gold medal in the Georgia State Junior Olympic Archery Development (JOAD) competition. [Read more…]

Hardin Valley Academy’s Feldman receives 2015 UT-Battelle Scholarship

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UT-Battelle Scholarship 2015

ORNL Director Thom Mason, left, congratulates UT-Battelle scholarship recipient Samuel Feldman. (Photo: Jason Richards)

 

By Chris Samoray

High school senior Samuel Feldman of Hardin Valley Academy in Knoxville has earned the 2015 UT-Battelle Scholarship to attend the University of Tennessee.

The scholarship, given to a graduating senior planning to study a science field at UT, is renewable for four years and is worth a total of $20,000. The scholarship is awarded annually to a student who has a parent who works at the U.S. Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory.

Samuel’s parents are Matthew and Laura Feldman of Knoxville. His father, Matthew, works in ORNL’s Reactor and Nuclear Systems Division. Sam’s grandparents are Mary and Jim Luttrell of Oak Ridge and Nancy and the late Melvin Feldman, who retired from ORNL, also of Oak Ridge. [Read more…]

Three ORHS seniors win Brad Sturm scholarships

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Brad Sturm Scholarship Winners

Two Rotarians and the winners of the Bradley Sturm Memorial Scholarships are, from left, Barry Stephenson, chair of the Brad Sturm scholarship selection committee, Rotary Club of Oak Ridge; Diane “Grace” Malone; Megan Pitz; Holly Gubanc; and Mel Sturm, scholarship sponsor. (Submitted photo)

 

The three Oak Ridge High School seniors who won the Bradley Sturm Memorial Scholarships for 2015 are Holly Gubanc, Diane “Grace” Malone, and Megan Pitz.

Mel Sturm, a local businessman for years, said he started the endowment for the scholarship fund in 1976 for two reasons. He wanted to give back to the community that had supported his businesses. And he was determined to combat the tendency of Oak Ridge students, many of whom have parents who work for the federal government or government contractors, to view “free enterprise” and the “profit motive” with suspicion.

The scholarship program is administered by a Rotary Club of Oak Ridge committee consisting of Barry Stephenson, chair, and Jim Sumner, Larry Beeman, Jim Charles, Hal Schmitt, and Mel Sturm. ORHS economics teachers Beverly Baumann and Teresa Seals play key roles in the program. [Read more…]