Oak Ridge Today

School board considers balanced calendar on Monday

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Christopher J. Marczak

Christopher J. Marczak

The new “balanced” school calendar has twice been endorsed by a majority of Oak Ridge parents and school staff, and the school board on Monday is expected to consider whether to use the new calendar, which gives students about nine weeks of classroom instruction at a time, in the 2015-2016 school year.

The first vote was conducted through the Skylert callout system in February, and the second vote was in March. Parents and staff were asked whether they favor the traditional or balanced calendar.

The new calendar would apply to all schools, including Willow Brook and the PreSchool for the 2015-16 school year. The first vote callout took place Feb. 10.

The traditional calendar is the calendar that most of the Oak Ridge Schools have had for quite a while. Students come to school in the middle of August, have a one-week fall break, two weeks off for winter, a one-week spring break, dismissal at the beginning of June, and an 11- to 12-week summer. [Read more…]

RSI offering $8,000 in college scholarships

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Restoration Services Inc. and its voluntary Employee Outreach Committee are offering eight $1,000 college scholarships, a press release said. The scholarships are designed to help students “achieve their greatest potential through higher education.”

Six scholarships will be awarded to graduating high school students who will be attending college in the upcoming fall 2014 semester. The other two scholarships will be awarded to children of RSI employees who are upcoming sophomores, juniors, or seniors currently enrolled in an accredited college for the 2014 fall semester.

Scholarship recipients will be selected from submitted applications that include academic accomplishments, community involvement/leadership roles, and an essay on current environmental threats. [Read more…]

Anderson Schools rejects Oak Ridge Head Start application over false federal data

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Larry Foster

Larry Foster

Note: This story was last updated at 8:35 p.m.

Anderson County Schools director optimistic that resolution will be reached

By John Huotari and Sara Wise

They had concerns about the alleged falsification of federal documents that contained data on motor skills of children, so Anderson County school officials rejected Oak Ridge’s application for Head Start funding in the 2014-2015 school year.

The decision could affect roughly $700,000 in funding, or enough to cover about 118 students in the Oak Ridge Head Start program, a federal entitlement program for low-income children. Anderson County Schools supervises the local Head Start program.

But Anderson County Schools Director Larry Foster said the county school board’s unanimous April 10 decision could be rescinded based upon collaboration between the two school systems. Representatives of the two systems have already had discussions, and school board chairs are expected to discuss what can be done to resolve funding for next year.

“Hopefully, this can be resolved,” Foster said during a brief break in a Monday morning Anderson County Commission meeting in Clinton. [Read more…]

Sister City group has April 25 dinner for middle school exchanges with Japan

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Oak Ridge Naka-shi Middle School Exchange

Participants in the Oak Ridge/ Naka-shi, Japan 2013 Middle school exchange, frolic in the ocean on the Japanese coast. (Submitted photos)

The Sister City Support Organization, in cooperation with the City of Oak Ridge and Oak Ridge Schools, has sponsored the visit of middle school students to our sister city of Naka-shi, Japan, for 22 years.

In support of the 2014 Middle School exchange, the Sister City Support Organization is hosting a spaghetti supper on Friday, April 25. The supper will be held at the First United Methodist Church from 5:30-8 p.m. Student exchange participants and SCSO board members will don Japanese “happy coats” and kimonos to serve the main course and an array of delicious homemade desserts. [Read more…]

Register now for Graduation Celebration on May 29

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Graduation Celebration 2013

Plans for the 17th annual Graduation Celebration on May 29 are well under way.

Graduation Celebration is an all-night, safe party for our city’s graduates from Oak Ridge High School, homeschool, or private schools.

The party began in 1997, after several tragic deaths during the graduation season, and today about 90 percent of ORHS graduates attend each year. [Read more…]

Oak Ridge Schools seeks to become top STEM district in country

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Bruce Borchers Introduces Discovery Education

Oak Ridge Schools Superintendent Bruce Borchers introduces Discovery Education to members of the PTA Council on Thursday, April 10. (Photos by Sara Wise)

Superintendent: ‘It’s a big deal nationally’

Oak Ridge Schools is attempting to become the premier district in the nation for science, technology, engineering, and math, or STEM, education. Superintendent Bruce Borchers has a $3.4 million plan to make that happen using Microsoft Surface tablets and Discovery Education. The money will be spent over a five-year period.

Borchers calls the needed changes a “digital transformation” that will, he hopes, bring a tablet to every student in the school system. This is especially important in Oak Ridge, a district with a free and reduced lunch rate of more than 50 percent. The digital transformation would allow every student in the district to have the same educational opportunities, regardless of income.

The first of three steps toward transformation is to create a technological infrastructure capable of handling all the tablets. Those improvements have a $1 million price tag that the Oak Ridge Board of Education and the city have already approved. Borchers hopes for the upgrades to be completed before students return to school in the fall. The upgrades are projected to last until at least 2022. [Read more…]

STEM standards training for informal educators, tutors, community members

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Oak Ridge Schools is partnering with Oak Ridge Associated Universities, the Children’s Museum, and American Museum of Science and Energy to do a STEM standards training for informal educators, tutors, and community members from 6-8 p.m. Monday, April 21, at the Children’s Museum.

“This training will be beneficial to those who are interested in learning more about helping students advance their skills in science, technology, engineering, and math and have been wondering what the Common Core and Science Standards are as well as how they can be applied to informal and after-school education programs,” a press release said. “The training will be led by Oak Ridge Schools’ staff.”

Light refreshments and childcare will be provided. You can register at www.orau.us/informaledworkshop.

City, schools have wellness fair on May 21

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Oak Ridge Wellness Fair 2011

Flu shots are given at an Oak Ridge Wellness Fair in November 2011. (File photo)

The City of Oak Ridge Wellness Committee and the Oak Ridge Schools will host the 2014 Wellness and Safety Fair on Wednesday, May 21, from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. at the Oak Ridge Civic Center. The fair is open to Oak Ridge City employees, Oak Ridge School employees, retirees, and their families. The fair will then be opened to the public from 3 p.m. to 5 p.m.

For more information, contact Sandy Sexton at (865) 425-3414 or ssexton@oakridgetn.gov.

Applications for Oak Ridge Schools tuition, cross boundary due April 25

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Oak Ridge Schools Administration Building

The Oak Ridge School Administration Building on New York Avenue is pictured above.

The application period for renewing or applying for tuition and cross boundary applications for 2014–2015 in Oak Ridge Schools started April 7 and ends April 25.

The approved applications are good for one year. If your child was approved last year and has remained in good standing during that time period, you will not need to complete a cross boundary application or a tuition application for the upcoming school year, a press release said. You will receive a letter of your child’s status.

Cross boundary applications may be obtained at the schools, on the Oak Ridge Schools’ website or from the Pupil Services Department. Tuition applications may be obtained on the Oak Ridge Schools’ website or from the Pupil Services Department in the School Administration Building. [Read more…]

Oak Ridge teachers, principals request 2.5 percent pay raise

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Mike Haygood of Oak Ridge Education Association

Mike Haygood, left, co-president of the Oak Ridge Education Association, tells Oak Ridge school board members during a March 24 meeting that teachers are requesting a 2.5 percent salary increase.

Oak Ridge teachers, staff members, and principals have requested a 2.5 percent salary increase in the next school year.

The requests could be considered as part of the budget discussions for the fiscal year that starts July 1.

The Oak Ridge Education Association said the consumer price index has increased 2.38 percent on average each year during the past decade. Meanwhile, the annual salary increase for school staff members has averaged 1.5 percent.

Teachers have not had a pay increase for several years, said Mike Haygood, OREA co-president.

“Some type of salary increase is long overdue,” he told members of the Oak Ridge Board of Education during a March 24 meeting. [Read more…]

Oak Ridge resident Don Bell running for Anderson school board

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Don Bell

Don Bell

Oak Ridge resident Don A. Bell is running for the District 7 seat on the Anderson County Board of Education. District 7 includes Highland View, Glenwood, and Pine Valley in Oak Ridge.

Bell is a longtime Oak Ridger and a 1974 graduate of Oak Ridge High School, the candidate said in a press release. He retired from the Oak Ridge school system in 2013. He had worked in the maintenance and operations division at Glenwood Elementary School.

Bell served on the board of directors of Oak Ridge Schools Federal Cedit Union for seven years and as vice chairman for three years. He also served on the Superintendent’s Search Committee to appoint the principal for Glenwood Elementary and was on the supervisory committee of the Tennessee Members First Federal Credit Union.

In the press release, Bell said he looks forward to meeting his constituents and hopes to use his experience to serve the Anderson County school system.

ORAU Annual Report highlights impact of early career researchers on U.S. scientific mission

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Jason Hayward

Jason Hayward, who has a doctorate in nuclear engineering from the University of Michigan, holds a high-resolution instrument, which is part of his research to benefit facilities like Oak Ridge National Laboratory’s Spallation Neutron Source. (Photo credit: University of Tennessee)

With U.S. falling behind China and India in numbers of STEM graduates, strengthening U.S. scientific talent is critical, according to report

Jason Hayward is applying his nuclear engineering research expertise to develop the next generation of high-resolution instruments for facilities like Oak Ridge National Laboratory’s Spallation Neutron Source.

Hayward, who has a doctorate in nuclear engineering from the University of Michigan, hopes his work will eventually help curtail the spread of nuclear weapons and assist in identifying viable alternative energy sources. Hayward is an assistant professor of nuclear engineering at the University of Tennessee, a joint faculty member with ORNL’s Nuclear Security and Isotope Technology Division, a U.S. Department of Energy research award recipient, and a participant in the Higher Education Research Experiences Program.

He and many other early career researchers are participating in fellowships and internships managed by Oak Ridge Associated Universities with DOE and other federal agencies, and they are the main focus of ORAU’s “2013 Annual Report,” which has just been released. [Read more…]