Oak Ridge Today

School board to consider demolition of Blankenship visitor bleachers

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Visitor Bleachers at Blankenship Field

The Oak Ridge Board of Education on Monday will consider whether to demolish the visitor bleachers at Blankenship Field.

The visitor bleachers at Blankenship Field are no longer safe for fans, would cost too much to repair, and should be demolished immediately, a school official said this month.

The Oak Ridge Board of Education will consider the proposed demolition during a Monday evening meeting.

The visitor bleachers would be too much of a liability risk if they continue to be used, said Allen Thacker, maintenance and operations supervisor for Oak Ridge Schools. In addition, the main stairs from the dressing rooms to the field on the home side of Jack Armstrong Stadium/Blankenship Field are seriously aged and suffer from erosion. [Read more…]

DOE-ORO employees teach Woodland students the fun of math, science

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DOE Environmental Management at Woodland STEM Night

Employees from the U.S. Department of Energy Oak Ridge Office of Environmental Management took part in Woodland Elementary’s Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math (STEM) night on Thursday. (Photos by DOE/Lynn Freeny)

Employees from the U.S. Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge Office of Environmental Management participated in Woodland Elementary’s Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math, or STEM, night on Thursday. Employees volunteered to help students from kindergarten through fourth grade forge a love for math and science and realize the possibilities these disciplines offer.

“It’s rewarding any time you can participate in the education process,” said Jay Mullis, director of the Engineering, Safety, and Quality Division with DOE’s Oak Ridge Office of Environmental Management. “These kids are in the stage when learning is new and fun, and it’s the perfect opportunity to lay a great foundation and appreciation of the sciences.”

The event involved numerous local sponsors and community groups that helped design and share fun, educational activities for students at Woodland Elementary in Oak Ridge. Kids had the opportunity to learn through robots, Legos, gummy bear catapults, astronomy, spaghetti and marshmallow tower-building competitions, and math code busters. Specifically, Environmental Management employees taught participants how to create their own lava lamps. [Read more…]

Principals appointed at Oak Ridge High, Jefferson Middle

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David Bryant

David Bryant

Phil Cox

Phil Cox

Interim principals at Oak Ridge High School and Jefferson Middle School have been named principals, Oak Ridge Schools announced Wednesday.

David Bryant, who has been interim principal at Oak Ridge High School, has been named principal, and Phillip Cox, interim principal at Jefferson Middle School, has been named principal at the middle school.

Bryant has been interim principal at the high school since July 2013. He was an assistant ORHS principal from 2006 to 2013, and before that, he was an administrator at the Alternative Program.

Bryant began his career with Oak Ridge Schools as a special education teacher in 1985. He has a bachelor’s degree in special education from the University of Tennessee in Knoxville and a master’s degree from Lincoln Memorial University. [Read more…]

ORNL, DOE, Roane State, Borchers to take part in STEM Night at Woodland

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Bruce Borchers

Bruce Borchers

Representatives from Oak Ridge National Laboratory, the U.S. Department of Energy, and Roane State Community College—as well as Superintendent Bruce Borchers—will take part in a Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math Night for students at Woodland Elementary School on Thursday.

The STEM Night for students is being hosted by the Woodland Parent Teacher Organization, a press release said. It will be in the school’s gymnasium. Borchers will kick off the event with opening comments at 5:15 p.m. Thursday.

A press release said Borchers is pursuing avenues to make Oak Ridge “the” premier STEM school district in the country. [Read more…]

Anderson County Schools closed Wednesday because of low temps, wind chill

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Anderson County Schools will be closed Wednesday because of extremely low temperatures and a predicted wind chill factor of zero or below, officials said.

Central Office employees will follow inclement weather procedures, a press release said.

JMS briefly locked down as police search area for person with handgun

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Jefferson Middle School

Jefferson Middle School

Jefferson Middle School was briefly locked down early Thursday afternoon as police searched for a person armed with a handgun at a nearby business.

The Oak Ridge Police Department began searching for the person at about 12:30 p.m. Thursday after receiving information that the individual, who is not identified in a press release, had just left the Clinton area and might be on the way to the west end of Oak Ridge.

“Oak Ridge police personnel from the Patrol, Criminal Investigations, and Administration divisions immediately deployed throughout the city to locate the individual, and at approximately 12:52 p.m., information was received that the individual may have been in a vehicle in the Home Depot parking lot in Oak Ridge,” an ORPD press release said. “Oak Ridge police unmarked units identified a vehicle matching the description of the individual’s vehicle in the parking lot and requested the Jefferson Middle School initiate a lockdown, as it was nearby. [Read more…]

Borchers to discuss Oak Ridge Schools at Lunch with League

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Bruce Borchers

Bruce Borchers

Superintendent Bruce Borchers will discuss Oak Ridge Schools at Lunch with the League on Tuesday.

The meeting starts at noon Tuesday in the Social Hall of the Oak Ridge Unitarian Universalist Church, located at 1500 Oak Ridge Turnpike.

Borchers will focus on the theme “Building on Excellence: Where we were, where we are, and where we are going.” He will highlight achievement data, changing demographics, and initiatives that will help Oak Ridge students be successful in the 21st Century, a press release said. [Read more…]

New SRO approved at Oak Ridge Schools, could start Monday

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Oak Ridge City Council

The Oak Ridge City Council voted 5-1 on Monday to approve a move that allows another school resource officer, or SRO, to be added to Oak Ridge Schools.

Note: This story was updated at 9:45 a.m. Jan. 14.

The Oak Ridge City Council approved a move on Monday that will add a second school resource officer in the city’s schools, and the new SRO could start Monday.

The new SRO is Oak Ridge Police Department Officer Michael Swigert. The current SRO is Officer Sherrill Selby.

It’s not as big a step as some officials had proposed during the past few years. There have been various proposals to have a total of three SROs, including one at each of the city’s two middle schools, or even more, perhaps one SRO at each school. The discussions seemed to gain urgency after the massacre at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn., in December 2012, but funding has been an obstacle. [Read more…]

City move could add another police officer to Oak Ridge Schools

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Oak Ridge High School

The number of reported crimes is down at Oak Ridge High School since police officers were given office space there in August, and a move recommended by city administrators could add another school resource officer in the Oak Ridge school system.

The number of reported crimes is down at Oak Ridge High School since police officers were given office space there in August, and a move recommended by city administrators could add another school resource officer in the Oak Ridge school system.

It’s part of a program to improve student safety and use law enforcement to reduce unacceptable student behaviors, Oak Ridge City Manager Mark Watson and Police Chief Jim Akagi said.

Oak Ridge Schools now have one school resource officer, or SRO. There have been discussions about adding more officers, especially since the massacre at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn., in December 2012, but funding has been an obstacle.

On Monday, the Oak Ridge City Council will consider a resolution that would allow the Oak Ridge Police Department to hire an extra police officer, exceeding its authorized personnel staffing levels, in order to assign an existing police officer as an SRO. There have been proposals to add more—in December, City Council member Trina Baughn proposed one at each of the city’s two middle schools—but Watson and Akagi are recommending one additional officer now. [Read more…]

Weather: Anderson, Roane schools closed Tuesday, Lunch with League canceled

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Anderson and Roane county schools will also be closed Tuesday due to hazardous road conditions, record low temperatures, and negative wind chills.

As reported earlier, students at Oak Ridge Schools will not return from Winter Break on Tuesday, but will instead start on Wednesday.

The Lunch with the League scheduled for Tuesday has been canceled due to the cold weather.

Anderson County Schools said its Central Office staff will follow bad weather procedures. Roane County Schools said the Central Office staff will report to work at 10 a.m. Tuesday.

Wind chill values Monday night could range from -3 in Chattanooga to -16 in Oneida, with the forecast calling for -9 in Knoxville, according to the National Weather Service in Morristown. Wind chill values near Oak Ridge are forecast to range between -7 and -12.

Oak Ridge Schools opening delayed to Wednesday, press conference rescheduled

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Dangerously Cold Wind Chills

Students at Oak Ridge Schools will return to class on Wednesday, rather than Tuesday, and the Keys to College press conference that had been scheduled for Monday afternoon has been rescheduled due to the weather. And the Anderson County Schools Central Office is closed Monday, officials said.

As reported earlier, Roane County Schools are closed Monday.

The Oak Ridge Schools’ press conference on the Keys to College and Career Readiness program has been rescheduled to 2 p.m. Tuesday in the Oak Ridge High School lobby. [Read more…]

Oak Ridge Schools have Monday press conference on Keys to College and Career Readiness

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Bruce Borchers

Bruce Borchers

Oak Ridge Schools Superintendent Bruce Borchers and his staff will have a Monday afternoon press conference on a program called the Keys to College and Career Readiness.

The press conference starts at 2 p.m. Monday in the Oak Ridge High School lobby. (Update: This press conference has been rescheduled for 2 p.m. Tuesday due to the weather.)

“Improving the college and career readiness of all Oak Ridge students will provide for a better foundation of knowledge and skills, allowing them to be prepared for a more technologically sophisticated and internationally competitive working world,” a press release said.

The Keys to College and Career Readiness program was developed by interviewing and surveying Oak Ridge students, parents, staff, and community during a three-month period the release said. More than 1,400 responses were logged and shaped into the seven “keys.” The keys will be used to drive school and district initiatives for the coming years, the release said.