Anderson County Schools will be closed Monday, January 9, due to icy conditions on back roads in the county.
The school’s Central Office will follow the inclement weather procedure.
Weather cancellations, closings at schools, sporting events
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
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
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…]
New Year’s Walk at UT Arboretum on Jan. 2
If you want to get some exercise early in the new year, you can go on a short hike during the Third Annual New Year’s Walk at the University of Tennessee Arboretum on Monday.
The free walk is offered by the UT Arboretum Society. It starts at 9:30 a.m. Monday, January 2, at the UT Arboretum Auditorium. There, you will be greeted by fellow hikers and offered coffee, hot chocolate, and snacks, a press release said.
At 10 a.m., the group will leave for a guided walk that will last about 45 minutes, the press release said. The hike will follow a forest trail and will visit the Elmore Holly Collection, giving participants the opportunity to see the hollies still covered with berries. [Read more…]
Keep Anderson County Beautiful receives $20,000 grant
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…]
Roane State dental hygiene student receives scholarship
Oral Surgery Specialists of Tennessee representative Scarlett Valentine, left, presented Roane State student Kelly Tallent with a $1,500 study abroad scholarship. (Photo courtesy Roane State Community College)
Roane State Community College dental hygiene student Kelly Tallent of Lenoir City received a $1,500 study abroad scholarship provided by Oral Surgery Specialists of Tennessee.
The scholarship will be used for Tallent’s study abroad experience in spring 2017. Roane State dental hygiene students travel to Costa Rica each year to provide preventive care services to children. [Read more…]
CareerLink showcases internships, research opportunities for minorities at ORNL
ORISE, ORNL host 43 faculty and undergraduates from minority institutions for networking event
The Oak Ridge Institute for Science and Education, or ORISE, recently partnered with Oak Ridge National Laboratory to host a CareerLink Event Day that provided a full day of networking and workshops for faculty and undergraduate students from minority institutions.
Sponsored by the U.S. Department of Energy’s Office of Workforce Development for Teachers and Scientists Programs and held at ORNL, this inaugural event benefitted 43 distinguished faculty and undergraduate students from historically black colleges and universities, or HBCUs, and minority education institutions, or MEIs, who are interested in career opportunities with DOE or its national labs.
“Events like this help excite and educate faculty and students from our nation’s minority education institutions about STEM-related careers,” said Craig Layman, associate director with ORISE. “Students learn more about the critical mission areas of ORNL and, at the same time, network with potential mentors who are among ORNL’s top scientists and engineers.” [Read more…]
Chadwick, Emch are Roane State’s 2016 Outstanding Alumni
Lisa Chadwick
A healthcare expert and a leading geospatial scientist are Roane State’s Outstanding Alumni for 2016.
The recipients are Lisa Chadwick of Knoxville, director of risk management for Functional Pathways in Knoxville, and Whitney Emch with the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency.
Chadwick graduated magna cum laude from Roane State Community College in 1991 with an associate degree in nursing. She also holds a bachelor’s degree from Berry College and a master’s degree in health services administration from the University of St. Francis. [Read more…]
ORAU hosts STEM Stories evening for local students
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
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
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…]
