Oak Ridge Today

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.

Y-12 Community Relations Council adds members

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Bruce Borchers

Bruce Borchers

Bruce Borchers, Veronica O’Hearn, and John W. Smith have joined the Y-12 Community Relations Council. The volunteer group is comprised of 29 community and business leaders who are charged with helping to exchange information between Y-12’s management team and the Oak Ridge and East Tennessee region. The new members were selected by the CRC membership, a press release said.

“B&W Y-12 launched the Community Relations Council in 2002 because we understand the importance of having a strong relationship with our neighbors in and around the Oak Ridge area,” said Bill Reis, B&W Y-12’s vice president of public and government affairs. “We work hard to keep the group updated on the projects/programs and activities at Y-12 and look to them to provide us feedback from the community and to serve as ambassadors for Y-12. It’s a wonderful partnership, and we appreciate each and every one of the CRC members for their commitment to Y-12 and the community.”

B&W Y-12 operates the Y-12 National Security Complex for the National Nuclear Security Administration. [Read more…]

Fund forming to help family after student’s death as counselors meet with classmates

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Linden Elementary School

Linden Elementary School is pictured above.

Counselors met with students at Linden Elementary School this morning, and a parent-teacher organization is forming a fund to accept donations to help the family of a third-grader who died Tuesday, an official said.

Oak Ridge Schools Superintendent Bruce Borchers said there were five counselors from elementary and middle schools, and the school psychologist who serves Linden, at the west-end elementary school this morning.

“They have met with students who appeared upset or anxious,” Borchers said in a Wednesday afternoon e-mail. “I will tell you, though, it has been remarkably calm in my opinion.”

The boy was found unresponsive on a school bus on Wilberforce Avenue at about 4:10 p.m. Tuesday. An ambulance took him to Methodist Medical Center, where he was pronounced dead. The boy has not been identified, and the cause of his death has not been determined. [Read more…]

Rescuers tried to save unresponsive student, cause of death unknown

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Linden Elementary School

Linden Elementary School is pictured above.

The third-grade student who died Tuesday had appeared to be asleep on a school bus, officials said Wednesday.

But other students were unable to awake him at a bus stop on Wilberforce Avenue at about 4:10 p.m. Tuesday. The bus driver parked the bus and went back to check on the boy, but she was unable to wake him or get him to respond, Oak Ridge Fire Department Chief Darryl Kerley said.

She called 911. A dispatcher gave the bus driver instructions to care for the boy until rescuers arrived, Kerley said.

Firefighters responded within two minutes. The bus stop is behind a fire station on Tuskegee Avenue. The boy was taken by ambulance to Methodist Medical Center, where he was later pronounced dead. [Read more…]

Oak Ridge Schools students, staff increase United Way donations by more than 25 percent

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Oak Ridge Schools Donate to United Way

Michael Mott, second from left, was the winner of the grand prize of a weekend getaway donated by United Way of Anderson County Loaned Executive Becky Hook, a retired Oak Ridge teacher. Mott is pictured above with Oak Ridge Schools Superintendent Bruce Borchers, right, and Principal Bruce Lay, left, and Rick Morrow, UWAC executive director. (Submitted photo)

Students and staff in the Oak Ridge School system increased their contributions to this year’s United Way of Anderson County campaign by more than 25 percent, an official said.

“We are excited to be able to give back to our community,” said Bruce Borchers, Oak Ridge School superintendent. “This is a great community to be part of.”

“To see an increase during these very challenging times really means a lot,” said Rick Morrow, UWAC executive director. [Read more…]

Council member Hope explains proposed pay raise for city manager

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Chuck Hope

Chuck Hope

A proposed 10 percent pay raise for the Oak Ridge city manager will make his pay more competitive with the average salary for top municipal officials, a council member said last week.

The salary increase for City Manager Mark Watson was recommended by a three-member City Council committee after his pay was compared to other city managers across Tennessee and in other U.S. Department of Energy cities across the country, said Chuck Hope, chair of the City Manager Evaluation Committee. The committee, which includes Vice Mayor Jane Miller and Council member Charlie Hensley, also considered the responses to questionnaires sent out to all seven Council members, asking them to rate Watson’s performance in five categories.

“This is just an adjustment of his base pay to get him more competitive,” Hope said. It takes the average city manager’s salary in Tennessee into account as well as the market conditions that might have to be considered if Oak Ridge had to replace Watson. [Read more…]

ORHS hopes to win top reform prize in Nashville on Oct. 28

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Oak Ridge High School

Representatives of Oak Ridge High School, selected as one of the best three public high schools in Tennessee for growth in student achievement, will be in Nashville on Oct. 28, when they hope the school wins top honors at the SCORE Prize event.

Leaders, teachers, parents, and students of Oak Ridge High School, selected as one of the best three public high schools in Tennessee for growth in student achievement, will be in Nashville on Oct. 28, when they hope to win top honors at the SCORE Prize event.

The SCORE Prize, sponsored by the State Collaborative on Reforming Education, or SCORE, is the hallmark award for Tennessee public schools and districts that have made the greatest gains in student achievement. The prize will be awarded during an event that begins at 6 p.m., Oct. 28, at Laura Turner Concert Hall, Schermerhorn Symphony Center in Nashville.

SCORE is an independent, nonprofit, and nonpartisan education advocacy and research institution that works collaboratively to support Tennessee’s work to prepare students for college and the workforce and was founded by Bill Frist, former U.S. Senate majority leader. [Read more…]

See Oak Ridge Schools with ‘fresh eyes’ with new superintendent

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Bruce Borchers

Bruce Borchers

Superintendent Bruce Borchers will share his initial impressions of education in the Oak Ridge Schools and his priorities and goals during a Wednesday luncheon meeting of Altrusa International Club.

Borchers’ presentation is titled “Seeing Oak Ridge Schools through Fresh Eyes.”

The luncheon meeting will be at the DoubleTree Hotel on South Illinois Avenue. It starts at 11:45 a.m., and visitors with reservations are welcome to attend. [Read more…]

Oak Ridge Schools reassigns middle school principals

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Oak Ridge Schools Principals

Oak Ridge Schools Superintendent Bruce Borchers, center, announced reassignments of middle school principals on Wednesday, including James Hundertmark, right, who has been Robertsville Middle School principal. Also pictured is Christopher Scott, vice principal of curriculum and instruction at Oak Ridge High School.

Principals at Robertsville and Jefferson middle schools have been reassigned, education officials said Wednesday.

Robertsville Middle School Principal James Hundertmark is moving to the School Administration Building, where he will be the special projects administrator, Superintendent Bruce Borchers said.

Meanwhile, Jefferson Middle School Principal Bruce Lay has been reassigned as RMS principal, Borchers said. Philip Cox, who has been JMS vice principal, will become interim principal. [Read more…]

Council gives schools $250,000, school shutdown avoided

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Bruce Borchers and Mark Watson

During a special meeting Tuesday, Oak Ridge municipal officials agreed to give the city school system an extra $250,000 to avoid a potential loss of millions of dollars in state funding and avert a possible Oct. 1 school shutdown. Pictured above are Oak Ridge Schools Superintendent Bruce Borchers, left, and City Manager Mark Watson, who recommended the extra funding on Tuesday. (File photo)

In a short special meeting Tuesday, the Oak Ridge City Council agreed to give the city’s schools $250,000 to allow the system to avoid a potential loss of millions of dollars in state funding and avert a possible Oct. 1 shutdown.

The one-time transfer will come from higher-than-expected sales tax revenues in Roane County.

The vote was 4-1-1. Oak Ridge Mayor Tom Beehan, Mayor Pro Tem Jane Miller, and Council members Chuck Hope and Charlie Hensley voted in favor of the extra funding, which had been recommended by City Manager Mark Watson. [Read more…]

Council agrees to special meeting on school shortfall but wants documentation

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Mark Watson

Mark Watson

The Oak Ridge City Council has agreed to meet in a special session next week to try to resolve a $250,000 school funding shortfall that education officials claim could lead to a loss of millions of dollars in state funding and a temporary school shutdown if it’s not resolved by Oct. 1.

But Council members want documentation to accompany the request, Oak Ridge City Manager Mark Watson told Superintendent Bruce Borchers in a Sept. 11 letter. It should include an explanation of why the money is needed, information on decisions made by the Oak Ridge Board of Education to close schools on Oct. 1 if the funding is not obtained, and copies of any formal notice from the Tennessee education commissioner that he has agreed to withhold all of the state funding for Oak Ridge Schools starting in October, the city manager said. [Read more…]

Nothing to report yet on Oak Ridge Schools funding, state official says

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Tennessee officials had little to say on Wednesday about the potential loss of state education funding that Oak Ridge school officials have said could cost the school system $1.87 million per month—and lead to a temporary school shutdown on Oct. 1.

“We are starting to have meetings with various people regarding this situation, but at this point, we don’t have anything to report,” said Kelli Gauthier, communications director for the Tennessee Department of Education. [Read more…]