Oak Ridge Today

School board approves one-time bonus, SRO funding, hears pleas to save jobs

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Oak Ridge Board of Education Budget

Oak Ridge High School students Miranda Lands, left, Michele Lands, and Matthew Stansberry present a student petition asking the Oak Ridge Board of Education to spare physics teacher Katherine Goepfert from budget-cutting layoffs.

The teaching jobs should be saved, students and parents told the Oak Ridge Board of Education during a special budget meeting Tuesday.

One of the teachers who could lose her job, Oak Ridge High School physics teacher Katherine Goepfert, or “Ms. G.,” has motivated students who have been in danger of dropping out, they said, and 109 students have signed a petition asking for her position to be saved.

“She’s just a good teacher,” ORHS senior Miranda Lands said. “She’s ‘busting her butt’ every day for our education.”

A few parents pleaded for the board to preserve a special education teaching assistant position at Linden Elementary School. They said their children require one-on-one attention, and they are concerned the students might struggle without that help. [Read more…]

Oak Ridge school board approves new superintendent contract

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Bob and Carol Smallridge and Bruce Borchers

The Oak Ridge Board of Education has approved a four-year contract with new school superintendent Bruce Borchers, right. Above Borchers speaks to Carol Smallridge, left, and interim Oak Ridge Schools Superintendent Bob Smallridge, second from right. Also pictured is Borchers’ son Jack.

The Oak Ridge Board of Education unanimously approved a four-year contract with new superintendent Bruce Borchers in a short special meeting Monday.

Borchers will be paid $178,000 per year, and he starts June 18, said Bob Eby, school board vice chair.

“We’ve got a top-notch superintendent that can take us to the next level,” Eby said. He led the contract negotiations on behalf of the board with the help of Oak Ridge Schools Human Resources Director Christine Lee and school attorney Larry Giordano. [Read more…]

School board offers superintendent contract to Borchers

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Bob and Carol Smallridge and Bruce Borchers

Before the school board offered him the Oak Ridge Schools superintendent job on Monday, Bruce Borchers, right, speaks to Carol Smallridge, left, and interim Oak Ridge Schools Superintendent Bob Smallridge, second from right. Also pictured is Borchers’ son Jack.

The Oak Ridge school board has offered the superintendent’s job to Bruce Borchers, who is now superintendent of the Rockwood School District in Eureka, Mo.

The position, which has a salary range of about $175,000, is still subject to contract negotiations.

Board members approved the offer in a 5-0 vote during a short special meeting on Monday at Riverside Grille in Oak Ridge.  [Read more…]

Seven superintendent finalists, three to be interviewed Tuesday

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An executive search firm has narrowed down the list of superintendent candidates to seven finalists, and the Oak Ridge school board plans to interview three of them Tuesday.

The three are:

  • Bruce Borchers, superintendent of the Rockwood School District in Eureka, Mo., which has 22,000 students;
  • Dale Lynch, superintendent of the Hamblen County Schools in Morristown, which has 10,300 students; and
  • Keith Rowland, superintendent of Shenandoah County Public Schools in Woodstock, Va., which has 6,250 students.

[Read more…]

School Board to discuss school resource officers, superintendent search

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Bob Smallridge

Bob Smallridge

The Oak Ridge Board of Education will discuss a plan to possibly add more school resource officers during a meeting this evening.

The board will also consider a new timeline in its search for a new superintendent.

Interim Oak Ridge Schools Superintendent Robert J. Smallridge, who is a former superintendent in the Secret City, said he would like to have one school resource officer, or SRO, in each school. There is currently one SRO at the high school.

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Two more finalists withdraw from superintendent search

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Two more finalists for Oak Ridge Schools superintendent have withdrawn, and the search will have to be re-opened, an official said Wednesday.

One candidate, Roger Collins, toured Oak Ridge this past Friday. The other, Dan Lawson, was scheduled to be here Thursday, but that visit has been canceled.

On Wednesday, Oak Ridge Board of Education Chair Keys Fillauer said Collins and Lawson have decided they want to stay where they are. Collins has been superintendent of Nelson County Public Schools in Lovingston, Va., for 10 years. Lawson, superintendent of Tullahoma City Schools in Tullahoma, Tenn., has been with his district 16 years.

[Read more…]

Connecticut massacre focuses attention on school security in Tennessee

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The school shootings in Newtown, Conn., on Friday have focused attention on school security in Tennessee, led to pledges to increase the police presence at some schools, and bolstered calls for more school resource officers across the state.

It has also revived an intense debate about gun control in the United States.

The shootings at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown last week killed 20 children, six adults, the gunman, and his mother. On Tuesday, the National Rifle Association said it was prepared to “offer meaningful contributions to help make sure this never happens again” and would have a major news conference on Friday.

In Tennessee, a few legislators have proposed requiring school resource officers in all schools, training at least one staff member to use firearms, or allowing teachers to carry handguns into schools not patrolled by armed police officers. But it’s not yet clear how much support—or funding—those proposals will have.

In Oak Ridge, Board of Education Chair Keys Fillauer said education officials will continue to advocate for more school resource officers, or SROs. But local officials said adding SROs could depend upon funding.

In Anderson County, Mayor Terry Frank sent out information on Tuesday on the positive measures taken this week by the Anderson County Sheriff’s Department after last week’s shooting, including four walk-throughs at Dutch Valley Elementary School on Monday.

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Second top school administrator leaving Oak Ridge at end of year

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She was Oak Ridge preschool principal for 12 years and assistant interim superintendent for eight months, and now Marian Phillips has been offered a new job at the University of Tennessee.

She will start at UT on Jan. 7. She will be leaving Oak Ridge shortly after Superintendent Tom Bailey, who is retiring at the end of the year.

Phillips became assistant interim superintendent after Ken Green left in May.

[Read more…]

Former superintendent Smallridge could serve as interim school leader

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Former superintendent Bob Smallridge could temporarily lead the Oak Ridge school system starting in January.

On Wednesday, Oak Ridge Board of Education Chairman Keys Fillauer said he will recommend hiring Smallridge during a Jan. 7 meeting.

Tom Bailey, the current superintendent, is retiring at the end of the year, and the board hasn’t hired a replacement yet.

“We felt like we needed someone driving the ship,” Fillauer said of his proposal to recommend hiring Smallridge as interim superintendent until Bailey’s replacement is hired and starts working in Oak Ridge.

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Oak Ridge school superintendent search down to three finalists

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Two candidates have dropped out, and the five-month search for a new Oak Ridge schools superintendent is down to three finalists.

They are:

  • Dan Lawson, superintendent of Tullahoma City Schools in Tullahoma, Tenn.;
  • Neyland Clark, superintendent of South Harrison Community Schools in Corydon, Ind.; and
  • Roger Collins, superintendent of Nelson County Public Schools in Lovingston, Va.

The Oak Ridge Board of Education had scheduled interviews with five finalists. Those interviews, which lasted a total of eight to 10 hours, began Friday and continued Tuesday and Wednesday.

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Interviews for five superintendent candidates start Friday

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The list of applicants for Oak Ridge superintendent has been narrowed down to five, and the Oak Ridge Board of Education will start interviewing candidates on Friday.

The five finalists are:

  • Raymond Bandlow, who was most recently the superintendent of Fort Lee Public Schools in Fort Lee, N.J.;
  • Dan Lawson, superintendent of Tullahoma City Schools in Tullahoma, Tenn.;
  • Kenneth Sorrick, former superintendent of North Palos School District in Palos Hills, Ill.;
  • Neyland Clark, superintendent of South Harrison Community Schools in Corydon, Ind.; and
  • Roger Collins, superintendent of Nelson County Public Schools in Lovingston, Va.

Fillauer named to All Tennessee School Board

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Oak Ridge Board of Education Chairman Keys Fillauer has been recognized by the Tennessee School Board Association and named to the “All Tennessee School Board,” a press release said.

Members of the All Tennessee School Board were selected by a panel of judges from nominations throughout the state.

The nominee for the All Tennessee School Board who received the highest collective ranking by the panel of judges will be the recipient of the C. Hal Distinguished Service Award and serve as board chairman of the All Tennessee School Board, the press release said. That honor was scheduled to be announced by the Tennessee School Board Association at an annual conference held in Nashville on Monday, Nov. 5.

Qualifications for the All Tennessee School Board included achieving Level IV in the TSBA Boardsmanship program, quality of service, participation in board development activities, specific accomplishments of the local board of education during his term on the board, and leadership activities at the local, regional, or state level, the press release said.

During the past year, Fillauer has also received the “Service Above Self Award” from the Oak Ridge Breakfast Rotary, was inducted into the Anderson County Hall of Fame as the K-12 Educator of the Year, and received the Distinguished Service Award from the Technology Student Association.