The Oak Ridge Board of Education will consider a balanced calendar for the 2016-2017 school year during a regular meeting tonight. The school board will also consider an updated budget timeline for the fiscal year that starts July 1.
The Board of Education could consider salary proposals from the Oak Ridge Education Association and principals during the meeting tonight (Monday, March 30). It starts at 6 p.m. at the Robert J. Smallridge School Administration Building at 304 New York Avenue.
The school board approved a balanced calendar for the 2015-2016 school year in a meeting in April 2014. This fall will be the first time that Oak Ridge has had a balanced calendar.
The balanced calendar, which is different than the traditional school calendar, gives students about nine weeks of classroom instruction at a time.
A “big picture draft” of the Oak Ridge Schools budget could be discussed during a regular meeting at 6 p.m. Monday, April 27. That draft could go to Oak Ridge City Council on May 1.
The budget could then be presented to the BOE on Wednesday, May 13, and being considered in late May before being considered by City Council in June.
See the 2016-2017 balanced calendar proposal here:Â Oak Ridge Schools 2016-2017 Balanced Calendar.
See the updated budget timeline here:Â Oak Ridge Schools 2015-2016 Budget Timeline.
See previous stories on the balanced calendar here: http://bjq.6af.mytemp.website/tag/balanced-calendar/.
Sam Hopwood says
Hopefully, the BOE will not hold the school bus service hostage again during their budget deliberations.
Joseph Lee says
Don’t worry Sam. If the BOE holds the school bus service hostage again, Trina will ride in with her hit squad and save the day. After all, she is for what is best for the taxpayers, the schools, the city and Trina.
Linda Wells Mabry says
Always with the hate aimed at Trina, right Joe?
Give it a rest. Your obsession is unhealthy.
Joseph Lee says
Ms. Mabry, Please try to understand this.
I do not hate Trina. I do hate the fact that Ms.Baughn has historically and consistently waisted her time as a council member, the time of her colleges and city staff time with issues for which she does not have support (at least 4 of 7 votes). As for the latest episode, after months of drama and negative talk about our city we has nothing to show for her actions other than a deep pool of bad blood. The truth is she lost big time on every point last Friday evening and rather than try to understand why she came up short she still thinks everyone else is at fault for the loss. “Give it a rest” you say? It should be obvious after Friday that there is no support in this community for dumb ideas. Please stop waisting our time. At this point, as far as I’m concerned, you and yours can do two things.
Count the votes and cry me a river. Thank you
Matt Bailey says
Prior to the November elections, many people claimed that they had a better plan for the bus service situation. Five months later, we are still waiting.
Sam Hopwood says
My better plan is to keep it as it is. It is working, don’t you think? Incidentally, I suspect our little village will be looking at the largest property tax increase in our history this year, possibly in the 50-65 cent area. You and I and Joe and Mark can afford it. Others I don’t know, but that doesn’t matter, it is coming. That loud sound you hear is the BOE salivating over their “fully fund us” wish list, and sounding the trumpets to call the school lobby action.
Have a great day!
Matt Bailey says
Unfortunately, I don’t think we have a choice but to expect a tax increase. Our investment in schools hasn’t kept up with what’s needed. I think we’re approaching a “curriculum vs. transportation” issue and my belief is that curriculum should win every time. The bus issue won’t go away. Neither will the responsibilities we have as a community to educate and prepare our students beyond state and federal standards. To believe that there is any extra fat in the budget to cut is likely a fantasy. We’ll see!
Andrew Howe says
I did look into the matter (route-wise), and found that ORS was pretty much doing what I’d think would be about the optimal plan for using our buses. There’s a lot of variability in any routing plan, due to our crazy web of streets, so minor tweaking might show slight gains, but one quickly sees that our buses are all being used, shared, and hardly idle.
“Package delivery” is a classic example of a very difficult task to fully optimize, and today delivery services rely on computers to pound out routes, as they do a much better job (or do it much faster).
My only real comments on busing, if we’re getting into that, is 1) to factor in the large road crossings, so the little one’s don’t have to cross Illinois and other large roads, and 2) see if we can get software to assist us in optimizing the routes (if not already being used).
In short, in my opinion any financial improvements regarding busing would more likely come from the ledger side (rent vs. own, contracts and payscales, etc) and not from the routes themselves. And I couldn’t begin to comment on that from my outside perspective.