Oak Ridge Today

Oak Ridge teachers, principals ask for 4 percent pay raise

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Mike Haygood at Oak Ridge Board of Education

Mike Haygood, assistant principal at Jefferson Middle School, asks for a 4 percent salary increase on behalf of the Oak Ridge Education Association. At left is Steve Reddick, OREA co-president, and at center is Phil Cox, JMS principal.

 

Oak Ridge teachers and principals have requested a 4 percent salary increase in the fiscal year that starts July 1.

Teachers said they’ve “gone backwards” in terms of real buying power during the past decade. And administrators said it’s become more difficult to attract quality applicants in part because of salaries.

It’s not clear yet if the requested increases will be approved or if the money is available or would require a property tax rate increase. There are a number of steps to complete before the budget receives final approval in June. Among other things, it has to be considered by both the Oak Ridge Board of Education and Oak Ridge City Council. [Read more…]

Four charged with aggravated robbery in alleged plot to steal rent money

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Raymond R. Gray

Raymond R. Gray

Four young Oak Ridge adults have been charged with aggravated robbery and criminal conspiracy in an alleged plot to rob a woman for rent money, authorities said.

The alleged armed robbery occurred on Highland Avenue at about midnight April 1, Oak Ridge Police Department Officer Ben Higgins said in warrants filed in Anderson County General Sessions Court.

The victim said three men who had their faces covered had robbed her at gunpoint and fled in a black Chevy sedan, the warrants said. The victim followed them north on Highland Avenue. [Read more…]

Breakthrough 5K supports programs for adults with autism

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Breakthrough Run Start

Organizers of the ninth annual Breakthrough 5K Run/Walk for Autism on April 18 invite youths and adults who have disabilities to join in the race.

Those with autism and any other disabilities are invited to join more than 400 runners and walkers in the 5K run and walk and one-mile Fun Walk that supports the not-for-profit Breakthrough of Knoxville, which provides a range of services to help adults with autism to live as independently as possible.

The Breakthrough Run/Walk for Autism begins at 8 a.m. Saturday, April 18, at the Regal Cinemas Pinnacle Stadium 18 at Turkey Creek, in Farragut. The run, on a USATF-certified course, will have chip timing for the 5K. [Read more…]

City, Schools Preschool Building Planning Committee to meet April 9

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Oak Ridge Preschool and School Administration Building

The Oak Ridge City Council has agreed to use $150,000 in unspent red-light camera to repair the lead-based paint on the Oak Ridge Schools Preschool and Robert J. Smallridge School Administration Building on New York Avenue. Officials say the building needs to be renovated or vacated for the Head Start program to receive funding in the 2015-2016 school year. (File photo)

 

The new joint city-school committee that could lay the groundwork for a new preschool by the 2016-2017 school year will meet on Thursday, April 9.

The meeting of the Joint City/Schools Preschool Building Planning Committee will start at 1:30 p.m. April 9 in the School Administration Building conference room.

Members of the committee are Charlsey Cofer, Keys Fillauer, Bruce Borchers, Lee Ann Shelton, Jessica Hill, Allen Thacker, Mark Watson, Janice McGinnis, Ellen Smith, Shirley Raines, Pat Fallon, and Jon Hetrick.

The joint city-schools committee for the Preschool was endorsed earlier this year. For now, officials have agreed to use $150,000 in red-light camera money to repair the lead-based paint on the city’s Preschool, providing what officials hope will be a temporary fix while they develop a plan to permanently repair, replace, or move the Preschool. The city-school committee could work to determine space needs, develop an affordable finance plan, develop a project timetable, and make a public education plan.

ORNL part of project to study how tropical forests respond to climate change

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Amazon Tropical Rainforests

The future of tropical rainforests in the Amazon (pictured) and worldwide is the focus of a new research project that combines field experiments and predictive modeling. (Photo courtesy ORNL)

 

Researchers from Oak Ridge National Laboratory will play key roles in an expansive new project that aims to bring the future of tropical forests and the climate system into much clearer focus by coupling field research with the development of a new ecosystem model.

The project is called the Next Generation Ecosystem Experiments-Tropics, or NGEE-Tropics. Its goal is the development of a model that represents how tropical forests interact with Earth’s climate in much greater ecological detail than ever before. This will help scientists explore, more accurately than is possible today, how rising temperatures, shifting precipitation patterns, increasing greenhouse gas levels, and other natural and human-induced changes affect tropical forests’ influence on Earth’s climate.

Led by DOE’s Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab), the effort includes collaborators from Oak Ridge, Brookhaven, Los Alamos, and Pacific Northwest national laboratories. The study also includes researchers from the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute, the U.S. Forest Service, the National Center for Atmospheric Research, NASA, and several institutions from other nations. [Read more…]

Workers building sewer system holding tank near Emory Valley Road

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Emory Valley Road Sewer System Holding Tanks

Workers assemble a sewer system holding tank near Emory Valley Road and Fairbanks Road on Wednesday afternoon.

 

Workers have been assembling a sewer system holding tank near Emory Valley Road and Fairbanks Road. It’s one of three tanks that will help Oak Ridge comply with a U.S. Environmental Protection Agency order that requires the city to end all sewer system overflows by September 2015.

The Emory Valley Road tank is on a roughly one-acre tract on the east side of the former Daniel Arthur Rehabilitation Center. The other two tanks will be built near the intersection of South Illinois Avenue and Scarboro Road, just down the street from the main entrance to the Y-12 National Security Complex, and in an isolated, industrial area off Cairo Road in east Oak Ridge.

The Oak Ridge City Council approved the locations for the three tanks, officially known as equalization basins, in September 2013. The Anderson County Commission agreed to donate a small parcel of land for the Emory Valley Road tank. And the City Council agreed in December 2013 to buy a car wash owned by businessman Terry Mulllins for $125,000 and replace it with the tank at Scarboro Road and South Illinois Avenue as part of a plan to move that equalization basin farther back from the road. [Read more…]

City, schools to discuss budget in joint work session on April 8

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The City of Oak Ridge and Oak Ridge Schools will discuss the budget for the fiscal year that starts in July during a joint work session at 9 a.m. Wednesday, April 8, in the Robertsville Middle School Library.

See an updated budget timeline here: Oak Ridge Schools 2015-2016 Budget Timeline.

ORAU awarded $7 million NRC training contract

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Oak Ridge Associated Universities Building MC-100

The Oak Ridge Associated Universities Building MC-100 is pictured above.

Federal contractor to deliver both classroom and online training for agency’s health physicists

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission has awarded Oak Ridge Associated Universities a five-year, $7.3 million contract to support radiation training activities for the agency. ORAU has assisted the NRC with similar training since 1992.

“We are pleased that NRC has chosen ORAU to continue supporting training for its employees as they carry out their critical mission of ensuring the safety of our nation’s nuclear facilities,” said Andy Page, ORAU president and chief executive officer. “Our team of health physicists have built in-depth knowledge of radiation sciences that extends back to our founding in 1946 as the Oak Ridge Institute for Nuclear Studies. We welcome the opportunity to share our expertise through our long-standing partnership with the NRC.” [Read more…]

Tech 2020-led team receives $250K grant for investment capital effort

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Tech 2020 Logo

A proposal team led by Technology 2020, or Tech 2020, in Oak Ridge has received a $250,000 federal grant to create a seed capital fund. The goal is to establish a permanent source of professionally managed, seed-stage investment capital focused on technology-generating institutions, entrepreneurs, and young companies in Tennessee, a press release said.

The grant was announced this week by U.S. Secretary of Commerce Penny Pritzker.

Tech 2020 led a proposal team that included Memphis Bioworks Foundation, Meritus Ventures, and Innova Memphis. The team proposed to create the “TennesSeed Fund.”

The TennesSeed Fund team will receive the $250,000 grant, and it will be supported by Meritus and Innova to conduct an assessment of best practices, and then organize and launch a new seed fund focused on “proof of concept” financings in Tennessee. The initial focus of investments will be intelligent and sustainable transportation and logistics, which is an industry cluster where Tennessee has a competitive advantage bolstered by strong research, development, and commercial activity, a press release said. [Read more…]

Artwork by JMS sixth-grader chosen for homeless coalition poster

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JMS Misty Greenhalgh

Misty Greenhalgh holding the 2015 PIT Count Poster with art teacher, Jim Dodson; JMS Principal Phil Cox; and TORCH Art Show Director Sheila Michel. (Submitted photo)

 

Misty Greenhalgh, a sixth-grade art student of Jim Dodson at Jefferson Middle School in Oak Ridge, submitted artwork to the Second Annual TORCH Homelessness and Hunger Awareness Art Show that was then submitted to the TVCH (Tennessee Valley Coalition for the Homeless) Point in Time Count Poster Contest.

In the past, TVCH chose one piece of art from each county to be that county’s PIT poster. This year, they created the same poster for all 12 counties they serve. Faces from artwork used in past year’s posters as well as the face from Greenhalgh’s work were used for this year’s poster.

The 2015 poster states: “We are more than just faces. Everyone counts.”

Greenhalgh was recognized at the Monday night meeting of the Oak Ridge Board of Education. [Read more…]

Breakfast Rotary, Altrusa award more than $20K in literacy grants

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Oak Ridge Breakfast Rotar and Altrusa International

Pictured from left to right front row are Ann Mostoller (Altrusa), Lisa Buckner, Kay Hall, Alana Hunsaker, Rhoni Basden,Gwen Harrell and Beck Hook. In the second row are Christina Young (ORBRC), Judy Trimble (Altrusa), Ginger Adams, Sheila Michaels, Terry Peck, Jill McMaster, Trudy Wideman, Liz Herdses, and Austin Lance (ORBRC). (Submitted photo)

 

The Oak Ridge Breakfast Rotary Club and Altrusa International of Oak Ridge recently presented grant awards from the Literacy 4 Lunch Grant Award Program.

Lack of literacy skills continues to be a serious problem in the lives of many of our East Tennessee neighbors and for many throughout the world, a press release said.

“Non-readers and below-grade readers cannot realize their full potential in life, which in turn adversely affects our local and national economies and society in general,” the release said.

To address these needs, the Oak Ridge Breakfast Rotary Club and Altrusa International of Oak Ridge co-sponsor an annual fundraiser, Lunch 4 Literacy. Proceeds from the March 2014 event that featured Denise Kiernan, author of “The Girls of the Atomic City,” provide the financial basis for these grants. [Read more…]

Roane State women’s basketball coach, players earn honors

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Roane State Basketball Honors

From left are Tennessee Community College Athletic Association (TCCAA) freshman of the year Haley Cornellison, second-team all-conference Shanae Brown, TCCAA coach of the year Monica Boles, TCCAA player of the year Shauntae Brown, and second-team all-conference Kassidi Freeman. (Photo by Roane State Community College)

 

Roane State Community College’s women’s basketball program swept the top Tennessee Community College Athletic Association awards.

Head coach Monica Boles was named TCCAA Coach of the Year. Sophomore guard Shauntae Brown is the TCCAA Player of the Year, and Haley Cornellison is the Freshman of the Year.

Brown was also named first-team all-conference. Shauntae’s twin sister, Shanae, was named second-team all-conference along with sophomore Kassidi Freeman. [Read more…]