Roane State Community College’s main campus in Harriman will be closed Wednesday, May 27, while the water line that supplies the campus is under repair.
During the repairs, water to the campus will be shut off. All other Roane State locations will be open and on schedule.
Two classes in session on May 27 have been relocated to the Princess Theatre and to Channel 15 television station in downtown Harriman.
The main campus will reopen Thursday, May 28.
Chris Whaley
“Education: A Path out of Poverty,” will be the theme of an interfaith luncheon at First Presbyterian Church of Oak Ridge at noon on June 5. Chris Whaley, president of Roane State Community College, will be the guest speaker.
The cost of the noon luncheon is $5, payable at the door. The luncheon is open to the public.
Admission to the talk is free. To make a reservation, call the church office at (865) 482-1318 or send an email to fpcadmin@comcast.net.
In the international development community, it is well-known that education is one of the most effective ways to improve the economic growth and potential of a country, a press release said. UNESCO reports that an additional year of schooling will raise income by 10 percent. [Read more…]
Eddie Anderson
Note: This story was last updated at 12:05 p.m.
About 200 people turned out at a school board meeting on Wednesday to show support for longtime teacher and track coach Eddie Anderson, who has been suspended without pay pending a police investigation, and to challenge some of the accusations made against him. Some objected to the process used by the school system, saying the reputation of a fantastic teacher has been sullied.
Anderson, an Oak Ridge High School chemistry teacher hired in 1979, was suspended without pay on April 30 while the Oak Ridge Police Department investigates an allegation of inappropriate contact with a former student. In the letter announcing the suspension, Oak Ridge Schools Assistant Superintendent Chris Marczak said the allegation was being turned over to the ORPD as a criminal investigation.
No additional details about that allegation have been released. Anderson’s attorney, Dennis Francis, declined to comment last week, and the Oak Ridge Board of Education and Oak Ridge Schools Superintendent’s Office have been advised to not comment until the investigation is complete. City officials have also not commented on the ongoing investigation by the Police Department.
In the meantime, most of the public discussion has focused on an April 11 track meet, the Taco Bell Invitational in South Carolina. School administrators said, among other things, that Anderson knew ahead of time that a hotel the team was going to stay in was “unacceptable and dangerous,” that he did not inform parents of the specifics of the trip and did not answer the phone when they called, and did not double-check student room assignments, which led to a girl entering a boys’ room through an adjoining door and engaging in “inappropriate contact.” [Read more…]
St. Mary’s School in Oak Ridge is one of 20 Tennessee middle schools to have been awarded a 2015 Shape the State grant to improve its physical education program. The grant, valued at $10,000, is funded by the BlueCross BlueShield of Tennessee Health Foundation.
In addition, St. Mary’s will also receive $1,000 to spend at its discretion for PE, nutrition, and wellness efforts. St. Mary’s first-year athletic director and physical education teacher Shannon Adcock submitted the grant in April.
According to the state Department of Health, about 40 percent of Tennessee children are overweight or obese. Obesity dramatically increases a person’s risk for dangerous health conditions, such as Type 2 diabetes, heart disease, and cancer. The Shape the State grants continue a longstanding practice of BlueCross’ Tennessee Health Foundation’s supporting efforts to fight childhood obesity in the state, a press release said. [Read more…]
Robertsville Middle School is offering Invention Project, a brand new STEM summer camp for rising sixth- to eighth-graders from June 8-12.
Invention Project builds on the great success of the Camp Invention STEM program last summer, a press release said. STEM is an acronym that means science, technology, engineering, and math, but it is also an interdisciplinary educational approach that blends these fields, which are deeply intertwined in the real world and in how students learn most effectively.
The Invention Project summer camp features a variety of entertaining and educational STEM challenges to engage the inventor, artist, and entrepreneur in each participant, the press release said. [Read more…]
Jeffrey Burks
Roane State Community College student Jeffrey Burks earned his GED six months before he started college. He’s on his way to a mechanical engineering degree.
A typical workday for Blake Stewart lasts 15 hours—job in the morning, classes at night.
Corey Stafford works to pay for school. Any help with costs, he said, is a relief.
Burks, Stewart, and Stafford are all receiving extra financial assistance with their college education. They are the first recipients of $1,250 NASA scholarships awarded to Roane State students pursuing degrees in science, technology, engineering, or math (STEM) fields. More NASA scholarships are available for summer semester and for fall semester. Students in STEM majors are encouraged to apply. [Read more…]
Oak Ridge Schools will meet to discuss the Fiscal Year 2016 budget on the following dates:
Front from left, students Shelley Edwards, Angelo Ferrante, and Jeremiah Johnson work to get Roane State’s Community Garden ready for its next crop. Food grown in the garden is donated to local charities. In back from left, Roane State President Chris Whaley and alumni relations director Tamsin Miller also pitch in. (Submitted photo)
Service is becoming an important part of Jeremiah Johnson’s education.
“You do not really think about all the needs in the community until you serve in the community,” said Johnson, a Roane State Community College freshman. “It has opened me up to things. It has helped me as a person.”
Johnson receives the tnAchieves scholarship, which offers two years of community college tuition-free. The statewide Tennessee Promise program was based on tnAchieves. [Read more…]
Students test the icy cold waters as they study the Titanic voyage and the sinking of the ship in a project developed for English language learners. (Submitted photos)
English language learners in Oak Ridge’s four public elementary schools are becoming experts on the Titanic as they conduct science experiments to learn about icebergs, build boats with straws, and explore the historic event as they read history and fiction.
The first- through fourth-graders are taking “A Titanic Voyage for English Language Learners,” a project helping them become more confident in their English skills through a variety of learning experiences. The four English as a second language, or ESL, teachers received a $1,544 grant from the Oak Ridge Public Schools Education Foundation last year to buy materials needed for the multi-school project.
The grant will also make possible a field study on May 5 at the Titanic Museum in Pigeon Forge, where students will draw on their studies to have discussions and ask questions as they build on their knowledge of the Titanic and of English.
“They are getting science, social studies, and all the language domains: listening, speaking, reading, and writing,” said Cherie Adcock, ESL teacher at Woodland Elementary School. “Their response has been great, and they are excited.” [Read more…]
Information from WYSH Radio
As the budget process begins in earnest for the new fiscal year that begins on July 1, the Anderson County school system is seeking money to pay for employee raises, upgrades to school facilities, and to start a fund to pay for computer devices for each student beginning in the upcoming academic year.
The budget proposal recently approved by the Anderson County Board of Education is currently about $3.1 million out of balance, and in order to fully fund requests, it would require the equivalent of a 45-cent increase in the property tax rate. Included in the request to the County Commission is roughly $2 million to fund 4 percent pay raises for all employees; $871,852 for capital projects like roof repairs and unfunded mandates from the state dealing with physical education and sports facilities; and $221,484 for textbooks.
The most ambitious request, though, is the creation of a reserve fund through the county government to set aside money to pay for computer devices for students similar to the reserve fund that has been set aside for industrial development. [Read more…]
Oliver Springs High School will present 84 seniors for graduation.
The Class of 2015 Graduation Commencement will be held on Tuesday, May 19, beginning at 7:30 p.m. The event will be held on the DJ Brittain Field. In case of rain, the ceremony will be held in the gym.
A baccalaureate service will be held Sunday, May 17, at 2 p.m. at Mt. Pisgah Baptist Church. The church is located at Highway 61 and Hen Valley Road in Oliver Springs.
Eddie Anderson
Oak Ridge High School science teacher and track coach Eddie Anderson has been suspended from his teaching duties without pay pending an investigation by the Oak Ridge Police Department, an official said Friday.
Information reported to the Oak Ridge Schools Superintendent’s Office on Thursday morning has been referred to the Oak Ridge Police Department for its consideration and investigation, Superintendent Bruce Borchers said in a Friday afternoon email. The information hasn’t been publicly disclosed.
