Oak Ridge Today

Low bid on Blankenship bleachers: $524,000

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Blankenship Field Visitors Bleachers

Deemed to be unsafe, the visitors bleachers at Blankenship Field have been removed, and replacing them could cost more than $500,000.

The low bid on the bleacher replacement project at Blankenship Field came in at $523,940, a school official said Friday.

The bid on the project to replace the demolished visitor bleachers includes grading work and a handicap sidewalk at Jack Armstrong Stadium. Proposals were accepted through Friday. The recommended proposal from Dant Clayton Corp. of Louisville, Ky., will be considered by the Oak Ridge Board of Education on Monday.

Allen Thacker, Oak Ridge Schools maintenance and operations supervisor, said the project could cost another $40,000 if the Wildcat Crossing stairs on the home side of the field are reconditioned. That would make the total cost $563,940. It was the lowest of two qualified bids.

Thacker said funding for the project has not yet been identified. It’s been discussed at several recent meetings of the Oak Ridge City Council and Board of Education. Municipal and education officials have said options include city funding, school funding, a mix of the two, and donations. Earlier this month, School Board Chair Keys Fillauer told City Council that a funding decision could be made Monday. [Read more…]

DOE report co-chaired by UT professor calls for renewed focus on high-end math research

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Jack Dongarra

Jack Dongarra

Professor also ORNL researcher, co-author of Top 500 ranking of the world’s most powerful supercomputers

KNOXVILLE—The U.S. Department of Energy recently released a report co-chaired by Jack Dongarra, a distinguished professor at the University of Tennessee in Knoxville, in which he stresses the importance of prioritizing research into high-end mathematics to help keep the United States on the cutting edge of computing.

“Exascale computing (capable of one quintillion floating point operations per second) will enable us to solve problems in ways that are not feasible today and will result in significant scientific breakthroughs,” said Dongarra, of UT’s Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science. “However, the transition to exascale poses numerous scientific and technological challenges.”

Dongarra, one of five National Academy of Engineering members on the faculty of UT’s College of Engineering, said that increased funding for the development of new models and ways of gathering data is key to unlocking a number of those challenges. [Read more…]

Spotlight: REAC/TS gives tour to radiologic technology class from Roane State

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Roane State REAC/TS Tour

The Radiation Emergency Assistance Center/Training Site (REAC/TS) leads a recent tour of the REAC/TS facility with a radiologic technology class from Roane State Community College. (Photo courtesy ORAU)

Submitted

A former REAC/TS participant and current professor at Roane State Community recently led a radiologic technology class on a tour of REAC/TS.

REAC/TS is an Oak Ridge Institute for Science and Education facility managed by Oak Ridge Associated Universities for the U.S. Department of Energy with the mission to strengthen the medical response to radiological and nuclear incidents. REAC/TS provides 24/7 medical support and deployment to provide emergency medical consultation for incidents involving radioactive materials and ionizing radiation worldwide. REAC/TS also conducts ongoing research into the biological effects of radiation and provides continuing medical education for healthcare providers.

Pictured above from left are nurse/paramedic Rob Beauchamp from the Radiation Emergency Assistance Center/Training Site (REAC/TS); Julie Hall, right, Roane State Community College radiologic technology program director and assistant professor, and one of her students, Drew Campbell, back. Hall is a former student of the Roane State Radiologic Program who went to REAC/TS as a student for assistance in her research and studies.

CHS Lady Dragons’ hoops coach resigns

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Information from WYSH Radio

Clinton High School girls’ basketball coach Tonya Lively-Snyder has resigned after 15 years on the bench.

The Lady Dragons are coming off a 4-20 season that saw them bow out of the first round of the District 3-AAA tournament. Since the 2001-02 season—the last for which reliable records are available—Clinton’s girls went 134-221.

Lively-Snyder’s best season at Clinton was the 2008-09 campaign, when her team led by future NAIA standouts Cody Houck and Amber Taylor went 22-9 and advanced to the regional tournament. [Read more…]

Schools consider revised outsourcing proposal for substitute teachers

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Oak Ridge Board of Education

An outsourcing proposal strongly opposed by teaching assistants last month has since been revised to include only substitute teachers at Oak Ridge Schools. It will be considered by the Oak Ridge Board of Education on Monday.

An outsourcing proposal strongly opposed by teaching assistants last month has since been revised to include only substitute teachers at Oak Ridge Schools.

The new proposal to use Professional Educational Services LLC, or PESG, of Nashville, to provide substitute teachers will be considered by the Oak Ridge Board of Education during a Monday evening meeting.

The outsourcing proposal began as an attempt to help the school system comply with the reporting requirements of the Affordable Care Act and to avoid potentially large fines of up to $1.2 million for errors that might be made in following the new federal health care law. [Read more…]

ORION astronomy club to meet Wednesday at Grove Theater

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The ORION astronomy club presents Linda C. Kah, a University of Tennessee Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences professor, on Wednesday, March 19, at 7 p.m. Her presentation will be on Mars and titled “Curioser and Curioser: The Curiosity Rover’s adventure in Gale Crater.”

This talk will highlight the first 1.5 years of surface mission activities and explore ancient environments of Mars.

This free presentation will be at the Grove Theater. For more information, go to http://orionastronomy.wordpress.com. [Read more…]

First Steps Child Development Center starts new calendar in fall

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First Steps Child Development Center, located within First United Methodist Church in Oak Ridge, has announced new hours and a year-round school calendar.

Beginning in August, the center will be operating on a year-round basis from 7:30 a.m. to 6 p.m. during the week instead of following the Oak Ridge school system calendar. The center will be in session most weeks of the year, including summer months and both fall and spring breaks.

To avoid losing their child’s spot in class, parents interested in the traditional academic calendar may pay a “holding fee” for the summer session. [Read more…]

AC school board gives director new contract, raise

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Information from WYSH Radio

On Thursday, the Anderson County School Board voted to award Director of Schools Larry Foster a new contract that runs through June 30, 2017. Foster has indicated he would like to retire at the end of the new contract.

The new deal raises his annual salary to $128,000, increases his number of vacation days to 20, and provides up to $4,000 a year for school-related travel expenses, up to $1,000 a year for continuing training, and up to $3,500 a year to cover the dues in professional organizations and subscriptions to academic publications.

Foster has been director of schools since 2009.

Fifth in nation: UT graduate program in nuclear engineering

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The graduate program in nuclear engineering at the University of Tennessee in Knoxville has risen to fifth place among all universities in the country, according to the 2015 U.S. News and World Report graduate rankings released last week.

Nuclear engineering ranked sixth in the nation in last year’s list. In a press release, the University of Tennessee said it’s one of the college’s fastest growing graduate programs.

The College of Engineering’s overall graduate program also climbed to 36th among all public universities, moving up three spots since last year, the UT press release said. [Read more…]

Parents, staff again choose balanced school calendar

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Christopher J. Marczak

Christopher J. Marczak

A majority of Oak Ridge parents and school staff again favored a move from the traditional school calendar to a new balanced calendar that gives students about nine weeks of classroom instruction at a time, officials said.

The first vote was conducted through the Skylert callout system about one month ago in February, and the second vote was Thursday.

See this guest column by Chris Marczak, Oak Ridge Schools assistant superintendent, for more information on the Thursday night vote. [Read more…]

Guest column: Parents, staff again choose balanced school calendar

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Christopher J. Marczak

Christopher J. Marczak

By Chris Marczak

The second calendar voting for the Oak Ridge 2015-16 results have been counted.

Parents and staff members were called on March 13 and asked if they preferred a balanced calendar or a traditional calendar for all schools including Willow Brook and the PreSchool for the 2015-16 school year. The first vote callout took place Feb. 10.

The traditional calendar is the calendar that most of the Oak Ridge Schools have had for quite a while. Students come to school in the middle of August, have a one-week fall break, two weeks off for winter, a one-week spring break, dismissal at the beginning of June, and an 11- to 12-week summer.

The balanced calendar is a new calendar that Oak Ridge has never had before. It is called a balanced calendar due to the balance that it gives for instructional time in the classroom—about nine weeks at a time. Students typically arrive for school the first week in August, have a two-week fall break, two weeks off for winter, two weeks off for spring break, dismissal at the beginning of June, and a seven- to eight-week summer. The balanced calendar is not like the Willow Brook Elementary or PreSchool calendar where students start school in mid-July and have three-week breaks. [Read more…]

ORAU welcomes four new universities as sponsoring institutions

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Oak Ridge Associated Universities recently welcomed The City College of New York, the Illinois Institute of Technology, Temple University, and University of Colorado at Boulder as its newest sponsoring institutions. They were welcomed during the 69th annual meeting of the ORAU Council of Sponsoring Institutions, held in Oak Ridge. The University of Tennessee Health Science Center upgraded its membership to sponsoring institution.

“We’re honored to have these four institutions join our growing university consortium,” said ORAU President and CEO Andy Page. “The research and education capabilities of these universities strengthen the value of our consortium.”

ORAU has 114 members in more than 31 states ranging from Florida to Idaho and Pennsylvania to Nevada, as well as the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, and England. According to the National Science Foundation Federal R&D Expenditures rankings, 44 ORAU member institutions are in the Top 100 universities. ORAU was formed 67 years ago under the auspices of the Oak Ridge Institute for Nuclear Studies and originally consisted of 14 southern schools. [Read more…]