Roane State Community College will host information meetings about its new mechatronics certificate program on Thursday in the Club Room at the Clinton Community Center.
The information sessions will be held at 10 a.m., 2 p.m., and 6 p.m. Interested students only need to attend one of the sessions.
The meetings had been planned for the Clinton Higher Education and Workforce Training Facility, but they had to be moved because of ongoing construction at the facility.
Bob Smallridge
Their first attempt to hire a new school superintendent ended after four of five finalists withdrew, and Oak Ridge Board of Education members learned Monday that bumping the potential pay range up to $175,000 per year could attract new candidates and better reflect market conditions.
The board approved the recommendation to offer a higher salary in a 5-0 vote during a special meeting Monday. The board also agreed to have executive search firm Ray and Associates of Cedar Rapids, Iowa, contact previously interested candidates with the new pay information, reset the application deadline to March 1, and set a start date for the new superintendent of no later than June 15.
The potential salary range for a new superintendent had earlier been set at $140,000 to $150,000, but two finalists from a search that started in June withdrew, citing salary issues, among other things, and a third apparently would have had to take a $6,000 to $8,000 pay cut to take the Oak Ridge superintendent’s job.
Students try their hand at manipulating a Remotec robotic system at a kickoff event for the 2013 FIRST Robotics Competition at ORNL’s Manufacturing Demonstration Facility on Saturday. (Submitted photo)
Students from dozens of area high schools piled into Oak Ridge National Laboratory’s Manufacturing Demonstration Facility on Saturday to get a sense of the obstacles they will be battling over the next six weeks. Hundreds of students, parents, and mentors attended the kickoff event for the 2013 FIRST robotics competition, a nationwide event in which students design and build complex robots that can tackle the challenges of a specially designed game.
This year’s challenge, which involves robots that can throw discs and climb pyramids, was revealed via simulcast on Saturday morning. Teams were then able to view a full-scale version of the competition field and hold mock games on it. The field, sponsored by Tech 2020 and assembled by the Hardin Valley Academy FIRST Alumni Club at ORNL’s Manufacturing Demonstration Facility, or MDF, is available for all local teams to use during the build season.
During a Monday meeting, the Oak Ridge Board of Education could ask former school superintendent Robert J. Smallridge to serve as interim superintendent.
Tom Bailey, the most recent superintendent, retired at the end of the year, and the school board has not hired a replacement.
Technicians trained in mechatronics work with high-tech robotic equipment. (Photo courtesy of Anne Arundel Community College)
Roane State Community College is hosting information meetings about a new certificate program that will train students to become technicians who operate, maintain, and repair high-tech automated manufacturing systems.
Anyone interested in the one-year mechatronics program is invited to attend information meetings on Thursday, Jan. 3, at the college’s Oak Ridge campus; Tuesday, Jan. 8, at the college’s Loudon County campus in Lenoir City; or on Thursday, Jan. 10, at the Clinton Higher Education and Workforce Training Facility.
The information sessions will be held at 10 a.m., 2 p.m., and 6 p.m. each day. Interested students only need to attend one of the sessions.
The program begins Tuesday, Jan. 22, at the Clinton Higher Education and Workforce Training Facility.
Carolyn and Herb Krause look forward to a horse-and-carriage tour of historic Charleston, S.C., as part of an ORICL trip last September. (Submitted photos)
From stories of World War II to the displacement and resettlement of Native American tribes to the adaptation of life to climate change, the winter-spring 2013 semester of the Oak Ridge Institute for Continued Learning starting Feb. 4 offers a surprising variety of courses.
The early registration deadline is Jan. 9, 2013, for the winter-spring semester, which ends April 26. Members should register by this date to have the best chance of getting preferred classes and trips.
ORICL has more than 500 members who take courses in a classroom and auditorium at Roane State Community College’s Oak Ridge campus on Briarcliff Road. A few courses, such as medical lectures and art classes, are taught in other locations.
Roane State Community College campuses will offer extended business hours after the holiday break to help students get ready for the start of spring classes.
Roane State has been closed since Dec. 15 and will be closed through Tuesday, Jan. 1, for the holidays. All campuses will reopen on Wednesday, Jan. 2.
Students are pictured at last year’s Summer Jobs and Career Fair for Teens at Oak Ridge High School. (Submitted photos)
The Oak Ridge Youth Advisory Board is seeking vendors for a Summer Jobs and Career Fair for Teens in February.
The jobs and careers fair will be from 2-4 p.m. Wednesday, Feb. 13, in the Oak Ridge High School Café.
It will introduce students to possible summer job opportunities, future careers, and to potential colleges as well, a press release said. It will also serve as an excellent opportunity for vendors to meet potential employees.
Note: This story was updated at 7:33 p.m.
An Anderson County official has proposed a new fee that would be used to help provide more school security.
The new fee—a school security fee—would be added to the court costs paid by a defendant charged with a crime in Anderson County.
In a Wednesday morning press release, Anderson County Circuit Court Clerk Tyler Mayes said he’s already told Anderson County Commission Chairman Chuck Fritts and Law Director Jay Yeager that he intends to lobby local and state officials to add the new court cost fee. It would have to be approved by the Tennessee General Assembly in Nashville.
The award-winning film “Roane State: 40 Years of Class” is available on Roane State campuses. (Submitted photo)
A documentary commemorating Roane State Community College’s 40th anniversary has received another honor.
Roane State alumnus Keith McDaniel of Secret City Films in Oak Ridge wrote and directed “Roane State: 40 Years of Class.” The documentary recently received a 2012 National Council for Marketing and Public Relations (NCMPR) District 2 Silver Medallion Award.
NCMPR District 2 includes Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, Virginia, West Virginia, Bermuda, British Virgin Islands, and The Bahamas.
The film had previously earned second-place honors in the 33rd annual Telly Awards and a third-place award from the Tennessee College Public Relations Association (TCPRA).
OLIVER SPRINGS—Here is a short video of the Oliver Springs Marching Bobcats at the Dec. 15 Christmas parade in Oliver Springs.
This is the second video we have posted on our new YouTube channel, which is available at http://www.youtube.com/oakridgetoday.
Enjoy.
The Tennessee Education Association said this week that it is neutral on gun laws.
But the organization did release a statement after some legislators proposed allowing teachers to carry guns in Tennessee schools. The proposals followed the Dec. 14 school shooting at Newtown, Conn., that killed 20 students, six adults, the gunman, and his mother.
Here’s the TEA statement:
