Oak Ridge Today

ORHS senior wins UT-Battelle scholarship

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Thom Mason and Adam LaClair

Oak Ridge High School senior Adam LaClair, right, has won a four-year, $20,000 UT-Battelle scholarship to attend the University of Tennessee. LaClair is pictured above with Oak Ridge National Laboratory Director Thom Mason. (Photo submitted by ORNL)

Oak Ridge High School senior Adam LaClair has won the 2012 UT-Battelle Scholarship, a $20,000, four-year award.

The scholarship from UT-Battelle, the managing contractor of Oak Ridge National Laboratory, is given every year to a graduating senior who has a parent who works at the lab and who plans to study science, engineering or mathematics at the University of Tennessee, a press release said.

The son of Tim and Sabina LaClair, Adam LaClair is a member of the National Honor Society and Spanish Honors Society and is active in the Science Olympiad and Scholars Bowl. He has taken advanced placement courses in calculus, physics, chemistry, and English.

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Job cuts proposed to balance schools budget

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The equivalent of 9.7 full-time teaching positions could be cut to balance the Oak Ridge school system’s budget, Superintendent Tom Bailey said Monday.

Those cuts would save about $687,000.

Other proposed staffing cuts to reduce spending by a total of $912,000 include the full-time equivalent of 6.5 teaching assistants, one maintenance staff member, and one district-wide custodian.

It’s a “very tough position to be in,” Bailey told Oak Ridge Board of Education members during a half-hour budget presentation Monday.

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City Council, School Board consider budgets tonight

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The Oak Ridge City Council and Board of Education will consider their budgets for the next fiscal year during two separate meetings tonight.

Oak Ridge Superintendent Tom Bailey will present his proposed budget to the school board during a 5:30 p.m. work session today at the School Administration Building on New York Avenue.

The City Council will consider the municipal budget in the first of two readings at 7 p.m. in the Municipal Building Courtroom on South Tulane Avenue. There will also be a public hearing.

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City considers $500K for Woodland Elementary repairs

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Woodland Elementary Library Cracks

A vertical crack has formed between two walls in the Woodland Elementary School library, where the soil has settled and part of the building has dropped.

Brick walls are bulging and cracking, and concrete slabs are shifting and sinking.

During one weekend in August, a vertical crack as wide as about two inches opened between two walls in the library. Entire walls had shifted and the building had dropped after soil underneath it settled, said Allen Thacker, Oak Ridge Schools supervisor of maintenance and operations.

A structural engineer was called immediately, and already-planned repairs at Woodland Elementary School have now become a high priority.

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Oak Ridge High School ranked sixth best in Tennessee

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Oak Ridge High School has been ranked sixth best high school in Tennessee in the most recent rankings by U.S. News.

The rankings were announced today.

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Linden Carnival is Friday night

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Linden Elementary School in Oak Ridge is having its Spring Carnival on Friday night.

The carnival includes food, games, face-painting, balloon animals, a photo booth, inflatables, and a cakewalk. Games start at 5 p.m. and run through 8 p.m.

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School board OKs change in ORHS debt payments

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The school board has approved it, and the city council has rejected it. It’s not clear what will happen next.

At issue is a resolution unanimously approved by the Oak Ridge Board of Education on Monday and informally rejected by City Council a week earlier.

The resolution would allow the city’s school system to keep a portion of more than $700,000 in Anderson County sales tax revenues generated each year under a sales tax increase approved by voters in rural areas and Norris in 2006.

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School board considers debt proposal rejected by Council

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It’s already been informally rejected by municipal officials, but the Oak Ridge school board will still consider a proposal that would allow them to keep more money collected from county sales taxes—and require the city to come up with extra cash to pay for the renovation of the high school.

The proposal, which the Oak Ridge Board of Education will consider tonight, would allow the schools to keep a portion of more than $700,000 in revenues generated by a 2006 increase in the Anderson County sales tax rate. Until recently, all the money had been used to help pay down the debt on the $66 million renovation of the Oak Ridge High School.

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Council rejects high school debt payment changes

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The Oak Ridge City Council on Monday informally rejected a high school debt repayment proposal that officials said could have cost property tax payers an extra $10 million during the next few decades.

The proposal would allow the schools to keep a portion of more than $700,000 in revenues generated by a 2006 increase in the Anderson County sales tax rate. Until recently, all the money had been used to help pay down the debt on the $66 million renovation of the Oak Ridge High School.

But, in a months-old dispute, school officials argue they ought to be able to keep that portion of the new county sales tax revenues generated outside the city of Oak Ridge.

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B&W Y-12 donates to STEM Academy lab

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B&W Y-12 and STEM Academy

B&W Y-12 Senior Vice President and Deputy General Manager Bill Klemm, center, speaks to Knox County School Superintendent Jim McIntyre, left, and Tennessee Commissioner of Education Kevin Huffman at a ribbon-cutting ceremony on April 17 at the L&N STEM Academy in downtown Knoxville.

B&W Y-12 recently donated the second $100,000 of a $400,000 commitment to support the B&W Y-12 Chemistry Laboratory. The laboratory, which has been named after B&W Y-12, is located at the L&N STEM Academy in Knoxville.

This donation is meant to help address the growing demand for technical skills and is to be used to set up the school’s lab.

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Special Council meeting tonight on school debt, EPA settlement

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Oak Ridge City Council tonight will discuss an agreement that could resolve a months-old dispute with the School Board over debt payments for the city’s $65 million high school renovation.

At issue is the amount of money the Oak Ridge school system should transfer to the city to help cover the payments. The dispute primarily centers on the use of money raised by a half-cent sales tax increase approved by Anderson County voters in 2006.

One school board member has argued that the schools have overpaid the city by $1.4 million, while others contend that the school system owes the city hundreds of thousands of dollars and must pay it.

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Youth Advisory Board accepts applications

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The Youth Advisory Board (YAB) is currently accepting applications for board members for the 2012-2013 school year. Board members will be selected at the July 9 City Council meeting.

Sixteen applicants will be confirmed and appointed by City Council to serve a one-year term of office that will start on August 1. To be considered, applicants must be residents of Oak Ridge and entering grade levels 8th through 12th.

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