Retired educator and community volunteer Jean Hiser has announced her candidacy for the Oak Ridge Board of Education in the November 4 municipal election, a press release said.

Hiser moved to Oak Ridge five years ago from Cumberland County, where she taught third grade at Crab Orchard Elementary School for 11 years.

Prior to moving to Tennessee, she had served as a substitute special education teacher in the Wheaton school system in Wheaton, Illinois.

A native of Elderon, a small farming community in Wisconsin, Hiser dreamed of going to college in order to make a better life for herself. She attended college for 3.5 years but was forced to leave school due to lack of funds.

After getting married and raising a son, Hiser returned to college and obtained a bachelor’s degree in elementary education at the age of 45 from North Central College in Naperville, Illinois. She enrolled in college on the same day her son enrolled in community college. [Read more…]