Oak Ridge Today

Oak Ridge school board to discuss preschool sites during Feb. 24 work session

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Elm Grove Park Preschool Conceptual Site Plan Jan 2017 Large

A conceptual site plan for a new preschool at Elm Grove Park on East Tennessee Avenue in east Oak Ridge. (Image courtesy Studio 4 Design/City of Oak Ridge)

 

The Oak Ridge Board of Education will discuss preschool sites during a February 24 work session.

The work session starts at 8 a.m. Friday, February 24, in the conference room of the Robert J. Smallridge School Administration Building at 304 New York Avenue.

Oak Ridge municipal and school officials had previously identified Elm Grove Park off East Tennessee Avenue in east Oak Ridge as a preferred site. It’s a city-owned parcel and the site of a former school, and it’s relatively flat and has city-owned utilities. Also, there aren’t many obstacles that would affect construction, and site borings have already been done, city officials said recently. But a petition drive has been started to object to building the preschool there.

In the meantime, city officials learned that a day care center recently closed at Scarboro Community Center, and they are now also considering adding on to that city-owned building off Carver Avenue. The Scarboro Community Center was built with federal Community Development Block Grant funds, and there is no debt on the building, Oak Ridge City Manager Mark Watson said. It already has a gymnasium, a cafeteria, offices, multi-purpose rooms, and smaller rooms, and there is a playground across the street, city officials said. Additional classrooms and administrative and staff space would be added. [Read more…]

City, schools could pick preschool site soon

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Elm Grove Park Preschool Conceptual Site Plan Jan 2017 Large

A conceptual site plan for a new preschool at Elm Grove Park on East Tennessee Avenue in east Oak Ridge. Officials said the plan would keep the park and the walking trail. (Image courtesy Studio Four Design/City of Oak Ridge)

 

Oak Ridge municipal and school officials could start selecting a site for the new preschool as early as this month. There are two options being considered: Elm Grove Park and Scarboro Community Center.

Financing for the project, which would include bonds, could be included in the budget for the fiscal year that starts July 1.

In the meantime, a petition drive has been started to oppose building the preschool at Elm Grove Park.

The park had previously been announced as the preferred site for the new preschool, which has been on the city’s wish list for many years. Elm Grove Park is a city-owned parcel in east Oak Ridge off East Tennessee Avenue. It’s the site of a former school, it’s relatively flat, and it has city-owned utilities. Also, there aren’t many obstacles that would affect construction, and site borings have already been done, city officials said last week. [Read more…]

School Board endorses recommendation for preschool at Elm Grove

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Elm Grove Park Oct. 21, 2015

Elm Grove Park in east Oak Ridge has been proposed as a site for a new preschool, and it’s considered the best potential location. (Photo by John Huotari/Oak Ridge Today)

 

The Oak Ridge Board of Education on Monday endorsed a recommendation to build a new preschool at Elm Grove Park. A new preschool has been on the city’s wish list for years, but this particular proposal is still in the early stages.

The school board received a report from the Joint City/Schools Preschool Planning Committee on Monday and endorsed the committee’s report in a 4-0 vote. The recommendation will now be considered by the city.

There was once a school at Elm Grove Park in east Oak Ridge, and the committee’s report, presented to City Council and the BOE in a work session in October, recommended using that city-owned site, officials said.

“We think that after the factors we discussed, it was the most appropriate site,” Oak Ridge Schools Superintendent Bruce Borchers said. [Read more…]

Read the Preschool Planning Committee report here

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Elm Grove Park Oct. 21, 2015

Elm Grove Park in east Oak Ridge has been proposed as a site for a new preschool, and it’s considered the best potential location. (Photo by John Huotari/Oak Ridge Today)

 

Note: This story was last updated at 12:40 p.m.

A new preschool for Oak Ridge Schools could cost $7.5 million, and Elm Grove Park in east Oak Ridge is among the sites where the new 20-classroom facility could be built, a planning committee said in a report released this month.

The report is now available online. You can read a copy of it here by clicking under the link at the end of this section: VII.D. Preschool Building Committee Recommendation.

The Oak Ridge Board of Education is scheduled to consider the Preschool Building Committee recommendation during at meeting at 6 p.m. Monday, November 2, in the School Administration Building at 304 New York Avenue. You can see the agenda here.

A new preschool has been on the city’s wish list for years. The Joint City/Schools Preschool Planning Committee said the existing building on New York Avenue needs significant repairs, and renovations could cost about $7.5 million, or about as much as it would cost to construct a new facility. [Read more…]

Preschool concerns over paint, Head Start funding reaching resolution

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Oak Ridge Schools School Administration Building

Concerns over federal funding, lead-based paint, and the Oak Ridge Preschool appear to be reaching a resolution. And that ought to be good news for parents and staff members who have been worried during the past year that the program could lose federal money and even have part of its program shut down.

There have been two separate concerns, one related to lead-based paint at the Oak Ridge Schools Preschool and the other related to the reported falsification of federal data.

Work to repair the lead-based paint could start June 29, Preschool Principal Charlsey Cofer said after a Monday night meeting of the Oak Ridge Board of Education.

And a one-year probationary period with an on-site monitor for the Head Start program ends the next day, on June 30. That monitor was put into place last year as part of a 10-point plan worked out by Anderson County and Oak Ridge schools in April 2014 after concerns were raised about the falsification of federal data at the Oak Ridge Preschool, specifically reports on the motor skills of children.

Oak Ridge Schools will now do its own monitoring, but Anderson County Schools, which supervises the local Head Start program, can come in at any time. [Read more…]

From cotton picker to college president

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Shirley Raines

Shirley Raines

Shirley Raines of Oak Ridge has an amazing and inspiring story to tell.

Now president emeritus of the University of Memphis, she will describe her career and provide advice on leadership at the third in a series of Roane State Community College–Oak Ridge Institute for Continued Education Intergenerational Lectures.

Her talk begins at 3 p.m. Thursday, April 30, in the large lecture hall (Room 107) in the Goff Health Sciences and Technology Building on Roane State’s Oak Ridge campus at 701 Briarcliff Avenue. Raines will speak on “How a Kindergarten Teacher Became a University President.”

Born in Jackson in West Tennessee, she grew up on a cotton farm outside Bells, where she picked cotton by hand for the family business. She recalled that her mother was very smart and could have been a teacher or lawyer but lacked the opportunity to get a higher education. [Read more…]

City agreed to use $150K, but low bid on Preschool paint job is $25K

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Oak Ridge Preschool and School Administration Building

The Oak Ridge City Council has agreed to use $150,000 in unspent red-light camera to repair the lead-based paint on the Oak Ridge Schools Preschool and Robert J. Smallridge School Administration Building on New York Avenue. Officials say the building needs to be renovated or vacated for the Head Start program to receive funding in the 2015-2016 school year. (File photo)

 

The Oak Ridge City Council had agreed to use $150,000 in red-light camera money to repair the lead-based paint on the city’s Preschool, but the low bid came in significantly lower—$24,700, Public Works Director Gary Cinder said Monday.

The five bids ranged up to about $112,000, Cinder told the Oak Ridge City Council.

The low bidder has done some of this type of work at the Preschool before, Cinder said.

The work is expected to be done by this fall. It provides what officials hope will be a temporary fix while they develop a plan to permanently repair, replace, or move the Preschool. [Read more…]

Council OKs repair of lead-based paint at Preschool, meant to be temporary fix

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Oak Ridge Preschool and School Administration Building

The Oak Ridge City Council on Monday agreed to use $150,000 in unspent red-light camera to repair the lead-based paint on the Oak Ridge Schools Preschool and Robert J. Smallridge School Administration Building on New York Avenue. Officials say the building needs to be renovated or vacated for the Head Start program to receive funding in the 2015-2016 school year. (File photo)

 

The Oak Ridge City Council has agreed to use $150,000 in red-light camera money to repair the lead-based paint on the city’s Preschool, providing what officials hope will be a temporary fix while they develop a plan to permanently repair, replace, or move the Preschool.

The repairs, which could be done by August 3, were approved in a 6-0 vote. Oak Ridge City Council member Rick Chinn abstained because a family member owns a building on Mitchell Road that the city and schools could consider leasing.

The City Council also endorsed a recommendation from the Oak Ridge Board of Education that could have children in a new building by the 2016-2017 school year. That resolution calls for further study of options for the Oak Ridge Preschools and Robert J. Smallridge School Administration Building on New York Avenue. It also would set up a joint city-schools committee, consider buying the Oak Ridge Chamber of Commerce building for school administration offices, and remodel the G Building at Oak Ridge High School. [Read more…]

Council to consider Preschool paint, special events task force

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Oak Ridge Preschool and School Administration Building

The Oak Ridge City Council on Monday will consider using $150,000 in unspent red-light camera money to repair the lead-based paint on the Oak Ridge Schools Preschool and Robert J. Smallridge School Administration Building on New York Avenue. Officials say the building needs to be renovated or vacated for the Head Start program to receive funding in the 2015-2016 school year. (File photo) 

 

Mark Watson

Mark Watson

The Oak Ridge City Council tonight will consider using $150,000 in red-light camera money to repair the lead-based paint on the city’s Preschool, providing what officials hope will be a temporary fix while they develop a plan to permanently repair, replace, or move the Preschool.

Officials say the building needs to be renovated or vacated for the Head Start program to receive federal funding in the 2015-2016 school year. They are hopeful that their plan to fix the lead-based paint on the decades-old home of the Preschool on New York Avenue by August 3 will satisfy federal officials. A remediation plan could be submitted to federal officials and Anderson County education officials by March 4.

On January 26, the Oak Ridge Board of Education recommended a few first steps that could have children in a new building next year. In addition to asking the city to repair the lead-based paint, the BOE unanimously recommended a new committee be formed to help lay the groundwork for moving into a new preschool by the 2016-2017 school year.

The Oak Ridge Schools Preschool and Robert J. Smallridge School Administration Building is owned by the city, and the municipal staff would lead the repair project. [Read more…]

BOE: Fix lead paint now, prepare for new Preschool by 2016-2017

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Oak Ridge Board of Education and City Council

The Oak Ridge Board of Education, seated at right, and City Council, left, are pictured above during a Jan. 15 work session on the Oak Ridge Schools’ Preschool, among other agenda items.

 

Finding a new preschool might not happen as quickly as some would like, but the city’s school board on Monday recommended a few first steps that could have children in a new building by the 2016-2017 school year.

The main concern now: Fix the lead-based paint on the decades-old home of the Preschool on New York Avenue. That repair could cost an estimated $150,000. A remediation plan could be submitted to federal officials and Anderson County education officials by March 4.

There had been some hope that a new home for preschool students might be found as early as this August. [Read more…]

Guest column: Becoming a healthy community

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Stability and growth of that complex system called a community depends on honesty, equality, fairness, balance, foresight, continuity, healthy relationships, maturity, safety, common goals, and recognizable successes shared among all community members and good leadership.

Industry and government facilities were having great difficulty attracting highly educated and qualified professionals to Oak Ridge despite competitive salaries in the new millennium. One of the attractions that might help this problem was thought to be the existence of superior schools for the children of those professionals, combined with attractive, upscale housing.

As is so typical in Oak Ridge, many bright minds saw only their need and targeted the solution they hypothesized would make it work. Also, as so often happens with brilliant focused minds, the complexity of the economic and social organization, its influence, and the needs of the whole community were not factored into the equation. There was an assumption that the hypothesis of good schools, combined with an abundance of attractive housing, would solve the problem. So, $67 million was spent on building and equipping a state-of-the-art high school with amenities usually limited to high-priced, private, college prep schools. This, despite the critical need for a new preschool facility having been very high on the official city list of capital needs for over a decade. [Read more…]

BOE, City Council to tour possible new preschool building

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161 Mitchell Road

The Oak Ridge Board of Education and City Council will tour this building at 161 Mitchell Road on Thursday afternoon. It’s a possible new home for the Oak Ridge Preschool.

 

Note: This story was last updated at 8 p.m.

The Oak Ridge Board of Education and City Council will tour a building on Mitchell Road on Thursday afternoon that could be a new home for the Preschool.

Built as a temporary building, the current Preschool on New York Avenue is 70 years old and in need of repairs.

A new School Administration Building and Preschool has been on the city’s wish list for years. But now education officials say the Preschool has to be renovated or vacated by next year in order for the school system to continue to receive federal Head Start funding.

They’ve recommended a long-term lease for the Preschool, with an option to purchase. Oak Ridge Schools has also recommended buying the Chamber of Commerce building for a new School Administration Building and remodeling the G Building at Oak Ridge High School to accommodate administration support services, a “better defined” Alternative School program, and the ROTC program. [Read more…]