Oak Ridge Today

Rocky Top City Manager Foster running for AC register of deeds

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Michael Foster is pictured above. (Submitted photo)

Michael Foster is pictured above. (Submitted photo)

 

Rocky Top City Manager Michael Foster is running for Anderson County register of deeds in the May 1 primary election.

In a press release, Foster said he would bring conservative values and proven, experienced leadership to office.

“I am pleased and honored to announce my candidacy for register of deeds for Anderson County,” Foster said in the press release. “During my time as city manager of Rocky Top, I have gained an understanding of the complexities of city, county, and state government.”

Foster has named his father, Larry Foster, a former director of Anderson County Schools, as his treasurer.

“Conservative principles are real for me,” Michael Foster said in the press release. “I am the only lifelong Republican candidate in this race, and I am the only candidate who has operated within their budget. I promise every resident of our county that I will operate the office without going back to the County Commission for more of the taxpayers’ money.” [Read more…]

Gail Martin—former AC school board member, county election administrator—dies at 75

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Shirley Gail Martin

Shirley Gail Martin

Note: This story was updated at 2:37 p.m.

Shirley Gail Martin, a former longtime member of the Anderson County school board who served two years as county election administrator, died Wednesday, September 7. She was 75.

Martin, of Claxton, passed away peacefully surrounded by her loved ones at Methodist Medical Center in Oak Ridge, her obituary said.

“She was an education activist who gave 24 years to the Anderson County Board of Education, as well as being a devoted Democrat,” the obituary said.

Former Anderson County School Director Larry Foster, who retired at the end of June, said Martin will be missed as a personal friend and also as a community leader. She worked for excellence in education in Anderson County, Foster said, and her long service on the school board indicated that.

Martin stayed involved in the educational area even after she left the school board, and she would attend meetings, call Foster from time to time to ask what was happening, and bring issues of concern to him.

“She wanted excellence,” Foster said Friday. [Read more…]

Contract with Parrott, the next director of schools, approved by AC school board

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Tim Parrott

Tim Parrott

Information from WYSH Radio

Meeting briefly on Monday, the Anderson County Board of Education voted unanimously to approve a four-year contract with the next director of schools, Tim Parrott, who will take over for the retiring Larry Foster on July 1.

Parrott currently serves as the system’s deputy director of curriculum and instruction, and he will earn $134,000 a year plus a $750-a-month car allowance.

A committee made up of school board members Scott Gillenwaters and Dail Cantrell along with the schools’ finance director, Jim Woodward, conducted contract negotiations. [Read more…]

New AC Finance Committee meets for first time; picks chair, vice chair

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Myron Iwanski

Myron Iwanski

Information from WYSH Radio

Monday night, the newly-minted Anderson County Finance Committee held its first meeting. The new committee was created when the county switched its financial management system from one based upon a 1957 statute to one based upon a 1981 law. The committee, beginning with next year’s budget cycle, will be responsible for many of the fiscal duties currently held by the county mayor and the Budget Committee, which is chaired and appointed by the mayor.

The new Finance Committee is comprised of four county commissioners—Chuck Fritts, Tim Isbel, Myron Iwanski, and Philip Warfield—as well as County Mayor Terry Frank, Director of Schools Larry Foster, and Highway Superintendent Gary Long. The committee’s first responsibility will be to hire a new county budget director and a new purchasing director as longtime county employees Chris Phillips and Pamela Cotham, respectively, resigned those positions, citing uncertainty brought about by the change in systems. No timetable has been established for those hires but Monday, the committee did agree upon job descriptions and lists of qualifications and responsibilities for both jobs, which will be advertised by the county’s human resources director. The hope is that one or both of the vacant positions can be filled quickly. [Read more…]

AC school board to interview Parrott for schools director

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Information from WYSH Radio

Anderson County Schools will have a special-called meeting on Monday, February 29, to interview Tim Parrott, a current employees, for the director of schools position.

If hired, Parrott would replace Larry Foster, who is retiring. Parrott currently works in the Anderson County Schools Central Office as director of career and special education, and he has spent decades in the county school system.

The February 29 meeting starts at 6:30 p.m. in the Anderson County Schools board room.

The Anderson County Board of Education recently voted to suspend the interview process in its search for the next schools director and to begin working with Parrott on a new contract to succeed Foster.

Only one other applicant applied for the post, and members of a special search committee indicated that Parrott’s resume clearly stood out in comparison.

With Foster retiring, AC school board approves search committee

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Larry Foster at Anderson County Commision

Larry Foster, Anderson County schools director, is retiring at the end of June, and a search committee has been formed to find his replacement. Foster is pictured above during a July 2015 meeting of the Anderson County Commission. (File photo by John Huotari/Oak Ridge Today)

 

Information from WYSH Radio

Anderson County Board of Education Chair John Burrell announced at last week’s school board meeting that he has appointed a search committee to find the next director of schools. The next director will replace Larry Foster, who is retiring at the end of June.

The board voted unanimously to approve the makeup of the committee, which will be chaired by Gail Martin, who is also the committee’s representative for Claxton. Curtis Sexton will represent Rocky Top, while Glenda Langenberg will represent Oak Ridge. Jim Stewart will represent Clinton, Dail Cantrell will represent Andersonville/Norris, and Robert McKamey will serve as the representative for the Anderson County Commission, Dutch Valley, and Norwood. [Read more…]

AC School Board OKs raises for employees

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Larry Foster

Larry Foster is director of Anderson County Schools.

Information from WYSH Radio

Thursday night, the Anderson County School Board unanimously approved pay raises for some 600 certified employees of the school system and about 400 classified employees.

Certified staff will receive a $1,000 raise, which equals about 2 percent.

Classified staff will receive a 48-cent-per-hour raise, which equals about $1,000 for all 260-day classified staff as well.

School officials point out that some staff members do not work the 260-day-a-year schedule, so their raise will not equal $1,000. [Read more…]

AC Commission approves 10-cent tax rate increase for pay raises

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Rachel Minardo at Anderson County Commission

Rachel Minardo, president of the Anderson County Education Association, and others have advocated for a 4 percent pay raise for county school teachers and staff. Above, Minardo talks to the 16-member Anderson County Commission in Clinton on Monday. (Photo by John Huotari/Oak Ridge Today)

 

Note: This story was last updated at 4 p.m.

CLINTON—After rejecting a few other proposals, Anderson County commissioners on Monday approved a 10-cent property tax rate increase to fund 2 percent pay raises for county employees and school teachers and staff.

The vote for the tax rate increase was 9-5-1.

Eight cents of the 10-cent increase is for Anderson County Schools, and the other two cents will cover the pay raise for county employees, with the exception of elected officials and county commissioners.

Earlier in the five-hour meeting, commissioners rejected proposals to:

  • raise the property tax rate by 10 cents for a 2 percent pay raise for the schools,
  • raise the tax rate by 5 cents for a 1 percent raise,
  • approve the school budget as submitted with no tax increase,
  • raise the property tax rate by 7.5 cents for the schools, and
  • use $1.7 million from the fund balance for a one-time bonus for schools in Anderson County, Oak Ridge, and Clinton.

Teachers said they haven’t had a pay raise since 2012, and they last received a bonus in 2013 and that was $200. They have said all the surrounding school districts except Campbell County pay more, and they want to be able to recruit and retain good teachers—and not be a training ground for other districts. [Read more…]

Anderson County teachers disappointed as commissioners delay vote on budget, pay raise

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Anderson County Budget Committee and Rachel Minardo, Chris Phillips, and Connie Aytes

Rachel Minardo, right, a first-grade teacher at Claxton Elementary School and president of the Anderson County Education Association, asks for a 4 percent pay raise for county teachers and school staff during a May 28 public hearing on the county budget. Also pictured are Chris Phillips, left, director of accounts and budgets for Anderson County, and Connie Aytes, deputy budget director.

 

CLINTON—Anderson County teachers were disappointed as they watched county commissioners postpone a vote on the budget and a possible 4 percent pay raise on Tuesday.

But they’ll be back on Monday, June 29, for the next meeting of the Anderson County Commission, said Rachel Minardo, a first-grade teacher at Claxton Elementary School and president of the Anderson County Education Association.

It’s not clear if the 16-member Commission will agree to fund the school system’s request for a 4 percent raise for all teachers and staff. That’s what the Anderson County Board of Education unanimously recommended last month. The request could require the equivalent of an 18-cent increase in the property tax rate.

But during debate over proposed pay raises for some county employees on Tuesday, several commissioners said they want to be consistent and fair to all workers. [Read more…]

AC Chamber Council starts discussions on educational resources, workforce needs

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Randy Boyd

Randy Boyd

Submitted

CLINTON—Leaders from business, local, and post-secondary education across Anderson County gathered at the Hollingsworth Center for Entrepreneurial Leadership on Tuesday for an Anderson County Workforce Development Training Resources Luncheon hosted by the Anderson County Chamber of Commerce Education and Workforce Development Council. The council plans for this to be the first of a series of in-depth county-wide discussions about how to ensure that our educational resources are focused at meeting the businesses workforce needs in Anderson County.

Randy Boyd, Governor Bill Haslam’s special adviser on higher education, spoke about Tennessee’s “Drive to 55” initiative and the five main aspects to this statewide initiative: get students ready, get them into school, get them out of school, finish what we started with adult students, and tie education directly to workforce needs.

“There are nearly a million Tennesseans that have some college credit but no degree—that’s an untapped pool of people that we can get to complete a certificate or degree,” Boyd said. [Read more…]

Tuskan honored as SADD National Advisor of the Year

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Mary Tuskan and Julie Strike

Above are Clinton High School counselor Mary Tuskan, left, and Julie Strike, SADD state coordinator for Tennessee.

Mary Tuskan, counselor at Clinton High School, was chosen from a large number of qualified applicants as the SADD National Advisor of the Year, a press release said.

SADD President and Chief Executive Officer Penny Wells said that Tuskan, through her work at Clinton High School, has “exemplified our idea of a successful SADD advisor,” the press release said.

It said Tuskan led the members of the SADD chapter and Allies for Substance Abuse Prevention (ASAP) of Anderson County Youth Coalition to CHS’s repeat victory in this past January’s Red Ribbon Rivalry and continues to support the students in their efforts such as the “Will you stay sober with me?” prom campaign.

Anderson County Director of Schools Larry Foster said: “We were very pleased to hear the news of Ms. Tuskan being named National SADD Advisor of the Year. She is very deserving of such an honor. She has worked extremely hard with our students in Anderson County. Her commitment and dedication to substance abuse prevention is outstanding and she is always giving of her time. Her work is recognized throughout our system and is very much appreciated.” [Read more…]

Anderson Schools rejects Oak Ridge Head Start application over false federal data

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Larry Foster

Larry Foster

Note: This story was last updated at 8:35 p.m.

Anderson County Schools director optimistic that resolution will be reached

By John Huotari and Sara Wise

They had concerns about the alleged falsification of federal documents that contained data on motor skills of children, so Anderson County school officials rejected Oak Ridge’s application for Head Start funding in the 2014-2015 school year.

The decision could affect roughly $700,000 in funding, or enough to cover about 118 students in the Oak Ridge Head Start program, a federal entitlement program for low-income children. Anderson County Schools supervises the local Head Start program.

But Anderson County Schools Director Larry Foster said the county school board’s unanimous April 10 decision could be rescinded based upon collaboration between the two school systems. Representatives of the two systems have already had discussions, and school board chairs are expected to discuss what can be done to resolve funding for next year.

“Hopefully, this can be resolved,” Foster said during a brief break in a Monday morning Anderson County Commission meeting in Clinton. [Read more…]