Oak Ridge Today

‘Culture of terror’ in Oak Ridge schools, Council member says; not true, education leader says

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Note: This is a copy of a letter that Oak Ridge City Council member Trina Baughn sent to new Oak Ridge Schools superintendent Bruce Borchers. It is followed by a response from Steve Reddick, who teaches American history to eighth-grade students at Jefferson Middle School and is co-president of the Oak Ridge Education Association.

Here is the letter from Baughn to Borchers:

Trina Baughn

Trina Baughn

Dr. Borchers,

Shortly after the Sandy Hook tragedy, Oak Ridge city and school officials began discussing the need to shore up security within our schools. Your Board of Education (BOE) immediately demanded the city provide an officer in every school while simultaneously declining our police chief’s offer to conduct the risk assessment needed to identify facility and policy vulnerabilities. Our police department has also repeatedly offered to provide safety/emergency training to your staff. All of those offers have been declined by members of your administration.

Seven months later, we have made very little progress. At the center of it all is a memorandum of understanding (MOU) that was initially drafted months ago to address the lack of cooperation by school administrators and their frequent interference with requisite police work. I am told that school attorneys refuse to agree with the parameters that, at their very core, enable our officers to uphold the law and maintain the safety and security of the public.

The incidents that have led to the need for this MOU are disturbing and give me reason to fear that the original emphasis of protecting our children from external threats is less of a need than that of protecting them from internal threats. [Read more…]

Letter: Future of school system in good hands with Fillauer

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To the Editor:

The Oak Ridge Schools are something we can be proud of as a community. We owe a great deal to those individuals who dedicate their time and expertise in keeping our educational system strong.

I have had the privilege of knowing Keys Fillauer for the past 25 years. Our son Billy, a 1999 graduate of Oak Ridge High School, remembers Keys as a “very energetic, enthusiastic, hands-on teacher who brought a lot to the table. He always encouraged students to be involved in the community.”

Through my affiliation with Oak Ridge Schools and the Children’s Museum of Oak Ridge, I have had the opportunity to work with many of his students who volunteered for programs and festivals. These students seemed to share a common bond—eager to contribute as well as to learn. How fortunate they are to have had a mentor who has time and again demonstrated his willingness to contribute his time and skills for worthwhile causes.

Specifically, I am grateful to him for being master of ceremonies for The Children’s Museum Gala and the International Festivals in past years. He continues to support the Ronald McDonald House, Boys Club, and the Oak Ridge Playhouse, to name just a few of his many accomplishments.

The future of our educational system, our children, and our community is in good hands with Keys Fillauer as a member of the Oak Ridge School Board.

Carroll Welch

Oak Ridge

School board considers right to restrict, but not ban, cameras at meetings

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Note: This story was last updated at 3:39 p.m. Sept. 15.

As originally drafted, the proposed policy change would have required anyone who wanted to use a camera, camcorder, or other photographic equipment at an Oak Ridge school board meeting to first seek permission from the board.

But education officials suggested it went too far. While school board members approved it 4-0 on first reading last month, they asked Oak Ridge Schools Superintendent Tom Bailey to revise it.

“I don’t think we want to ban it,” Bailey said, referring to the use of cameras. “I think we reserve the right to is the right language.”

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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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