Oak Ridge Today

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…]

School board to consider budget, balanced calendar tonight

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The Oak Ridge Board of Education will consider the proposed budget for the fiscal year that starts July 1 during a meeting tonight (Tuesday, May 26). It’s the first of two readings of the budget, and tonight’s meeting will include a public hearing.

Also tonight, the school board will consider balanced calendar options for the 2016-2017 school year. Three options have been presented. See the three options here: Oak Ridge Schools 2016-2017 Balanced Calendar, Oak Ridge Schools 2016-2017 Balanced Calendar B, and Oak Ridge Schools 2016-2017 Balanced Calendar B V2.

In other business tonight, the Board of Education will consider: [Read more…]

City, Schools Preschool Building Planning Committee to meet April 9

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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 new joint city-school committee that could lay the groundwork for a new preschool by the 2016-2017 school year will meet on Thursday, April 9.

The meeting of the Joint City/Schools Preschool Building Planning Committee will start at 1:30 p.m. April 9 in the School Administration Building conference room.

Members of the committee are Charlsey Cofer, Keys Fillauer, Bruce Borchers, Lee Ann Shelton, Jessica Hill, Allen Thacker, Mark Watson, Janice McGinnis, Ellen Smith, Shirley Raines, Pat Fallon, and Jon Hetrick.

The joint city-schools committee for the Preschool was endorsed earlier this year. For now, officials have 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 city-school committee could work to determine space needs, develop an affordable finance plan, develop a project timetable, and make a public education plan.

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…]

Council, School Board to discuss Preschool, Administration Building today

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Oak Ridge Preschool and School Administration Building

Oak Ridge school officials have previously considered four options to replace or renovated 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.

 

The Oak Ridge City Council and Board of Education have a joint meeting this evening (Thursday, January 15) to discuss the Preschool and School Administration Building, a 70-year-old building that officials have been hoping to replace for years.

In December, the City Council and BOE toured a building on Mitchell Road that could be a new home for the Preschool. It’s one of several proposed options that have been recently discussed. Others include repairing the existing building on New York Avenue or building a new facility. Officials have largely ruled out splitting up the Preschool and hosting students in classrooms at the city’s elementary schools.

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. [Read more…]

Oak Ridge announces new principals at Robertsville, Preschool

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New principals will start this summer at Robertsville Middle School and the Oak Ridge Schools Preschool, officials announced Friday.

The new RMS principal is James Hundertmark, Oak Ridge school officials said in a press release. Hundertmark is now lead associate principal of Klein High School in Klein, Texas.

The new preschool principal is Melinda White. She has been interim principal at Oak Ridge Schools Preschool since May 2012. [Read more…]