Oak Ridge Today

CORRECTED: Pre-registration for Oak Ridge Schools kindergarten is May 2-6

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Oak Ridge Schools will have pre-registration for kindergarten during the week of May 2-6. The pre-registration is scheduled from 8:30 a.m.- 3:30 p.m. at Glenwood, Linden, Willow Brook, and Woodland elementary schools.

This will be the beginning of a two-part registration process that will be completed just prior to school entrance this summer. If you have a child who will be 5 years old on or before August 15, 2016, you should pick up a registration packet the week of pre-registration from the school in the district of your residence. This packet will include information about the required physical examination and changes to the immunization requirements that are mandated by the State of Tennessee for entrance to school. [Read more…]

Sister City Support Organization selects middle school exchange delegates

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Sister City Support Organization and Oak Ridge Schools

Pictured above are back row, left to right, Myles Hebrard, Brion Fuson, Elijah Gardner, Julie Lee (RMS chaperone), Melissa Fox (JMS chaperone), Jakob Nussbaum, and Sarah Hammons; and front row, left to right, Madeline Davis, Lauryn Rouse, Savanna Rouse, Austin Mayes, Jayden Ellis, and Abby Hausladen. (Submitted photo)

 

The Sister City Support Organization in cooperation with Oak Ridge Schools has selected the delegates for the 2016 middle school exchange with the sister city, Naka-shi Japan. The 10 rising eighth-graders representing both Jefferson and Robertsville middle schools will be accompanied by two teacher/chaperones and Myles Hebrard, supervisor of special education of Oak Ridge Schools.

This is the 25th anniversary of the middle school exchange and the occasion will be celebrated in Naka-shi on July 5, 2016. Representatives from the Oak Ridge Schools, SCSO, Girl Scouts, and the City of Oak Ridge will travel to Naka with the student group in recognition of this milestone.

The SCSO and Oak Ridge schools will host a reciprocal celebration when the Naka students visit Oak Ridge in August.

The 2016 middle school delegates in cooperation with Time to Shine Car Wash are raising funds to help defray their travel expenses. Until the end of April, for any car wash patron using the SCSO code (8984) and purchasing the $20 special, Time to Shine contributes $10 to the students.

Jerralyn Luckmann is a contributor to Oak Ridge Today.

Three Oak Ridge High School students selected as Haslam Scholar finalists

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Elisabeth Gallmeier

Elisabeth Gallmeier (Photo from University of Tennessee/2016 Haslam Scholars Finalists)

Three students from Oak Ridge High School were selected as Haslam Scholar finalists this year. This is the highest number of Haslam Scholar finalists from any high school in the state.

The three Oak Ridge finalists are:

  1. Elisabeth Gallmeier, who is pursuing a degree in physics. She has recently been doing research with Oak Ridge National Laboratory, creating statistical modeling programs to aid hydrocarbon exploration and prediction analyses to examine shale play production.
  2. Oumar Souleymane Diallo, who is interested in the nuclear, mechanical, and biomedical engineering fields. His interests are broad and include sculpting, modern art, video editing, cooking. and computer science.
  3. Lewis Wang, who plans to prepare for a career in business administration. He enjoys competitive soccer and volunteer work, including serving as chairman of Oak Ridge’s Youth Advisory Board. He has been involved in developing projects such as the water awareness program for the disadvantaged youth and managing concessions during the city Halloween party to raise money for Mission of Hope.

“We are very proud of our students and the incredible work they do in our schools,” an Oak Ridge Schools press release said. [Read more…]

Opinion: Making positive strides in elementary literacy

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Keys Fillauer

By Oak Ridge Board of Education

We have been reading a lot lately about the dire straits of reading instruction and students’ abilities in reading, especially at the early grades. Although there are challenges, there is also momentum to make positive impacts on students’ reading proficiencies in all grades.

What is happening with elementary literacy?

Two school years ago, the state changed (for the better) the English Language Arts and math standards to make them more rigorous in order to ensure that Tennessee high school graduates will be better prepared in the future for college and careers. Most public schools welcomed the change because the former standards just weren’t serving Tennessee students well. However, changing standards also meant changing state assessments.

In Oak Ridge, we saw a drop in our elementary reading results on state exams after these changes. The drops in reading results were especially evident with our economically disadvantaged students.

Oak-Ridge-Schools-Bob-Eby-March-28-2016

Bob Eby

For us, this was and is unacceptable. We believe that all students can succeed, and we have expanded our literacy initiative as a result. This literacy initiative includes providing additional time and support starting in kindergarten all the way through high school to students who struggle in reading. We have trained reading specialists who provide intensive instruction to struggling students. We have a summer bookmobile program that is expanding to multiple elementary schools in order to help reduce summer reading setback. We have professional development for teachers on improving reading and writing instruction in the classroom, and we have purchased research-based materials to support them. In addition, we have recently been provided an opportunity to work with the Carnegie Foundation and the Tennessee Department of Education to systematically analyze our early literacy efforts in order to improve student outcomes. This work will begin in April 2016 and will last through September 2018.

But what about testing? [Read more…]

ORHS juniors take ACT on Tuesday, April 19

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ACT testing for Oak Ridge High School juniors will be on Tuesday, April 19, 2016, at the Oak Ridge Civic Center. (Photo by John Huotari/Oak Ridge Today)

 

All Oak Ridge High School juniors will take the ACT on Tuesday, April 19.

Oak Ridge Schools’ goal is to improve the college and career readiness of all Oak Ridge students in order to provide them with a better foundation of knowledge and skills, allowing them to be prepared for a more technologically sophisticated and internationally competitive working world, a press release said. In order to reach this goal, the system has The Seven Keys to College and Career Readiness, and the fifth key is for all students to score an ACT composite of 27 or higher.

“Last year, Oak Ridge High School ranked first among east Tennessee districts in composite ACT scores, but there is still work to be done to reach our goal,” a press release said. “Our next opportunity to shine is coming up in April.”

This year, the City of Oak Ridge is partnering with ORHS to provide secure, quiet space at the Oak Ridge Civic Center for testing, the press release said. All members of the Class of 2017 should report to the Civic Center for testing on the morning of April 19 by 7:30 a.m. Testing should conclude by noon. ORHS school lunch will be available for students who wish to return to ORHS after testing. Students who choose to go home immediately after the testing or immediately after lunch will have an excused absence from their afternoon classes. [Read more…]

Teachers, principals ask for 3 percent pay raise

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Pictured above during a Oak Ridge Board of Education meeting on Monday, March 28, are Phil Cox, left, Jefferson Middle School principal, and Garfield Adams, Robertsville Middle School principal. (Photo by John Huotari/Oak Ridge Today)

 

Note: This story was updated at 4:55 p.m.

Teachers and principals in Oak Ridge Schools have asked for 3 percent pay increases in the budget year that starts July 1.

The request was made at last week’s Oak Ridge Board of Education meeting. It’s too early to say whether the request will be included in the budget proposal that will be presented to the BOE, possibly later this month or sometime next month, or approved by the school board, possibly in May.

In a presentation by Robertsville Middle School Principal Garfield Adams and Jefferson Middle School Principal Phil Cox, officials said Oak Ridge Schools administrators’ pay has been on a downward trend, falling from eighth in the state in 2008-2009 to 13th in 2014-2015. They said that trend reflects what is happening for teachers. [Read more…]

No proof that anything illegal occurred between ORHS teacher, student, ORPD says

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Oak Ridge Police Department Badge

The Oak Ridge Police Department investigated an allegation of sexual misconduct between an Oak Ridge High School teacher and a student, but the police investigation has been closed due to a lack of evidence that anything illegal occurred, according to an incident report released Monday.

But the Oak Ridge Schools investigation continues, Superintendent Bruce Borchers said.

The Oak Ridge High School teacher, who wasn’t named, was suspended from all teaching duties without pay in February pending the investigation by the Oak Ridge Police Department.

The allegation stemmed from a note that was reportedly seen by two students in a high school class, the ORPD report said. The note had these words written on it: “you are cute #smoosh,” according to students. The report said the term “smoosh” is commonly used to refer to having sex.

The teacher told investigators that he had written the note, but it was meant for a few other male students as a joke, according to a 16-page incident report released Monday. He said he had not known what “smoosh” meant. He told investigators that he thought it was “smoosh someone’s face or to punch them, but not really.”

“He had a hard time explaining this to us, and we had a hard time understanding what he was trying to say,” Oak Ridge Police Department Detective John Criswell said in the report. “When we asked him now the ‘note’ made it into the hands of his students, he stated that one of the students had written something inappropriate on their paper so he took that paper and replaced it with his.” [Read more…]

Civic Center Recreation Building temporarily closing for ACT testing Tuesday, April 19

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The Oak Ridge Civic Center is pictured above on Oak Ridge Turnpike in March 2016. (Photo by John Huotari/Oak Ridge Today)

 

The Oak Ridge Civic Center Recreation Building will be closed to the public during the day on Tuesday, April 19. The Oak Ridge Schools will be using the facility to conduct ACT testing for students. Only students pre-registered for the test, school faculty, proctors, and assigned Recreation and Parks staff will be admitted to the building. The building will reopen for public use at 5 p.m.

The Oak Ridge Civic Center is at 1403 Oak Ridge Turnpike.

For more information contact Jon Hetrick, Recreation and Parks Department, at (865) 425-3446 or visit the city’s website at http://www.oakridgetn.gov.

Reminder: Wellness Fair is today at Civic Center

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Wellness-Fair-2016

Reminder: A city, schools, and community wellness fair will be offered at the Oak Ridge Civic Center today (Wednesday, March 30).

The free wellness fair is sponsored by the City of Oak Ridge and Oak Ridge Schools Coordinated Health Wellness Committee. The wellness fair is from 11 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. March 30 at the Oak Ridge Civic Center.

Information on what will be offered is included in the image above.

Call (865) 425-3559 or 425-3414 for more information.

Copyright 2016 Oak Ridge Today. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

Wellness Fair is March 30 at Civic Center

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Wellness-Fair-2016

A city, schools, and community wellness fair will be offered at the Oak Ridge Civic Center on Wednesday, March 30.

The free wellness fair is sponsored by the City of Oak Ridge and Oak Ridge Schools Coordinated Health Wellness Committee. The wellness fair is from 11 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. March 30 at the Oak Ridge Civic Center.

Information on what will be offered is included in the image above.

Call (865) 425-3559 or 425-3414 for more information.

Oak Ridge Schools has community tour March 9

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Oak Ridge Schools has a community tour on March 9. It will include visits to elementary, middle school, or high school classrooms.

The tour is scheduled from 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. Wednesday, March 9.

“See how Oak Ridge teachers and students are teaching and learning while school is in session,” a press release said. “The day will begin at the Oak Ridge Chamber of Commerce, then will proceed through an elementary and middle or middle and high school classroom visits.” [Read more…]

Oak Ridge school board has March 3 retreat

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The Oak Ridge Board of Education will discuss a range of issues including legal matters, the budget, and facilities during a March 3 retreat.

The retreat is scheduled from 8 a.m. to 12 p.m. Thursday, March 3, in the Oak Ridge Schools School Administration Building conference room.

Here is the agenda: [Read more…]