Oak Ridge Today

STEM standards training for informal educators, tutors, community members

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Oak Ridge Schools is partnering with Oak Ridge Associated Universities, the Children’s Museum, and American Museum of Science and Energy to do a STEM standards training for informal educators, tutors, and community members from 6-8 p.m. Monday, April 21, at the Children’s Museum.

“This training will be beneficial to those who are interested in learning more about helping students advance their skills in science, technology, engineering, and math and have been wondering what the Common Core and Science Standards are as well as how they can be applied to informal and after-school education programs,” a press release said. “The training will be led by Oak Ridge Schools’ staff.”

Light refreshments and childcare will be provided. You can register at www.orau.us/informaledworkshop.

City, schools have wellness fair on May 21

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Oak Ridge Wellness Fair 2011

Flu shots are given at an Oak Ridge Wellness Fair in November 2011. (File photo)

The City of Oak Ridge Wellness Committee and the Oak Ridge Schools will host the 2014 Wellness and Safety Fair on Wednesday, May 21, from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. at the Oak Ridge Civic Center. The fair is open to Oak Ridge City employees, Oak Ridge School employees, retirees, and their families. The fair will then be opened to the public from 3 p.m. to 5 p.m.

For more information, contact Sandy Sexton at (865) 425-3414 or ssexton@oakridgetn.gov.

Applications for Oak Ridge Schools tuition, cross boundary due April 25

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Oak Ridge Schools Administration Building

The Oak Ridge School Administration Building on New York Avenue is pictured above.

The application period for renewing or applying for tuition and cross boundary applications for 2014–2015 in Oak Ridge Schools started April 7 and ends April 25.

The approved applications are good for one year. If your child was approved last year and has remained in good standing during that time period, you will not need to complete a cross boundary application or a tuition application for the upcoming school year, a press release said. You will receive a letter of your child’s status.

Cross boundary applications may be obtained at the schools, on the Oak Ridge Schools’ website or from the Pupil Services Department. Tuition applications may be obtained on the Oak Ridge Schools’ website or from the Pupil Services Department in the School Administration Building. [Read more…]

Oak Ridge teachers, principals request 2.5 percent pay raise

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Mike Haygood of Oak Ridge Education Association

Mike Haygood, left, co-president of the Oak Ridge Education Association, tells Oak Ridge school board members during a March 24 meeting that teachers are requesting a 2.5 percent salary increase.

Oak Ridge teachers, staff members, and principals have requested a 2.5 percent salary increase in the next school year.

The requests could be considered as part of the budget discussions for the fiscal year that starts July 1.

The Oak Ridge Education Association said the consumer price index has increased 2.38 percent on average each year during the past decade. Meanwhile, the annual salary increase for school staff members has averaged 1.5 percent.

Teachers have not had a pay increase for several years, said Mike Haygood, OREA co-president.

“Some type of salary increase is long overdue,” he told members of the Oak Ridge Board of Education during a March 24 meeting. [Read more…]

Oak Ridge resident Don Bell running for Anderson school board

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Don Bell

Don Bell

Oak Ridge resident Don A. Bell is running for the District 7 seat on the Anderson County Board of Education. District 7 includes Highland View, Glenwood, and Pine Valley in Oak Ridge.

Bell is a longtime Oak Ridger and a 1974 graduate of Oak Ridge High School, the candidate said in a press release. He retired from the Oak Ridge school system in 2013. He had worked in the maintenance and operations division at Glenwood Elementary School.

Bell served on the board of directors of Oak Ridge Schools Federal Cedit Union for seven years and as vice chairman for three years. He also served on the Superintendent’s Search Committee to appoint the principal for Glenwood Elementary and was on the supervisory committee of the Tennessee Members First Federal Credit Union.

In the press release, Bell said he looks forward to meeting his constituents and hopes to use his experience to serve the Anderson County school system.

Guest column: School safety update

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Trina Baughn

Trina Baughn

Since the signing of the Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) between the Oak Ridge Schools and the Oak Ridge Police Department (ORPD) last August, a number of significant safety improvements have occurred within our schools including physical security upgrades, leadership adjustments, and increased police presence.

As you may know, this time last year, we had only one School Resource Officer (SRO) covering our entire school district. Now we have two full time SROs, two Support Services Unit (SSU) officers manning satellite offices, and the Adopt-a-Cop program, which provides officer time in all of our schools via daily check-ins. A third satellite office is in the works as ORPD Chief Jim Akagi and Superintendent Bruce Borchers are presently working on stationing an SSU officer at Robertsville Middle School.

Chief Akagi recently invited me to join our SROs on a walk-along at the high school to personally observe the impact of these changes. He also encouraged me to tag along with our S.W.A.T. team during a threat assessment exercise. I took him up on both offers and, as a result, am sharing what I learned. [Read more…]

Oak Ridge Schools announces six-year digital learning, STEM partnership

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Bruce Borchers

Bruce Borchers

On Wednesday, Oak Ridge Schools announced a new collaboration with Discovery Education, the leading provider of digital content and professional development for K-12 classrooms, to create authentic digital learning environments in classrooms district-wide. Through a six-year partnership, Discovery Education will support Oak Ridge Schools’ plan to implement a 1:1 learning initiative with engaging digital content and sustained, customized professional development.

This new partnership also supports Superintendent Bruce Borchers’ recently announced plan to transform Oak Ridge Schools into the premier preK-12 STEM school district in the nation. The district’s goal is to become a leader in STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) education through continuation and expansion of Oak Ridge’s already well-regarded educational opportunities for students along with additional enhancements to technology infrastructure, professional development, and access to devices, which will place dynamic digital content in the hands of each student.

As part of this new collaboration, all K-12 classrooms will have access to Discovery Education Streaming Plus. Discovery Education Streaming Plus features more than 155,000 dynamic digital learning objects that support all subject areas and learning styles, including videos, skill builders, games, audio files, images, writing prompts, and encyclopedia articles. It also includes hundreds of model lessons and instructional exemplars. [Read more…]

Oak Ridge Schools selects Teacher Leaders

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The Oak Ridge School system has announced its selections for Teacher Leaders for the 2014-15 school year.

The Teacher Leader initiative was conceived and launched as a result of the Tennessee Department of Education’s push to create a differentiated pay scale for teachers in all counties. The department encouraged systems to either adopt a structure where teachers receive pay bonuses based on student test scores and eliminate increases in pay for advanced degrees or years of service, or adopt programs that ask teachers to take on greater responsibilities in schools.

“When presented with the opportunity to reward teachers for their dedicated and outstanding service, we decided not to get rid of our steps and lanes that reward teachers for their time and dedication to the classroom and earning advanced degrees, but rather recognize teachers that step up and take on greater leadership roles around STEM, analyzing data, and reinforcing professional learning communities,” said Bruce Borchers, Oak Ridge Schools superintendent. [Read more…]

School board approves Blankenship bleacher replacement

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Blankenship Field Visitors Bleachers

Deemed to be unsafe, the visitors bleachers at Blankenship Field have been de, and replacing them could cost more than $500,000.

Note: This story was updated at 9:15 a.m. March 25.

The Oak Ridge Board of Education on Monday unanimously approved a $455,000 project to replace the visitor bleachers at Blankenship Field. The bleachers had been deemed unsafe, and they have already been demolished.

School officials are hoping to replace them before the first home football game on Aug. 29. In a unanimous voice vote Monday, the school board agreed to use the school system’s fund balance to pay for the replacement bleachers.

Board members plan to ask city officials for additional help to finish part of the project, including a $69,000 handicapped ramp with switchbacks from the city-owned parking lot below the field up to the city-owned field, which is at Jack Armstrong Stadium in central Oak Ridge. The ramp could be built when the city renovates the parking lot. [Read more…]

Low bid on Blankenship bleachers: $524,000

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Blankenship Field Visitors Bleachers

Deemed to be unsafe, the visitors bleachers at Blankenship Field have been removed, and replacing them could cost more than $500,000.

The low bid on the bleacher replacement project at Blankenship Field came in at $523,940, a school official said Friday.

The bid on the project to replace the demolished visitor bleachers includes grading work and a handicap sidewalk at Jack Armstrong Stadium. Proposals were accepted through Friday. The recommended proposal from Dant Clayton Corp. of Louisville, Ky., will be considered by the Oak Ridge Board of Education on Monday.

Allen Thacker, Oak Ridge Schools maintenance and operations supervisor, said the project could cost another $40,000 if the Wildcat Crossing stairs on the home side of the field are reconditioned. That would make the total cost $563,940. It was the lowest of two qualified bids.

Thacker said funding for the project has not yet been identified. It’s been discussed at several recent meetings of the Oak Ridge City Council and Board of Education. Municipal and education officials have said options include city funding, school funding, a mix of the two, and donations. Earlier this month, School Board Chair Keys Fillauer told City Council that a funding decision could be made Monday. [Read more…]

Schools consider revised outsourcing proposal for substitute teachers

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Oak Ridge Board of Education

An outsourcing proposal strongly opposed by teaching assistants last month has since been revised to include only substitute teachers at Oak Ridge Schools. It will be considered by the Oak Ridge Board of Education on Monday.

An outsourcing proposal strongly opposed by teaching assistants last month has since been revised to include only substitute teachers at Oak Ridge Schools.

The new proposal to use Professional Educational Services LLC, or PESG, of Nashville, to provide substitute teachers will be considered by the Oak Ridge Board of Education during a Monday evening meeting.

The outsourcing proposal began as an attempt to help the school system comply with the reporting requirements of the Affordable Care Act and to avoid potentially large fines of up to $1.2 million for errors that might be made in following the new federal health care law. [Read more…]

Parents, staff again choose balanced school calendar

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Christopher J. Marczak

Christopher J. Marczak

A majority of Oak Ridge parents and school staff again favored a move from the traditional school calendar to a new balanced calendar that gives students about nine weeks of classroom instruction at a time, officials said.

The first vote was conducted through the Skylert callout system about one month ago in February, and the second vote was Thursday.

See this guest column by Chris Marczak, Oak Ridge Schools assistant superintendent, for more information on the Thursday night vote. [Read more…]