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Marshall resigns from school board

Posted at 11:46 am August 17, 2018
By John Huotari 2 Comments

Paige Marshall

Paige Marshall

Oak Ridge Board of Education member Paige Marshall resigned from the school board on Thursday.

Marshall and her family are moving to North Carolina for a new job, BOE Chair Keys Fillauer said Friday.

In her resignation letter on Thursday, Marshall expressed sadness and deep appreciation.

“I am sad to leave a wonderful school district in Oak Ridge and the wonderful people on the Board of Education as well as our wonderful Oak Ridge Schools staff and students,” Marshall said. “It has been an honor and a pleasure to serve our community. I wish you all the best as you and the rest of the board work to keep the Oak Ridge Schools the finest in the state.”

Elected in November 2014, Marshall’s four-year term expires this November, when there are three open seats on the five-member school board. [Read more…]

Filed Under: 2018 Election, Education, Front Page News, K-12, Top Stories Tagged With: Ben Stephens, Bob Eby, Erin Webb, Keys Fillauer, Laura McLean, November election, Oak Ridge Board of Education, Oak Ridge Schools, Paige Marshall, resignation letter, special election

Blankenship Field renovations to start after football season

Posted at 6:14 pm July 12, 2018
By John Huotari Leave a Comment

Blankenship Field and Jack Armstrong Stadium are pictured above on Tuesday, June 19, 2018. (Photo by John Huotari/Oak Ridge Today)

Blankenship Field and Jack Armstrong Stadium are pictured above on Tuesday, June 19, 2018. (Photo by John Huotari/Oak Ridge Today)

 

The renovations at Blankenship Field, including the installation of synthetic turf, won’t start until after this year’s football season ends, officials said Thursday.

At one time, there had been hopes that the renovation work would have started this past January and be finished by this June. Then, after an $800,000 contract was approved in June, there had still been the possibility that the work could be complete this summer, on or around the first home football game in August.

But on Thursday, the City of Oak Ridge announced a decision to wait until the Oak Ridge High School football season is complete to begin the renovations.

“The decision was based on the contractor’s estimate that the project could not be completed without impacting the first three home football games,” a city press release said. [Read more…]

Filed Under: Front Page News, High School, Slider, Sports, Sports, Top Stories Tagged With: Blankenship Field, Blankenship Field Revitalization Foundation, Bruce Borchers, City of Oak Ridge, David Bradshaw, Field Turf, football season, Keys Fillauer, Local Parks and Recreation Fund grant, Mark Watson, Oak Ridge Board of Education, Oak Ridge High School, Oak Ridge Schools, renovations, state grant, synthetic turf, TDEC grant, Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation, Warren Gooch

Information about Oak Ridge Schools registration, orientation

Posted at 3:09 pm July 2, 2018
By Oak Ridge Today Staff Leave a Comment

All students new to Oak Ridge Schools need to register at their respective schools from Monday, July 9, to Wednesday, July 20, from 9 a.m. to noon. Parents who pre-registered kindergartners in May also need to complete the registration process on those dates, a press release said.

Registration for new students in grades 9-12 will be made by appointment only, the press release said. For more information regarding high school registration, contact the registrar at (865) 425-9524. Information necessary for new student registration includes the following:

  1. Child’s birth certificate (a certified copy for school records, not the hospital copy or mother’s copy)
  2. Child’s Social Security number (optional)
  3. Health insurance provider
  4. The Tennessee Department of Health Certificate of Immunization available from your doctor or Health Department consisting of two parts:
    • Immunizations — A Tennessee Department of Health Certificate of Immunization form showing the complete dates (month, day, and year) immunizations were administered.
    • Health Examination — A physical examination is required for all children entering Tennessee schools (K-12). Oak Ridge Schools require a physical examination current since January 1 of the year the student will enter kindergarten. Students entering the seventh grade will also need to provide proof of the T-dap immunization.
  5. Grades 1-12 only — Provide the name, address, and phone number of the school(s) where your child previously attended or provide report cards or withdrawal forms.

[Read more…]

Filed Under: Education, Front Page News, K-12 Tagged With: Jefferson Middle School, Oak Ridge High School, Oak Ridge Schools, orientation, registration, Robertsville Middle School

First of its kind, Family Drug Treatment Court opening in Anderson County

Posted at 12:59 pm July 2, 2018
By Oak Ridge Today Staff 1 Comment

Family Drug Treatment Court Ribbon Cutting July 11 2018

A Family Drug Treatment Court, the first of its kind in Anderson County, launched this week, and there will be a ribbon-cutting next week, a press release said.

The Anderson County Family Drug Treatment Court will be called R2: The Recovery and Resilience Program, the press release said.

R2 is a program for juvenile offenders who have substance misuse issues and have not been successful in maintaining drug abstinence. The program is a minimum of nine months and will incorporate treatment, family therapy, and group therapy paired with accountability and goal setting, the press release said.

“By addressing barriers in the home, we will enable adolescents in Anderson County to break free from the grip of generational drug abuse, setting them up to be successful contributors to our society,” said Anderson County Juvenile Court Judge Brian Hunt.

The press release said the program has been a priority for a large number of stakeholders in the community for many years. [Read more…]

Filed Under: Anderson County, Community, Courts, Education, Front Page News, Health, K-12, Nonprofits, Top Stories Tagged With: Anderson County, Anderson County Family Drug Treatment Court, Anderson County Juvenile Court, Anderson County Schools, ASAP of Anderson, Brian Hunt, City of Rocky Top, drug abstinence, drug abuse, Family Drug Treatment Court, family therapy, group therapy, juvenile offenders, Oak Ridge Breakfast Rotary Club, Oak Ridge Schools, R2: The Recovery and Resilience Program, substance misuse, Tennessee Office of Criminal Justice Programs, United Way of Anderson County

City, schools to present budgets to City Council on Tuesday

Posted at 10:43 am May 28, 2018
By John Huotari Leave a Comment

Mark Watson

Mark Watson

 

City and school officials will present their fiscal year 2019 budgets to Oak Ridge City Council in a special meeting on Tuesday.

The Oak Ridge Board of Education budget, which has already been approved by the school board, will be presented by Oak Ridge Schools Superintendent Bruce Borchers and Board of Education Chair Keys Fillauer. The city has typically provided a little less than 30 percent of the school system’s funding.

The proposed municipal budget will be presented by Oak Ridge City Manager Mark Watson. [Read more…]

Filed Under: Education, Front Page News, Government, K-12, Oak Ridge Tagged With: Bruce Borchers, budget, fiscal year 2019 budget, Keys Fillauer, Mark Watson, Oak Ridge Board of Education, Oak Ridge City Council, Oak Ridge Municipal Building, Oak Ridge Schools, special meeting

Wednesday night: Oak Ridge school board has public hearing, first reading of budget

Posted at 3:22 pm May 16, 2018
By John Huotari 1 Comment

The Oak Ridge Board of Education has a public hearing and first reading of the budget for the next fiscal year, which starts July 1, tonight (Wednesday, May 16).

The special meeting starts at 5:30 p.m. Wednesday in the Oak Ridge Schools Administration Building at 304 New York Avenue.

The school board had a line-by-line review of the budget on Monday, and the fiscal year 2019 budget was presented May 8.

More information will be added as it becomes available.

Filed Under: Education, Front Page News, K-12, Top Stories Tagged With: budget, first reading, fiscal year 2019 budget, Oak Ridge Board of Education, Oak Ridge School Board, Oak Ridge Schools, public hearing

Education Foundation to award over $100K in grants in April ceremony

Posted at 1:43 pm March 27, 2018
By Jessica Steed Leave a Comment

The Oak Ridge Public Schools Education Foundation will award more than $104,000 in grants to Oak Ridge teachers at a ceremony on Wednesday, April 25, 2018. (Submitted photo)

The Oak Ridge Public Schools Education Foundation will award more than $104,000 in grants to Oak Ridge teachers at a ceremony on Wednesday, April 25, 2018. (Submitted photo)

 

The Oak Ridge Public Schools Education Foundation will award more than $104,000 in grants to Oak Ridge teachers at a ceremony on Wednesday, April 25, a press release said.

Chuck Carringer, who has previously worked for Oak Ridge Schools and is now president of Chuck Carringer Executive Coaching, which provides leadership and management development services, will be the featured speaker at the April ceremony, the press release said. His talk will be titled “Teachers Making a Difference.”

The ceremony is open to the public, and it will be held in the Oak Ridge High School cafeteria beginning at 4 p.m. April 25. Demonstrations and displays of some of the projects and technology funded by the Foundation will be given after the formal ceremony, the press release said. Light refreshments will be provided courtesy of Oak Ridge Utility District.

Here are the 2018 grant recipients: [Read more…]

Filed Under: Community, Education, Front Page News, K-12, Nonprofits, Top Stories Tagged With: Cathy Toth, Chuck Carringer, grant funding, grants, Grants Program, Oak Ridge Public Schools Education Foundation, Oak Ridge Schools, Oak Ridge teachers

Roger Ward named Principal of the Year

Posted at 9:40 pm March 11, 2018
By Oak Ridge Today Staff Leave a Comment

Roger Ward

Roger Ward

Roger Ward has been named Principal of the Year by Oak Ridge Schools.

Ward has been principal of Linden Elementary School since July 2005.

He began his career in 1990 and has served in many roles as an elementary educator during the past 28 years, a press release said.

“Mr. Ward emphasizes that students need not only to learn academic skills but also to be responsible, respectful, ready, and safe,” the press release said. “Thank you for your continued dedication to the students and staff at Linden and throughout the Oak Ridge Schools family.”

Ward’s nomination will be sent to the state level for consideration, Oak Ridge Schools said in the press release. The state winner will be honored during the annual LEAD Conference in Nashville.

Each year, an outstanding public school principal earns distinction as the Tennessee Department of Education Principal of the Year, the press release said. [Read more…]

Filed Under: Education, Front Page News, K-12, Top Stories Tagged With: Bruce Borchers, Bruce Lay, Linden Elementary School, Oak Ridge Schools, Pearl Goins, Phil Cox, principal of the year, Roger Ward, Sherrie Fairchild-Keyes, Tennessee Department of Education, Tracey Beckendorf-Edou

Selected for space launch, Robertsville satellite gets boost from ORNL

Posted at 7:32 pm March 10, 2018
By John Huotari Leave a Comment

Robertsville Middle School in Oak Ridge is the first middle school to ever be selected for a NASA program that launches small cube-shaped satellites into space. On Friday, March 9, 2018, the $70,000 science project got a $15,000 boost from Oak Ridge National Laboratory. Celebrating above by saying "NASA, we are a go!" are RMS students, teacher Todd Livesay, ORNL Director Thomas Zacharia, Oak Ridge Schools Superintendent Bruce Borchers, and other Oak Ridge Schools staff and project volunteers. (Photo by John Huotari/Oak Ridge Today)

Robertsville Middle School in Oak Ridge is the first middle school to ever be selected for a NASA program that launches small cube-shaped satellites into space. On Friday, March 9, 2018, the $70,000 science project got a $15,000 boost from Oak Ridge National Laboratory. Celebrating above by saying “NASA, we are a go!” are RMS students, teacher Todd Livesay, ORNL Director Thomas Zacharia, Oak Ridge Schools Superintendent Bruce Borchers, and other Oak Ridge Schools staff and project volunteers. (Photo by John Huotari/Oak Ridge Today)

 

Note: This story was last updated at 2 p.m. March 11.

Robertsville Middle School in Oak Ridge is the first middle school to ever be selected for a NASA program that launches small cube-shaped satellites into space.

On Friday, the $70,000 science project, which started about three years ago, got a $15,000 boost from Oak Ridge National Laboratory.

The Robertsville satellite, which will orbit a few hundred miles above Earth, will use a small camera to try to take pictures of forest regrowth in the Great Smoky Mountains near Gatlinburg. That area burned in forest fires fed by high winds after Thanksgiving 2016, killing 14 people and damaging or destroying more than 2,500 homes and businesses.

The RMS satellite, named RamSat, will use a radio to relay its images and other data back to Earth.

A project proposal was submitted to NASA in November, and Oak Ridge Schools learned this month that the RMS proposal had been accepted.

“This is such an exciting opportunity for the students!” said Peter Thornton, one of the RamSat team leaders from ORNL. “They will now have the chance to design, build, carry out, and own a satellite mission.” [Read more…]

Filed Under: Education, Education, Federal, Front Page News, Government, K-12, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Slider, U.S. Department of Energy, Y-12 National Security Complex Tagged With: 2U CubeSat, 3D printer, Bruce Borchers, Bruce Lay, Butch Alline, cube satellite, Cube Satellite Launch Initiative, CubeSat, CubeSat prototype, Eli Manning, Eric Sampsel, forest fires, forest regrowth, Garfield Adams, Gatlinburg, Great Smoky Mountains, Holly Cross, Ian Goethert, International Space Station, Janie Hiatt, Leigha Humphries, Lilli Finstad, Marshall Space Flight Center, Melissa Allen, Michele Thornton, nanosatellites, NASA, NASA class, NASA enrichment, Oak Ridge High School, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Oak Ridge Schools, ORNL, Patrick Hull, Peter Thornton, RamSat, RMS, RMS satellite, Robertsville Middle School, Robertsville satellite, satellite, satellite mission, science project, science technology engineering and mathematics curriculum, STEM, STEM curriculum, Thomas Schultz, Thomas Zacharia, Todd Livesay, Tracey Beckendorf-Edou, Tristin Del Toro, Y-12 National Security Complex

Oak Ridge Schools has one of 11 small research satellites selected by NASA

Posted at 7:47 am March 3, 2018
By John Huotari Leave a Comment

Robertsville Middle School students participating in the NASA Project-Based Learning course visit Marshall to present their CubeSat project to a panel of engineers. Marshall developed curriculum and trained teachers for the elective course while Marshall engineers served as mentors to the students. (Photo credit: NASA/Oak Ridge Schools)

Robertsville Middle School students participating in the NASA Project-Based Learning course visit Marshall to present their CubeSat project to a panel of engineers. Marshall developed curriculum and trained teachers for the elective course while Marshall engineers served as mentors to the students. (Photo credit: NASA/Oak Ridge Schools)

 

NASA, which has been working with Robertsville Middle School, announced Friday that the Oak Ridge Schools project is one of 11 small research satellites selected to fly as auxiliary payloads aboard space missions in the next few years.

The satellite projects were selected from seven states and Puerto Rico. They are eligible for placement on a launch manifest, depending on the availability of a flight opportunity, for space missions planned in 2019, 2020, and 2021, NASA said.

The Oak Ridge project, RamSat, is an education mission to develop and implement a middle school science, technology, engineering, and mathematics, or STEM, curriculum for building a CubeSat. CubeSats are a type of spacecraft called nanosatellites, often measuring about four inches on each side and weighing less than three pounds. They have a volume of about one quart. CubeSats are built using these standard dimensions as Units or “U,” and are classified as 1U, 2U, 3U, or 6U in total size.

The selections, which were announced Friday, are part of the ninth round of the NASA CubeSat Launch Initiative.

The launch opportunities for the 11 small research satellites include planned spaceflight missions led by NASA, other U.S. government agencies, or commercial organizations, as well as deployments from the International Space Station. The CubeSats were proposed by educational institutions, or nonprofit organizations. [Read more…]

Filed Under: Education, Education, Federal, Front Page News, Government, K-12, Slider Tagged With: 1U CubeSat, CubeSat, CubeSat Launch Initiative, Holly Cross, Marshall Space Flight Center, nanosatellites, NASA, Oak Ridge Schools, Patrick Hull, RamSat, research satellites, Robertsville Middle School, Science Technology Engineering and Mathematics, small one-unit cube satellite, small research satellites, STEM, Todd Livesay

Borchers to give update on school system & changes on Tuesday

Posted at 1:08 pm March 2, 2018
By Oak Ridge Today Staff Leave a Comment

Oak-Ridge-Schools-Bruce-Borchers-March-28-2016

Bruce Borchers

 

Bruce Borchers, superintendent of Oak Ridge Schools, will discuss the state of the Oak Ridge school system during a lunchtime talk on Tuesday.

His presentation is expected to provide an update on the school system and changes that have been implemented since his last address to the League of Women Voters of Oak Ridge, a press release said.

The Lunch with the League meeting is scheduled from 11:45 a.m. to 1 p.m. Tuesday, March 6, in the Social Hall of the Oak Ridge Unitarian Universalist Church, which is located at 809 Oak Ridge Turnpike.

Borchers has served as Oak Ridge Schools superintendent since 2013, the press release said. He began his career as an elementary physical education teacher in Sioux City, Iowa. He later worked as an assistant principal and principal in Iowa City and Mankato, Minnesota, and as an associate superintendent of secondary schools for the Anoka-Hennepin, Minnesota, school district, the release said. Prior to coming to Oak Ridge, he was superintendent of the Rockwood (Missouri) School District. [Read more…]

Filed Under: Community, Education, Front Page News, K-12, Nonprofits, Top Stories Tagged With: Bruce Borchers, League of Women Voters, League of Women Voters of Oak Ridge, Lunch with the League, Oak Ridge school system, Oak Ridge Schools, Oak Ridge Unitarian Universalist Church

Two more students charged after threats, including shooting-related threat

Posted at 6:25 pm February 23, 2018
By John Huotari Leave a Comment

Oak Ridge High School Trash Can Fire

Oak Ridge High School

 

Two more Oak Ridge students have been charged after police investigated threats, including a shooting-related threat, at Oak Ridge High School and Robertsville Middle School on Friday.

In the threat reported at Oak Ridge High School, a 15-year-old male student allegedly made verbal threats to another student, saying that if he was going to “shoot up the school,” he “would shoot her first,” the Oak Ridge Police Department said.

The threat was reported just before 3 p.m. Friday. The boy was removed from class and taken to the principal’s office, along with the alleged victim and a witness, the ORPD said.

“After conducting interviews and further investigation, officers learned the suspect allegedly made verbal threats to another student, stating that if he was going to ‘shoot up the school,’ he ‘would shoot her first,'” the ORPD said. [Read more…]

Filed Under: Education, Front Page News, K-12, Oak Ridge, Police, Police and Fire, Slider Tagged With: Anderson County Juvenile Court, Anderson County Schools, Anderson County Sheriff's Department, assault, City of Oak Ridge, Clinton High School, District Attorney's Office, harassment, James Akagi, Mark Lucas, Oak Ridge High School, Oak Ridge Police Department, Oak Ridge Schools, ORPD, Robertsville Middle School, safety, shooting-related threat, threat, Tim Parrott

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Classifieds

Availability of the draft environmental assessment for off-site depleted uranium manufacturing (DOE/EA-2252)

The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) announces the … [Read More...]

Public Notice: NNSA announces no significant impact of Y-12 Development Organization operations at Horizon Center

AVAILABILITY OF THE FINAL ENVIRONMENTAL ASSESSMENT FOR THE OFFSITE HOUSING OF THE Y-12 DEVELOPMENT … [Read More...]

ADFAC seeks contractors for five homes

Aid to Distressed Families of Appalachian Counties (ADFAC) is a non-profit community based agency, … [Read More...]

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