Oak Ridge Today

Letter: Congressional debate, candidate answers available online

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To the Editor:

Oak Ridge voters in the Third Congressional District might like to know that they can view the Monday night, October 27, debate between Rep. Chuck Fleischmann and Dr. Mary Headrick at https://www.facebook.com/EastTennesseePBS.

Voters might also like to see answers from City Council and School Board candidates to questions asked of them by DFET (Democracy for East Tennessee) following the Candidates’ Reception sponsored by the group on October 9 in Oak Ridge at www.dfet.org.

DFET Executive Committee:

Tom Burns, Leslie Agron, Joan Cassens, Virginia Jones

Oak Ridge

Repairs needed, school system considers three options for Preschool

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Oak Ridge Preschool and School Administration Building

The Oak Ridge Board of Education will consider three options for the Oak Ridge Schools Preschool on New York Avenue during a Monday night meeting. The building—which has lead paint that needs to be repaired, replaced, and painted, among other things—has to be renovated or vacated for the Head Start program to receive funding in the 2015-2016 school year.

 

It’s 70 years old and in need of repairs. Federal officials want it renovated or vacated by next year in order for the school system to continue to receive Head Start funding.

So, on Monday, the Oak Ridge Board of Education will consider what to do about the Oak Ridge Preschool, a building on New York Avenue that’s been on the repair wish list for years.

The school board will consider three options:

  • stay in the building and renovate it;
  • move the Preschool and its roughly 200 students to a different site, possibly by leasing space;
  • move the Preschool classes and split them up among the elementary schools.

There is one option that is not on the table, school officials said Thursday.

“We have no intention…of shutting down the Preschool in any form or fashion,” said Chris Marczak, Oak Ridge Schools assistant superintendent. [Read more…]

Guest column: The road to excellence

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Mike Mahathy

Mike Mahathy

By Mike Mahathy

“Thus we began. With a sense of adventure, with a determination to make the most of a situation, we started out…looking forward to giving the children of Oak Ridge the best system we could develop.”

So said Dr. A.H. Blankenship years after accepting the role of starting the Oak Ridge school system.

From the very beginnings in 1943, Oak Ridge leaders wanted the best for their children. They choose a road less traveled by in this area.

Decades have passed, but there has remained one constant in Oak Ridge, Tennessee: a great school system where students have excelled in academics, the arts, music, athletics, and have gone on to be productive Americans. [Read more…]

Guest column: Progress PAC helps broaden conversation of community issues

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By Progress PAC

We are very proud that the Oak Ridge Chamber of Commerce has entrusted us to serve as the members of Progress PAC, the multi-candidate political action committee created by the Chamber and focused on our upcoming school board and city council elections. Though we are appointed by the Chamber’s Board of Directors, we operate independently from that same board.

Some people in the community have questions about how Progress PAC will operate, who we might support, and how endorsements might be made. Some have criticized the timing of Progress PAC’s establishment, and we acknowledge it could have been better. However, our primary goal is to have a positive impact in this election cycle.

Now that Progress PAC has been created, we are largely autonomous. The Chamber’s Board may not approve or disapprove of any endorsement decisions we may make; the Chamber’s Board cannot approve or disapprove of contributions that Progress PAC either receives or distributes. The Chamber contributes no funds to PAC operations; we are supported by donations made directly to the PAC and we must report those to the appropriate election commissions. [Read more…]

Engineering design contractor running for City Council

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Gary Love

Gary Love

Gary Love, an engineering design contractor, is running for Oak Ridge City Council in the November 4 municipal election.

“I am a proud native of Oak Ridge—and I am ready to roll up my sleeves to work with the people to make this community an even better place to live in the 21st century,” Love said in a press release.

Love said he grew up in the Woodland Community and graduated from Oak Ridge High School in 1974. After graduating from East Tennessee State University in 1979 with a degree in biology, he went to work for the city of Chattanooga.

Later, he extended his education with a two-year degree in computer engineering and joined the Electric Power Board of Chattanooga, where he spent 18 years as a power design engineer, the press release said.

“I’m glad to be back in Oak Ridge, where I live with my wife, Toni,” Love said. “We have three grown children, including my son, who now works with me at Tennessee Valley Authority, where I work as a contractor in engineering design. We also have a teenage granddaughter.” [Read more…]

Boys and Girls Club president running for School Board

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Aaron Wells

Aaron Wells

Aaron Wells, a lifelong Oak Ridger and president of the Boys and Girls Club of Oak Ridge, is running for Oak Ridge Board of Education in the November 4 municipal election, a press release said.

“Over the last two decades, I have spent countless hours coaching, mentoring, and fundraising for the youth in our town,” Wells said in the release. “After much prayer and discussion, my wife Melissa and I made the decision that I would run for school board.”

If elected, Wells said he will focus on achieving four priorities.

“First and foremost, I commit to truly listen to our teachers and integrate their feedback into all of my decisions,” Wells said. “Teachers are the lifeblood of our schools, and they know better than anyone how to make our students successful. We can no longer afford to ignore their invaluable feedback and concerns. The Board of Education must fight to restore to them the freedom they need to do what they do best—inspire and educate our children.” [Read more…]

Eby, school board vice chair, receives TSBA award

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Bob Eby TSBA Award

Bob Eby, vice chair of the Oak Ridge Board of Education, receives the TSBA Level IV Boardmanship Award during a recent district meeting in Newport, Tennessee. (Submitted photo)

Bob Eby, vice chair of the Oak Ridge Board of Education, was honored with a Boardmanship Award at a recent Tennessee School Boards Association meeting.

Eby received the Level IV Boardsmanship Award, which was presented by TSBA Executive Director Tammy Grissom during the Fall District meeting in Newport, Tennessee, a press release said.

To achieve the award, Bob accumulated more than 200 credits in various school board activities, including attending TSBA leadership conferences, policy workshops, summer law institutes, state and national conventions, and a TSBA “day on the Hill” in Nashville, and he met with state legislators, the release said. Eby also presented Oak Ridge school board activities at various conferences as well as to local civic groups.

The release said Eby has served as a judge for state school architectural competitions and as an evaluator of other school boards seeking to be recognized as Boards of Distinction as the Oak Ridge School Board is. Level IV also requires a self-evaluation of board activities completed by the candidate for the award.

Former president of PTO, Superintendent’s Council running for school board

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Laura McLean

Laura McLean

Laura McLean, an Oak Ridger for the last 19 years, is running for the Oak Ridge Board of Education in the November 4 municipal election.

McLean and her husband Fred moved here for his work as a radiologist. Even after his work moved to Knoxville, the family chose to remain in Oak Ridge to educate their kids and be involved in the Oak Ridge community, a press release said. Both of the their children attended Oak Ridge schools their entire careers, including Oak Ridge Schools Preschool, Glenwood Elementary, Jefferson Middle, and Oak Ridge High School. Alex (ORHS Class of 2010) currently lives and works in Oak Ridge, and Emily (ORHS Class of 2012) is in her third year at the University of Virginia.

McLean has bachelor’s and master’s degrees from the University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill.

The press release said she was an active member in school organizations during her children’s education in Oak Ridge. McLean was on the Parent Committee in the Preschool, and served in several roles while her kids attended Glenwood, including PTO president, PTO vice president, Fundraising Committee member, and classroom volunteer. At Jefferson Middle, Laura served as PTO president and vice president and fundraising coordinator. At ORHS, Laura was on several parent committees and served as vice president of the PTSO. She continues to support and volunteer at Graduation Celebration. [Read more…]

Retired teacher, community volunteer running for school board

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Jean Hiser

Jean Hiser

Retired educator and community volunteer Jean Hiser has announced her candidacy for the Oak Ridge Board of Education in the November 4 municipal election, a press release said.

Hiser moved to Oak Ridge five years ago from Cumberland County, where she taught third grade at Crab Orchard Elementary School for 11 years.

Prior to moving to Tennessee, she had served as a substitute special education teacher in the Wheaton school system in Wheaton, Illinois.

A native of Elderon, a small farming community in Wisconsin, Hiser dreamed of going to college in order to make a better life for herself. She attended college for 3.5 years but was forced to leave school due to lack of funds.

After getting married and raising a son, Hiser returned to college and obtained a bachelor’s degree in elementary education at the age of 45 from North Central College in Naperville, Illinois. She enrolled in college on the same day her son enrolled in community college. [Read more…]

School board to discuss budget, preschool, public relations during Sept. 18 retreat

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The Oak Ridge Board of Education will discuss the budget, Preschool, board and superintendent evaluations, and a public relations person and social media during a September 18 retreat.

The retreat starts at 12 p.m. Thursday, September 18, in the Robert J. Smallridge School Administration Building on New York Avenue.

Other agenda items include draft protocols and practices for the board and superintendent, and an executive session to discuss legal issues.

See the retreat agenda here.

Musician, software engineer running for school board

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Andy Howe

Andy Howe

Andrew Howe, a musician and software engineer, is running for Oak Ridge Board of Education in the November 4 election.

Howe said some people might recognize him from his performances singing and playing with bands around town, including at community festivals, or on the Oak Ridge Playhouse stage.

“That’s just one side of me though,” Howe said. “By day, I’m normally a software engineer, degree from MIT, but presently I’m taking a hiatus from that career while I pursue other options. I’m married to my best friend, Kat, and our son Maguire is a junior in the high school.”

In a press release, Howe said the family has taken a fairly run-down looking old “A” house on the end of a vine infested cul-de-sac and turned it into their own little country paradise, The 100 Acre Woods. He called it a small performance and gathering space in the woods that has always been open for anyone to make use of.

Howe said he and Kat started a nonprofit this year, Project Sunflower, to get some gardens in Oak Ridge. [Read more…]

ORHS grad, brand manager running for school board

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Paige Marshall

Paige Marshall

Paige (White) Marshall, a 1988 graduate of Oak Ridge High School and current Oak Ridge resident, is running for Oak Ridge Board of Education in the November 4 election.

Marshall said her father spent most of his teaching career teaching in Oak Ridge.

“I quite literally grew up in these schools, among public educators,” Marshall said in a press release. “I am convinced that there is incredible power in public education to give students a chance to improve personally so that they can contribute responsibly as adults.”

Marshall attended Middle Tennessee State University, where she received a bachelor’s degree in psychology in 1991, and she went on to seminary at Methodist Theological School in Ohio, where she received her M.Div. in 1997.

After serving as a member of the clergy for almost 15 years, she went back to school and completed a master’s of business administration in marketing at the University of Tennessee in Knoxville in 2008. Since then, she has worked in the business world for Procter and Gamble in Cincinnati, Ohio, and for Bush Brothers and Company in Knoxville, where she is currently a brand manager. [Read more…]