Oak Ridge Today

Eby elected chair of state school board

Posted at
By Leave a Comment

Bob Eby, left, has been elected chair of the Tennessee State Board of Education. Also pictured second from left are former chair Lillian Hartgrove, Vice Chair Darrell Cobbins, and Executive Director Sara Heyburn Morrison. (Photo courtesy Bob Eby/Tennessee State Board of Education)

Bob Eby, a former chair and vice chair of the Oak Ridge school board, has been elected chair of the Tennessee State Board of Education. He will serve a two-year term.

Eby was appointed to the state school board by former Tennessee Governor Bill Haslam in April 2018. He was elected vice chair the following year. Eby represents Tennessee’s Third Congressional District, which includes Oak Ridge.

He will replace Lillian Hartgrove, who represents District 6, as chair of the 11-member board. Hartgrove has served as chair for five years.

[Read more…]

Eby elected vice chair of state school board

Posted at
By Leave a Comment

Bob Eby

Bob Eby

Bob Eby, who has served on the Oak Ridge Board of Education, has been selected as vice chair of the State Board of Education. Eby will serve a two-year term.

Eby was selected by board members during the first quarterly meeting of 2019, a press release said. During that meeting, members of the State Board of Education re-elected Lillian Hartgrove as board chair.

Eby first joined the State Board of Education in April 2018 following his appointment to the board by Governor Bill Haslam in February. He brings with him a 43-year career, including 16 years of experience on the Oak Ridge Board of Education, where he has served as chairman and vice chairman, the press release said.

While serving on the Oak Ridge Board of Education, Eby spearheaded several major activities for the Oak Ridge Schools, most notably, championing the recent school’s strategic plan, Oak Ridge 2020, which has become a model for school systems in the state, the press release said.

“In the time he has served on our board, Bob has demonstrated a keen interest in the purpose of this board and has been able to devote a great amount of time as a volunteer to understand the challenges and opportunities we have to positively impact the quality of education provided to the students of the great state of Tennessee,” Gordon Ferguson, the previous vice chair of the state school board, said in nominating Eby to become vice chair. [Read more…]

Monday night: Oak Ridge school board to consider appointing new member

Posted at
By Leave a Comment

The Oak Ridge Board of Education will consider appointing a new school board member tonight (Monday, March 26).

The new member will replace Bob Eby. Eby, who has been vice chair of the school board, announced in February that he was resigning at the end of March because Tennessee Governor Bill Haslam is appointing him to serve on the Tennessee State Board of Education effective April 1.

Eby will represent Tennessee’s Third Congressional District, which includes Oak Ridge, on the state school board, according to his resignation letter. [Read more…]

Eby will serve on state school board, leaving Oak Ridge board

Posted at
By Leave a Comment

Bob Eby

Bob Eby

Robert “Bob” S. Eby, vice chair of the Oak Ridge Board of Education, is resigning March 31 because Tennessee Governor Bill Haslam is appointing him to serve on the Tennessee State Board of Education effective April 1. Eby will represent Tennessee’s Third Congressional District, which includes Oak Ridge, on the state school board, according to his resignation letter.

“This is quite an honor, and I look forward to utilizing all I have learned while serving on the Oak Ridge Board off and on over the past 33 years to serve the governor and the State of Tennessee in the best manner that I can,” Eby said in the February 7 resignation letter, which was written to Oak Ridge Board of Education Chair Keys Fillauer but also copied to other school board members and Superintendent Bruce Borchers.

Eby said Tennessee state law does not allow him to serve on the state school board while also serving as a city, county, state, or elected federal official. Members of the Oak Ridge Board of Education are elected to their positions.

“Therefore, to accept this appointment requires me to resign from my Oak Ridge Board of Education position,” Eby said. “I humbly request the Board (the Oak Ridge Board of Education) to formally accept this resignation.” [Read more…]

Letter: Suggests Oak Ridgers consider electing another woman, a Democrat, to Congress

Posted at
By Leave a Comment

To the Editor:

During the years 1974-1994, a woman, who was a Democrat, represented Oak Ridge and the Tennessee Third Congressional District. Her name was Marilyn Lloyd.

She wrote several bills, including the Energy Research Development Administration Bill (1976 and 1977) and the Nuclear Waste Policy Act of 1982. During her tenure, she was chair of the Subcommittee on Energy Research and Development and was on the House Science, Space, and Technology Committee. She was on the Public Works Committee and and the Armed Services Committee.

ORNL and associated contractors did well while she was in Congress.

I would like to suggest that Oak Ridgers who have not yet voted consider electing another woman, who is a Democrat: Melody Shekari, who has been endorsed by the Chattanooga Times-Free Press. [Read more…]

League of Women Voters having three candidate forums

Posted at
By Leave a Comment

The League of Women Voters of Oak Ridge is having three candidate forums in October.

The first will be on Tuesday, October 4, at the Oak Ridge High School Amphitheater. This will include the candidates for the Oak Ridge Board of Education and the Oak Ridge City Council. It will be from 7 to 9 p.m. October 4 with candidates being briefed at 6:45 p.m.

The second forum will be on Thursday, October 6, at Roane State Community College City Room on the Oak Ridge campus. This will include the Oak Ridge candidates for the Anderson County Charter Commission. To begin the forum, there will be a short presentation from a subject matter expert on the process of reviewing and changing a county charter. This forum will be from 7 to 9 p.m., with candidates being briefed at 6:45 p.m. [Read more…]

Aug. 4 ballot: Competitive races for Congress, AC Commission in Oak Ridge

Posted at
By Leave a Comment

Voter Registration Month

The ballot is set for the August 4 county general election and state and federal primary elections. The competitive elections include the Republican and Democratic primaries for the U.S. House of Representatives in the Third Congressional District, which includes Oak Ridge, and the race for one of two seats in Anderson County Commission’s Eighth District, which includes the Woodland, Hendrix Creek, and Emory Valley precincts in Oak Ridge.

There is also competition for two seats on the Anderson County School Board, one in the Third District and the other in the Fifth District.

U.S. Representative Chuck Fleischmann, an Ooltewah Republican, is the incumbent in the House’s Third Congressional District. He has two opponents in the Republican primary on August 4: Allan Levene and Geoffery Suhmer Smith. (Signs for Fleischmann and Smith have both recently been posted in Oak Ridge.)

There are also three Democratic candidates on the ballot for U.S. House, Third District. They are Michael Friedman, George Ryan Love, and Melody Shekari.

The Republican winner will face the Democratic winner in the November 8 federal general election. [Read more…]

Letter: Congressional debate, candidate answers available online

Posted at
By Leave a Comment

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

Letter: Democrats represented Oak Ridge more years than Republicans

Posted at
By Leave a Comment

To the Editor:

Although many in Oak Ridge assume that only a Republican can further the interests of Oak Ridge nationally, it is interesting to note that from the formative years of Oak Ridge until 1963, the Third Congressional District was represented by a Democrat.

From 1963-1975, District 3 had Republican representation.Then for the next 20 years, from 1975 until 1995, it was represented by a Democrat, who happened to be a woman.

All in all, Oak Ridge and District 3 has had Democratic representation for 44 years and Republican representation for a total of 23 years. We’ve had Democrats represent us for almost twice as long as we have had Republicans in Washington.

There is no reason to think that a Democrat cannot serve the Third District well.

Virginia M. Jones

Oak Ridge

Democratic Women host tea for Mary Headrick on Monday

Posted at
By Leave a Comment

Mary Headrick

Mary Headrick

The Anderson County Democratic Women’s Club will host a tea on Monday, July 28, for Mary Headrick, the Democratic candidate for the Third Congressional District seat, and other female candidates in this year’s elections.

The tea, in support of female Democratic candidates, will be from 5-7 p.m. July 28 at Democratic Headquarters at 125 Leinart St., Suite 3, in Clinton. Tea and light refreshments will be served, a press release said.

Women are invited to come meet Headrick, have tea, and discuss issues important to the Third District, the release said. The club will also offer its support to district candidates for the female position on the Democratic Party Executive Committee: Dixie Damm and Beth Hickman. Other Democratic female candidates from the region are invited to attend.