Bruce Borchers
The Oak Ridge Board of Education will consider extending Superintendent Bruce Borchers’ contract through 2020 during a Monday evening meeting.
If approved, the contract extension would take effect June 18, 2016, and continue through June 17, 2020.
Borchers was hired in April 2013, and he started two months later, on June 18. He was previously superintendent of the Rockwood School District in Eureka, Missouri. [Read more…]
Alexander John Heitman
Officials say it was suicide. But the parents are skeptical.
So questions linger almost four years after Alexander John Heitman, 29, of Knoxville, was found dead in Cocke County after being reported missing by Oak Ridge Schools. Heitman reportedly died on Tranquility Ridge Drive outside Newport on July 25, 2011. Officials said it was suicide, a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head.
But Heitman’s parents, Don and Annette Heitman of Adams, Wisconsin, find it hard to believe. They aren’t the only ones. Some current and former Oak Ridge residents, including City Council member Trina Baughn, are also skeptical of the official cause of death.
Heitman’s widow, Kristie Heitman, is not. In February, she released a suicide note that she believes Alex, who was the supervisor of business and support services for Oak Ridge Schools, wrote the day before he died.
Neither is Cocke County Sheriff Armando Fontes. In March, he said the case is closed, and there is no reason to continue pursuing it. Investigators found no evidence that anyone else was involved, Fontes said.
But Don and Annette continue to seek answers. They started a website in October 2013 and used it to raise questions about the case. They’ve also asked for the death investigation to be re-opened, hired attorney Hugh Ward to help them, and won the support of Baughn and others. They’ve also asked the FBI to investigate. [Read more…]
Trina Baughn
The Oak Ridge High School Debt Chronicles—How a $40 Million Project Will Cost Taxpayers Over $126 Million (So Far)Â
It appears that the nearly three-year long debate between the Oak Ridge City Council and the Board of Education (BOE) over who owes what on the high school renovation project—the single largest financial expenditure that this city has ever made—is about to be resolved once and for all (or so some hope). To many, this will provide a welcomed relief. For all, it will once again extend and increase a debt obligation far beyond what anyone ever imagined.
Just over one week after the initial public revealing, council will vote on a resolution to end the debate on the high school mortgage issue. The root problem that this resolution will address is not ambiguity in the 2004 referendum or in any “gentlemen’s agreements.†No, the reason that this resolution is necessary, according to the fifth “Whereas,†is “changing community economics and increasing educational needs.â€Â The need for this resolution, which will violate the original understanding and intent of the 2004 referendum, boils down to an implied need by the Oak Ridge schools for more money.
If passed, this resolution will allow the BOE to retain the portion of the half-cent sales tax revenues collected outside of the City of Oak Ridge and will accomplish the following: [Read more…]
New Oak Ridge Schools Superintendent Bruce, right, will be welcomed during an Aug. 5 reception along with new Assistant Superintendent Chris Marczak. Above, Borchers speaks to Carol Smallridge, left, and former Oak Ridge Schools Superintendent and Interim Superintendent Bob Smallridge, second from right. Also pictured is Borchers’ son Jack.
Oak Ridge Schools will have an Aug. 5 reception for new Superintendent Bruce Borchers and new Assistant Superintendent Chris Marczak.
The reception will be from 5-6:30 p.m. Monday, Aug. 5, in the School Administration Building Board Room. It will precede the 7 p.m. Oak Ridge Board of Education meeting.
Borchers was hired in April, and he started in Oak Ridge on June 18. He replaced Interim Oak Ridge Schools Superintendent Bob Smallridge, who is also a former superintendent. Smallridge filled in after former Superintendent Tom Bailey retired at the end of 2012. [Read more…]
Before the school board offered him the Oak Ridge Schools superintendent job on Monday, Bruce Borchers, right, speaks to Carol Smallridge, left, and interim Oak Ridge Schools Superintendent Bob Smallridge, second from right. Also pictured is Borchers’ son Jack.
The Oak Ridge school board has offered the superintendent’s job to Bruce Borchers, who is now superintendent of the Rockwood School District in Eureka, Mo.
The position, which has a salary range of about $175,000, is still subject to contract negotiations.
Board members approved the offer in a 5-0 vote during a short special meeting on Monday at Riverside Grille in Oak Ridge. [Read more…]
An executive search firm has narrowed down the list of superintendent candidates to seven finalists, and the Oak Ridge school board plans to interview three of them Tuesday.
The three are:
Bob Smallridge
Their first attempt to hire a new school superintendent ended after four of five finalists withdrew, and Oak Ridge Board of Education members learned Monday that bumping the potential pay range up to $175,000 per year could attract new candidates and better reflect market conditions.
The board approved the recommendation to offer a higher salary in a 5-0 vote during a special meeting Monday. The board also agreed to have executive search firm Ray and Associates of Cedar Rapids, Iowa, contact previously interested candidates with the new pay information, reset the application deadline to March 1, and set a start date for the new superintendent of no later than June 15.
The potential salary range for a new superintendent had earlier been set at $140,000 to $150,000, but two finalists from a search that started in June withdrew, citing salary issues, among other things, and a third apparently would have had to take a $6,000 to $8,000 pay cut to take the Oak Ridge superintendent’s job.
Two more finalists for Oak Ridge Schools superintendent have withdrawn, and the search will have to be re-opened, an official said Wednesday.
One candidate, Roger Collins, toured Oak Ridge this past Friday. The other, Dan Lawson, was scheduled to be here Thursday, but that visit has been canceled.
On Wednesday, Oak Ridge Board of Education Chair Keys Fillauer said Collins and Lawson have decided they want to stay where they are. Collins has been superintendent of Nelson County Public Schools in Lovingston, Va., for 10 years. Lawson, superintendent of Tullahoma City Schools in Tullahoma, Tenn., has been with his district 16 years.
The “meet and greet” that had been scheduled with a second school superintendent candidate on Thursday has been canceled, the Oak Ridge Chamber of Commerce said Tuesday.
The session had been scheduled for lunchtime Thursday with Dan Lawson. He is superintendent of Tullahoma City Schools in Tullahoma, Tenn.
The second of three finalists for Oak Ridge Schools superintendent will visit the city on Thursday.
Dan Lawson, superintendent of Tullahoma City Schools in Tullahoma, Tenn., will be at a “meet and greet” session at the Oak Ridge Chamber of Commerce from 11:30-12:30 p.m. Thursday.
As part of his tour, he could also visit Willow Brook Elementary School and the Oak Ridge Preschool, Board of Education Chair Keys Fillauer said Monday.
Roger Collins, superintendent of Nelson County Public Schools in Lovingston, Va., and his wife Debora visited Oak Ridge on Friday. Collins is one of three finalists for Oak Ridge Schools superintendent.
Roger Collins, one of three finalists for Oak Ridge Schools superintendent, was in town Friday to meet with local leaders and school administrators and tour the city.
Collins is now the superintendent of Nelson County Schools in Lovingston, Va. That system has 2,000 students, and it’s close to Charlottesville and the University of Virginia, Collins said.
He said Nelson County and Oak Ridge both have quality school systems.
She was Oak Ridge preschool principal for 12 years and assistant interim superintendent for eight months, and now Marian Phillips has been offered a new job at the University of Tennessee.
She will start at UT on Jan. 7. She will be leaving Oak Ridge shortly after Superintendent Tom Bailey, who is retiring at the end of the year.
Phillips became assistant interim superintendent after Ken Green left in May.
