On June 14, 2005, Oak Ridge Schools hosted groundbreaking ceremonies at the soccer field at Oak Ridge High School. The groundbreaking marked the beginning of the renovation and construction of the high school. Construction of the new Learning Center, cafeteria, and gymnasium are in various stages of completion. Numerous classrooms in the new Learning Center opened at the end of March. Meanwhile, the Oak Ridge Public Schools Education Foundation has helped to raise over eight million dollars in private donations to help fund the school. This $55 million project is set to be completed during the summer of 2008. Please visit Heery International's project web site to learn more about the new Oak Ridge High School.
Please click here to download a multimedia fly-over of the new ORHS.

On Monday April 28, Tennessee Governor Phil Bredesen met with teachers, parents, administrators, and city officials at the Oak Ridge Schools' Preschool. Participants in the forum discussed the importance of pre-kindergarten education in the lives of young children and the state's role in the funding and promotion of programs like the Oak Ridge Schools' Preschool. Governor Bredesen recognized Oak Ridge Schools for its forty year history of serving preschool children. Dr. Marian Phillips is the principal of the ORS Preschool.

Because of construction at Jefferson Middle School and ORHS, summer school for grades 5-8 and Credit Recovery for grades 9-12 will be held at Robertsville Middle School, 245 Robertsville Road. There will be no enrichment classes this year for elementary school students. Summer school for middle schoolers will start on June 9 and end on June 20. Students grades 5-8 in need of remediation or promotion may take up to three classes. Click here for a registration packet. Please contact Mike Haygood at mhaygood@ortn.edu or call the guidance office at Jefferson or Robertsville for more information.
The 2008 Summer Recovery Program for students in grades 9-12 will run from June 11 until July 11. Registration begins May 19 for ORHS students and May 28 for students outside the district. Click here for a registration packet. Included in this document are course listings, fees, and a registration form. Please contact Roger Robinson at rrobinson@ortn.edu or 425-3151 for more information.

Even though it has not yet been distributed, Oak Ridge High's 2008 Oak Log yearbook has been awarded the "Gallery of Excellence Award" from Walsworth Publishing Company. Walsworth representatives and managers from around the world vote on the finest yearbooks, judging the yearbook's cover, page design, photography, copy writing, and advertising based upon a recommendation submitted by the local rep. Once yearbooks are selected, sample copies are printed and distributed for use in teaching yearbook classes and at state and national seminars and workshops. These “Gallery of Excellence” yearbooks are also given to sales representatives across the country to showcase fine work.
Editor-in-Chief Rachel Cade said, "I am glad that all the hard work paid off. We all worked very hard to produce a good yearbook that everyone would like. We have a lot of awards on our wall, but past Oak Log staffs earned those. Now this staff and Miss Cristi Noe, our adviser, are a part of the legacy.” Read more...

ORHS Physics teacher Peggy Bertrand was named AP Teacher of the Year for Tennessee.

Oak Ridge Schools and the Oak Ridge Schools Public Education Foundation will once again sponsor an Advanced Placement Institute this summer. The institute is endorsed by the College Board and is open to new or experienced teachers of Advanced Placement courses. The institute will run from July 28 until August 1 at Oak Ridge High School; subjects include Biology, Calculus AB and BC Combined, English Literature and Composition, Environmental Science, European History, Physics B & C Combined, and US History. Please visit Jerry Lenn's web site for more information. Interested teachers may download an application form from this link.

On Friday, November 2, the Tennessee Department of Education released the annual Report Card for systems and schools throughout the state. Please click on the link to see the results for Oak Ridge Schools. Please use the buttons on the left of the Report Card site and the pull-down menu to select Oak Ridge Schools and the individuals schools.

Last year, Oak Ridge Schools contracted Cope Associates, Inc., an architechture and engineering firm, to conduct a facilities analysis of the schools in the system. Representatives from Cope Associates recently presented an executive summary before the Oak Ridge Board of Education during a special work session. Please click here to download the report. This file is quite large and will require Adobe Acrobat Reader 7.0 or higher. The demographic study portion of the report can be reviewed at the Oak Ridge Public Library.