Oak Ridge board unanimously approves $99,110.72 school security grant, several policy updates and staffing changes
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Summary
The Oak Ridge Board of Education unanimously approved an FY‑'26 Public School Security Grant for $99,110.72 along with multiple policy updates, the addition of a full‑time ASL interpreter and several staffing reclassifications.
The Oak Ridge Board of Education on a unanimous vote approved a suite of measures including a $99,110.72 FY‑'26 Public School Security Grant, revisions to several board policies and staffing changes intended to support student safety and instructional needs.
Superintendent Doctor Borchers recommended approval of the security grant, saying it will “fund priority safety improvements identified in recent district wide security assessments, including increased ORPD resource officer coverage at extracurricular events, installation of safety‑rated bollards at Oak Ridge Preschool and Robertsville Middle School, upgrades to outdated or missing access control systems, and intruder function door hardware across multiple facilities.” The board voted to approve the grant without objection.
Trustees also approved changes to board policy 1.901 to move charter‑application submission time from 4:30 p.m. to 11:59 p.m., policy 4.406 restricting student access to social media on district Internet except when expressly authorized by a teacher for educational purposes (language suggested by the Tennessee School Boards Association), and policy 5.2 adding language about providing copies of documents relied upon by the superintendent in suspension decisions for tenured teachers.
The board adopted revisions to policy 5.5 on discrimination and harassment to include the statutory definition of antisemitism previously added to related district policies after Public Chapter 293; a minor punctuation correction was identified and will be fixed in the final text.
On staffing, the board approved adding a 1.0 full‑time equivalent American Sign Language interpreter to support preschool students who are deaf or hard of hearing; the superintendent said funding reimbursement for the position will be sought through the high‑cost reimbursement process at the end of the school year. Trustees also approved reclassifying a 0.75 TA position at Linden from general education to special education to ensure correct salary lane payment and reclassifying certain iSchool high‑school teaching positions to instructor positions with additional contract days and different hiring lanes to recruit staff with technical or engineering backgrounds; the additional pay for iSchool instructors will come from instructional contingency funds.
A consent agenda and routine items were approved earlier in the meeting. Finance staff reported the district closed June with revenues exceeding expenditures by approximately $1,500,000 and will prepare state reports next.
The board heard brief public‑forum remarks and a presentation from Sean Taylor introducing the Health and Educational Facilities Board for the City of Oak Ridge, which described its role in capital planning, levies, bonds and facility acquisition and disposal. The meeting adjourned after calendar and communications items were announced.
