Y-12 donates $8,500 for Scarboro graduates, honoring Oak Ridge 85
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Dorothy Kirk Lewis and L.C. Gipson, members of the Oak Ridge 85, hold the check representing the $8,500 donation from Consolidated Nuclear Security given in their honor. (Photo courtesy CNS/Y-12)
At the conclusion of a school year during which Oak Ridge commemorated the 65th anniversary of the integration of Oak Ridge High School and Robertsville Junior High, the Scarboro Alumni Association received an $8,500 donation for their scholarship endowment.
Consolidated Nuclear Security, the managing and operating contractor of Y-12 National Security Complex made the donation at the Scarboro Community Center on May 26 in honor of the 85 Black students who integrated Oak Ridge schools in 1955, a press release said. The endowment provides scholarships to selected high school seniors who have an association with the Scarboro community and who choose to continue their education.
She was about 12 years old when she first entered Robertsville Junior High. I had mixed feelings. I was excited to some point, and of course, I was nervous about it, not knowing what to expect, Lewis said. It wasn t easy. It was very hard. It was stressful. I used to not want to go to school. Every day, I just didn t want to go.
She said the relationships among the students were not good and her reception was anything but friendly. They let you know, without a shadow of a doubt, that you are not welcome at their school. They weren t friendly at all, she said. There was a lot of name-calling, jeering, just the body language, the way they would get out. They didn t want to get close to you at all.
Oakridger
Sixty-six years after 85 Black students became the first in the Southeast to be integrated into a government school after the Brown v. Board of Education decision, Oak Ridge Schools is asking the state to include this information in the state curriculum.
Oak Ridge Schools Superintendent Bruce Borchers said Kelly Williams, the city schools executive director of teaching and learning, is working on having the historical information adopted into the state curriculum for public schools instruction. However, he told a virtual audience at an Altrusa International of Oak Ridge meeting that adding it to the state curriculum is “not easy.”
Oak Ridge BOE renames new preschool to honor Scarboro, community heroes
The school will be renamed to The Oak Ridge Schools Scarboro Preschool and four rooms in the building will be named in honor of Scaraboro community leaders. Author: Elizabeth Sims, Yvonne Thomas Published: 1:44 PM EST January 12, 2021 Updated: 10:57 AM EST January 14, 2021
OAK RIDGE, Tenn. The Oak Ridge Board of Education approved the renaming of the Oak Ridge Preschool to The Oak Ridge Schools Scarboro Preschool with a vote of 4 to 1.
BOE Chairman Keys Fillauer said the board also approved to designate rooms inside the building in honor of Scarboro community heroes Arizona Officer, George Walker, Fred Brown and Sallie McCaskill with a vote of 3 to 2.