ADDITIONS DEDICATED AT OAK RIDGE

OAK RIDGE -- The community flocked to Oak Ridge High School on Sunday to see the results of their support.

About 350 people packed the cafeteria to help dedicate $750,000 in new classrooms and renovations. There were speeches and prayers, but mostly there were thank-yous to voters of the district for making it possible.

It was April 1995 when Oak Ridge School District voters passed a $710,000 bond issue. The debt would mean extending their property taxes from the last bond issue -- 60 cents per $100 assessed valuation -- for another 13 years.

Still, 83 percent voted in favor of issuing the bonds. They knew something had to be done about their school. Former Superintendent Roger Tatum, working for the district at that time, said he was counting on voters to understand the school needed more room and modern facilities.

Timing also was important in getting the issue passed. Tatum said he didn't want the current debt-service tax levy to run out before passing the new one, but he didn't want taxes to increase, either.

Today, there is a new building with a computer lab connected to business and math classrooms. There is a science lab between a science lecture room and multiuse classrooms. The high school office has a new, records vault and new offices for the principal, counselor and nurse.

Renovations include an expanded library and remodeled art room.

"I think the computer lab and science lab exceed what you would find in many school districts," Superintendent Cheri Fuemmeler said. "They provide many opportunities. There's everything available for the students that they would wish."

People who toured the school after the dedication ceremony expressed similar sentiments. Billie Cridell, an Oak Ridge resident whose grown children once attended Oak Ridge High School, said she was impressed by the changes.

"This community always stands behind its schools," Cridell said. "I didn't even know we would have anything like that computer lab."

Junior Kara Grantham said she appreciated all the extra space. She was slightly apprehensive, however, about the five additional teachers hired to fill the extra classrooms.

Grantham, along with the rest of the Oak Ridge students, will attend her first day of classes in the new building on Friday.