SEBAUGH ENDS 21-YEAR SERVICE;EDUCATION TOOLS REVOLUTIONIZE LEARNING, SKILLS

OAK RIDGE -- Dan Sebaugh may not be the kind of person who makes a big splash, but he's made a lot of quiet ripples on the Oak Ridge Board of Education during the last two decades.

This month, Sebaugh announced to fellow board members that he would not seek an eighth term during the April elections. His announcement brings to an end a 21-year affiliation with the school district, but the former Jackson math teacher said he'll continue to work for the district in other ways.

"I'll be on a foundation we've created to help the district, and if they've got something they need me to do I'll do it," he said. "I won't run out of things to do."

Sebaugh, a dairy farmer, serves a number of longstanding roles in his community. Besides having been a school board member since 1977, he has also been a Sunday School teacher for 30 years and a member of two dairy organizations. He also is a member of the county planning and zoning commission.

Sebaugh's first contact with helping shape education came when he received his teaching degree in 1961. He spent 11 years as a junior high math and science teacher in Jackson public schools before quitting so he and his brother could buy their father's dairy farm.

He taught during a time when the teachers held the job only until they could "find something else to do," he said. Times have changed over the years, and teachers appear to be more professional and career-minded now.

But that's not the only change he's noticed. Schools have also changed and there's now much more focus on computer technology, he said. Although he doesn't own a computer himself, Sebaugh has worked with board members to ensure that students at Oak Ridge have access to as much technology as possible.

"It seems computers are everywhere now, and we wanted to make sure they were accessible to our kids," Sebaugh said.

Speaking of the students, Sebaugh said he hasn't noticed many changes in them over the years. There is still the combination of "brighter kids and some troublemakers" he said. The only real change in students has been in the makeup of the student body, he said.

"We've got a really close-knit community where everybody knows everybody," he said. "Now the community is more mobile, and that makes a difference in the complexity of the schools. Probably the biggest change has been that the mobility is resulting in more last names being heard in the school that are foreign to the community."

Sebaugh said he couldn't think of any decisions he would like to change, and he's had many good experiences on the board. Good administrators have made the difference, he said, because they always make a school board's job easier.

"Hiring superintendents is the toughest decision," he said. "We've had a good cohesive board to work with. When you have good superintendents -- and we've had good experiences with the ones I've helped hire -- you can have an easier time."

Will Sebaugh miss sitting on the board? Probably, he said; after all, he's been a member for a very long time. Even so, he said it was time for him to step down.

"I just feel like it's time for me to step back and let somebody else do it," he said. "We need to keep some new blood coming to the board."