AC BOE requests “Oak Ridge 85” story be added to textbooks

The Anderson County School Board joined with its counterparts in Oak Ridge to adopt a resolution seeking to add the story of the “Oak Ridge 85” to social studies textbooks across Tennessee. In 1955, 85 black students from Oak Ridge’s Scarboro neighborhood integrated Oak Ridge High School and have
become known as the Oak Ridge 85.

Last month, the Oak Ridge School Board passed a resolution formally asking the state to include the Oak Ridge 85 story in social studies textbooks across the state. Thursday night, the Anderson County School Board unanimously approved making the same request. State education officials will meet this fall to
discuss what will be added or taken out of textbooks across the state. If the Oak Ridge 85 is included and added, it could be seen in textbooks as soon as the 2024-2025 school year.

About Brad Jones

Brad is the Owner/Operator of BBB TV 12, and has been with the company since August of 1996. Brad is a 1987 graduate of Coalfield High School and a 1995 graduate of the University of Tennessee College of Communications. He won the 1995 broadcast production student of the year award. Brad worked at Shop at Home, Inc. a home shopping network that was located in Knoxville, TN from 1993 - 1995 and then at Via TV (RSTV, Inc.) from 1995 - 1996. After some freelance work in Nashville, Brad joined the BBB Communications staff in August of 1996. A short stint at WVLT TV as a news photographer was in 2001, but he continued to work at BBB TV as well. Brad is married to Nicole Jenkins Jones, a 1990 graduate of Oak Ridge High School, who works at Oak Ridge Gastroenterology and Associates in Oak Ridge. They have 3 kids, Trevor Bogard, 27, Chandler 22, and Naomi 13. On December 12, 2013 they welcomed their first grandchild, Carter Ryan Bogard. Brad is also the assistant boys basketball coach at Coalfield High School for the past 11 years. In 2013-14 the Yellow Jackets won their first district title since 1991 and just the 4th in school history.

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