Hartman announces campaign for school board
Heather Hartman has announced she is running for a seat on the Oak Ridge Board of Education this November.
In a news release announcing her candidacy, she stated that she has 21 years of experience in education and a real passion for the city of Oak Ridge, its schools and its children.
Hartman has worked at the University of Tennessee in Knoxville for eight years and serves as assistant vice provost and Accreditation Liaison to the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges (SACSCOC) for institutional accreditation. At UT, she leads the Assessment Steering Committee, Academic Assessment Council, and serves on the Commission for Disability, and the UT System’s IDE Steering Committee.
Hartman earned a Ph.D. in Educational Leadership from the University of Alabama and UAB (University of Alabama at Birmingham), with minors in business and educational technology. Her dissertation examining K-12 teacher tenure laws was nominated for a national award. While in graduate school, she was voted the Outstanding Graduate Student by the faculty and was inducted into Phi Kappa Phi and Kappa Delta Pi academic honorary fraternities. Hartman also earned an Education Specialist degree in Educational Leadership from UAB and a master’s degree in management from Troy University.
Originally from Auburn, Alabama, Hartman earned her bachelor’s degree in Business Administration from Auburn University, where her father was a business professor for 25 years.
"Growing up in Auburn was a lot like growing up in Oak Ridge … small town life. Oak Ridge feels like home, which is one reason the empty-nesters will remain in the community they love," she stated in the release.
Before arriving in Oak Ridge, Hartman worked for SACSCOC in Decatur, Georgia, as substantive change coordinator and as accreditation liaison for Brenau University in Gainesville. Hartman was hired at Brenau in 2000, to develop the institution’s online education programs, and when the university’s provost retired, was chosen to lead a successful reaffirmation process.
Hartman is not just a "VOLunteer" at UT; she volunteers in the community. While in Georgia, she was a Cub Scout leader for several years. In Oak Ridge, she served as PTO president at Jefferson Middle School and subsequently served on the Superintendent’s PTA-PTO Council. She was president of the JMS football boosters and continues to support the football program at Oak Ridge High School. Hartman served as president of the Quarterback Club and has sold advertising, designed, and produced the Wildcat football program for four years.
Hartman will run as an independent. She lives in Oak Ridge with her husband of 13 years, Oak Ridge native Cleon Hartman. The couple attend St. Stephen’s Episcopal Church, where she teaches Sunday School. Her son, Mitchell Gibbons, had a wonderful experience attending Oak Ridge Schools from 5th grade through his graduation in 2021. Cleon, his mother, Pat Bonney Hartman, and his children April (Wolford), Tanner, and Reid Hartman are all Wildcat alumni.
According to the release, Hartman’s experience as an involved parent in the Oak Ridge Schools, her credentials in K-12 education, as well as her professional experience in online learning and institutional accreditation, have given her the necessary knowledge, skills, and abilities to serve on the Oak Ridge Board of Education. She has proven an enduring commitment to Oak Ridge Schools and pledges to work with the other board members and the superintendent to keep Oak Ridge Schools excellent. She looks forward to campaigning and getting to know the concerns of all Oak Ridge parents, teachers and administrators.
This article originally appeared on Oakridger: Hartman announces campaign for school board
