Royal Oak Schools Superintendent Shawn Lewis-Lakin Gives Regular Update

Dear Royal Oak Families:

Facebook and Twitter: We are on Facebook and Twitter. Please follow us!

2014-2015 District Calendar: I encourage you to view and print the complete Royal Oak Schools 2014-2015 School Year Calendar. District calendar information is available in different formats, either a calendar view or table view. Additional calendars, including information specific to individual school buildings and programs (for example, athletics) can be found by clicking on the calendar tab available at the district website, www.royaloakschools.org. Mid-Winter break is scheduled for February 18, 19, and 20, 2015.

ROHS Students Excel: Royal Oak High School students swept the 2015 Orchard Lake Student Film Festival last weekend. A record 68 projects were screened at this event. Royal Oak took home 12 of the top honors, including first and second place in Best of Show. To see a listing of winners and find links to view the incredible work of our students, click here.

Royal Oak Foundation for Public Education: The Royal Oak Foundation for Public Education is an independent 501c3 organization. They are an all-volunteer organization whose purpose is to provide supplemental support to Royal Oak Schools. To learn more about their work over the past year, click here to see their annual report for 2014.

Governor Snyder’s Executive Budget Recommendation: News reports have been suggesting that Governor Snyder’s Executive Budget recommendation for next school year includes an increase in funding for local schools. It is true that the Governor’s proposal may increase the per pupil foundation grant funding by $75 per student. However, at the same time his proposal eliminates performance based funding.

Because of the high performance of our schools and students, we received $100 per student in performance based funding this year. Next year, the Governor’s proposal eliminates this funding. Also, the Governor’s proposal reduces “best practices” funding from $50 per student to $20 per student. Because we comply with “best practice” guidelines, this year we received $50 per student in “best practices” funding.

Next year, the most we might receive for “best practices” is $20 per student, a funding decrease of $30 per student. The Governor’s proposal did include added funds for elementary school reading and career technical education; we have not yet seen an analysis of how these funds may be distributed.

The Governor’s proposal also added money to at-risk funds; currently, because of language that is a carryover from when Proposal A was approved in 1994, Royal Oak is not eligible to receive at-risk funds. From what we do know, it would appear that the Governor’s proposal could result in a year to year funding decrease for Royal Oak Schools of over one quarter of a million dollars. This is of great concern to us. For a summary of a current analysis of the Governor’s proposal, click here. We are hoping that the Governor’s proposal will be improved and modified as it moves through the legislative process. I would ask you to actively advocate for our schools with State Senator Knollenberg and State Representative Townsend over the coming months.

Student Service: Students from Royal Oak High School will be spending next week in Mayflower, Arkansas, as they work with the National Relief Network. In April of last year, an EF4 tornado cut through over forty miles of town, damaging hundreds of homes and killing 16 people. The clean-up has lasted for nearly a year. The students and their adult chaperones will do demolition and clean-up, hoping to finally bring community members back to a place of hope. Visit the trip webpage to learn more and to see pictures of the trip as they are posted. After they return from service in Arkansas, Interact students will be preparing for a summer service learning experience in Costa Rica. To learn how you can support these students, click here.

Royal Oak Community Coalition: Our Community Coalition works to prevent substance abuse in our community utilizing a variety of research based prevention strategies. To learn more about the Coalition and to follow Coalition activities, you can friend the Coalition Facebook page. The Coalition maintains a webpage and also produces a monthly newsletter. The February edition of the Knowledge is Prevention newsletter includes articles on a parent’s role to prevent underage alcohol use, information on how to obtain resources on teen prescription drug abuse prevention, and an announcement regarding the 3rd Annual Royal Oak Holistic Health and Wellness Expo, which is scheduled for March 7, 2015.

Royal Oak Youth Assistance Bowl-A-Thon: The Royal Oak Youth Assistance 33rd Annual Bowl-A-Thon is scheduled for Sunday, March 1, 2015. As a district, we provide support to Royal Oak Youth Assistance (ROYA), which is a community governed volunteer social services agency. ROYA programs include counseling services, skill-building support, camp scholarships, tutoring, mentoring and an annual youth recognition event. To learn how you can provide support to ROYA by participating in the 33rd Annual ROYA Bowl-A-Thon, click here.

State of our Schools Presentation: On Thursday evening, April 23, the annual State of the Schools presentation will be delivered in the Board of Education Room at our new district offices. This will occur at 6:00 p.m. Starting at 6:00 p.m. that evening, the public is invited to attend an Open House for our new district offices, which are located at 800 DeVillen. Tours of the new offices will be provided before and after the State of the Schools presentation.

Family Information Updates: Are you changing your e-mail address? Do you have a new phone number? You can edit your contact information or change your password to something you’ll remember at the MISTAR Parent Portal. If you are moving, you are not able to update your address using the Parent Portal. All address changes must be made with the District Central Enrollment Office, which is located at 800 DeVillen, Royal Oak, MI 48073.

Sincerely,

Shawn Lewis-Lakin, Superintendent of Schools