Educational Partnership Helps Close the Digital Divide with Low-Income Families in Royal Oak

50 Royal Oak School District students and families receive free computer netbook and high-speed Internet service as part of Internet Essentials Educational Partnership

Comcast, a global media and technology company, today announced in partnership with Royal Oak Schools and the Royal Oak Foundation for Public Education that it has implemented the first phase of a two-year commitment to helping close the digital divide with low-income families. The Internet Essentials Educational Partnership between the three parties, valued at approximately $40,000, marks the first Michigan-based partnership with a school district, a nonprofit foundation and Comcast. The first phase of implementation was marked with the official delivery of computer netbooks and high-speed Internet self-installation kits to 50 eligible families in the Royal Oak Schools. While picking up the computer equipment at the district’s Board of …

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New Royal Oak Schools Attendance Boundaries Take Effect in 2014

Check out the revised map and find out if you're affected by the changes.

The revised elementary school attendance boundary map above was approved by the Royal Oak Schools Board of Eduction on Dec. 1. The changes will go into effect for the 2014-15 school year. The following adjustments were made, according to an announcement on the school district's web site: Families enrolling their first child for the 2013-14 school year who live in the area that will be shifting from Oak Ridge or Upton to Addams will be given priority through the Elementary Transfer process if they want to start their child at Addams. Are you affected by the changes? What do you think about the new boundaries? Tell us in the comments section below.

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Royal Oak Superintendent Salary Incorrect in Newly Released Statewide Database

An official from The Mackinac Center said he has been fielding calls from other superintendents claiming errors in their salary figures.

In an email to Royal Oak Schools Sunday, the Mackinac Center for Public Policy said it will be updating the superintendent salary it has for Shawn Lewis-Latkin in its new statewide database. The database released last week, compares the salaries and total compensation packages for all superintendents in the state. Lewis-Latkin, who is at the helm of Royal Oak Schools, was listed as having a total package of $220,432 for the 2011-12 school year. But that figure should be $3,452 lower, because the wrong insurance numbers were used, according to Rick West, exeuctive director for business and finance for the school district. His total compensation should be $216,980, West told the center. "We'll get it updated," Michael Van Beek, director of …

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Ronald Wolf

10:53 pm on Sunday, February 24, 2013

Here's a great motivation for our kids. Give them a copy of his report card when he was in their grade and along with his salary his picture saying if you pull these grades you could get a job that pays like mine. Then watch he MEAP scores rise.   more ›

Call to Action: Royal Oak School District Hosts Critical Meeting

Parents, school employees, and concerned citizens are invited to a briefing on public education issues in front of Michigan legislators.

The following information was provided by Royal Oak Schools. Our community schools are at risk and the next three weeks may determine their viability for the future. Please attend a very critical meeting about preserving our system of public education. We see state and federal policies on education eroding the local control of our schools. We see the privatization and corporatization of public education without the benefit of improved student learning. Michigan is embarking upon legislation to change public education in ways that are untested and untried. Please join us to learn more about this movement and what the school community can do about it. We are inviting parents, school employees, and concerned citizens to join us for a …

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Auditors Rank Royal Oak Schools Among the Best

Auditors from Yeo and Yeo give the district the highest level of confidence.

David Youngstrom, Principal, Yeo and Yeo CPAs and Business Consultants, addressed the Royal Oak Schools Board of Education meeting and the community. Auditors from Yeo and Yeo, gave the district’s annual audit an unqualified opinion, the highest level of confidence received for such reports. The District had $7,622,793 of unassigned general fund balance as of June 30, 2013. This is a 14 percent fund balance level, which is within the 10-15 percent range recommended by Michigan School Business Officials (MSBO). In his comments, Youngstrom commended Rick West, executive director of business services, and the district’s business services team. “There is much uncertainty still clouding the financial picture for school districts,” Youngstrom …

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Letters to the Editor

Letter to the Editor: Vote 'Yes' on Sinking Fund

"For less than 10 cents a day we can assure quality schools in Royal Oak," says supporter of Sinking Fund.

The following letter was sent to Royal Oak Patch by David L. Dursumof Royal Oak: I am very pleased to be part of the Friends of Royal Oak School Committee that is supporting the Sinking Fund ballot issue. As a former Real Estate agent, I am well aware that property values are directly tied to quality schools.  It is in all of our best interest that this issue be passed. Please be aware that, by law, any Sinking Fund revenues are dedicated to make infrastructure improvement and repairs to school district facilities.  The proceeds cannot be used for teacher, administrator or employee salaries or other expenses.  Royal Oak’s plans include much needed roof replacement, technology infrastructure, safety improvements, and heating/cooling systems…

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F as in Fat: Royal Oak School District Addresses Obesity

Royal Oak Public Schools Superintendent Shawn Lewis-Lakin said the district is working on ways to keep students healthy.

In light of the latest “F as in Fat” report, which announced Michigan as the fifth-fattest state in the country, Royal Oak Public Schools Superintendent Shawn Lewis-Lakin said the district is already acting to address the problem. “Anything, including the health issues such as the forecast epidemic of obesity and obesity-related disease, which threatens our society’s future is of great concern to me,” he said.   The report, released by the Trust for America’s Health, projects that over 59 percent of adults in Michigan will be obese by the year 2030. Rising  obesity raises the rate of disease. According to healthyamericans.org, over the next 20 years, “obesity-related health care costs in Michigan could climb to 19 percent.”  Michigan’s …

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Royal Oak Schools Inspire International Teacher

Jeff Wilusz, a product of Royal Oak Schools, is teaching successfully in Kuwait.

Not that I have a choice, but growing older seems to have some unique benefits, such as going to our kids' generations of weddings, enjoying grandchildren, and possessing an ounce more of patience, to name a few. You also get to see the kids that grew up in your neighborhood blossom into terrific adults. One such kid is Jeff Wilusz, who was four years old when we first moved into our house on Mayfield close to 25 years ago. I think it took Jeff about 15 minutes to officially annex our house into his second home, which was to our great enjoyment. Jeff was one of those kids you couldn't help but like. He had a great laugh, was polite and helped out. Thankfully, he was also just as competitive as his newfound friend, our son Joe. Our yard …

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Shrine, Royal Oak Schools Enter into New Partnership

Provisions in state laws help the bottom line for parochial and public schools in Royal Oak.

Shrine Schools and Royal Oak Schools are enjoying a new relationship that they hope will have a positive financial impact on the Royal Oak community as a whole. Royal Oak Schools, which has provided services to Shrine students with special needs for many years, is expanding the services it will provide to Shrine Schools this year, said Royal Oak Schools Superintendent Shawn Lewis-Lakin. Provisions in state law allow students who attend private or parochial schools to be enrolled on a part-time basis in grades 1-12 in nonessential courses provided by a public school. The courses may be provided at the public school site or the non-public school site. The way the shared time partnership works is that teachers at Shrine Schools who teach …

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Mark H. Stowers

12:34 pm on Wednesday, September 26, 2012

Sounds like something to look into, Duke.   more ›