North Farmington Students Mourn Former Classmate Killed in West Bloomfield
The Northern Star student newspaper talks to former classmates of Jonathan Hoffman, 17, who was shot to death Friday.
School News
Monday, May 21, 2012
Saturday, May 19, 2012
Feature Photo: Hill Signs on to Lead West Bloomfield Schools
Gerald Hill signed a four-year contract to serve as Superintendent on Friday.
Thursday, May 17, 2012
School Board Hears Recommendation to Close Buildings
One elementary school and the West Bloomfield Schools administration building would be closed and possibly sold.
The West Bloomfield School Board is expected to consider a recommendation to cut costs and improve efficiency; including the closure of Ealy Elementary and the Administrative and Community Services (ACS) building, as heard at Monday night's board workshop. Shannon Bingham, a representative of Western Demographics, the district's consultant in the School Enrollment and Facilities project, said that the district would save $725,000 annually in the scenario, one of several which was suggested. The recommendation comes from a total of 510 surveys taken at a series of six focus groups and two open houses conducted in the past month which consisted of parents from all of the district's schools, staff, and more. The majority of schools in the …
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Farmington Schools May Add CPR Training to 9th Grade Health Classes in 2014
Farmington Hills council member Ken Massey urges school officials to move more quickly in adding the life-saving procedure as a graduation requirement.
Farmington Public Schools officials say they're planning to add cardio-pulmonary resuscitation (CPR) training to the 9th grade health curriculum in 2014. Farmington Hills city council member Ken Massey says that's not nearly soon enough. At a joint meeting of the the Hills and Farmington city councils and Farmington school board Tuesday, he asked school officials what could be done to move the program forward. Massey has pushed over the past five years to make the life-saving technique a graduation requirement for Farmington Schools students. He has cited statistics from King County in Washington, where a concerted effort to train all citizens in CPR increased the out-of-hospital survival rate to 20 percent. If the cardiac event was …
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Wednesday, May 16, 2012
At Warner Upper Elementary, Detroit Lions QB Encourages Healthy Habits
Hailey Samples, a 5th grader, won the Wednesday assembly with Matthew Stafford as part of a Blue Cross Blue Shield video competition.
Hailey Samples admits she was a little nervous as she sat in front about 1,000 of her Warner Upper Elementary schoolmates Wednesday afternoon. "I've never been in a crowd that big before, like, in front of them," said the 5th grader, who won the assembly with Detriot Lions quarterback Matthew Stafford through the Blue Cross Blue Shield (BCBS) "Make the Play" competition. Hailey, with the help of her mother, Sheilah Samples, produced a video sharing her best tips for staying healthy. As a finalist, she rounded up the support of family and friends in an online voting campaign last month. She learned on May 7 that her video took top honors. BCBS vice president of corporate communications Andy Hetzel said Wednesday that Hailey was actually …
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Young Filmmaker Cooper Wins Scholarship for PSA
Auto dealers present annual awards for videos about underage drinking.
Teen video-makers from West Bloomfield, Lake Orion, Howell and Utica are among winners of annual Courageous Persuaders scholarships presented by the Detroit Auto Dealers Association Education Foundation. They and other students share $18,250 in awards announced Tuesday night in Auburn Hills for 30-second public service announcements about underage drinking risks. Videos by these winners from Patch communities are embedded at right: "It takes courage for high school students to produce these sorts of messages" about health, safety and legal risks of drinking alcohol before age 21, broadcast teacher Roger Smith of Lake Orion High told Patch earlier this year. Another of his students also was a $1,000 winner last year. The 12th annual …
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Whiz Kid: Andover Student Talks About Acing the ACT
Sanjay Reddy is just 16 but already has jump-started his academic career, punctuated by a perfect score on the college preparatory exam.
Each week, West Bloomfield Patch features students doing amazing things in their schools and in their communities. School: Andover High School Age: 16 Hometown: West Bloomfield Achievement: Reddy was one of just about 700 students around the country to ace the ACT this year. He also claimed a regional title in men's tennis and is currently doing research in the endocrinology department at Henry Ford West Bloomfield Hospital in bones and minerals. Key to Awesomeness: Reddy said he was always a fan of math and read books habitually as a child. He said he attacked the ACT in sections, practicing and preparing answers for each part separately so that he could become comfortable with the entire test when it counted. "When I saw my score online…
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Tuesday, May 15, 2012
BIFF Hosts First National High School Radio Day
Thirty stations from 14 states will be represented at event Wednesday.
The Biff, 88.1 FM, will host the first nationwide celebration of high school radio stations Wednesday. The brainchild of WBFH's award-winning station manager Pete Bowers, the event is modeled after National College Radio Day in October, and consists of 30 stations from 14 states around the country. At least five of the stations are Internet-only. The goal is to help connect and promote high school radio stations at a time when public awareness is low, and funding pressures due to public school budget cuts continue to increase. Bowers said only 1 percent of Michigan high schools have a radio station and he estimates there are only about 200 high schools in the nation with either a terrestrial over-the-air non-commercial, educational radio …
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Monday, May 14, 2012
Are Ealy and the ACS Building on the Way to Closure?
Community focus groups and open house meetings advocate a scenario which would close the elementary school and administration building.
School Board to Study Committee Findings Tonight
West Bloomfield Schools will officially look at the community's interest in enrollment, facilities, and transportation.
For the first time as a group, the West Bloomfield School District Board of Education will consider findings from the ad hoc committee formed to investigate the possibilities of consolidating schools and others on Monday night. At the meeting (6 p.m. at the Media Center of West Bloomfield High School, 4925 Orchard Lake Rd.) a demographer hired by the district to assist the School Enrollment and Facilities Project committee is expected to present the board with focus group findings taken from late March to late April. Shannon Bingham of Colorado-based Western Demographics, working with a local architecture firm, was brought on address problems the district faces due to declines in enrollment and state funds, among other areas of concern. …
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Louise Cantor
8:13 am on Monday, May 21, 2012
Closing school buildings a long time ago would have prevented these huge (in district) enrollment losses. The school board has messed up the district 's image so badly with it's managing of Choice, employee contracts, Green School, privatizing , and the deficit district label that in district families are choosing other options . Closing school buildings might make them believe that the district … more ›