THE DISTRICT DISPATCH

THE DISTRICT DISPATCH Royal Oak Schools news, straight to your inbox

Welcome to the district's new digital magazine

It’s likely that you’re reading this, wondering why you’re receiving this email, and what it is. Well, The District Dispatch is the Royal Oak Schools new monthly digital magazine. Here you’ll find information about what’s going on in your schools, your community. From recognizing students and educators, to upcoming events, to everything in between, our mission is to inform everyone in our community and have some fun along the way.

In this issue

Read on to learn about:

the second annual MLK Day of Service
assemblies at Oakland, Oak Ridge and Upton
digital citizenship lessons from ROHS students at Keller
ROHS Model U.N. at U of M
upcoming events
and more!

MLK Day of Service 2018

Communities come together for service, celebration

Royal Oak and Berkley residents came together earlier this month for the second annual MLK Day of Service and helped make an impact in the community.

Hosted at Berkley High School, the day began with an inspirational program. Students from Royal Oak High School presented a video (see below) to honor Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., and local leaders spoke about the importance of volunteering.

Following the kick-off, volunteers had the option to stay at Berkley High School or visit local organizations. Onsite, volunteers sorted donations, wrote thank-you letters to soldiers and first responders, and made blankets to donate.

Some attendees got out of BHS and into the community. Volunteers visited Yad Ezra, New Foster Care, the Judson Center and Redford Brightmoor Initiative to complete projects for them, like helping customers shop through a food pantry and fixing up neighborhood buildings.

The events that began at BHS weren't the only activities happening in the community. Addams Elementary hosted a special MLK Day event where they assembled healthy snacks and decorated lunch bags for students in Detroit, assembled personal hygiene bags for South Oakland Shelter (SOS), created bird feeders for local nursing homes, made placemats for Meals on Wheels, designed bookmarks for the Royal Oak library and created World Cancer Day Cards for Gilda’s Club.

Breadwinner filmmaker comes home to Royal Oak Schools

Fifth-graders at Oakland, Oak Ridge and Upton (pictured above) attended assemblies before the holiday break where they heard from Jamie Bolio, a filmmaker and former Royal Oak Schools student. Bolio worked on the film The Breadwinner, which is based on a book many of the students have read. The students learned about the animated movie and how Ms. Bolio’s family history mirrored the story.

ROHS students teach fifth-graders about digital citizenship

Students from the Raven Innovation Lab at Royal Oak High School recently led activities at Keller Elementary with two fifth-grade classes. Their activities focused on digital citizenship topics like Internet safety and posting on the Internet. Fifth-grade students also practiced being good communicators, collaborators, thinkers and problem-solvers. They used their creative skills to brainstorm what it means to be a digital citizen in 2018, what a positive footprint looks like, and how they want to be seen as people in real life and online. This was a high school student led project. Students identified a real world problem and worked through the Design Thinking Process to build engaging activities/lessons for fifth graders. This presentation to the fifth grade students was the culminating piece of their project.

ROHS Model U.N. debates its way to victory

The Royal Oak High School Model United Nations recently returned from its four-day debate conference at The University of Michigan with several awards.

Senior Henry Smith, representing Saudi Arabia in Disarmament, senior Heather Rose representing Palestine in the Arab League, and sophomore Sarah Skaleski representing Uruguay in the Environment Programme all earned Honorable Mentions.

Senior Ethan Bradley, representing Niger in the African Union, junior Spencer Barrer representing Uruguay in the Special Political committee, sophomore Kat Mooney representing Tanzania in the African Union, and freshman Jack Rossbach representing Venezuela in the Environment Programme all earned Verbal Commendations in large committees.

More than a quarter of the team earned awards at the event and the team scored high marks in five of the seven committees in which it debated. The conference hosted nearly 800 students from 37 private and public schools across the midwest.

The team moves on to new conferences through the coming months, including Oakland University in March and Windsor in April. This summer, the team will travel across the globe to Tanzania in Africa to research sustainable tourism and post-colonial development.

Young artists featured at Royal Oak Library

Did you stop by the Royal Oak Library in January? Royal Oak Schools students were the featured artists for the month. Check out some of the artwork above.

Kindergarten Welcome Nights and upcoming open houses

All elementary schools recently hosted Kindergarten Welcome Nights, where parents of future kindergarteners were invited to visit their school, meet the teachers and learn more about kindergarten. Looking for another opportunity to visit, or the chance to stop by ROMS or ROHS? Check the district website for additional open house dates.

2018-2019 Enrollment Dates

The district is accepting 2018-2019 enrollments. The Schools of Choice application will be available Monday, March 5, 2018 both online and at the district Central Enrollment office.

The application window for grades K-3 Schools of Choice is Monday, March 5, 2018 through Wednesday, August 1, 2018. Click here to visit the district's enrollment page.

Upcoming Events

Mark your calendars! There is a lot to look forward to in February:

Friday, February 2 - Royal Oak Schools Foundation Celebrate Royal Oak at Holiday Market
Monday, February 5 - Report Cards sent home with elementary students, secondary report cards available on MISTAR
Monday, February 5 - Royal Oak PTA Founder's Day Dinner
Thursday, February 8 - School Board meeting, 7 p.m.
Thursday, February 15 - ROHS Open House and Personal Project Exhibit, 6-8 p.m.
Monday, February 19 & Tuesday, February 20 - Mid-Winter break, no school

Be sure to keep an eye on school websites and communications for events specific to your buildings!

Follow us on Facebook @RoyalOakSchools and Twitter @RoyalOakSchools for more updates. Check the district website, too, for information.

Facebook

Twitter

District Website

Comments? Story ideas? Send them to communications@royaloakschools.org

Viewing this magazine from an online link? Click here to have The District Dispatch delivered straight to your inbox each month.

The District Dispatch Mission: To inform all with an interest in the Royal Oak Schools community and deliver information straight to them through stories of our people, our successes and our future.

Appreciate