Neighbors to Discuss Digital Learning Center at Thursday Meeting
Residents in The Dales are invited to a meeting Thursday evening with the Ferndale police chief and school district superintendent.
A neighborhood meeting will be held from 6:30-8:30 p.m. Thursday, Nov. 15 to discuss changes at the Taft Education Center.
The event will be held at Taft - home of the new Digital Learning Center, an alternative high school that opened this year offering students an online-based curriculum with support from academic case managers.
The meeting on Thursday will give residents in the Dales neighborhood a chance to meet their neighbors, learn about recent changes at the center and voice any concerns they may have.
The meeting will include Ferndale Public Schools Superintendent Gary Meier, Ferndale Police Chief Tim Collins and Ferndale school board members.
Residents have voiced concerns about crime at the center, including an incident in October where several students were arrested after a fight outside the school. A gang-related fight was reported the following week.
There will also be discussion of a possible neighborhood group forming for the neighborhood. Visit the Facebook event page here for more information on Thursday evening's meeting.
lauren
11:56 am on Thursday, November 15, 2012
I really wish I could attend this meeting. Time for change. Taxes are too high in ferndale to have a school like this that is constantly having problems because of students that really don't care to improve their lives. I would really like to know how many of the students that go to this school are even ferndale residents. Perhaps it should only be open to Ferndale residents that pay the taxes that fund these programs. Same with Ferndale high school.. pretty sure if they limit the amount of non ferndale students it will solve the problem of why so many ferndale parents are sending their kids to other districts. It is time to take back Ferndale and make it a place people want to live and raise families again. I personally love Ferndale and it angers me that so much of the riff raff from bordering areas is starting to spill over into our city.
Sarah Riegle Lemelin
11:38 pm on Thursday, November 15, 2012
"Academic case managers"? Are actual teachers involved? It would seem to me that alternative high school students might require more time with experienced teachers, not less. "Academic case managers" sound more akin to social workers or probation officers.