What Kids Go To Ferndale Schools?

This may sound like an obvious question, but people often ask me, "What kids go to Ferndale schools?"  If you said "Kids from Ferndale," you're only half right.  Actually, one quarter right.  Though many people don't know it, Ferndale Public Schools services four different neighboring communities -- Ferndale, Pleasant Ridge, Royal Oak Township, and the eastern part of Oak Park.   

This is quite a wide range of the population.  You have families from one of the richest cities in Oakland County, and from one of the poorest.  You have white kids, African American kids, Asian kids, Middle Eastern kids, Hispanic kids.  You have the old-fashioned definition of nuclear families with 2.5 children, and you have families being raised by one parent or a network of family members.  It really runs the gamut.  At a recent school committee meeting, Ferndale District School Improvement specialist Renee Heard said it's rare to find a school district that services such a diverse collection of students outside of a heavily urbanized area like Chicago. 

Some older Ferndale residents who've lived here a long time are surprised by this kind of diversity.  When I was standing outside freezing my toes off at the polls the day of the school bond election, I had a man who came up to me to say he would not be voting YES for the bond because (in his words) there were too many black kids in school, and there was no way they could be from Fendale.  He suggested any non-white student must be a School of Choice kid from Detroit.  In truth, there are only 350 School of Choice students from Oakland County in regular Ferndale K-12 schools (less than 15%), and that number has has not changed much over the past 10 years.   As hard as it may be for some residents to accept, the all-male, all-white world of the TV show MAD MEN has long since changed--and thank goodness!  (The Ferndale school district does serve students from Detroit at college-prep University High School, and the Alternative Education program, but that's a topic for another column.)   

There are a lot of great things about having a diverse student population.  For years, graduates from FHS have come back from college telling stories of how well prepared they were for "real life" after graduating from FHS, especially when compared to their friends who had spent their K-12 years in a more homogeneous district.  And as the world becomes more globalized, our grown-up children are entering a workplace that reflects these changes.  

But having such a diverse population brings its share of complexity, too.  When parents look at standardized test scores like the Michigan MEAP, they naturally wonder why Ferndale's scores can be different than those of surrounding communities like Royal Oak and Berkley.  Of course, a test score for one community is based on an average of all the test scores of all the people taking the test.  Many of the surrounding community school districts have a less diverse pool of students taking the tests.  That's why when someone asks me about the MEAP or any other standardized test, I ask them -- what's your child's score?  What's your neighbor's kid's score?  Just about everyone you'll talk to who's actively involved with their child’s schoolwork and in their school community will tell you how great their kid is doing in Ferndale schools, how involved their teachers are, and how much they learn from and grow doing extracurricular activities like marching band, football, theater and robotics.  Whatever a student at Ferndale schools wants to achieve, the schools are there to help them with those goals. 

But I'm proud to say that the Ferndale school district doesn't just focus on the kids that are doing great.  Our school district does not ignore children having a harder time in school, or children without some of the material advantages other kids may have.  Everyone's education is important, at every school, every step of the way.  There are a number of programs in place to help every Ferndale student improve, whether they're at the top of their class, in the middle, or struggling.  The Ferndale schools administration and the BOE members have worked to continually improve school standards and student achievement, with real results. Each year the BOE Program & Technology committee reviews district MEAP scores that demonstrate how our our students overall have improved their test scores in many subject areas.  And even when they're not yet on par with the state, Ferndale's students have grown faster than the state and area school districts.  Anyone who attends these meetings can see first-hand our dedicated teachers’ efforts to improve teaching and learning for all students in the district.  A proud Ferndale parent should look at their own kid's test scores, and understand the bigger picture as well. 

The world is changing.  Everything is becoming more global and diverse.  Our Ferndale schools are at the forefront of exposing our children to this diverse world, and the school programs continue to change and adapt every year.  Ferndale students and parents are lucky and proud to live in a multi-cultural, diverse district preparing them for life in the 21st century. 

Keep feeling that Eagle Pride!