Why I love Ferndale Schools: My personal top 10 list (in no particular order):
- That while the marching band has won the state championship six times in seven years, there is no question that the emphasis remains on learning, not winning.
- That I know more parents than I can count with skills and education that choose to focus on raising their children rather than climbing the corporate ladder.
- My children don't learn diversity from a textbook or school assembly—they live it.
- Jazz band and jazz choir as early as middle school.
- That it truly doesn't matter to my teenage girls what brand of jeans they're wearing, and the high school student parking lot doesn't have better cars than the teacher lot.
- An Open Classroom opportunity that emphasizes self-directed learning and welcomes me as a parent as a valued part of my children's education.
- Concerts, musicals and plays are incredible, not a parental chore.
- Educators that go the extra mile on a daily basis because they truly care about each child, and the opportunity to know many of them personally as they live in the community.
- A myriad of truly challenging and artistically enriching academic choices at the high school level, both through Ferndale High School and CASA (such as intro to college biology, philosophy, Japanese and music theory).
- The small-town feel of a community where everyone knows my children and feels some responsibility to look out for them, because this village really acts like a village!
It was hard, by the way, to pick just 10.
Ferndale Parent Carissa Gaden
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