END OF YEAR REFLECTIONS

It is so hard to believe that we have reached the close of the 2024-2025 school year. I want to thank everyone–students, caregivers, staff members, our community partners, and supporters–for such a great year! We have made so many strides this year, including, but not limited to:

• Tremendous student achievement goals reached
• Social-emotional work progress amongst both students and staff
• Engaging and productive professional learning sessions for staff members
• Hosting our inaugural Oakland Schools JEDI summit
• Amazing programs and events at each of our schools
• Community collaborations with several community partners
• 2nd Annual ROS Reading Rocks Tour

Most importantly, strengthening lifelong relationships and bonds with our students

I am so proud of our Community of Excellence, and am excited to continue this elevation throughout the 2025-2026 school year!

Towards the end of May, we held our 2nd Annual ROS Justice, Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion Council EOY Celebration. This year I was able to honor 28 ROS stakeholders with the Exhibiting Equity, Excellence, and Empowerment in Education Award. These awards were presented to individuals and organizations in recognition of their unwavering commitment to advancing equity, fostering inclusive excellence, and empowering all members of our school community. Through their leadership, advocacy, and daily actions, they have modeled the values that create lasting, meaningful change. Their dedication enriches our district and inspires others to build a more just and inclusive educational environment. I want to extend a special thank you to everyone in our ROS community who has helped us to progress in these efforts. We are a better community because of your thoughtfulness, contributions, and continued support!

As we head into summer, I want to wish all of our families well! Hoping that everyone has a restful, safe, and enjoyable summer! Here are a couple of upcoming events and programs that will take place during Summer Break:

Color Our World with Royal Oak Public Library
Royal Oak Juneteenth Celebration
Have a great summer!

ROOTED IN BELONGING, GROWING IN EXCELLENCE

May 2025

Greetings from the Deeper Dive!

I hope that everyone had an amazing April! The school year truly seems to be flying by, especially with the sprinkles of warm weather throughout our last few weeks. While everything is moving so fast around us, I want to pause to take a much-needed moment to thank our amazing staff. May welcomes many celebrations, and Staff Appreciation is one that is near and dear to our entire district. Whether you service students directly in the classroom, manage day-to-day school operations, assist students, their families, and fellow staff members in the school office, help to plan, facilitate, and organize district-wide educational efforts, or any role in between–thank you! Schools are the centers of our communities, and Royal Oak Schools continues to be a community of excellence with a fantastic staff. I am honored to belong to this great group!

Speaking of belonging, I was honored to speak at the 107th Michigan PTA Annual Convention last month. During my presentation, I was able to share data about the correlation between sense of belonging and academic achievement with the audience. A previous Education Week study shared a takeaway: "Teachers feel that students need to feel a part of school to succeed academically." We are excited to promote and increase this sense of belonging during our UMatter and Inclusion Weeks at ROHS and ROMS, respectively. ROHS' UMatter Week (April 29-May 2) and ROMS' Inclusion Week (May 19-May 22) focus on supporting students' mental wellness and sense of belonging. The students and staff have worked very hard to plan and facilitate powerful sessions for both weeks. If you have a child at ROMS and/or ROHS, please check in with them and/or the school communication to get more details on these amazing weeks.

Additionally, I want to thank our staff for all of the hard work that they have put into remaining dedicated to being continual learners. Our Curriculum and Instruction team works diligently with many departments and schools to plan our late start professional development sessions. The world of education is ever-evolving, and ROS is committed to ensuring our staff members have the most up-to-date terminology, best practices, tools, strategies, and much more. Our late-start sessions have proven beneficial in achieving success in this area. As we wrapped up April, all our buildings engaged in a late start session focused on Neurodiversity. The knowledge gained and shared during this session will directly impact instruction and interactions, promote awareness and acceptance, increase collaboration with schools and caregivers, and elevate student agency and input. Thank you to everyone who helped to plan and facilitate these sessions. I am proud of all that we have accomplished so far this year!

~Ashley Phillips, DEI Coordinator