Huron Valley Schools (HVS) Superintendent Jackie Johnston has been tapped as the new superintendent for the L’Anse Creuse Public Schools District. “I wasn’t actually looking, but became aware of the job,” Johnston said. “I was aware of its reputation because I worked in Macomb County for years. I love Huron Valley and very few districts have the same quality. I’ve been here 16 years and have been the superintendent for six years. I love a [...]

The West Bloomfield Schools Board of Education has unanimously approved a contract for a facility utilization and enrollment trend study to Western Demographics, Inc. for $70,000. “It’s going to be a five-year study with options for the district to consider related to facility use and enrollment trends,” said Thomas Goulding, deputy superintendent for business and operations. “This is including our preschool enrollment programs and how those trends may impact them and budget implications.” Preliminary meetings [...]

Four art students from the Waterford School District are seeing their artwork head off to New York to compete for national honors. Amanda Hargraves, Amanda Gloth, and Michaela Saunders from Waterford Kettering High School, and Rachael Murray of Waterford Mott High School, were awarded Gold Key awards at the 2012 Scholastic Art Awards Competition for the Southeastern Michigan Region at the College of Creative Studies in Detroit. Hargraves also had her portfolio selected for Best [...]

Although the days of snatching your report card out of the mail before your parents could see it are over, as many school districts now distribute grades online, in the Walled Lake Consolidated School District it’s not just grades that parents can now follow on the Internet. The Skyward Family Access application allows parents and students to review grades, class schedules, daily assignments, and attendance records via the Web. And with the new mobile app [...]

Abbott Middle School students will be performing their production of “Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat,” at the West Bloomfield High School Auditorium on Friday, Feb. 24 at 7 p.m. and Saturday, Feb. 25 at 2 p.m. and 7 p.m. The show features the music of Andrew Lloyd Webber and the lyrics of Tim Rice. The play is based on the story of Joseph from the book of Genesis in the Bible. The role of [...]

With Maple and Twin Beach elementary schools in the Walled Lake Consolidated School District set to shutter their doors before the new school year, Superintendent Ken Gutman formally concurred on Thursday, Feb. 2, with a redistricting plan recommended from a series of options by the district’s Middle School Subcommittee. Of the three plans under consideration, Gutman and the subcommittee both recommended moving forward with Plan B-C, and the school board is scheduled to make a [...]

The Huron Valley Schools Board of Education recently approved a resolution certifying that the district has complied with the “best practices” requirements under Michigan law, in a move that positions the district to receive an addition $100 per-pupil incentive payment from the state, totaling approximately $1 million. “From a budgeting standpoint, we view the incentive payments as a way to off-set a portion of the significant reductions in state aid that we’ve absorbed over the [...]

Walled Lake Consolidated School District Superintendent Ken Gutman is expected to give his redistricting recommendation to the Board of Education tomorrow, Thursday, Feb. 2, in light of the impending closure of Maple and Twin Beach elementary schools. With 700 students between those two schools to accommodate among the remaining elementaries in the fall, redistricting was an inevitable part of the school closing process. The school board has been presented three possible plans — which are [...]

The West Bloomfield Township Planning Commission voted unanimously last week to approve a site plan amendment for an expansion of the West Bloomfield Henry Ford Hospital on West Maple Road. The renovation will add 9,600 square feet to the existing facility to allow for the construction of additional operating rooms and prep/recovery areas, with the aim of providing better services for patients. The addition will also allow for interior renovations, as well. The facility doesn’t [...]

West Bloomfield High School will host the Orchard Lake Student Film Festival on Friday, Feb. 3 beginning at 8:30 a.m. and lasting until 1:30 p.m., with an additional screening of films in the high school auditorium at 7:30 p.m. The festival will include film submissions from high school students across metro Detroit in two categories — public service announcements and news reports, and short film entries. There will also be two sets of workshops, with [...]