Local: The Community Education Magazine

Local will be distributed to our entire community two times each year. Our community is very lucky to have such a fantastic district, and I could not be more happy to share our stories with you.

Whether you are coming here after or during your read of the magazine or just stumbled upon this digest independently, you will find that the stories contained on these pages are some of the brightest and best goings-on across our district. In creating the publication, our goal was to streamline the printed material to save on both cost and environmental impact while still allowing our families to hold (and share) something tangible in their hands. Each story is accompanied by additional material and multimedia content online to further enhance the information within.

We hope you enjoy reading about Ferndale Schools and our amazing students as much as we enjoy educating them.

Superintendent Goodrum's Address—Fall 2022

“We have to confront ourselves. Do we like what we see in the mirror? And, according to our light, according to our understanding, according to our courage, we will have to say yea or nay – and rise!” Maya Angelou

Hello Ferndale Family, and welcome to our latest issue of Local: A Community Magazine. In this issue, we will be presenting to you our ongoing equity journey. Following the guideposts set by you in the Strategic Plan, we have developed partnerships and programs to diligently expand our academic offerings to serve more of our community and continue to elevate our standards to provide each individual student with the supports needed for outstanding outcomes.

Our goal as educators is to provide opportunities that open the world to our students. In order to accomplish this, we first have to open ourselves to the world. You will discover new partnerships with Equal Opportunity Schools and AVID which benefit our students directly with greater access to rigorous course curriculum and executive functioning skills while also providing high-quality professional learning opportunities to develop our staff and institutional capacity for empathy and awareness.

Changing political and social landscapes have brought several longstanding concerns to the forefront of our national attention over the past several years, and it is important to provide context and opportunities for students to interpret, understand, and engage with these conversations as they become active citizens of our society. The equity task force has led the development of Social Justice curriculum opportunities across our district. We have provided some insight in this magazine to how our high school level Social Justice 1 & 2 electives encourage students to explore historically marginalized people and communities from theory to practice, providing access to local actors and programs sowing the seeds of change.

I am excited to bring fresh perspectives and enthusiasm to this mission. Along with several new leaders who you will meet in this issue, I am expanding opportunities and access to professional certification and skills training within our schools, bringing new and improved STEAM resources to all of our students, and extending the college and career pathways with improved early college curriculum. I look forward to presenting these innovations to the community throughout the year, and working with you to improve on the work that has only just begun.

Thank you for joining us in this mission, and for engaging with this magazine as a willing and active participant in our community’s education. A broad diversity of experience and circumstances have brought us all together, and we welcome all of your voices and your truths as we tell the story of where we have come from and where we are going.

In Education,
Bobbie Hayes Goodrum, PhD
Superintendent
Ferndale Schools