WBSD Weekly Update
Friday, March 28, 2022
Spring Break 2022
March 28 - April 1, 2022
We hope you take time to reflect, relax, and enjoy time with family and friends!
We look forward to seeing you on Monday, April 4 to complete the final 10 weeks of school stronger than ever!
West Bloomfield Girls Basketball Wins First State Championship
March 19th, 2022 will be a date that will be remembered forever throughout the halls of the West Bloomfield School District. The Lakers Girls Basketball team capped off a historic year with a 51-42 victory over Hartland to capture the school’s first ever Division 1 Girls Basketball State Championship.
The team won the regular season OAA Red Championship and were ranked #1 in the state heading into the playoffs. In addition, the team was awarded Academic All-State honors with a cumulative GPA of over 3.5. These are all tremendous accomplishments.
The Lakers are led by Head Coach Darrin McAllister. He is assisted by Jamie Glinz, Talicia Washington, Destiny Lavita Stephens, Daja Whiteside, and Tyler Washington.
Our Lady Lakers roster includes Seniors: Myonna Hooper, Miracle Whitfield, Zaneiya Batiste, Morgan Shropshire, Shyanne Taylor. Juniors: Sydney Hendrix and Jada Vaughn. Sophomores: Destiny Washington, Gabrielle Hale, Kendall Hendrix, Summer Davis, Indya Davis. Freshman: Jaylee Head, Gabrielle Williams, and Ava Lord.
West Bloomfield High School, the West Bloomfield School District and the West Bloomfield community are all extremely proud of you! Go Lakers!!!
Congrats Lakers Girl's Basketball!
Darrin McAllister, Head coach of the Division 1 Girl's Basketball State Champs team is looking forward to celebrating the Lakers incredible season at the upcoming banquet. Click the video below to hear more from Coach McAllister.
This Just In!
After a comprehensive search and interview process, WBSD is pleased to announce that Andrea “Andie” Briolat has been appointed to the position of Supervisor of Student Support Services and Principal of the West Bloomfield Transition Center (WBTC). Congratulations!
Superintendent Selection
Student Surveys Coming in April
To ensure that we continue to provide high quality, rigorous learning experiences that meet the needs of our learners and prepare them for the future of their choice, we are looking for their feedback.
During the month of April, we will be administering surveys to our learners in grades 3-12 during the school day. Kindergarten-2nd grade classroom teachers will provide confidential feedback on students. We have partnered with Panorama Education to conduct our spring student surveys and they prioritize safeguarding student privacy by keeping all responses confidential. The WBSD administration and teaching staff will review the student responses with the goal of identifying trends and responding with programming and improvements to our culture that supports student learning.
If you are interested in learning more about the student surveys, you can view them by clicking on the links below. The student surveys are expected to only take about 10 minutes of their time.
Should you have any questions or concerns about these surveys, please feel free to contact your principal.
Grades K-2
Grades 3-5
Grades 6-12
Educationally Yours,
Scott Long
Assistant Superintendent for Learning Services
Safety at WB is a Top Priority
As you know, we have been working hard to ensure that we have strong safety and security plans in place in our schools and throughout the District. During the week of April 4, our entire school district will engage in the third of four District-wide lockdown drills.
Recommended by Secure Education Consultants, this drill will focus on what to do when there is an intruder scenario that takes place during passing time. Every step we are taking during the drill is based on the guidance of Jason Russell at Secure Education Consultants. Additionally, we are making intentional decisions about how we conduct the drill so that it is developmentally appropriate for students at all grade levels.
Prior to this drill, we will make an announcement to all students and staff explaining the time of the planned drill, as well as things to consider. Classrooms will then have an opportunity to go through some mental scripting and rehearsal to talk about what they might do during a lockdown in this scenario. After the drill, students will have time to debrief with their teachers.
The purpose of these lockdown drills is for all of our schools to reinforce and practice safety procedures in the event of an emergency situation. While we always engage in these types of drills at each building throughout the school year, this will be the first time in which we synchronize the drills across the District. The purpose of this effort is to further strengthen safety efforts across the District and to ensure that we create consistent feedback loops across the District about what we can do better with the drill.
Wave Makers & Innovators
In West Bloomfield, we are Lakers for Life. We are Wave Makers. A Wave Maker is an innovator, an outside of the box thinker, a problem solver, a collaborator, a critical thinker, a contributor, and a communicator. Last weekend, we were proud to see true Wave Making in action during the 2022 FIRST Lego League Lakerbot Festival (check out the video above).
When we think about what these competencies mean for our learners, we know that it is absolutely imperative that our educators and adults throughout the community live, breathe, and model them. That is why I am so proud of the leadership from Amy Quinn (Science and Math Curriculum Consultant), Andrea Frank (Coordinator of Community Enrichment), and teacher leaders Cindy Carson, Lisa Reed, and Julie Zawalski. Their efforts, collaboration, time, and dedication led to an amazing experience for our children. Meanwhile, I am equally proud of the parent coaches that helped lead our student teams, creating a feeling of true community. The involvement of our upper elementary Lego League teams and the involvement of our middle school and high school robotics teams, led by Buddy Muylaert, provided the same type of shining example, while also demonstrating what it means to be a Laker for Life. It was also amazing to have board members Stacy Brickman and Christy Forhan present to serve as reviewers. Most importantly, I would like to commend our students for being true Wave Makers throughout this entire experience. They are ahead of the curve and destined for great things!
This year’s theme was Cargo Connect. Students in first through fourth grade across the District worked together in collaborative teams to create a lego community model with an explore set that included a motorized and programmed sorting center. They also added a truck that carries cargo and created a poster to showcase their journey. Something new this year that our teams had the opportunity to try out was a pilot for an Explore Robot Game. Everything about this experience exemplified what we strive for in West Bloomfield, where we emphasize the importance of providing learning opportunities that help our students grow, dream, and transcend the norm. Indeed, it was a true Wave Making experience!
Educationally Yours,
Scott Long
Assistant Superintendent for Learning Services
First Year was a Success!
West Bloomfield Wrestling Club finished up their first season by sending four of their wrestlers to the MYWAY State Championships at the end of March.
The club, made up of over 50 youth wrestlers in grades K-8 and led by 7 coaches, looks forward to its second season starting next fall as it works to build upon the foundations developed during this past inaugural season.
Congratulations Essay Contest Winners!
This year's West Bloomfield Optimist Essay Contest topic was, "How Does an Optimistic Mindset Change My Tomorrow?". Winners received certificates and gift cards.
From left to right: First Place Winner, Brooke Webster, Second Place Winner, Madison Boyd, and WB Optimist Member and retired Director of Community Education at WBSD, Joey Spano. Third Place Winner, Dean Zebari (not pictured). Brooke's essay has been sent to the District competition.
Mystery Readers, PJ Read Alouds, and More!
Cindy Carson and Shahenda Vannostrand from the WBSD Elementary Schools joined The Splash to talk about March is Reading Month and how the grade schools around West Bloomfield are working to enhance literacy throughout the district!
Music Honor Society returns to West Bloomfield High School
The Tri-M® National Music Honor Society, the honor society for secondary school music students, announces the reactivation of the West Bloomfield High School Chapter, under the leadership of Shelly Rouse-Freitag, Music Teacher for Lakers Online and Jesse Sacks, WBHS Band Director, with the support of Linda Trotter, Director of Orchestras, and Sheryl Hauk, District Fine Arts Coordinator.
The formation of this chapter signifies the school’s recognition of the importance of the arts in the development of a comprehensive educational program.
Congratulations to the 2021-22 West Bloomfield Chapter Tri-M National Music Honor Society members: Vardhin Chandra, Symone Forrest, Alexis Goldapper, Xavier Haber, Kylie Harmala, Lauryn Hawkins, Daniel Lee, James Lee, Stephen Mihos, Alex Poppink, Nolan Pratt, Harshitha Sankaranarayanan, Rylie Schell, Natalie Weissman, Samantha Witt, Selena Xie, and Arthur Yang.
Officers are, President - Kylie Harmala, Vice-President - Rylie Schell, Historian - Harshitha Sankaranarayanan, Webmaster - Vahrdin Chandra, Treasurer - Lauryn Hawkins, Secretary - Arthur Yang, Music Equity Representative - Alex Poppink. To read the full press release, click here.
Kudos WBHS Students!
Seniors from WBHS, Kendall Fowler, Kae'yanna King, and Austin Wheeler won 1st Place in the Broadcast News Production Team event for the Business Professionals of America competition! Click below to hear more about the research and passion it took to win 1st Place and their goals after WBHS.
Michigan Mathematics League 2022
Students complete 35 challenging math problems in only 30 minutes. The top 5 scores from each school in the state, for each grade level, make up the MML team.
WBSD 8th grade team consisting of Haven William, Yefim Glick, Sela Kubiak, Jacob Peterson, and Corwin Yasso placed 4th in the state. In addition, they all individually placed in the top 37 of all students. The 7th grade team consisting of Gralon Connor, Teruki Iwao, Sabrina Mathew, Jonathan Schwarz, Jaeden Watts, Logan Scheidt, and Janie Meju placed 5th in the state. In addition, they all individually placed in the top 23 of all students. The 6th grade team consisting of Shawnt Khatchadourian, Vanessa Husband, Anthony Pawlety, Rylee Armstrong, Graham Kubiak, London Oliver, and Samuel Shumshinov placed 9th in the state. Congratulations!
West Bloomfield Preschool Academy
Registration is open! Please share with your friends and the community. More information can be found here.
Order Honeybaked Ham gift cards through this link and 20% of the proceeds will be donated to support our 100% self funded WB High School Varsity Lacrosse club sport. Leave the holiday cooking to Honeybaked Ham and have a great meal (or two) and help out a great group of kids.
Oakland County Health Division COVID-19 Guidance as of 3/15/22
Post surge recovery phase
ISOLATION
If you test positive for COVID-19 or have symptoms (vaccinated or unvaccinated)
Monitor for symptoms for 10 days AND
Isolate for 5 days
Can return to school on day 6 IF
Symptoms are improving AND
Can/will wear a well-fitted mask for day 6-10 OR
Stay home for 10 days IF
Symptoms do not improve
Unable to wear a mask
If you have a fever, stay home until you are fever free for 24 hours without the use of fever reducing medications.
QUARANTINE
Exposed at home/household/community (vaccinated or unvaccinated)
Wear a mask for 10 days post exposure
Monitor symptoms for 10 days
Test 3-7 days after exposure and/or if symptoms develop
School exposure (vaccinated or unvaccinated)
Consider wearing a mask for 10 days
Monitor for symptoms for 10 days
Test if symptoms develop
If your student has possible COVID-19 symptoms, tests positive for COVID-19, or has had known COVID-19 exposure, please reach out to your student’s school prior to sending them back to school for further guidance.
West Bloomfield Township Public Library
Book Lists
· History in the Making: Women’s Rights (Kids)
Library Card Application & Renewal
Library cards may be requested or renewed on our website.