CELEBRATING READING, MATH, AND COMMUNITY

April 2025

“I can’t wait to meet our Mystery Reader," whispered a sweet voice, while skipping to the classroom to join the rest of the Kindergarteners at Keller. To this student’s surprise, the "mystery reader" was walking just a few steps behind her, with a book, bookmarks, and a surprise instrument in tow! I was just as excited as all of our eager learners for this visit, and had an amazing time correlating National Reading Month and many March recognition months during our 2025 Reading Rocks Tour.

I want to extend my gratitude to each student, Royal Oak Schools staff member, and volunteer who participated in this year’s tour. We were able to read to over 550 students, while also utilizing donations and resources from one of our great community partners, the Royal Oak Public Library (ROPL). Please click here to check out resources from ROPL, apply for a library card, and/or plan your next visit to an ROPL event.

We were also able to celebrate the “Magic of Mathematics” mid-March at the Tri-County Culturally Responsive Mathematics Institute, "Leading to Liberate"Leadership Conference. This conference was a collaboration between Oakland, Wayne, Washtenaw counties, and the MiSTEM Network. Attendees were able to engage with impactful leaders such as Dr. Eric Toshalis, Dr. David Kirkland, Dr. Bettina Love, and many more to discuss math problems and solutions. These discussions went well beyond talking about equations, numerical expressions, and following mathematical procedures to find ending solutions. Educators and administrators were led through courageous conversations, scenarios, and data points to discuss: inequities in education, implementation of mirrors and windows in our math classrooms, culturally responsive instruction, and strategies to create and maintain inclusive learning environments. During lunch, we heard from the amazing speaker series panel moderated by Oakland Schools Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Consultant, Cornelius Godfrey.

As educators and caregivers, we are extremely influential in helping shape students’ academic mindsets, especially in Math class. It is imperative that we do all that we can to ensure that our children develop and maintain positive relationships with Math as much as possible.

Here are some great resources to utilize for additional Math practice and strategies for educators and caregivers:

Family Math
Storytelling Math
Young Mathematicians
DREME - Family Math
Prodigy
Essential Instructional Practices in Early Mathematics: PreK-3rd

Looking ahead, we are excited to celebrate family, food, fun, fine arts, and fellowship around the world at the 2025 International Food and Fun Festival. This event will be held at Keller Elementary on Friday, May 2nd, from 6:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. This event is open to all who would like to attend and will be one to remember! Please use this link to find out more information about past occurrences of the event and to check out the IFFF Online Recipe Book.

Well wishes to everyone as we celebrate inclusion, togetherness, and belonging in April.

~Ashley Phillips, DEI Coordinator

MARCHING INTO MARCH EVENTS

March 2025

    It is hard to believe that March is already here! With spring right around the corner, I am excited to see the transition into warmer weather, and ample opportunities to enjoy all of the upcoming spring events and activities.

Last year in February and March, you may remember seeing lessons, projects, and discussions highlighting many of Royal Oak Schools teachers’ lessons that were featured in the 2024 Michigan Department of Education’s Black History Month calendar. This year, the MDE featured recommendations from its Student Advisory Council. Please click this link to view Michigan students sharing Book Talks, featuring Black authors and poets. This is a great resource to begin family discussions and incorporate recommendations of books that can be read together.

We closed February with many families joining us in our collaboration with Oakland Schools for the "2025 African American Read-In" event. This year’s event was a huge success and we extend our gratitude to all families in attendance. During the read-in we were able to virtually meet award-winning author, Jacqueline Woodson. Woodson shared information from her books “The Year We Learned to Fly”, “The Day You Begin”, “Before the Ever After”, and “Brown Girl Dreaming.” She also talked to the audience about her writing process, childhood challenges and triumphs, and the inspiration behind her books. Towards the end, Woodson answered questions from students and families about how to become authors themselves. We are always excited to partner with Oakland Schools for this initiative, and look forward to the 2026 African American Read-In. Thank you to our sponsors: Michigan Educational Credit Union and Clawson Orthodontics.

Lastly, we are excited to incorporate many of March’s Heritage and Recognition Month celebrations into our 2025 Reading Rocks Tour. Reading is such a great way to learn more about ourselves, others, and the entire world around us. My family has always appreciated the value of the opportunity that books provide to not only grow our hearts and imaginations, but to also transport us into worlds of wonder and discovery. During National Reading Month, our Royal Oak Schools board members and board office staff will visit all of the schools in our district to invite our students on this same discovery journey.

Here are some resources to celebrate reading as a family:

Read Across America
Diverse Books Challenge
Families Learning
Reading is Fundamental

~Ashley Phillips, DEI Coordinator

HAPPY NEW YEAR 2025

January 2025

Happy New Year to everyone, and I hope that all of our students had a joyful and restorative break! While changes in familiar routines can sometimes present opportunities to navigate through various challenges, it is also great to have a moment to pause, reflect, and reconnect.

As a reminder, we are looking forward to connecting with the Berkley and Clawson communities on Monday, January 20, 2025, to celebrate the life and legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. This year’s celebration will include musical performances, service projects, a collaborative art opportunity with the MLK Art Team, and much more. Please click here for more information about this upcoming event.

We are also preparing to host a watch site for the National African American Read-In next month. Last year’s read-in was a great opportunity, and we would love to have even more participation this year. This event centers on African American books and authors and was established in 1990 by the Black Caucus of the National Council of Teachers of English. Please click here to learn more about this initiative and last year’s success. This year’s event will take place on Thursday, February 27th from 6-7pm. Stay tuned for more information on location and details to reserve your families’ spot for the event.

~Ashley Phillips, DEI Coordinator

THE LATEST IN DEI - DECEMBER 2024

Greetings from the Deeper Dive!

As the school year seems to be flying along so quickly, I invite everyone to take a moment to pause and reflect on positive moments that have taken place thus far. November was National Gratitude Month, and it offered many opportunities to express gratitude. Royal Oak Schools is grateful for all of our students, caregivers, staff, and community members. We exude excellence because of your input, support, and, most importantly–your existence! Thank you for all that you do! The upcoming December break may offer additional time to gather with loved ones to express gratitude.

Together with family, friends, coworkers, or even as a personal journal–I invite you to join in on our ABCs of Gratitude Challenge. Use this link to access a chart that can be displayed on your refrigerator, bulletin board, or common workspace.

In our schools, presentations to students continued throughout the last few months, with emphasis on diversity, equity, inclusion, and neurodiversity. Neurodiversity is a term that describes the natural variety of ways that people's brains work and process information. For our DEI presentations, we have continued to celebrate differences and talk about the importance of being upstanders.

One of our amazing Teacher Consultants, Melissa Walega, has partnered with administrators, social workers, and teachers to share information, presentations, and resources on neurodiversity. Students have been excited to ask questions and also share what they know about neurodiversity, accommodations, accessibility, and much more.

Many of our staff members have also been participating in the Oakland Schools “Neurodiversity in Education Series: Building Understanding, Fostering Affirming Support” series. During this series, we have learned more about neurodiversity-affirming practices and the best ways to offer support in education.

As continual learners, it is always great to seek opportunities to learn more about the world around us, and all of the people in it. Please use this link to find out more about embracing differences, and to start or continue the conversation about neurodiversity together with family and friends.

On a final note, please save and share the date: Monday, January 20, 2025. On this day, we will come together again with the Berkley and Clawson communities to celebrate unity and the impact of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. If you have joined us for this annual event in the past, you know that it always offers a great opportunity to celebrate Dr. King’s legacy– while also engaging in service projects and giving back to the community. Please stay tuned to our district, city, and school communications for further details on this amazing event. Until then, stay warm, stay safe, and stay connected to one another as we head into a brand new year!

~Ashley Phillips, DEI Coordinator

THE LATEST IN DEI - NOVEMBER 2024

Greetings from the Deeper Dive!

During the last 4 weeks, the breathtaking fall foliage has reminded me of the beauty that is held in times of transition and change. Change can present challenges at times (I’ll reference the raking of continually falling leaves in this instance), but the process in between can definitely prove to be both enlightening and transformative. In the last month, diversity, equity, and inclusion work in ROS has brought about much enlightenment and transformation! I have attended 2 trainings in the past week that have asked participants to reflect on the following statement: “Answer the question, I used to think... Now I think…”. Engaging in this reflection process has reinforced to me the power of education and transformation.

Mid-October, a group of our Royal Oak Schools staff members joined fellow educators in Oakland County to participate in the Oakland County Restorative Practices Collaborative Training. This training was facilitated by Oakland Schools’ Safety and Well-Being Consultant, Dr. Julie McDaniel-Muldoon, and it emphasized the impact of Listening Circles, Community Circles, Trauma-Informed Restorative Practices, and much more. The work completed by all of the districts in attendance was transformational, and will help to support the positive well-being of our school community. Learn more about Restorative Practices here.

Towards the end of the month, our district engaged in the Implicit Bias II: Recognizing and Addressing Microaggressions Late Start Professional Development. During this session, attendees reviewed the concept of implicit bias, learned more about microaggressions, and practiced addressing and responding to microaggressions. This was a very enlightening and empowering session, and it will help us to continue to provide and maintain safe and inclusive learning environments.

I am very excited to see our district continue to GROW in the right direction. Our community of excellence exemplified. Way to go(grow), Royal Oak Schools!

~Ashley Phillips, DEI Coordinator

THE LATEST IN DEI - October 2024

Greetings from the Deeper Dive!

I hope that the 2024-2025 school year has been off to a great start for everyone! Things have been very busy and productive for our district with our continuous commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion. We have several student clubs, programs, events, and professional learning opportunities taking place at this time. A few items that I would like to highlight this month are DEI presentations to students, Religious Diversity Journeys, and the Justice, Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion Educator Summit.

Last month, our 5th-grade Oak Ridge Elementary students kicked off our DEI presentation series with a focus on the theme “Empathy is Essential.” During our discussion, we discussed the overview of DEI, what DEI means to us, being great student leaders, and exercising empathy. These students are off to an amazing start and will continue to lead their peers towards excellence.

On October 9th, a group of our Royal Oak Middle School 7th Graders will begin our district’s participation in the Religious Diversity Journeys program. RDJ is sponsored by the Inter-Faith Leadership Council of Metropolitan Detroit, and it offers invaluable field trip opportunities for students to learn more about connections, history, traditions, and culture. This program was established back in 2002, and Royal Oak Middle School will be one of approx. 30 schools participating in the program this year. Click here to learn more about Religious Diversity Journeys.

Lastly, Royal Oak Schools will also be represented in the 2024 JEDI Educator Summit. We are very excited to join educators, leaders, and practitioners across the state to advance liberation, improve inclusive practices, advocate for student voice and agency, and much more.

September 2024
I hope that everyone had an amazing and restorative summer! Welcome to the 2024-2025 school year. I am confident that this school year will be our best year yet! My personal theme and outlook for this year is simply put: HARMONY. I am looking forward to working together with students, staff, families, and our Royal Oak community to continue to elevate our community of excellence.

Mid-August I was elated to bring members of our Royal Oak Schools Staff to the Tri-County Culturally Responsive Mathematics Institute “Teaching to Liberate” Educator Conference in Livonia. Attendees were able to engage in keynote and breakout sessions hosted by Dr. Chris Emdin, Hanaa Elmi, Afzana Grady, Cornelius Godfrey, Dr. Jamila Dugan, and Dr. Bettina Love. The sessions focused on inquiring about our students’ dreams for their present and future, understanding biases, nurturing students to actively engage in mathematics practices, and much more. We were very excited to partner with Oakland Schools, Washtenaw ISD, and Wayne RESA for this wonderful learning opportunity!

Lastly, as we kicked off our 2024-2025 school year, we were excited to welcome Education and Equity Consultant, Dr. Shaun Woodly, as our keynote speaker for our Opening Day. Dr. Woodly is the architect behind the “Teach Hustle Inspire” ™ , and is a globally-inspiring speaker, author, and educator. Dr. Woodly’s message was themed “Your Year of IMPACT!”, and it offered a great motivational start for all-staff with emphasis on culturally-responsive teaching, building relationships, offering empathy, and using audience analysis to increase engagement. This great start to the year will surely drive us forward to the finish line…as we embrace all of the greatness and growth along the way! Students, families, and staff: Make this your BEST year yet!

July 2024

Greetings from the Deeper Dive!

I hope that everyone had a Joyful June! Even though the 2023-2024 school year came to an end, the fun and learning continued for our community well into Summer Break! On June 19, 2024, hundreds gathered at the Royal Oak Farmers Market and Centennial Commons in Downtown Royal Oak to celebrate Juneteenth.

Juneteenth celebrates the ending of slavery in the United States. While the Emancipation Proclamation was actually enacted in 1863, news of the proclamation did not reach Galveston, Texas, until 2 years later, in 1865, on June 19th. The following year, 1866, Juneteenth became an annual celebration in Galveston to celebrate the abolition of slavery. Over time, this holiday has been recognized and celebrated throughout the U.S., bringing together facts, food, fun, family, fine arts, and much more. In 2021, Juneteenth was declared a federal holiday after the Juneteenth National Independence Day Act s.475 was signed into law.

Royal Oak’s 4th Annual Juneteenth Celebration featured educational speeches and artifacts, a 1,865-step Freedom Strive Walk, fine arts performances, food trucks, horse rides, rock climbing, and community vendors. I was so happy to see so many students, families, and community members come together to celebrate this amazing day as we learned and fellowshipped together. 4 years ago, siblings and Royal Oak Schools alumni Carvell Wilkins and LaKeesha Morrison (descendants of Royal Oak’s Black Pioneer Hamer family) began this annual celebration. Each year, the event has continued to grow bigger and better.

Follow this link to find out more about Juneteenth and its history.

June 2024

I hope that everyone had a Marvelous May! It is so hard to believe that we are already in June and approaching all of our end-of-school-year celebrations and activities. I am so grateful for all of the connections that I have made with everyone since coming aboard in late November, and I am looking forward to many more collaborations, connections, events, and programs next school year.

May proved to be a very busy and productive month with many celebrations, student interviews, events, programs, conferences, school visits, and presentations.

In mid-May, I was fortunate to attend the Leading to Liberate- Tri-County Culturally Responsive Mathematics Spring Leadership Conference sponsored by the MiSTEM Network, Wayne RESA, Oakland Schools, and Washtenaw ISD. The conference offered a dynamic experience that supported leaders in enacting culturally responsive leadership within their building(s) and districts. During the conference, I was able to work with field experts such as Dr. Jay Marks, Dr. Christopher Emdin, Dr. Rich Milner, Dr. Yolanda Sealey-Ruiz, and many more to engage in culturally responsive instruction support. We also collaborated with all 3 Intermediate School Districts to learn how to create more inclusive school environments. Each panelist and facilitator stressed the significance of prioritizing a student-centered approach. This approach will continue to be consistently applied at Royal Oak Schools to propel us forward in our inclusion efforts.

May also presented great professional development opportunities for our district during our Late Start Days. Each building participated in an Implicit Bias PD that allowed us to gain an understanding of:

The meaning of implicit bias and how to recognize its existence
How to identify personal implicit biases
How implicit biases impact education
How to address and dismantle negative effects of implicit bias
Even though Implicit Bias can prove to be one of the more difficult topics to discuss, we were able to unpack our fears and gain valuable insight about the concept itself, ourselves, and others through engaging in discussion, self-reflection, and community-building activities.

Lastly, I am wishing everyone well as we close out an amazing school year and head into Summer. I know that we have just a couple of short weeks in June, and I am encouraging all of our students to finish strong and continue to make positive, long-lasting memories with their classmates, teammates, fellow club members, teachers, and school staff as we bring the year to a close. Next school year will be even greater as we continue to strive for the best!

June will be a joyous month for sure! Here are additional Pride Month and Juneteenth resources for the month of June:

Family Acceptance Project-SFSU
Family Pride Celebration - Royal Oak
Royal Oak Juneteenth Celebration
Please be sure to stop by the ROHS Diversity Club table if you are able to attend the Juneteenth Celebration!

Ashley Phillips, DEI Coordinator

May 2024

Greetings from the Deeper Dive!

I hope that everyone had an Amazing April! I am also hoping that “April showers truly do bring May flowers” –as it is always amazing to see the growth and renewal that this month offers! Diversity, equity, and inclusion also continues to grow at Royal Oak Schools as we engage in current and innovative initiatives to increase awareness, acceptance, and access.

On Friday, April 12th, the Royal Oak community filled their IFFF Passports with stamps, pictures, and fun facts at Keller Elementary’s International Food and Fun Festival. We were able to enjoy food trucks, artwork, storytelling, music, sensory spaces, dancing, family projects, and much more throughout the very elaborate and engaging evening. I was very excited to host our first DEI Meet & Greet Booth during the event. Thank you to everyone who stopped by the booth and to all who helped to make this event so spectacular. If you were not able to scan the QR code to participate in our 1-question DEI survey at the Meet & Greet Booth, please click this survey link to offer your feedback.

As we closed out April, we were elated to host a Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Tour featuring guests from the Michigan Department of Education’s Office of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion and Office of Educational Supports. The concept of this tour grew from a partnership that advanced during Royal Oak Schools’ participation in the MDE’s Black History Month Calendar Project earlier this year.

Throughout the tour, our guests were able to:
- Experience an overview of Royal Oak Schools and our commitment to being a community of excellence
- Learn more about our commitment to progression in advancing DEI
- Participate in activities planned for ROMS’ Inclusion Week and ROHS’ Umatter Week
- Visit educators who participated in the MDE Black History Month Calendar Project
We are looking forward to many more partnership opportunities with the MDE and additional DEI stakeholders in the future. (See article with this link.)

Lastly, we were honored to celebrate Autism Acceptance Month, Arab American Heritage Month, Earth Day, and several additional celebrations throughout the month of April. I am looking forward to more awareness, acceptance, and recognition as we acknowledge Asian American Pacific Islander Month, Mental Health Awareness Month, Staff Appreciation, and much more during the month of May.

~Ashley Phillips, DEI Coordinator