Walled Lake Consolidated Schools

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Walled Lake Consolidated Schools
Location
Walled Lake, MI, USA
Information
Type Public
Motto We're Making Tomorrow
Established Prior to 1955
Superintendent of Schools Mr. Kenneth Gutman
2010-11 Board of Education President: Kathy Lyall
Vice-President: Peggy Casagrande
Secretary: Greg Janicki
Treasurer: Nancy van Leuwen
Trustees: Marc Siegler, Denise Bither, Michael Smith
Faculty 22 Schools; 6 Buildings; Total=28 Buildings
Teaching staff 1,148
Grades PK - 12
Number of students ~15,500+
School Colour(s) Blue & White
Athletics Kensington Lakes Activities Association Conference
Number of Schools The Walled Lake Outdoor Education Center, Community Education Center, Educational Services Center
Other Facilities
Website http://www.wlcsd.org

The Walled Lake Consolidated School District is located in Oakland County, Michigan. The school district has 14 elementary schools, four middle schools and four high schools and serves over 15,000 children from the cities of Farmington Hills, Novi, Orchard Lake, Walled Lake and Wixom, the townships of Commerce, West Bloomfield and White Lake, and the village of Wolverine Lake.

Contents

[edit] Performing arts

The school district has three high school auditoriums available for rent to the public. They are managed by an Auditorium Manager and staffed by industry professionals with help from trained students. All three are state of the art and feature versatile sound and lighting systems. The theaters can support most events and productions such as dance competitions and recitals, theater, music performance, guest speakers, meetings, cultural events, and presentations.

All of the schools in the district have both vocal and instrumental music classes. The high schools have award winning choirs, bands and orchestras. Each of the three high schools produces an annual musical and play. Some of these musicals include Les Miserables: The Student Edition ("Western", Midwest high school premiere), A Christmas Carol: The Musical ("Western", world premiere), Hairspray ("Western"), Little Shop of Horrors ("Northern"), Oklahoma! ("Northern"), Jekyll & Hyde ("Northern"), and Beauty and the Beast (Central), The Phantom of the Opera ("Western"). Sarah Banks and James R. Geisler Middle Schools both present a show to the community as well, with other shows happening around the year. Several elementary schools, notably Hickory Woods, produces a school musical and a choir for the community.

The high school choirs tour the United States as well as the world. In recent years, Walled Lake Western has performed in Italy, Austria, Czech Republic, England, Scotland, Germany and Spain. Walled Lake Central has performed in Australia, Austria and Germany. Walled Lake Northern choirs have performed in Italy.

The Walled Lake Central Marching Band is the 2010 Flight 1 Michigan Competiting Band Association State Champion.

[edit] Finances and Building Closures

Walled Lake is one of the highest paid districts in Michigan and on October 21, 2009, Michigan governor Jennifer Granholm vetoed a bill that would continue the funding for 39 wealthiest school district. Walled Lake is the third district that receives the highest amount of $4.7 million dollars (Livonia & Dearborn are the top). According to a letter sent home from the district, this would add up to about $583 per pupil be reduced in funding.

The district will be suggesting reducing athletics, transportation, counseling, media specialist, technology, and personnel leading to larger class sizes. Privatization of custodial staff has been completed and a similar plan was introduced for the transportation department but was later rejected due to pay cuts and concessions from the bus drivers. Many staff members, including Dr. William Hamilton (Superintendent) and other administrators, retired in the 2009–2010 school year, which had saved many teachers from layoffs.

More cuts in 2010–2011 school year as a result of new Michigan governor Rick Snyder has also forced more in cuts that will affect 2011–2012 year with many teacher layoffs, class sizes, and more privitization of its departments.[citation needed]

The district has hired Plante Moran CRESA to do a building utilization study for elementary schools and shows that they are at 86% capacity and expected to drop down to 70% capacity. This may lead to the closure of two elementary school and/or two support buildings as well.[citation needed] Those buildings that are being suggested to be closed are Maple Elementary, Twin Beach Elementary, Twin Suns Preschool, and the Community Education Center. Restrucing the elementary school program is also on the line of making neighborhood schools into an upper elementary and a lower elementary building, respectively. At the August 18, 2011 Board of Education meeting, the board voted to close Maple and Twin Beach Elementary schools which would be effective at the end of the 2011-2012 school year.

[edit] WLTV

The Walled Lake Schools does also have its own Educational-access television cable TV channel that airs information relevant to the district including individual school events like concerts, sports games, and assemblies. The WLTV channel can be accessed by Bright House or Comcast cable networks. This is produced by many students from the Walled Lake Western High School students in television production classes. A WLTV Programming Schedule for WLTV can be found on the district's website. Due to budget cuts, the district has decided to eliminate this class for the 2011-2012 school year.

[edit] Schools

PRESCHOOL

Preschool is also held at several elementary schools and the Community Education Center.

ELEMENTARY SCHOOLS:

MIDDLE SCHOOLS:

HIGH SCHOOLS

*Northern High School also houses Walled Lake Community Corners which was formerly Walled Lake Community High School due to the budget cuts leading to the closure of the school itself.

OTHER FACILITIES

Walled Lake Community High School was housed at Community Education Center but has moved to Northern High School, and known as Community Corners, due to budget cuts.

PRIVATE SCHOOLS SERVICED BY WALLED LAKE SCHOOLS TRANSPORTATION DEPT.

  • St. Matthew Lutheran School
  • St. Patrick
  • St. Williams

[edit] Notes

  • As of December 2007, the Outdoor Educational Center added the new Outdoor Weather Station.
  • Former superintendent of Walled Lake Schools, Dr. James R. Geisler Ph.D. retired in June 2006 causing the renaming of Walled Lake Middle School to James R. Geisler Middle School in his honor. He was in the role for 18 years.
  • The current Community High School was formerly the Walled Lake Schools building for K-12 students. It was then K-9 as Walled Lake Central & Western opened. Later, it was a 7-9 building as elementary schools were built. Later, 9th grade was moved to high school making it a 7-8 building. Lastly, grades 6, 7, and 8 were in that building for years. After, that junior high school was moved to what is now Geisler Middle School and now is the Community High.
  • Miss. America 2008, Kristen Haglund, attended Walled Lake Schools. She was a 2006 graduate of Walled Lake Western High School and attended Walled Lake Middle School, now James Geisler Middle, and Meadowbrook Elementary.[1]
  • Walled Lake Western and Central High School are going to be in the Guinness Book of World Records For The Beating The Drumroll record at Wal-Mart in Commerce.
  • Walled Lake Schools Superintendent, Dr. William A. Hamilton, won a reward for being a tech-savvy superintendent in the country. Award presented by eSchool News.[2]
  • Dr. William A. Hamilton retired in December 2010 as Superintendent of the school district, and he was replaced by Kenneth Gutman, former superintendent of Lake Orion Schools.
  • Walled Lake Western will be starting a International Baccalaureate program in the 2012-2013 school year for Juniors and Seniors in the Diploma Programme.
  • James R. Geisler Middle School will follow in Walled Lake Western's footsteps and create an International Baccalaureate program in the spring of 2013 to those in the district starting in the 6th Grade to 10th Grade (at Western).

[edit] Facility notes

  • Commerce Elementary has been designated a Michigan Exemplary School by the Michigan Department of Education.
  • Glengary Elementary has been designated a National Exemplary School by the Michigan Department of Education.
  • Keith Elementary has been designated a Michigan Exemplary School by the Michigan Department of Education.
  • Oakley Park Elementary has been designated a National Exemplary School by the U.S. Department of Education.
  • C.H. Smart Middle School has been designated a Michigan Exemplary School by the Michigan Department of Education.
  • Sarah Banks Middle School has been designated a Michigan Exemplary School by the Michigan Department of Education.
  • All the buildings has received an award for Superior Energy Performance by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.
  • All of the schools and the district are NCA accredited.
  • Hickory Woods Elementary, Clifford Smart Middle School, and Sarah Banks Middle School has been awarded Michigan Evergreen School honors. 20 of the 23 schools in the district were also awarded a Green School certification in 2010. [3]

[edit] References

 This article includes a list of references, related reading or external links, but its sources remain unclear because it lacks inline citations. Please improve this article by introducing more precise citations. (October 2009)
This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (August 2008)
  1. ^ www.wlcsd.org
  2. ^ 2008 Awards - 2008 Tech-Savvy Superintendent William A. Hamilton
  3. ^ http://www.wlcsd.org/news.cfm?story=31070

[edit] External links

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