THE RAVEN REVIEW
September 2016 Issue
The Raven
Review
Newsletter
September 2016 Issue
SUPERINTEDENT UPDATES
IN THIS ISSUE
Welcome Back
Students!
Dr. Yolanda Bloodsaw, Superintendent (CAO)
It is with great please that I welcome scholars,
parents, staff and community stakeholders, to
an exciting new school year with Old Redford
Academy Preparatory Schools (ORAPS). It is
my hope that all of you have had a safe and
relaxing summer filled with great memories.
While the summer has been hot, ORA has
been
busy
orchestrating
hot
new
developments for the upcoming 2016-2017
school year.
The hot new theme for this school year is “It
Takes a Village!” With the sense of urgency
to increase student achievement by focusing
on students as well as the standards in all
content areas, Mathematics and English
Language Art will serve as our district-wide
instructional priorities. Parents, the entire
ORA staff, and community members are
urged to support these priorities by actively
participating in the lives of each scholar.
Show support by reaching out with words
encouragement, especially for the scholars
who may face challenges. Ask the scholars
how are they doing in school? Ask, are they
seeking help from their teachers? Ask, how
was their weekend or who won the game?
Asking, shows that you care! Sometimes it
may be as simple as a hand-shake or a hi-five
that will inspire scholars to step up their
academic game.
Because student achievement is based on the
rigor of the curriculum and the teacher who
facilitates learning, our administrative teams
and teachers have been working tirelessly to
prepare for a productive year in educating
college and career ready scholars. As a
village, we must embark on the instructional
priorities of Mathematics and English
Language Arts by providing ongoing support
in every aspect of the lives of our scholars
through loving, caring, and nurturing
relationships. With the support of the village,
student achievement is inevitable. Have a
great year!
Educationally,
Dr. Bloodsaw, Superintendent
Old Redford Academy
Preparatory Schools Highlights!
ORAPHS Class of 2016
HIGHLIGHTS
 159 out of 160 of our
graduating seniors graduated
on time
 100% of our seniors were
accepted to 3 or more colleges
or universities
 100% of our seniors completed
100 hours of community
service hours
ORAPHS high school students will have
opportunity to dual enroll at Wayne
County Community College.
THE RAVEN REVIEW | September 2016 Issue
2
ORAPS Board of Directors
2016-2017 Schedule
The Board of Directors of Old Redford Academy are looking forward to meeting parents during the 2016-2017
school year. The 2016 -2017 regularly scheduled monthly meetings is provided below for your convenience.
The Board Members are:
Mr. Roy Williams, President
Ms. Joyce Henderson, Vice President
Dr. Larry Latimore, Secretary
Ms. Kimberly Moore, Treasurer
ORA District Calendar Updates for September
 September 6, 2016
FirstHighlights
Day of School
Calendar
 September 28, 2016
ORA Board of Directors Meeting – 6 pm

September 30, 2016
No School (Professional Development)
THE RAVEN REVIEW | September 2016 Issue
3
ORAPHS SPORTS UPDATES
10/13/2016
High School Volleyball 2016 Schedule
Time
Opponent
Location
5:30 pm
Ferndale University
Away
5:30 pm
Cristo Rey
Home
Star International/
5:00 pm
Away
Michigan Collegiate
5:00 pm Dearborn Henry Ford
Away
University
5:00 pm
Home
Prep/Chandler Park
Bradford
5:00 pm
Academy/Summit
Away
Academy
University Prep/Star
5:00 pm
Away
academy
Michigan
5:00 pm
Collegiate/Chandler
Home
Park
Dearborn Henry
5:00 pm
Away
Ford/Summit
5:00 pm
Southfield Bradford
Home
10/20/2016
6:00pm
Taylor Prep
Away
Taylor
10/22/2016
9:00am
Conference
Tournament
Away
Romulus Summit
10/25/2016
5:30 pm
Cristo Rey
Away
Cristo Rey
10/3111/4/2016
TBA
Districts
TBA
TBA
Date
9/13/2016
9/15/2016
9/20/2016
9/22/2016
9/27/2016
9/29/2016
ORAPHS Boys Basketball
10/4/2016
10/6/2016
10/11/2016
Site
Ferndale(Coolidge)
Old Redford
Dearborn Star
Dearborn Henry Ford
Old Redford
Southfield Bradford
University Prep
Old Redford
Dearborn Henry Ford
Old Redford
ORAPHS Football
Date
8/26/2016
9/1/2016
High School Football 2016 Schedule
Time
Opponent
Location
7:00 pm
Pontiac High
Away
Riverview Gabriel
4:00 pm
Home
Richard
Old Redford
9/10/2016
2:00 pm
Royal Oak Shrine
Away
Royal Oak
9/16/2016
4:30 pm
Summit
Home
Old Redford
9/23/2016
7:00 pm
Chandler Park
Away
Harperwoods
9/30/2016
4:00 pm
Michigan
Collegiate
Home
Old Redford
10/8/2016
1:00 pm
Away
Hazel Park
10/14/2016
7:00 pm
Away
Hazel Park
10/22/2016
1:00 pm
Home
(Home
Coming)
Old Redford
University Prep
Southfield
Bradford
Ecorse
** All ORAPHS home games will be at Southfield-Lathrup High School,
19301 West Twelve Mile Road, Southfield, Michigan.
ORAPHS Girls Basketball
Site
Pontiac
THE RAVEN REVIEW | September 2016 Issue
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Date
9/14/2016
9/21/2016
9/28/2016
10/5/2016
10/12/2016
High School Cross Country 2016 Schedule
Time
Opponent
Location
Charter School
4:15 pm
Westland
Conference
Charter School
4:15 pm
Westland
Conference
Charter School
4:15 pm
Westland
Conference
Charter School
4:15 pm
Westland
Conference
Charter School
4:15 pm
Conference
Westland
Championship
Site
Nankin
Mills
Nankin
Mills
Nankin
Mills
Nankin
Mills
Nankin
Mills
ORA School District
Afterschool Clubs
ORAPHS Steppers
Elementary Clubs
Cheerleading
Boy Scouts
Girl Scouts
Sista-2-Sista Mentoring Program
Boys-to-Men Mentoring Program
Drama
Basketball girls and boys
Middle School Clubs
Robotics
Cheerleading
Basketball girls and boys
Gardening club
Chess club
Boys-to-Men Mentoring Program
Sista-2-Sista Mentoring Program
Soccer (TBD)
ORAPHS
Sista-2-Sista
Mentoring rogram
ORAPHS Bow Tie
Boys Mentoring
Program
High School
Chess club
Soccer club
Book club
Environmental Recycling club
Bow-Tie Boys Mentoring Program
Sista-2-Sista Mentoring Program
Robotics
Academic Games (TBD)
Art Club
Physics Club (Matchbox Cars)
Photograph Club
Drumline
Drama Club
Performing Arts Club
Cheerleading
Journalism
Yearbook
THE RAVEN REVIEW | September 2016 Issue
Putting ORA on the MAP!
5
Mr. Olverson, the keynote speaker who helped welcome back
staff on August 29, 2016, was a game changer for the ORAPS
instructional team. The district was offered an opportunity to
walk through several team building exercises that would gave a
glimpse of the skills and tools needed to support a high
achieving academic infrastructure.
Of course this was the first step of many ORAPS will take this
year to ensure our focus is on increasing academic
achievement across content areas and schools. Mr. Olverson,
shared the steps he took to transform an urban district similar
to the ORAPS student population, into a high performing
power house.
As we continue to grow and expand our instructional
strategies, resources and training we would really appreciate
your support at home, to ensure our students are continuously
working towards maximizing their opportunities at ORAPS.
Here is a little bit about the speaker, whom kicked off our instructional staff professional development. Tyrone Olverson,
M.Ed. is the product of urban education and was considered an “at risk” youth destined to fail. Despite growing up in the
inner city of Cincinnati, Ohio, Mr. Olverson was surrounded by a village of educators, support staff, and coaches who helped
mold him into the man he is today. Mr. Olverson’s journey included a full-ride athletic scholarship to the Ohio State
University, earning a Bachelor of Science in Comprehensive Social Studies Education and a Master of Science in Educational
Administration from the University of Cincinnati. He will be earning his Doctorate of Educational Administration from
Concordia University with a focus on Advanced Placement, commonly referred to as AP Classes.
Burkette’s Toolbox
Helping a Student to Study
By, Director of Faculty and Instruction
Our goal at ORAPS this year to is to give our parents and guardians the tools they need to help are students
reach academic gains. So each month we would like to share some tools you can use to begin building
your toolbox. The tool this month is, “Helping a Student to Study.” To successfully assist a student, the
helper should adopt a positive attitude, an open mind to new methods, and be prepared to roll up his or her
sleeves and join in with the tasks. Just remember to keep your mind and patience open to learning
together.
It is very important you remember to keep your student engaged and motivated when he or she is dealing
with difficult school content. Take advantage of the opportunity to speak with teachers before and after
school as well as via email. For additional help with classwork or homework, I would suggest researching
online academic tools, but I will give you one of my favorites and that is Khan Academy. This is a free
service you can use to access free tutorials for various content areas and grades. This online tool will help
you and your student gain a better understanding of the expected outcome and/or process for assignments.
Click this link https://www.khanacademy.org, to access the website.
THE RAVEN REVIEW | September 2016 Issue
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Curriculum & Instruction
Updates
Summer Curriculum Work
During
the month
of July,
the
Content
Area
Team
(CAT)
consisted
of 26
participants, including instructional
coaches and teachers, who worked
tirelessly to incorporate new learning
opportunities and instructional
strategies into raising the rigor of the
curricula. With the adoption of the
Engage New York curricula for
Mathematics and English Language
Arts, the district’s Instructional
Priorities, it was imperative to provide
processing time for coaches and
teachers prior to the hustle and bustle
of the regular school year. Processing
time allowed the CAT to dive into the
lessons by focusing on the PLC
questions:
Renate
Henderson,
Stephanie
Henderson, Kimberly Henry, Ingra
Howard, Delgracious Huddleston,
Jennifer Juengel, Lamita Kinchloe,
Christopher Klerkx, Carrie Kucka,
Theodore Loch, Sean McCauley,
Divine McKinney, Patricia Quaglia,
Carkeya Roundtree, Danyelle Slade,
Adrienne Slaughter, Yelena Slavina,
Sandra Webb, Linda Wendlowsky,
Helen Whitfield, Tiffany Wyckstandt,
and Dr. Bloodsaw.
Because the summer curriculum work
was truly a learning curve to the CAT,
please use the members of the team as
a resource for annotating lesson plans
and navigating Rubicon Atlas, the
online warehouse that stores the
curricula. Last but not least, join me in
celebrating each team member for their
hard work and dedication.
ORAPS Content Area Team
working on instruction during
the summer.
Curriculum Night
Save the dates. Each ORA campus will
host a Curriculum Night for parents to
learn more about the curricula being
taught for 2016-2017 school year and
the expectations for staff and students
as we embark on the village of raising
1) What should students know and be scholars. The time of the curriculum
nights may vary by campus. The dates
able to do? (standards)
2) How will we know if students have are:
learned it? (assessments)
High School
3) What will we do when students
Tuesday, September 20, 2016
have or haven’t learned it?
4:00 - 6:00 p.m.
(enrichment or intervention)
Kudos to the following 26 CAT
members. The team members in bold
also participated in the two-day
Rubicon
Atlas
professional
development series at Wayne RESA:
Ryan Bacon, Ruth Charlton, David
Daly, Ashley DiMiceli, Marius Guseth,
ORAPS INSTRUCTIONAL TEAM &
STUDENTS
ORAPHS art students
expressing their creativity and
school spirit painting the school
mascot on the gymnasium wall.
Middle School
Thursday, September 22, 2016
4:00 - 6:00 p.m.
Elementary School
Wednesday, September 21, 2016
4:00 - 6:00 p.m.
ORAPHS science students in biology
class.
We are starting the 2016-2017 school year off with a BIG Bang! Our ongoing theme is, “It Takes a Village to Raise a Child.” With that
in mind, we are asking parents to read the following letters to their children to reinforce your part in our village. Working together this
year as a collective team will ensure the success needed to elevate your students academically and socially. Thanks in advance for playing
a major role in the “ORAPS Village.”
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THE RAVEN REVIEW | September 2016 Issue
ORA Graduation Ratio
100% of the ORAPHS Class of 2016 was
accepted to three or more colleges or
universities!
Starting from left to right, Malachi Mosley (U of M), India Allen - 2016
Valedictorian (U of M), and Devin Woodfork (MSU) received a full
scholarship to attend two of the top universities in the state of Michigan.
10
THE RAVEN REVIEW | September 2016 Issue
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Old Redford Academy Elementary School
17195 Redford Street, Detroit, MI 48219
Office: (313) 532-7510 / Fax: (313) 543-2055
Old Redford Academy Middle School
22122 W. McNichols Road, Detroit, MI 48219
Office: (313) 653-3888 / Fax: (313) 412-2162
Old Redford Academy Preparatory High School
8001 W. Outer Drive, Detroit, MI 48235
Office: (313) 543-3080 / Fax: (313) 543-3129
https://www.facebook.com/oldredford1999@oldredford1999
#ORARAVENS
https://www.oldredford.com