Clearing Up Misconceptions

Bloomfield Hills has always been known for its excellent schools. With today’s struggling economy, it is vital that we commit to keeping our schools to the highest standard.

Certain members of the community assert we can maintain or just repair two, 50+ -year-old mainstream high schools all the while remain competitive. Unfortunately, two important factors make this impossible; decreased per-pupil funding from Lansing and declining enrollment. Our district no longer has the student base nor the financial resources to maintain two separate high schools and provide the extensive academic programming Bloomfield is known for.

Our community has been struggling to find an acceptable solution for many years. The opposition stated several reasons to vote no in 2007 and 2010. They said they did not oppose consolidation but: argued it was too expensive; there was no plan; they did not want to give the district a blank check; and building a new high school was too extravagant when an addition and remodeling would be more reasonable.

This new school board and superintendent listened, and after much community input has come back with a plan that is part addition and part renovation, less expensive and will meet the needs of our students now and in the future. They are also finishing the plans for what the “back up” scenario will be if this last and final bond attempt fails.

At some point in 2012 you will have the chance to decide what OUR new Bloomfield Hills High School will look like. The current Andover building is not large enough to hold all the students, so the options are remodel and add on to the current Andover so that everyone will fit in one building, or have one high school on two campuses.

Over the next 6 weeks there will be more than a dozen opportunities for the community to weigh in on the possibilities for our unified high school.  One school on one campus or one school on two campuses. See which meeting works for your schedule :http://www.bloomfield.org/files/hs_transitionplan/community_meetings.pdf

When people are buying a home, we are competing with neighboring communities and the reputation of the schools plays such a huge role in that decision. As a member of this community, I ask you to please take the time to learn the facts. A small investment of time will help you make an informed decision that will impact our property values and the reputation of Bloomfield for years to come.