August 2024 Civil and Municipal Education Public Sector

Romeo Community Schools – Macomb County, Michigan

August 28, 2024

Romeo Community Schools

Top-Tier Education in Macomb County, Michigan

A transformative education approach housed in state-of-the-art facilities

Romeo Community Schools (RCS) is a school district dedicated to enhancing education and well-being for students, staff, and the community. With a legacy spanning 150 years, RCS now operates a state-of-the-art learning environment with a $50 million annual budget, serving 5,300 students and employing more than 500 dedicated professionals.

A Bulldogs Community

The district, unified under the Bulldog mascot, emphasizes a strong sense of belonging and mutual support. “You’d be hard-pressed to have a conversation about Romeo Community Schools or the Romeo area in general without hearing the words family and community,” portrays Superintendent Dr. Todd Robinson.

“We’re a very tight-knit community here. It doesn’t matter whether you’re one of our five elementary buildings, or our comprehensive middle school and high school, everyone is a Bulldog.”

In 2022, Romeo Community Schools launched a strategic plan that included reaffirming the core values of respect, teamwork, balance, integrity, and fun. “We do believe school should be fun, and not just for students, but also for the adults that work with them,” Robinson affirms.

Complementing these core values, the district embraces an annual theme; the theme for the 2023-24 school year was “Choose Joy.” Says Robinson, “We’re trying to focus, at all levels of the organization, on just being grateful for the opportunity to work with the children that we do in this district, to partner with businesses in the larger community, and to best serve our students and prepare them for college, career, and life.”

Strategic Planning for Long-Term Success

One of the standout priorities in the strategic plan is the increased focus on safety and mental wellness, particularly in the wake of the 2021 tragedy in the nearby community of Oxford. “That has had a dramatic impact on us and surrounding districts,” Robinson acknowledges. “We began to intentionally connect what were traditional school safety efforts with this idea of wellness and mental health, and not just for our students, but also for our employees.”

As part of these efforts school resource officers have been added at the middle and high school, a welcome presence not only for additional security, but also as positive role models for students. “That has been a blessing to us, to just have another positive adult in the building that students can go to when they have a concern or otherwise,” Robinson conveys.

RCS provides a wide variety of mental health and wellness resources, from electronic information to informative events like the recent State of the District, which offered breakout sessions for parents on topics such as social media and smartphone use.

“Most importantly, we want to make sure that every child has at least one adult advocate that they feel a direct connection to so that if there are concerns or troubles they’re dealing with, there is someone they can go to, to share that information with,” stresses Robinson. “Naturally, that could be our teachers or our counselors, but we also think our bus drivers, our paraprofessionals, and our security staff are adults that can connect with kids too.”

Federal funding provided during the pandemic brought an opportunity for the district to bring additional professionally certified mental health staff on board. Robinson notes, “With those funds expiring this fall, this year’s budget cycle is intentionally trying to maintain all the additional counselors, social workers, and psychologists that we added with those federal ESSER dollars so that we don’t lose a beat in terms of the support staff that we have for students.”

The Academies at Romeo

In 2017 Romeo Community Schools became the first officially designated Ford Next Generation Learning (NGL) community in Michigan, an organization that works with school districts across the country and internationally, helping to prepare students for life after high school. Through this initiative, the Academies at Romeo were born, bringing comprehensive, career-focused learning to RCS.

The district collaborated with the Macomb County Planning and Economic Development Department to identify regional job opportunities and emerging sectors, ensuring that students would be equipped to live and work in the area after graduation. This led to the formation of three academies, The Academy of Business, Entrepreneurship and Innovation (BEI), The Academy of Design, Engineering and Manufacturing (DEM), and The Academy of Health, Human and Public Service (HHP). Each of these offers a series of distinct pathways for students to follow, based on their areas of skill and interest.

Dr. Robinson explains, “When we talk about the academies, we’re talking about a wall-to-wall experience. What is different at Romeo High School is every kid is a career tech ed student. They spend their freshman year researching a ton of careers and learning more about themselves, their strengths, and their interests, and they make some choices. They put in their top two or three choices for an academy and pathway for the rest of their high school experience.”

Currently, plans are underway to introduce academies at Romeo Middle School that emphasize service and community engagement. “We’re going to be partnering with nonprofit and community-based organizations, so our middle school students will have an experience of understanding what some sectors are in the nonprofit world, and then engage with those partners, whether it be in the classroom or outside in their environment,” describes Assistant Superintendent Jennifer McFarlane. This will culminate in an eighth-grade Change Maker Challenge, where students will present a plan to make positive changes in the community. “They can change the world at that age, and we’re just so excited to be able to make a difference in our community with our middle school kids,” she asserts.

Embracing Career and Technical Education

Romeo Community Schools has established strong partnerships to expand dual enrollment and career technical education (CTE) opportunities for its students. These include Macomb Community College, Oakland Community College, and Oakland University. This year, a collaboration with Northwood University introduced an option for BEI Academy students to enroll in a semester-long business class.

In addition to educational institutions, RCS values the support of over 240 local businesses that bolster its CTE programs, providing hands-on experience. TK Mold and Engineering is one such company, offering apprenticeship programs for students following the advanced manufacturing pathway. Architecture and engineering firm Anderson, Eckstein and Westrick. is another example, providing internships where students in their senior year can gain valuable work-based learning experience and receive payment.

Within the HHP Academy, the district offers a Certified Medical Assistant pathway, where students gain valuable experience working in hospital and senior care environments like WellBridge of Romeo. “We also have an EMT program. Through that pathway, we’ve had students partner with some of our firehouses,” shares McFarlane. “I was just talking to a senior who has recently finished up her clinicals with Bruce Township in some ride-alongs for her EMT hours that she’s logging, so she can get certified when she takes the exam this summer.”

Moving Forward

The Romeo community has continually invested in its schools, approving bonds in 2016 and 2021 totaling nearly $170 million. These funds have modernized facilities across the district, including the construction of a new high school, consolidation of middle schools, and enhanced elementary buildings. “We have dedicated STEM classrooms that we are either building as new additions or renovating space within our elementary schools,” describes Dr. Robinson.

“Currently one of the exciting projects that we have is we’re building a STEM and robotics center on our middle school campus,” he adds. “That will be the home of our high school robotics and middle school robotics teams, but also will be a location to support instruction during the school day.”

As a one-to-one district since 2014, RCS is consistently embracing technology and efforts continue to focus on integrating AI into the curriculum.

“We know in business and industry, they might be leveraging artificial intelligence more than we are currently,” McFarlane recounts. “We also are trying to ensure that our students are safe, and our teachers are safe within that platform.” Through partnerships with companies like L&L Products, and initiatives like Project Lead the Way, the district has enhanced STEM programs across all levels. Elementary students engage in weekly tech sessions, middle schoolers explore courses like design, robotics, and medical detectives, and high schoolers participate in advanced programs, including a new course in aviation and drone operation.

Looking ahead, Dr. Robinson says the district has structured its strategic plan around three key focus areas: teaching and learning, safety and wellness, and fostering a community of collaboration. Community engagement is a priority, and RCS’s podcast, “Keeping up with ‘R’ Community,” has proven to be a successful avenue for showcasing various aspects of district life.

“It provides content for parents and community, but we’re also highlighting student leadership, student success, safety initiatives,” he remarks. “We’re also capitalizing on bringing more attention to elements of our strategic efforts, so people can get a little snapshot of what’s going on in our school district.”

Romeo Community Schools continues to raise the bar, as it embraces innovation and opportunity while advancing the best interests of its students, staff, and community.