Summer Berkley Beat July 18, 2024

Hurley Field Turf and Track Update - Sinking Fund - Summer 2024

The new turf installation is complete. Contractors completed the work in early summer and are now working on the track. The first layer of asphalt is complete and the second layer is being installed this week. Once the asphalt cures, approximately a 14 day process, the final track surface will be installed and lines will be painted. That final surface has to cure for 10 days. The goal is to have the track and turf open for use by the first week of fall sports. All timelines are weather dependent.

District-wide Furniture Purchase - Bond - Summer 2024

All furniture has been removed from classrooms district-wide. The custodial and maintenance team is following the removal and cleaning carpets as rooms are emptied. The new furniture is already on site and being assembled and installed throughout the District. The timeline includes all buildings being completed prior to students arriving in August. The new furniture includes student desks, student chairs, teacher desks, teacher chairs, multiple classroom storage options and flexible seating. The Phase II furniture plans for specialized spaces (specialized classrooms, art rooms, media centers, for example) are nearing completion. Some spaces will receive their new furniture in August, some will have their new items delivered over Winter Break.

Phase 1: Burton & Pattengill Multi-Purpose Additions - Bond - Fall 2024

Burton & Pattengill Multi-Purpose additions plans are complete. The projects are out for bid and contractors should be selected at the August Board of Education meeting. Final plans for staging areas and parking/traffic flow impact are nearly complete. As soon as these details are finalized, we will share them with the respective communities. Both schools will have additional work done on their gymnasiums and playgrounds along with the multi-purpose additions. Both projects should break ground in October 2024 with a target completion date of August 2025.

Phase 1: BHS Performing Arts Wing - Bond - Spring 2025

Berkley High School’s Performing Arts Bond team are finalizing and confirming details as the professional partners prepare the documents to send the job out to bid. The team is working on finalizing details of the lighting and curtains and a final review of all other selections and plans. All BHS projects will go to bid together in September/October. This work will begin in the Spring 2025 and is scheduled for completion in early 2026.

Phase 1: BHS Science Wing - Bond - Summer 2025

The architects have refined the drawings for the BHS Science Wing work and are working with the Bond team to refine finishes and details. The Science Wing will be packaged along with the rest of the BHS projects and will go to bid in September/October. The Science Wing project timeline includes work beginning once school is complete in June 2025 and the labs reopening in September 2025.

Phase 1: BHS BEAR Complex - Bond - Spring 2025

The District Field House is now named The BEAR Complex (The Berkley Education, Athletics and Recreation Complex). The District Bond team continues to finalize details for The Bear, completing the decision making for the indoor and outdoor turf and refining the design for the entrance to the outdoor field. The BEAR Complex will go to bid in September/October. Work will begin during the month of April 2025.

Phase 1: BHS Pool - Bond - Spring/Summer 2025

The professional teams are working on plans and drawings for the space and will meet with the BHS Pool Design Team to refine the work during upcoming meetings. Pool updates will take place during Summer 2025.

ATP & Robotics at former Cana Lutheran Church - Spring 2025

The Bond and Sinking Fund team is working with the District’s architects and construction management team to plan the construction for the new Adult Transition Program (ATP) and Robotics spaces. The team has completed drawings and continues to refine the work through meetings with the Berkley team. The work for both of these projects will be bundled with the BHS Bond projects and will go to bid in September/October 2024. The goal is to have ATP in their new space by August 2025 for the start of the school year and Robotics soon after and prior to their 2025 build season.

Work on the site continues including ADA updates to a bathroom and separate entrance for the church congregation.

Baseball/Softball Fields - Sinking Fund - Timeline TBD

The District is planning to add a new home varsity softball field on the Tyler Field, just north of Berkley Building Blocks. The design team, along with Foresite Design, is working on design details. This new varsity field would include lights, dugouts, concession area and a permanent outfield fence. The work is also being planned to include an outdoor restroom location near the field. Update: The planning work for the softball field and collaboration with the City of Oak Park for park improvements continues.

Planning and discussions are continuing for baseball field upgrades.

Technology - Bond

New interactive flat panels and new classroom sound systems have been installed in all classrooms at Angell, Burton, Pattengill, Rogers, Norup and Anderson along with new clocks.

Team Meetings

The District teams participate in Steering Committee meetings twice a month with Stantec (architecture, engineering, design), McCarthy & Smith (construction management), and SES (engineering and mechanical systems) to plan timelines of construction, prepare bid documents, as well as pour over details of the scopes of work. Each project has a standard sequence of work: design phase, project cost estimating, bidding for contractors, awarding contracts, construction phase (demolition and building) and finally, project completion.

Announcing New Athletic Director & Middle School Athletic Coordinator

On Wednesday, July 3, Berkley Schools announced a new athletic department team to the middle and high school communities. The following message was sent by BHS Principal Andy Meloche.

Dear Berkley High, Anderson and Norup communities,

As many of you are well aware, we had a very important vacancy to fill at the end of this school year in the Athletic Department. We posted the District Athletic Director position with the hopes of drawing top talent to join what is already a great school community.

We received over 40 applicants for this posting which is a testament to our District and its reputation. After reviewing applications, ten individuals were chosen for pre-screen interviews with a committee. Out of those pre-screen interviews, four finalists were chosen to interview in front of an advisory committee that consisted of two administrators, two coaches and BHS staff members, two parents of BHS athletes, the Athletic Booster president and four BHS student athletes from various grade levels and across multiple sports.

After the interviews were completed, the committee reviewed each applicant and held thoughtful, candid conversations about the candidates they felt were the best fit for Berkley High School. The advisory committee then recommended two candidates to meet with Superintendent Francis for a one-on-one conversation. Finally, after consulting with Mr. Francis, the overwhelming feedback from every part of the process was that one candidate stood out as the top choice. Therefore, I am very pleased to announce that Mr. Matt Rawlik will be the new Athletic Director at Berkley High School.

Mr. Rawlik is a familiar face to many people across the District as he has not only taught Social Studies at Berkley High School for the past two years, but he’s also been the head coach of the varsity baseball team since 2015. Additionally, Mr. Rawlik is a very proud member of the BHS Class of 2004, where he was a two-sport athlete for his four years as a Berkley Bear. Mr. Rawlik attended Central Michigan University for his Bachelor’s Degree in Secondary Social Studies and is currently finishing up his Master’s in Educational Leadership. He brings nine years of high school teaching experience and twelve years of varsity coaching experience across a variety of different sports to the job.

In the time I’ve worked alongside Mr. Rawlik, I’ve always been impressed with his leadership and initiative, both formally and informally within our school community. He places a high emphasis on strong relationships, organization, communication and, most importantly, helping support our students to become their best selves. Mr. Rawlik has high expectations of himself and works hard to help elevate those around him to be successful.

In addition to welcoming Mr. Rawlik to the athletics team, I’m pleased to share that Ms. Lori Stone has been appointed to the Middle School Athletic Coordinator position. Ms. Stone has been a physical education teacher at Norup for the last four years, but prior to that, she was the BHS Athletic Coordinator for eight years. Ms. Stone will continue to teach physical education at Norup part time and will assume the Middle School Athletic Coordinator duties the rest of her day. Mr. Rawlik and Ms. Stone will work together to support high school athletics, middle school athletics, unified sports, club sports, coaches and student athletes.

Ultimately, I have no doubts that our students and coaches are in good hands and I believe the future of Berkley Athletics has never been brighter.

Board of Education Recognizes Student Athletes at July Meeting

At the July 8th Board of Education Study Session, the Board recognized middle school swimmers, the BHS varsity baseball team and the BHS varsity girls soccer team.

Middle School Swim

The boys middle school swim team had five members qualify for the State Swim Meet. The Board recognized the students for their accomplishments in the following events:

• The 200 Yard Medley Relay: Jonah Nakisher (Norup, 8th Grade), Denny Lambert (AMS, 8th Grade), Gavin Sternicki (AMS, 8th grade), Colby Sternicki (AMS, 6th Grade) and alternate Lucas Riggs (AMS, 8th grade).
• 50 Yard Freestyle: Jonah Nakisher
• 50 Yard Butterfly: Denny Lambert
• 100 Yard Backstroke: Denny Lambert, Gavin Sternicki
• 100 Yard Breaststroke: Gavin Sternicki

BHS Boys Varsity Baseball

The 2024 BHS Boys Varsity Baseball team was honored for receiving a national Academic Excellence Award from the American Baseball Coaches Association (ABCA) for the fifth year in a row. The American Baseball Coaches Association’s Team Academic Excellence Award honors high school and college programs coached by ABCA members that post a cumulative Grade Point Average over 3.0 on a 4.0 scale for the 2023-24 academic year. This year’s team GPA was 3.4266.

In addition, the following students were recognized for receiving Academic All-State honors:

Dane Benner (Senior), Logan Field (Senior), Reed Reynolds (Junior) and Nick Campbell (Junior).

BHS Varsity Girls Soccer

The 2024 BHS Girls Varsity Soccer team was honored for receiving Academic All-State Status by having a team average GPA over 3.3 on a 4.0 scale. Academic All-State status is issued by the Michigan High School Soccer Coaches Association. In addition, the following students were recognized for receiving Academic All-State honors: Addison Hambright (Senior), Ava Sillars (Senior), Elie Schulz (Senior), and Maeve Nolan (Senior).

Maeve Nolan was also named All-State Third Team and All-Region and Madeline Bonsall (Junior) was named All-State Honorable Mention and All-Region.

BEF Donation Site Experiences Cyber Attack - All Accounts Secure, No Data Compromised

On Sunday, July 7, the Berkley Education Foundation discovered a large number of donations had appeared on their donation site. Upon further investigation, the donations were nearly all failing. The BEF staff notified OneCause, the company that handles all BEF online donations, of the odd donations soon after the discovery. The BEF has been working with OneCause and First American, the credit card processing handler that works with OneCause, ever since.

The good news is that this fraudulent activity has not impacted any BEF supporters and donors and OneCause has no reason to believe any information has been put at risk.

OneCause and First American believe what happened was called “card tumbling.” Card tumbling is an act where credit card numbers are stolen and obtained by fraudulent sources and used to check if random and stolen credit card numbers are still active and can be utilized in malice. These are often tested on non-profit donation sites and unfortunately, the BEF site was used for this. Any donations that did successfully process are being refunded, and the BEF is not being held liable for any transaction fees that were incurred.

OneCause also reported this incident to the Secret Service Field Office to ensure a report is being written for this fraudulent activity.

Any questions regarding this breech should be directed to OneCause: 888-418-0983.

Students Enjoy STEM Summer Camp

From June 17-21, elementary and middle school students enjoyed the District’s Berkley Summer Difference STEM Camp. STEM stands for Science, Technology, Engineering and Math. Summer Difference coordinator Michelle Karas shared, “From Fairy Tale Fun in TK to Techno Jungle Adventures in 5th grade, our students showed creativity and curiosity. Special thanks to our middle school coders for diving into challenging coding projects!”

Berkley Schools in Huntington Woods 4th of July Parade

On the 4th of July, Berkley Schools was represented in the annual Huntington Woods parade. The Berkley High School Marching Band performed, the Board of Education rode in the parade with Superintendent Francis and many students participated in the Fruit Camp train.