ABOUT DR. ALENA ZACHERY-ROSS:
Dr. Alena Zachery-Ross is the Superintendent of Ypsilanti Community Schools, and former Superintendent of Okemos and the Muskegon Heights Public Schools. She is a Certified John Maxwell Coach, and a member of the Forbes Business Council.
Dr. Zachery-Ross attended Grand Valley State University and received a Bachelor’s Degree, earned her Master’s of Arts in Educational Psychology from Wayne State University, and a Doctorate in Educational Leadership from Michigan State University.
Alena Zachery-Ross, the CEO of AZRLeads, is a sought-after speaker, coach, and consultant who uses her gifts to develop leaders and teams to transform environments, beginning with themselves.
RESOURCES:
Ypsilanti Community Schools on Facebook
Ypsilanti Community Schools on X (Twitter)
Dr. Alena Zachery-Ross on X (Twitter)
TRANSCRIPTION:
David Fair: This is 89.1 WEMU, and classes for the 2024-2025 K-12 public school year will come to an end at the end of this week. I'm David Fair, and this is Washtenaw United. It's our weekly look at equity and opportunity in our community. Today, we want to reflect on the academic year in the Ypsilanti Community Schools and get a sense of what the students of today are help building for the community of the future. Our guest is Dr. Alena Zachery-Ross. She serves as superintendent of the Ypsilanti Community Schools, and it's nice to talk with you again, Doctor!
Dr. Alena Zachery-Ross: Very nice to be here! Thanks for having me!
David Fair: How hard is it to wrangle and manage kids in the last week of school?
Dr. Alena Zachery-Ross: Oh, they're ready to be out! So, we're trying to keep them engaged and interested. I'm just so happy that we have such great teachers to keep him here.
David Fair: Well, there is so much to wrap up as an academic year comes to a close, but when the school year began, back in August of last year in Ypsilanti, it did so with the theme, "Unleashing the Brilliance". What was the mission behind that phrase?
Dr. Alena Zachery-Ross: Yes, we're really trying to work to unleash that brilliance that we already know is inside them. We're trying to make sure that we have academically proficient scholars. We want to make sure that we get critical thinkers. We want to make sure they are innovative. We know we've created this whole portrait of a graduate, so that they are curious, that they're reflective. And we know that that is there, but we know it takes wonderful teachers and other educational leaders who make sure that our scholars leave out the future ready. And so, it's quite a bit, as you said, to make sure they are doing the work every single day, up until the very end, to June 6th, so that they are ready to lead in this ever-changing world.
David Fair: And that plays into the district's broader mission, which is stated as "Stronger today, stronger tomorrow, and stronger together." You feel like you've made progress along that path?
Dr. Alena Zachery-Ross: Oh yeah, we have! We have certainly made progress. We had a commencement ceremony just last week, where 100% of our graduates met their requirements. Even one of our valedictorians, she graduated with her associate's degree at the same time as getting her high school diploma. So, you know, it's stories like that that we see across our district with our scholars really exceeding beyond what the expectation was, and we know it. We know if we really do unleash the brilliance, it's already in them.
David Fair: Our Washtenaw United conversation with Ypsilanti Community School Superintendent Dr. Alena Zachery-Ross continues on 89.1 WEMU. Graduation rates obviously at 100 percent--can't do any better than that! Are dropout rates also declining?
Dr. Alena Zachery-Ross: They are, and it's with the help of partnerships. You know, we know that we have to work closely with other organizations. We work with the 180 program who just did a huge bash at our middle school field just the other day. We worked with Concentric who goes and knocks on the doors when our students who we are finding are chronically absent. We work with our foster grandparents. Like, there are so many partners! And so, we know when you hear us say. "Stronger today, stronger tomorrow, stronger together," it's not just a slogan. It really has been because we partner with so many others.
David Fair: Creating innovative programs, once you've got them in the building, helps prepare students for a changing technological future. And that, of course, is important. YCS this year became the first-ever HP AI Spotlight school. What has been student and staff response to that program?
Dr. Alena Zachery-Ross: Oh my goodness! You know, it's really taken off with the scholars. Even when they were unpacking the boxes, the scholars were standing there looking into the lab asking if they can help unpack, so that they can jump onto the computers. And so, they've been the ones who just really have been really excited about it. The teachers have been a little bit more apprehensive, but they were excited because Digital Promise came in. They helped do professional development with the teachers. The teachers have been working hand-in-hand alongside the scholars. Some of the scholars have even started some entrepreneurial sites. So, it is really taken off, and they are just looking at what is possible working alongside the Digital Promise staff, looking at and saying, "Okay, what can this equipment do?" because It is professional-grade equipment and things that we typically don't have access to.
David Fair: I want to talk a little bit about there is so much opportunity, obviously, happening within the Ypsilanti Community Schools, but I want talk about challenges as well.
Dr. Alena Zachery-Ross: Yes.
Dr. Alena Zachery-Ross: There are systemic barriers that continue, and they stand in the way of progress many times. How do you incorporate social justice and the quest for equity and equality into the educational programming in Ypsilanti Community Schools?
Dr. Alena Zachery-Ross: Yes. There are so many things happening. We know that, like, we have two newcomer centers. We have so many students coming into our district who have not even attended school before: many students with language barriers, students in high poverty. We have the most unhoused students in this county. And I wonder what's going to happen to them in the summer when we even transport them every day during the summertime. So, those inequities that we deal with, that we support families with during the school year, and we know many of them may not even come to our Grizzly Learning Camp. We're concerned about them when they're not with us. And those inequities that we see daily and that we grapple with daily, they haunt us as educators. And we work to remove barriers. But we know we are not the end all and be all. We are the educators, and we work with other agencies to try to help parents remove the barriers. But they are real, and they are some of the reasons why students, when we talk about absenteeism, why they don't come to school, why parents struggle to come and interact with school. And so, we work with our families to try to help engage with other partners with them.
David Fair: Washtenaw United continues on WEMU with YCS Superintendent Dr. Alena Zachery-Ross. As soon as one school year ends, work on the next begins. But I would imagine there's a lot up in the air right now because it doesn't look like the state budget is going to be completed when school's new fiscal year begins on July 1st. How are you working to accommodate and deal with that?
Dr. Alena Zachery-Ross: You know, what we're doing is we're planning right now for all of our current funding to remain the same. I know we keep hearing that there's possibly an increase in student aid. Yet, we are remaining to think about a flat budget for next year. And we're hoping that there are not any of the cuts that we're hearing about, for example, in Head Start and in Medicaid. We know that we need more. A district like ours, we need more for special ed. We need more for at-risk. And so, we're hoping that our community will continue to advocate for those special funding sources and will understand that the importance of funding for education, for Medicaid, for Head Start. And so, we're keeping our eyes focused on state funding, as well as federal funding.
David Fair: Well, our time together is winding down, but I want to ask one more question. Setting statistics and measurables aside for a moment, tell me how you feel about the future of the Ypsilanti Community Schools and its place in helping the community as a whole improve quality of life.
Dr. Alena Zachery-Ross: You know, I'm really excited about the future of Ypsilanti Community Schools. We're starting, in the fall, a dual immersion school at our Emerick location--510 Emerick location. Our dual immersion program has been growing. We started it a few years ago, and we're adding a fourth grade next year. And the future is certainly bright. We have 87 scholars who graduated this last week with the seal of bi-literacy, which means that they're proficient in at least two languages, and it's just truly exciting to think about the fact that we're able to open that building this fall. And so, although other districts have a declining enrollment, we've been growing in enrollment every single year. So, for the City of Ypsilanti, we seem to continue to be a beacon of light, and it's because of the partnerships, because of the community, because our families, and I'm just grateful that we have the support of our scholars, the support of our staff, and the support of our community. So, I just want to thank our community. I want to thank our board for the support that they've been giving us over the years.
David Fair: And I want to thank you so much for making time in your year-end schedule to talk with us! I'm grateful!
Dr. Alena Zachery-Ross: Thank you for having me!
David Fair: That is Ypsilanti Community Schools Superintendent, Dr. Alena Zachery-Ross, our guest on Washtenaw United. For more information on all that's going on on the YCS, stop by our website at WEMU.org. Washtenaw United is produced in partnership with the United Way for Southeastern Michigan, and you hear it every Monday. I'm David Fair, and this is your community NPR station, 891 WEMU-FM Ypsilianti.
WEMU has partnered with the United Way for Southeastern Michigan to explore the people, organizations, and institutions creating opportunity and equity in our area. And, as part of this ongoing series, you’ll also hear from the people benefiting and growing from the investments being made in the areas of our community where there are gaps in available services. It is a community voice. It is 'Washtenaw United.'
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