# Ferndale Public Schools

Ferndale Public Schools is a public school district in Metro Detroit in the U.S. state of Michigan, serving most of Ferndale, all of Pleasant Ridge, and portions of Oak Park and Royal Oak Township.

## History

A school was built in the 1870s at the corner of Woodward Avenue and Nine Mile Road. It was replaced by a wooden building on the same site in 1909, but that building burned on December 28, 1914. It was rebuilt a year later in brick, and became known as Ferndale Central School. The building remains as commercial space.
1918 saw the first graduating class of Ferndale--two students. The district was seeing fast population growth and by 1920, Lincoln High School was built at the northeast corner of Livernois and Nine Mile Rd. Although Ferndale's only high school, the district had a tradition of naming schools after United States presidents until the 1950s. When Ferndale High School opened in January, 1959, Lincoln became a junior high.
In the 1950s, the area of the school district serving Oak Park was embroiled in a controversy over progressive education. Andrew Jackson School opened to serve this area in fall 1950. It was unlike existing district schools, both in terms of education and the building itself. Designed by Modernist architect Eberle M. Smith, the school's classrooms were essentially open to the corridors, contained tables rather than desks, and were connected directly to single-stall bathrooms that were not gendered by signage. Principal Scott Street, with the backing of Superintendent Roy Robinson, worked with parents in developing flexible teaching methods that caused disagreement amongst parent-teacher associations at other district schools and some school board members.
Devotees of progressive education were outraged when, in February 1959, the school board demoted Principal Street from his position at Paul R. Best School, a newer school down the street from Jackson School. The School Board claimed Street had been openly campaigning against certain school board members. By that July, eleven teachers had resigned in the district, many in protest of the school board. Street accepted a superintendent position with the U.S. Army in Libya before becoming a principal in Ypsilanti 1962.
Throughout the 1970s, the district was involved in court battles over the racial segregation of Grant Elementary. The district had built Grant in 1926 in Royal Oak Township, a majority-Black area outside of the majority-white city of Ferndale where, even as late as 1944, there was no sewer system and inadequate police protection. A Federal Court judge found that the school district had practiced de jure segregation by allowing Grant to be overcrowded with Black students while other district schools, which were all more than ninety percent white, were under capacity. On October 7, 1980, the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan issued a plan by which Ferndale's elementary schools would be integrated by reassigning some students to different schools.
In 2015, the district began an extensive restructuring process, led by the Board of Education and deeply dependent on community involvement. Changes to curriculum, expansion of academic opportunities for students and site transitions were all based on the district's strategic plan.

## Schools

Ferndale Schools :
| School | Address | Built | Notes |
| Ferndale Early Childhood Center | 2920 Burdette St., Ferndale | 1999 | Preschool, formerly Harding Elementary / Harding Administration Building. Harding School was built in 1921 and rebuilt in 1999. |
| Ferndale High School | 881 Pinecrest St., Ferndale | 1958 | Comprehensive high school (9-12) |
| Ferndale Lower Elementary School | 23501 Rosewood St., Oak Park | Fall 2024 | K-2 |
| Ferndale Middle School | 725 Pinecrest St., Ferndale | 1958 | 6-8, shares a building with Ferndale High School |
| Ferndale Upper Elementary School | 24220 Rosewood, Oak Park | 1954 | 3-5, Formerly Kennedy Elementary |
| Tri-County Educational Center | 8711 Cloverdale St., Royal Oak Township | 1926 | Adult and alternative high school (9-12). Formerly Grant Elementary. |
| University High School | 2521 Bermuda St., Ferndale | | College-Prep high school (9-12), formerly Coolidge Intermediate School / Coolidge Middle School |

## Former schools

Former Schools :
| School | Address | Notes |
| Best School | 24220 Rosewood, Oak Park | Renamed Kennedy, now Upper Elementary |
| Central School | 130 E Nine Mile Rd., Ferndale | Built 1915, became district offices, now commercial office space. |
| Coolidge Intermediate School | 2521 Bermuda St., Ferndale | Now University High School |
| Grant School | 8711 Cloverdale St., Royal Oak Township | Built 1926, now Tri-County Educational Center, also Royal Oak Township library and township hall |
| Harding School | 2920 Burdette St., Ferndale | Originally known as Urbanrest School. Now Ferndale Early Childhood Center |
| Jackson School | 23561 Rosewood St., Oak Park | Opened fall 1950. Became Center for Advanced Studies and the Arts. Demolished 2024, Lower Elementary built on site. |
| Jefferson Center | 22001 Republic St., Oak Park | Became residential units |
| John F. Kennedy Elementary School | 24220 Rosewood, Oak Park | Formerly Paul R. Best Elementary, now Upper Elementary |
| Lincoln High School, later Lincoln Junior High School | | Opened 1921, district's high school prior to 1958. Demolished 1979. |
| Ridgewood School | Eight Mile Rd. at Livernois, Ferndale | Built 1917, demolished 1927 during the widening of Eight Mile Road. |
| Roosevelt Primary School | 2610 Pinecrest Dr, Ferndale | Formerly known as Pleasant Ridge School and Ridge Road School. Opened October 1921. Now district offices. Became district administration building in 2024. |
| Taft Digital Learning Center | 427 Allen St, Ferndale | Opened January 1928, became adult education center in 2002, closed 2016, demolished 2017. |
| Washington School | 1201 Livernois St, Ferndale | Built 1923. Became Kulick Community Center, now closed |
| Wilson University High School | 1244 Paxton St., Ferndale | Built 1923, closed 2016, demolished 2017. |