With a rich curriculum and outstanding instruction, Rochester Community Schools has again been recognized as one of the 2025 Best Communities for Music Education by the NAMM Foundation. This is the 11th time the district has earned this designation for its commitment to music education as an integral part of a well-rounded education for all students. Thank you to our instructors for providing this passion and foundation across the district.

Identifying priorities. Creating a unified sense of purpose. And driving action.

Rochester Community Schools continues to develop, support, enhance and drive forward educational excellence through five areas: learning, teaching, leadership, professional development and community engagement.

Congratulations to the 14 Rochester Community Schools seniors who are semifinalists for the 2026 National Merit Scholarship Program. These outstanding students qualified for this honor based on exceptional scores on the 2024 PSAT/NMSQT (Preliminary SAT/National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test). They now have the opportunity to advance to the finalist award level. We also congratulate the 46 RCS students who were named as commended scholars. We are proud to recognize the Class of 2026 for their outstanding achievements.

RCS continues to grow its special education programs to support all learners. For the 2025-26 school year, the district will open a new high school classroom for students with severe and multiple impairments. This program will give students important opportunities to learn and build friendships alongside their peers, while still receiving the personalized support they need.

The Chartwells K-12 food service team at Rochester Community Schools has been honored as the Chartwells National Account of the Year!

During the 2024-25 school year, the Chartwells staff served 1,549,381 meals for RCS students, including 1,217,850 lunches and 331,531 breakfasts.

The Rochester Community Schools Foundation enhances academics, arts and athletics for students in Rochester Community Schools.

On Sept. 20, the Hometown Hustle 5K celebrated its 20th anniversary and a longstanding commitment to education. With more than 1,400 participants, this year's Hometown Hustle was a record-breaking event to support students.

When utilized properly, artificial intelligence (AI) tools have the power to personalize learning, build lifelong critical thinking skills and guide students to use their voices more effectively.

“We are better students because of AI,” said a group of Stoney Creek High School seniors. They explained how their experiences with AI have prompted them to improve their arguments with evidence, enhance their writing, prepare personalized review materials, identify content areas where they need more practice, and share their voice.

RCS was proud to host three communitywide fall tailgate events at our high schools. Families, friends and neighbors were able to enjoy some free fun activities and celebrate our schools through the Rochester High School Falcon Frenzy, Stoney Creek Celebration at the Creek and Adams Gold Rush.

ParentSquare is the district's new communication platform, replacing SchoolMessenger. To prevent a lapse in information, families are encouraged to update their phone number, email address, and preferred language in ParentVUE.

Rochester Community Schools celebrates 1,227 graduating seniors. We congratulate this exceptional group of students and extend sincere gratitude to our teachers, families, administrators, staff, and community partners who have supported them on their educational journey.

The Excellence in Education Award was created to recognize exemplary performance throughout the district. Congratulations to this year's recipients: Lucinda Salmon, Jeff Zurkan, and Officer Amy Drehmer.

The Michigan High School Athletic Association (MHSAA) is a nonprofit organization that includes a membership of more than 1,500 public and private high schools from across the state. It exits to develop common rules for athletic eligibility and competition.

Rochester Community Schools will continue to develop, support, enhance and drive forward educational excellence through five vision areas: learning, teaching, leadership, professional development and community engagement.

Rochester Community Schools remains committed to enhancing processes that empower staff members to act effectively during an emergency. To that end, the district is adopting the Centegix safety platform, an incident response solution that supports emergencies, from everyday situations to the extreme.

On April 1, 2025, Rochester Community Schools hosted the debut performance of the districtwide RCS orchestra, featuring 540 musicians in grades 6-12. Among these students are the first 28 graduates of the orchestra program, which began in 2018 during their sixth grade year.

RCS continues to offer high-quality pre-K and in addition, the state’s Great Start Readiness Program (GSRP) has expanded to increase early education options for families in RCS and across the state. GSRP is a free preschool program for children who turn 4 on or before Dec. 1, 2025, and whose families meet eligibility guidelines.

The district’s strategic plan indicates the need to implement Structured Literacy models in elementary classrooms.

ParentSquare is a user-friendly platform designed to streamline communication between schools and families. It will allow the district to send messages, alerts and reminders through email, voice and text messaging. It also provides a space for two-way communication, so participants can reach out with questions or feedback.