Avondale GATE Magnet School recognized among top schools in the state
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Rochester United’s goals are right in front of them 3A
JANUARY 23, 2025 • Vol. 21, No. 2 Students at Avondale GATE Magnet School collaborate during class. Photo provided by Avondale Schools
BY MARY BETH ALMOND malmond@candgnews.com
ROCHESTER HILLS/BLOOMFIELD TOWNSHIP/AUBURN HILLS — Avondale GATE Magnet School has been recognized among the top schools in Michigan, according to U.S. News & World Report. In the recently released 2025 Best Elementary Schools and Best Middle Schools rankings by U.S. News & World Report, Avondale GATE Magnet School ranked No. 2 in Michigan for middle schools and No. 4 for elementary schools. The report includes more than 79,000 public schools that are ranked at the state and district level. Officials from U.S. News said the top-ranked public schools in the 2024 Best Elementary and Best Middle schools rankings were evaluated based on state-required test performance, graduation rates, and how effecSee AVONDALE GATE on page 22A
West Bloomfield man sentenced to prison decades after sexual assaults in Oakland Township, Pennsylvania BY MARY BETH ALMOND
1999 rape of a 22-year-old woman at Twin Lakes Golf Club in Oakland Township. Rillema is also accused of raping another victim in 2000 at a Penn State golf course. The Michigan assault happened on Sept. 6, 1999, at Twin Lakes Golf Course in Oakland Township, according to police. At the time, the victim, who now lives in another state, told deputies an unknown man came through a back employee door
malmond@candgnews.com
OAKLAND COUNTY — A West Bloomfeld man will head to prison after being convicted of a sexual assault that took place at a local golf club over 20 years ago. Kurt Alan Rillema, 53, of West Bloomfield, was sentenced Jan. 15 to 10-15 years in prison for the
while she was working at a food stand on the course, demanded she take her clothes off and then sexually assaulted her. Although DNA evidence was obtained from the crime, authorities could not identify a suspect at the time, and the DNA evidence was entered into a national DNA database. In 2004, that evidence was matched with DNA See RILLEMA on page 20A
Rillema
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