Welcome

Good afternoon,

Last night, Monday, February 10, at our monthly Rockford Public Schools’ Board of Education meeting, I highlighted the academic progress that has been made in Rockford over the past several years.

As you can see from this graph, between the school years of 2018-2019 and 2023-2024 scores on the M-STEP assessment have increased in every grade in English Language Arts and Math. The lone exception is 8th grade math.

This has been the result of significant work by our teachers, administrators, and staff. Mike Ramm leads the Office of Instruction with support from Sharon Wells, our Director of Literacy, and Maggie Thelen, our Director of Mathematics, Innovation, and Accountability. The collaborative team plan that the Office of Instruction has put in place allows teachers to think about our students and about teaching and learning in meaningful ways.

We all should be proud of the success we have had as a district over the past several years.

Also, at last night’s Board meeting, I presented a proposal that impacts Parkside and Valley View elementary schools and addresses a long-term issue in our preschool and childcare program.

Last year, as you know, we engaged in a process of redistricting because of the imminent opening of Edgerton Trails Elementary. The opening of Edgerton Trails allowed several positive things to happen in the district. We removed portables from every building. We created school populations that fit the buildings. We moved teachers and staff to support students.

Our elementary enrollment this year came very close to our projections. 

Over the course of this year as I have visited buildings, I have seen positive, productive, meaningful things happening in each elementary building. The teachers, staff, administrators, students and families have worked together to create new and purposeful school cultures that do meaningful and important things with students each day.

However, one area that we are keeping an eye on is the enrollment at Parkside Elementary. With 179 students, Parkside currently has three grade levels with only one section per grade. This is a challenge when it comes to fostering collaboration and supporting the needs of all students, which is a cornerstone of our educational approach.

As we look forward, it seems likely that Parkside will have fewer students next year. This could result in four or five grade levels with one section.

In our Rockford Public Schools teaching and learning framework we have worked hard to create a culture of collaboration for teachers and students. For teachers, common planning time, reviewing students and lessons on early release days, or grouping students to provide support to reinforce or extend lessons has proven benefits for students. Students also benefit from collaborative experiences with other students in the class and from the classroom across the hall.

This is difficult to do when there is only one section in a grade level.

Additionally, I am aware that last year we turned away families - over 100 children - who wanted to enroll in our early childhood and preschool programs. Connecting these families to our district in preschool would continue to help them prepare for kindergarten.  

With this in mind, I went to the Board on Monday evening with a recommendation for them to consider. The recommendation would be to repurpose Parkside into an early childhood center and combine the Parkside and Valley View attendance areas. This would create one school at Valley View. With this proposal several things would happen:

• The Parkside school boundary would merge with the Valley View attendance area. Parkside students would attend Valley View Elementary school beginning in Fall of 2025.
• The ASD (Autism Spectrum Disorder) students currently at Parkside would transition to Meadow Ridge, where the program is better aligned with future middle school attendance at East Rockford Middle School.
• Parkside Elementary would be transformed into an Early Childhood Center to meet a growing need in our community for preschool and childcare options.
  • Last spring, as I mentioned, we had over 100 students on a waiting list for early childhood spots, and this move would help us better serve those families.
  • Preschool and childcare would be expanded because we would continue to offer programs at the Admin Building.
• The ECSE (Early Childhood Special Education) program would move from Meadow Ridge to Parkside, creating more space and accessibility for those students.

This was a thoughtful plan that tried to remedy a concern that arose as we redistricted and to meet an ongoing community need. Over the next month I will work with our Parkside and Valley View families to identify concerns or issues. I will work our Parkside Principal Mindy McGinn and Valley View Principal Jeremy Karel to identify concerns and to answer questions that may arise. We will go back to the Board in March with a final recommendation.  

As we look ahead, it appears that we might have some snow moving into the area on Wednesday afternoon into the evening and continuing overnight. If it happens as predicted, I will keep you posted on how it impacts, if at all, Thursday. As you are aware there is no school on Friday, February 14, and Monday, February 17, because of a preplanned mid-winter break. 

Steve

Dr. Steve Matthews
Superintendent
Rockford Public Schools