March 25, 2025 Update

Good afternoon,

We have been alerted that there is a nationwide scam targeting students via their school email. 

The scam originated from a spoofed school email and was sent to other district email addresses. The scam begins with fake job posting emails containing Google Form links. After a victim completes these forms, the victim is contacted by email account Jaredharvey001@gmail.com. This initial email exchange quickly escalates to violent threats for money coming from random phone numbers. The scammer deposits fraudulent funds or sends checks for the victim to deposit into the victim’s account. These transactions appear legitimate but are later reversed after the victim sends real money. The fraudster uses intimidation tactics including death threats and claims of law enforcement connections to create panic and force quick payments. A review of social media posts confirms this is a common scam where the pending deposits eventually disappear, leaving victims with financial losses.

The original email comes with an "APPLY NOW" google form link. 

I would encourage you to talk with your teenage children to alert them to this scam and others like it. Reinforce that they should be wary of unsolicited emails and that they should not share personal information in response to emails like this.

This appears to be an advanced financial scam, specifically targeted at students and young adults who are actively seeking employment. The targeting of students can be strategic - they often have limited financial experience, urgent need for income, and may be reluctant to seek help due to embarrassment or potential judgement. This scam combines elements of employment/financial fraud and intimidation tactics that could dangerously impact educational environments. The violent nature of the threats also presents a genuine safety concern that elevates this beyond typical financial fraud into a potential school security issue.

If students have encountered or fallen for this scam, here are some things they should be told:

• You're not alone - these scammers target thousands of people with sophisticated tactics designed to manipulate them.
• Report it immediately - talk to your SRO, school security, or a trusted adult without delay. The faster you report it, the better chance of minimizing damage.
• Do not send any money or gift cards, regardless of the threats. These are empty intimidation tactics.
• Save all communications as evidence - screenshots, emails, texts, and call logs.
• Contact your bank immediately if you've shared financial information or notice suspicious transactions.
• Block the sender on all platforms, but don't delete the evidence.
  
  

We wanted to alert you so that you can talk with your children to be aware of and alert to scams such as this that can lead to negative outcomes.

We have made our administrators and staff aware of this as well. If your child is targeted, please feel free to reach out to let us know. We want to make sure that we protect our students.

Steve

Dr. Steve Matthews
Superintendent
Rockford Public Schools

Good afternoon,

My hope is that you have been able to go outside on this lovely February day. We have had, it seems, day upon day of cloudy and windy weather during February. Today, however, has been glorious.

Looking back, we have had a full winter of activity:

• The Rockford High School wrestling team won their district and regional.
  • Rockford wrestling qualified for the team regional held last week.
• Our Rockford High School girls' bowling team won their regional and will participate in the state tournament this weekend.
• Our Rockford High School ski team qualified for the state championship. 
• Both our Rockford High School boys' and girls' basketball teams won the OK Red Conference.
• 15 Rockford Odyssey of the Mind teams qualified for the state finals to be held March 15.
• Our Rockford High School competitive cheer team qualified for the state championships to be held this weekend.
• Our choirs, bands, and orchestras have been performing in their district festivals and receiving high marks

As we look ahead, here are some important items for your consideration:

• Suessical the Musical starts March 6
  • Get your tickets here:  Ludus - ROCKTIX
• Rockford boys' basketball will start the post-season Wednesday night at 5:30
  • Rockford will play Mona Shores at 5:30 PM at Reeths-Puffer high School
• Rockford High School gymnastics will compete in their regional championship this weekend.

Thank you for your continued support of the Rockford Public Schools. If you have questions or concerns, please feel free to reach out to me via email: smatthews@rockfordschools.org.

Steve

Dr. Steve Matthews
Superintendent
Rockford Public Schools

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

Good afternoon,

We survived our cold and snow day jamboree last week! What a week!

Last night, Monday, I was worried when I looked out my front door to see almost whiteout conditions. But luckily, the snow abated. Michigan winters are interesting.

In January, our K-8 students have been testing with our NWEA assessment. These assessments in math and reading help us both evaluate our instruction and identify how to help each student. We use these assessments to ensure that our teaching is helping students learn the skills they need to be successful. But the assessments also give us insight into each student and help our teachers in their grade level and department teams make sure that each student is receiving what they need to continue moving forward.

Our teachers, instructional coaches, and administrators work hard to make sure that this assessment data, and all assessment data, is used well and continues to improve teaching and learning.

Our Fine Arts program had a chance to shine this past week. The North Rockford Middle School Symphonic Band and the Rockford High School Jazz Band both were invited to perform at the Michigan Music Conference. This annual gathering of music teachers from across the state gave our band students a chance to perform in front of a statewide audience. Several middle and high school band students were also selected to all-state bands and those students were able to perform with students from around the state.

In addition, we had several choir students selected to perform with all-state choirs.

Finally, we had several teachers selected to present conference sessions during the Michigan Music Conference. These teachers continue to demonstrate the collaborative and professional qualities that make our Rockford teachers so special.

The Rockford Education Foundation is hosting their annual spring gala – The Taste. This event highlights the great work that the Rockford Education Foundation does as a partner with our district. If you can participate in this event on March 6, I would encourage you to make your plans now. Information can be found on the Rockford Education Foundation website: Home : Rockford Education Foundation

Thank you for all that you do to support your children and to support the Rockford Public Schools. We understand that educating students works best when we can collaborate with our families to ensure that our students are learning. Together we are doing meaningful and important work with students each day.

I share some of the great work that goes on in our schools on Instagram, X (Twitter), and Bluesky. You can find me @docsmatthews.

Steve

Dr. Steve Matthews
Superintendent
Rockford Public Schools

Good afternoon,

Happy (belated) New Year!

I hope your 2025 has started well. Here are some district updates.

As you are aware, right before our Holiday break in December, a threat was written on a bathroom stall at Rockford High School. As soon as we were aware of this threat, we marshalled our resources to investigate. We deemed the threat not credible.

Since that time, we have continued to investigate the matter. We have identified the person who wrote the threat. The student identified that the threat was never intended to be a “real” threat. Even with that admission, we are proceeding with appropriate disciplinary action.

As with any disciplinary action we are not sharing the details because each student has privacy rights through the Federal Educational Rights and Privacy Act. Sharing any information could potentially lead to the identification of the student which would be against the law.

I would encourage you to talk with your student (especially middle and high school students) to reinforce that threats to our students and staff – whether they are posted on bathroom stalls or social media or made in jest – will be taken seriously and will result in significant disciplinary action. Every day our staff work to ensure that all students and staff are safe. This means we ensure doors are locked, threats are followed up on, and suspicious behavior is investigated.

Students learn best when they can focus on school. Threats create anxiety which negatively impacts learning. Your help in ensuring that your students know that these threats will not be taken lightly will be greatly appreciated. 

Highlights of our January 13^th Board of Education meeting include the following:

• New terms started for those elected in November:
  • Tricia Anderson
  • Kelley Freridge
  • Jake Himmelspach
  • Andrea Jacobson
• Organizational meeting included electing of officers:
  • President – Jarrod Folsom
  • Vice-President – Kelley Freridge
  • Secretary – Christie Ramsey
  • Treasurer – Jake Himmelspach
• January is Board of Education Recognition month, Thank you to the seven community members who serve on our board:
  • Jarrod Folsom, Kelley Freridge, Christie Ramsey, Jake Himmelspach, Tricia Anderson, Barbara Helms, and Andrea Jacobson
• The 2024 Audit was reviewed.
  • We received the highest possible rating in our 2024 audit.
• Special Services provided an update on our Special Education Services.

Information on our board meeting agendas can be found on our district website under the “Our District” link and the “Board of Education” link.

You may have seen in the news that a student information system provider – Power School – was hacked and student information was taken. We do not use Power School, so we were unaffected by this hack.

We have updated our district website. The location is the same - Rockford Public Schools – but the look is new and we hope we have streamlined key links. A big thanks to Lisa Jacobs, Executive Director of Community Services, and all our administrative and secretarial staff who worked so hard to update our website.

Our district continues to move forward in a positive direction. Last year we completed our RAMS XII strategic plan. This winter and early spring we are completing an update of our facilities. New elementary language arts curriculum has been implemented this school. Our co- and extra-curricular activities continue to be strong. Rockford continues to b a good place for students and families. 

We are almost halfway through the school year. I appreciate all that you do to support your children and our school district.

Steve

Dr. Steve Matthews
Superintendent
Rockford Public Schools