ROCHELLE — For the past two years of meetings, the Rochelle Elementary School District Board of Education has had a school reopening plan agenda item where Superintendent Jason Harper updated the board on COVID-19-related topics.

At Tuesday’s meeting, he recommended that item be removed going forward. For the past month, Rochelle schools have been operating largely without COVID-19 restrictions after seeing lower case counts and state mandates such as masking and weekly testing for unvaccinated staff were removed.

“I have no new updates for you all regarding the reopening of school or COVID-19-related concepts and recommendations,” Harper said. “I have no information for you other than it's ultimately my recommendation to remove this as a standing item on our agendas. Obviously anything that is relevant can easily be brought back onto the agenda."

Harper said the recent removal of COVID-19 restrictions has been the “most rapid” change in state guidance since the beginning of the pandemic. He feels positive about the state and districts moving into what they hope to be the last phase of pandemic guidance.

“I can't speak for everybody, but I do know I'm looking forward to seeing the spring semester through and a great end of the year in which our kids are able to participate in all of the things they look forward to,” Harper said.

Across all schools in Rochelle, COVID-19 cases have been below five in recent days, Harper said. On Monday there was only one case. That’s a far cry from a mid-January spike that was seen locally and across the state.

The goal throughout the school year has been to have students learning in-person all day, every day, Harper said. 

“To see our numbers continue to go down and stay down just makes the likelihood of achieving that goal so much higher,” Harper said. “The feeling I take away from it is I know our students are more likely to be where we want them to be, which is in school for a full day experiencing all the offerings we have."

Harper called a full return to pre-pandemic schooling over the past month “refreshing” and “exciting.” He believes being closer to normal means students are able to have the chance at the most optimal experience at school.

"It feels like morale is up across the board,” Harper said. “We walk through the hallways and see students and teachers smiling and happy to be at school. Our only takeaway is that they're happy to be here and that they're ready to learn."

ARP

District Business Manager Kevin Dale said during a public hearing prior to the meeting that the district will soon be starting work on spending its third round of American Rescue Plan and Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief Fund money.

The district received a total of $3.5 million in federal COVID-19 relief money over the three rounds. The board unanimously approved moving forward with putting together a spending plan after the public hearing. 

In December, Harper put out a survey to the community on how the money should be spent. “The primary focus that came back from the community input was using ESSER money for funding on expanding current district educational initiatives focused on social and emotional learning, identifying and improving on student learning loss and additional interventions and strategies to help at-risk students,” Dale said.

Additional concerns for use of the funding included upgrading air quality, climate controls, technology, hardware and software, cleaning and sanitizing equipment as well as adding professional development for staff. 

Dale said the district will now develop and implement an ARP and ESSER spending plan and make grant submittals according to the community survey. Money isn’t received until after it’s spent in the form of a reimbursement.

Employment

The board approved a series of employment items as this is the time it looks at personnel for the end of the school year and into next year.

The rehiring of 22 teachers was unanimously approved by the board with levels of time so far in the district ranging from 1-4 years.