ROCHELLE — At its monthly meeting Tuesday, the Rochelle Elementary School District Board of Education unanimously approved a $14.237 million bid from Stenstrom Construction for an upcoming construction project that will renovate and expand the footprint of Tilton Elementary School. 

The Stenstrom Construction bid was the lowest the district received. The work will begin this summer and be completed in phases through the summer of 2026. 

At its meeting in June, the board unanimously approved a resolution to issue a maximum of $11,163,432 in general obligation school bonds for renovations at Tilton School and possible future work at its other schools.

The bid approval was the culmination of a months-long process of preparing for the Tilton work. The district previously estimated the project would cost $14-16 million. In recent years it found in a health life safety evaluation that an estimated $7.9 million worth of work is required at the school for those issues. Health life safety concerns the physical safety of the building for students and staff to occupy. Tilton School was built in 1949. Along with funding from bonds, the district is utilizing $6-8 million from its reserves for other improvements involving security and spatial concerns including pick-up and drop-off areas. Some improvement work has already taken place at the school.

For the Tilton School project as a whole, the district is tying in health life safety needs with recommended security enhancements and staff needs and wants, namely alleviating issues caused by limited space in the building. The district’s plans include a facelift of the existing building and additional space to be added in an expansion with additional classrooms, multi-purpose room, gym, library and music room space, ADA accessibility, technology and climate control.

During the meeting the board also approved a $219,500 bid from Colfax Corporations for an asbestos removal project at Tilton School. The project will take place during spring break and over the summer and will be completed by the time school starts in the fall. 

The bid from Colfax Corporations was the lowest the district received. District Business Manager Kevin Dale said the project will remove asbestos in the entire building. Asbestos removal work was already done in "a couple" classrooms last year, Dale said. 

Preschool

The board heard a report from District Assistant Superintendent Tony Doyle and Stepping Stones Preschool Director Yazmin Nambo on an idea to potentially expand the district's preschool offerings and utilize the currently-vacant May Elementary School building for that purpose.

Stepping Stones Preschool, located inside Lincoln Elementary School, currently serves 180 students and has a waiting list of about 40 kids. The district has a desire to serve students on the waiting list and recently received a preschool-for-all grant for two years (fiscal year 2025 and fiscal year 2026) that made it consider expanding its offerings. 

May School at 1033 N. 2nd St. was closed by the school board before the 2021-2022 school year as the district shifted to an attendance center model due to declining enrollment and an increase in the district’s dual language program, which was previously only offered at Lincoln and Central Elementary Schools. The district was facing a half-full May School before the decision was made.

The district has been holding meetings with stakeholders to determine what would be feasible and what would be required for preschool operations at May School. Nambo and Doyle said increased bathroom, playground, furniture, parking, safety and staffing needs would be among those that would have to be met for that to take place.

There are currently six preschool classrooms at Stepping Stones Preschool and a seventh would be located at May School. A final recommendation will be brought to the board at its March meeting for potential preschool operations at May School this fall. 

"The grant has allowed us to open up our imaginations on how we could provide more services," District Superintendent Jason Harper said. "We know we have kids in our community who are looking for preschool services who are not able to receive those opportunities. Since we're at capacity here, that's led us to look at other ways we can provide these services. The natural place has been May School. It's not exactly a perfect fit and comes with some potential challenges between now and potentially opening in August and other potential challenges after that to continue to work through."

Personnel

The board unanimously approved personnel changes including the employment of Alexis Bueno (math teacher at Rochelle Middle School, fiscal year 2026), Alyssa Reuff (English language arts teacher, RMS, FY26), Emily Bueno (preschool teacher, FY26), Holli Rapp (third grade teacher, FY26), Jennifer Dowdy (second grade teacher, FY26), Marilu Dougherty (district bilingual substitute, FY25), and Shannon Meier (shared district executive assistant/board secretary).