ROCHELLE — At its monthly meeting Tuesday, the Rochelle Elementary School District Board of Education heard an update from District Superintendent Jason Harper on the status of its HUB Program.
The grant-funded HUB Program is specifically targeted to support the district’s K-8 at-risk youth using a before and after-school model plus summer school. It provides educational activities for children and experiences such as field trips and members of the community coming in to do demonstrations for the students.
Harper said the HUB Program is finishing its third year of a three-year grant cycle following winning two five-year grant cycles for a total of 13 years.
District Assistant Superintendent Tony Doyle said a new grant cycle is coming out at the end of this month and the district has until the first week of August to apply.
"We've done a lot of preliminary work on applying," Doyle said. "October is the earliest we'll probably hear back. We are planning to provide the HUB Program to start the year under a more modified, scaled-back version to meet the needs of students. We're all set to go on that."
Facilities
Harper provided a district facilities update during the meeting and said all of the district's buildings with the exception of Tilton Elementary School recently underwent 10-year health life safety surveys. The board unanimously accepted the completed surveys during the meeting. The surveys concern the needs of each building.
Harper said the district will be working for the next several months to go through the priority lists the surveys yielded and a report will be presented in August on the takeaways and needs from the survey along with improvements made over this summer.
Tilton School underwent its 10-year health life safety evaluation early due to anticipated needs at the school. Renovation work is currently underway at the school. The board has a $14.237 million renovation and expansion project that began this summer and will be completed in phases through the summer of 2026.
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.
May Elementary School is also currently undergoing upgrades to prepare it for its opening as a preschool in the fall after being closed since before the 2021-2022 school year. A grant the district received to allow for preschool expansion will move its offerings from Lincoln Elementary School to May School. Upgrades will include the fitting of seven classrooms, bathrooms, and playground, along with security and lobby improvements.
Personnel
The board unanimously approved certified personnel changes including the resignation of Jordan Young (principal, Rochelle Middle School, effective June 30), the transfer of Katie Smith (RMS assistant principal to RMS principal, effective July 1), the transfers of Abeer Aljabari (paraprofessional to K-5 art teacher), Sol Garcia (bilingual third grade teacher to bilingual kindergarten teacher) and Marissa Luxton (Lincoln School librarian to Lincoln student growth coach) and the employment of Cosme Becerra (third grade bilingual teacher at Central School) and Trevor Stoos (eighth grade PE teacher, RMS).
The board also unanimously approved support staff personnel changes including the transfer of Jessica Bueno (paraprofessional, RMS to Lincoln) and the employment of Kaylee Brown (paraprofessional, Lincoln), Dani Carmichael (librarian, Lincoln), Enrique Lopez (substitute paraprofessional), Justin Montero (paraprofessional, RMS), Evelyn Ugalde (paraprofessional, Lincoln) and Teigan Young (paraprofessional, Lincoln).
EOY
The board approved end-of-fiscal-year action items including district health insurance renewal plans and the appointment of district auditors, attorneys and bank depositories, which all saw no change.
The board unanimously approved a food management bid for the next year with Arbor Management. The bid saw an increase of 2.5 percent from last year. The district has a five-year agreement with Arbor with an annual renewal.
"I think Arbor has done a nice job providing healthy varieties for our students," Harper said. "I think their workforce has been good to work with. We think the relationship and contract are good. I think the best sign is that the kids appear to be liking it."
The board will continue to meet on the second Tuesday of each month at the Lincoln School cafeteria.
Budgets
The board held a public hearing on an unanimously approved an amended fiscal year 2025 budget. District Business Manager Kevin Dale provided the board with updated revenues and expenditures in the amended budget and said it was amended due to current construction at schools and grants coming in. The fiscal year 2025 budget is at a $258,837 deficit across all funds.
Harper also said during the meeting that the district's fiscal year 2026 budget is in progress and is now on display for the public at the district office. That budget will be up for approval at the board's September meeting.
July
The board will not hold a July meeting next month. The board voted unanimously Tuesday to authorize the district office to conduct regular summer business operations during its off month from Tuesday to its next meeting Aug. 12, including hiring and paying bills.
