ROCHELLE — At its monthly meeting Tuesday, the Rochelle Elementary School District Board of Education unanimously approved a programming change at Stepping Stones Preschool that will see all six classrooms moving to a five day per week schedule in the spring semester. 

The district recently received a Preschool for All grant which requires qualified programming to meet five days per week to receive the funds. Students will attend five days for 2.5 hours a day. The district's previous model had two classrooms that went five days for 2.5 hours a day and four classrooms that went four days a week for three hours a day. The grant has been awarded for two years (fiscal year 2025 and fiscal year 2026).

Updates

The board heard updates during the meeting from Central Elementary School Principal Justin Adolph and Tilton Elementary School Principal Becky Cox on recent operations at their schools. 

Adolph said Central School has been focusing on student engagement and motivation this year, which was considered a "major need" by staff. The school has been trying to make students aware of goals and their progress. 

"We have a lot of graphs for the whole class, so they're seeing their whole class move," Adolph said. "And we found that to be really motivating."

Central School has also been working on its small group time and interventions for students, especially in reading. Teachers are met with monthly and goals are set for each student. Last month, 66 percent of students made their individual goal. 

Cox said Tilton School has been focusing on celebrating student successes this year. Each month the school hosts an assembly and celebrates students. The school recently took STAR testing to compare numbers to the fall.

"We've seen a lot of growth in our students," Cox said. "We have a number of students that got 50 points or greater on their scale score, which is tremendous growth for them."

The school has also seen a "steady decrease" in bus disciplinary referrals, Cox said. In the month of November, there were zero bus referrals for students at the school and kids celebrated with bonus recess.

The school has also implemented an alternative lunch option for students struggling in classrooms where they can join Cox or School Counselor Kelly Polz for lunch to work on reading and social skills. 

Maintenance

The board unanimously approved a new compensation plan for its maintenance department that stems from a rise in the state minimum wage. The change will take place starting with the spring semester and will see more experienced maintenance staff members receive an increase in pay.

Personnel

The board unanimously approved personnel changes for certificated employees including the employment of Alicia Brown (reading interventionist at Rochelle Middle School) and the transfer of Alexa Ochoa (long-term substitute at RMS to maternity substitute at Lincoln and Central Schools). Four support staff members were unanimously hired including Chance Bolin (paraprofessional, Central), Jessica Bueno (paraprofessional, RMS), Alexis Dreska (paraprofessional, Central), and Ahtziri Zepeda (paraprofessional, HUB Program). 

Extracurricular employment moves were also made including the employment of Kaylee Bearden (speech coach, Tilton), Nathaniel Genobana (head wrestling coach), Kim Lumzy (assistant girls basketball coach) and Trevor Silzer (assistant wrestling coach), along with the resignation of Rick Dornink (head boys basketball coach, end of 2024-2025 season).