"We had 540 kids in our sample size this semester who attended school more than 95 percent of the time. We had 431 last year, so we’ve added over 100 kids. We have more kids coming to school everyday and we have more kids on track to graduate.”

Dr. Chris Lewis

Rochelle Township High School
1401 East Flagg Road
Rochelle, IL 61068
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ROCHELLE — RTHS Principal Dr. Chris Lewis provided an update to the Rochelle School District 212 Board of Education on December graduation statistics as well as school attendance and current deficiency rates during the board’s monthly meeting on Tuesday evening.

Lewis said that eight students graduated from RTHS in December. Of the eight students, Lewis said that five were RTHS students, while one was a Chana student, one was a FLEX student and another was a fifth-year student. With the second semester underway, Lewis said that students will begin talking with counselors about preparing for the 2024-25 school year. 

“In February, counselors will begin entering classrooms, making various presentations and working with students on their four-year plans,” Lewis said. “We’ll have summer school sign-ups in March and we’ll finalize those numbers so that we can create our master schedule in April. We’ll make any corrections we need to in May and then we’ll disseminate those schedules.”

Lewis noted that attendance during the fall semester improved from the attendance rate during the 2022-23 school year. Lewis said the school’s goal was to achieve a 92.9 percent attendance rate, halfway between the 2022-23 rate of 90 percent and the five-year high mark of 95.8 percent. Lewis also said the school aimed to lower its chronic truancy rate to 19 percent, halfway between last year’s rate of 24 percent and the five-year low mark of 14 percent.

“If kids are here for 95 percent or more, then 97 percent of them will be on track to graduate,” Lewis said. “If they’re here for less than 90 percent, then that rate drops to about 87 percent. Being in school really matters. We had 540 kids in our sample size this semester who attended school more than 95 percent of the time. We had 431 last year, so we’ve added over 100 kids. We have more kids coming to school everyday and we have more kids on track to graduate.”

Lastly, Lewis said that the number of kids who are deficient (D+ or lower) has decreased from the 2022 fall semester. Citing data presented during Tuesday’s meeting, Lewis noted that the number of students with failing grades dropped from 235 to 139 from fall 2022 to fall 2023.

Budget

Business Manager Kevin Dale presented a mid-year budget update during the Tuesday board meeting. Dale said the district is on track with its current budget and the district has about 35 percent of revenues to collect, which will come when tax payments arrive at the end of June. Dale also said that about 27.5 percent of the original budget is left for future expenditures.

Personnel

The board approved personnel changes including the resignations of Rebekah Nicolosi (bus driver), Heidi Rattansavahn (bus driver) and Jose Villalobos (technology support specialist) as well as the employment of Monica Mesenbrink (long-term/full-time substitute).

Instructional Coaching

Superintendent Jason Harper said Tuesday that RTHS Assistant Principal Dr. David Perrin has been working with the district’s non-tenured teachers in an instructional coaching role. Harper said the role is due to many non-tenured teachers not having as much student teaching time due to the COVID-19 pandemic. With Perrin set to retire, Harper said the district would like to hire someone to continue working in an instructional coaching role to foster student growth.

“Our goal is to continue these services into the future,” Harper said. “That could become a part-time instructional coaching model or a full-time FTE position. I want the board and the public to know that a future recommendation will come up. Mr. Dale and I along with Dr. Lewis and our administrative staff have worked through the budget and we feel comfortable with the personnel expense that will come… Our purpose is to prepare students for their tomorrow.”

Next Meeting

Due to the Presidents Day holiday, the Rochelle School District 212 Board of Education meeting will be held on Tuesday, Feb. 20 instead of Monday, Feb. 19. The meeting will be held at 5:30 p.m.