Welcome

Good afternoon,

Last Thursday night, November 20th, is a night that a group of Rockford High School girls won’t soon forget.

Why? Because their hearts were broken.

Our Rockford High School girls’ volleyball team had achieved a lot this year. Ranked number one. One loss on the season. Winners in every way.

But last Thursday, in the state Division One semi-final, they lost. Their second match loss of the year.

These students will never forget that game. Years from now they will look back and wonder - minds filled with "what-ifs" and "if we had just . . .”

But, from where I sit, I believe that our students will also not forget that game because they will recognize - not today, not tomorrow, maybe not for a while - that success is difficult to achieve. This game came at the end of a long season. They had worked hard. They had been at it since the middle of August. They had played through injury and exhaustion and frustration. They had found joy in being together and supporting one another. 

Now as the seasons had changed and the days had become shorter, and as the final goal was within sight, they lost. Through the season they had managed to find ways to win, reaching within one game of playing for a championship.

It’s a lesson we all learn. But it is a hard lesson.

Our boys’ water polo team, football, boys’ soccer, our marching band. All learned similar life lessons this fall.

I am proud of our girls’ volleyball team, just as I am proud of every Rockford team. We support athletics and extracurriculars and provide opportunities because it helps our students learn lessons. Lessons in teamwork and hard work and resilience and grit.

And lessons in how to move on once your heart is broken.

Sometime in the next couple of weeks you will receive a survey. It is a bond follow up survey. I would appreciate if you would complete it and give us your thoughts on how we might begin to move forward. It will ask about priorities, and it will help us identify what might be next for us.

Our winter collage concert is coming – December 10 and 11. Tickets are free, but you must have a ticket to attend. You can find tickets starting November 26 at rocktix.org.

I hope that you have a great Thanksgiving. When we return it will be December!

Steve
Dr. Steve Matthews
Superintendent
Rockford Public Schools