Welcome

There’s nothing quite like the first day of school in Rockford—the buses rolling in, the laughter in the hallways, the proud parents snapping photos at the front doors. It’s a fresh start for all of us, and I couldn’t be more excited to see our students back and ready to learn.

Every year we focus on giving our Rockford Public Schools students every opportunity to succeed—whether that’s through innovative classrooms, strong extracurricular programs, or the caring guidance of our teachers and staff. This year will be no different.

Over the summer, our teachers, staff, and administrators have been working hard to make sure every student has the tools, support, and opportunities they need to thrive. We are focusing not only on academic excellence, but also on helping our students grow in character, creativity, and confidence. Whether in the classroom, on the stage, or on the athletic field, we are committed to preparing students for success.

In addition to the excitement of a new school year, we have an important vote coming this November. At the Board of Education meeting on Monday, August 11, the board approved a bond proposal for the November ballot. The bond proposal would ask our community to keep our millage rate the same in order to generate revenue to support a variety of projects in our district.  The projects are separated into two major categories and include the following:

Building for the future

Providing safe and functional spaces that support and enhance educational programs.

• Add air-conditioning to all remaining schools that need it.
• Improve safety and security by installing electronic door locks for all classrooms.
• Enhance entry circulation and safety by improving students' experiences and strengthen safety at Rockford HS and East Rockford MS.
• Gym and/or cafeterias will be added to all remaining elementary schools to allow them all to have separate gym and cafeteria spaces.
• Update aging infrastructure, such as: mechanical, electrical, plumbing, roofs, and outdated systems.
• Enhance outdoor facilities (restrooms, seating, entry/exit) to improve community experience.
• Update technology infrastructure. 
• Playground equipment upgrades to all remaining schools.
• Replace aging buses to maintain the replacement cycle to keep the bus fleet modern and safe. 

Advancing excellence

Creating learning environments that enhance innovation and opportunity. 

• Performing Arts Center renovation: new seats, stage, walls, and interior improvements. 
• Construction of the Ram Center: indoor turf fieldhouse for athletics, fine arts, and community recreation. Classroom spaces for digital media, sports marketing, and business programming. 
• Career exploration classrooms at Rockford HS: expanding hands-on learning through Robotics, Skilled Trades, STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts and Math), and Health Sciences. 
• Enhance students' experiences: renovating student-centered collaboration spaces. 
• Early childhood renovations: updating spaces to enhance programs for our youngest learners and to enhance safety. 
• Update educational technology

This proposal asks you, the voters, to keep our millage rate the same. Keeping the rate the same allows us to generate the revenue needed to support these facility improvements, needed maintenance, improve technology, and replacing buses. While the rate will stay the same, what a taxpayer pays is based on the value of a property. In Rockford, property values have been rising. Those rising property values allow us to generate the revenue needed to support these projects.

More information is available on our district website. 

I hope that you and your family have a great start to the new school year. I look forward to seeing you at school!