December 10, 2024 Update

Good afternoon,

Our Rockford Public Schools’ Board of Education met on Monday, May 12. Key agenda items included the following:

• Approved an 11th grade English curriculum
• Approved updated policies
• Highlighted our DK-5th grade STEAM program

You can access the board meeting agenda on our district website or through this link: Board of Education - Our District - Rockford Public Schools

I also wanted to alert parents, especially of secondary students, about a TikTok challenge that seems to be making the rounds. Students across multiple school districts, including in Kent County, are deliberately causing electrical short circuits in Chromebook devices by inserting metal objects (paper clips, pushpins, pencil lead) into USB ports. The trend is called the #chromebookchallenge. This dangerous trend:

• Causes fires, smoke, and potential battery explosions
• Has led to school evacuations in multiple districts
• Creates serious safety hazards, including toxic fumes
• Results in costly device damage (which families may be responsible for)
• Can lead to suspension, expulsion, and criminal charges, including vandalism or arson
• Diverts unnecessary first responder resources to the school

If you could talk with your students and make them aware that this is not acceptable behavior, we would appreciate it. It could obviously lead to dangerous situations, but could also result in discipline. It would also lead to your family being responsible for replacing a Chromebook.

We have several graduation events coming in the next few weeks:

• Rockford High School – May 19
• River Valley Academy – May 29
• Rockford Adult Education – June 4

We congratulate the graduates and celebrate with them this good news!

Steve

Dr. Steve Matthews
Superintendent
Rockford Public Schools

Good afternoon,

Today at Rockford High School, in cooperation with our security and local safety partners, we brought in their trained dogs to do a protective sweep of our high school parking lot. This is a routine and preventive practice that helps keep our students and staff safe while at school.

Unfortunately, a member of our Rockford High School NITRO team, which is our high school skeet shooting team, had a long gun in the trunk of the car. The dogs reacted to the car and, upon investigation and with consent of the student, a search discovered a long gun in the trunk.

Administrators and our school resource officer investigated, including interviews with the student and the parents. The parents of the student were called, and the gun was removed from our campus. We are also taking the appropriate disciplinary action.

At no time was school safety compromised. It is clear from the investigation that there was no ill intent. It was an unfortunate mistake.

We offer a wide variety of activities for our students to be involved in at Rockford High School – including skeet shooting. Each sport has rules that students must follow as part of the team. The skeet shooting team knows they must keep long guns used in competition off of school property.

This unfortunate circumstance was handled without incident at the high school. I wanted to make sure you heard about this incident from me. Thus, this email.

Steve

Dr. Steve Matthews
Superintendent
Rockford Public Schools

Good afternoon,

Spring break is over, and we are headed into the last few weeks of school. Here are a few brief highlights from around the district:

Key updates from last night’s Board of Education meeting include the following:

• Recognized Jen Domagalski, the North Rockford and East Rockford Middle Schools’ athletic director, for being honored by the Michigan Interscholastic Athletic Administrators Association (MIAA) as the Region 14 Athletic Director of the Year.
• Approved strength and conditioning equipment for North Rockford Middle School. East Rockford already had this equipment. This new equipment supports our physical education program and will also be used by athletic teams.
• Approved a security technology contract (door alarms, security cameras, etc.)
• Celebrated good news from the state’s annual bus inspection program which gave each of our 70 buses a green tag. Congratulations to our transportation office and our mechanics for this great news!!                                                                                                     

Additional Board of Education information can be found under the “Our District” link, then Board of Education, on our website. 

This year we had 14 Odyssey of the Mind teams qualify for state competition. Of those 14 teams,  4 Rockford teams will be headed to World Finals in May. There they will compete against 800 teams from around the world.  

There are two one act plays coming to the Rockford High School Black Box Theater. Off Road and The 146 Point Flame will be presented April 30th, May 1st and May 2nd at 7:00 PM.

Into the Woods Jr., the underclassman play, will be presented on May 8th, May 9th, and May 10th.

Tickets are available at Ludus - ROCKTIX.

Enjoy this week’s spring weather!

Steve

Dr. Steve Matthews
Superintendent
Rockford Public Schools

Good afternoon,

Kindergarten registration is ongoing. If you have or know of a family that has a kindergarten eligible student our enrollment link on the front of our website will guide you through the enrollment process.

Our new 4th grade Outdoor Learning classroom will begin this fall. Any 4th grade student in the district can apply to participate. More information and the application link can be found here: Outdoor Learning - Academics - Rockford Public Schools

We had an outstanding winter season. Our bands, choirs, and orchestras at middle and high school performed solo and ensemble district and regional festivals. Their ratings were exceptional.

Our athletic teams had a wonderful winter season. Here are the highlights.

Spring has officially begun. Spring break starts next week. I hope that you have a chance to relax and that our Michigan weather cooperates to give us some pleasant days.

Steve

Dr. Steve Matthews
Superintendent
Rockford Public Schools

Good afternoon,

We have been alerted that there is a nationwide scam targeting students via their school email. 

The scam originated from a spoofed school email and was sent to other district email addresses. The scam begins with fake job posting emails containing Google Form links. After a victim completes these forms, the victim is contacted by email account Jaredharvey001@gmail.com. This initial email exchange quickly escalates to violent threats for money coming from random phone numbers. The scammer deposits fraudulent funds or sends checks for the victim to deposit into the victim’s account. These transactions appear legitimate but are later reversed after the victim sends real money. The fraudster uses intimidation tactics including death threats and claims of law enforcement connections to create panic and force quick payments. A review of social media posts confirms this is a common scam where the pending deposits eventually disappear, leaving victims with financial losses.

The original email comes with an "APPLY NOW" google form link. 

I would encourage you to talk with your teenage children to alert them to this scam and others like it. Reinforce that they should be wary of unsolicited emails and that they should not share personal information in response to emails like this.

This appears to be an advanced financial scam, specifically targeted at students and young adults who are actively seeking employment. The targeting of students can be strategic - they often have limited financial experience, urgent need for income, and may be reluctant to seek help due to embarrassment or potential judgement. This scam combines elements of employment/financial fraud and intimidation tactics that could dangerously impact educational environments. The violent nature of the threats also presents a genuine safety concern that elevates this beyond typical financial fraud into a potential school security issue.

If students have encountered or fallen for this scam, here are some things they should be told:

• You're not alone - these scammers target thousands of people with sophisticated tactics designed to manipulate them.
• Report it immediately - talk to your SRO, school security, or a trusted adult without delay. The faster you report it, the better chance of minimizing damage.
• Do not send any money or gift cards, regardless of the threats. These are empty intimidation tactics.
• Save all communications as evidence - screenshots, emails, texts, and call logs.
• Contact your bank immediately if you've shared financial information or notice suspicious transactions.
• Block the sender on all platforms, but don't delete the evidence.
  
  

We wanted to alert you so that you can talk with your children to be aware of and alert to scams such as this that can lead to negative outcomes.

We have made our administrators and staff aware of this as well. If your child is targeted, please feel free to reach out to let us know. We want to make sure that we protect our students.

Steve

Dr. Steve Matthews
Superintendent
Rockford Public Schools