ROCHELLE — At its monthly meeting Tuesday, the Rochelle Elementary School District Board of Education heard an update on recent facility work from District Business Manager Kevin Dale. 

Dale recapped work that has been done in recent months at district facilities. That work has included adding on to the parking lot at Tilton Elementary School, removing asbestos tiles in all the hallways and two classrooms at Tilton and replacing it with new tile, and a geothermal borefield project that recently wrapped up.

At its last meeting in June, the board unanimously approved a resolution to issue a maximum of $11,163,432 in general obligation school bonds for renovations at Tilton Elementary School and possible future work at its other schools.

The June approval was the culmination of a months-long process of securing funding for the Tilton work. The district is currently in the process of $14-16 million worth of needed renovations at Tilton School after finding in a health life safety evaluation that an estimated $7.9 million worth of work is required at the school for those issues. Health life safety concerns the physical safety of the building for students and staff to occupy. Along with funding from bonds, the district is utilizing $6-8 million from its reserves for other improvements involving security and spatial concerns including pick-up and drop-off areas. The work will be done in a three-year plan.

Dale provided preliminary information to the board Tuesday on starting on concept design for future renovation work at Tilton School. 

"Moving forward, we're still working with our architects on design over the next two years," Dale said. "We're looking at going out to bid for some of the renovations and new improvements by December. We have a committee that will soon start talking about designs and colors and we'll put all of that together to get it out to bid to meet the timelines."

For longer-term plans at Tilton School, the district is tying in health life safety needs with recommended security enhancements and staff needs and wants, namely limited space in the building. The district has looked at designs and ideas with various options for the facelift of the existing building and additional space to be added in an expansion with additional classrooms, multi-purpose room, gym, library and music room space, ADA accessibility, technology and climate control.

The long-term Tilton work is hoped to be finished in the summer of 2026 for the start of the 2026-2027 school year. Renovation and new construction would be tied in for the same time to start early in 2025. The project would take 12-14 months. Tilton School was built in 1949.

Rochelle Middle School underwent a furniture overhaul this summer, Dale said.

"Just about every single classroom received new furniture and there's new cafeteria tables," Dale said. "We wanted to get that updated because it had older furniture. Just about every classroom has been updated to new furniture with chairs, desks and tables."

Lincoln and Central Elementary Schools were also the site of minor furniture upgrades.

Lincoln, Central and May School are currently undergoing their 10-year health life safety assessments to determine their improvement needs. Tilton already underwent its assessment a year early due to expected needs, which started its improvement process.

Superintendent Jason Harper said the school board's ad-hoc facilities committee will remain into fiscal year 2025 as the district works on the needs of its facilities.

CBA

Following executive session, the board unanimously approved a new four-year collective bargaining agreement with the Rochelle Elementary Education Association. REEA membership ratified the contract agreement on Aug. 5. The new contract coincides with the start of the 2024-2025 school year, which started Wednesday. 

The new agreement includes a four-percent increase on teacher base pay each year,

formalizes several district level committees to increase teacher input and increases teacher access to opportunities for professional development. The agreement also provides the district with a financial avenue for recruiting new certified staff members for historically hard to fill positions.

“Negotiations were amicable and relatively quick, with both sides dedicated to balancing the needs of the district with the well-being of the teachers in a collaborative effort to best serve our students,” Jeannette Mingus, REEA co-president, said.

Substitute pay

The board unanimously approved an increase in substitute teacher pay from $105 per day to $120 per day. The district surveyed other area schools on what they pay substitute teachers and recommended the increase.

"Keep in mind this is the last year of the state's increase on hourly minimum wage to $15," Harper said. "This increase keeps us slightly ahead of minimum wage."

Budget

Dale said the upcoming fiscal year's budget will be presented at the September meeting and a public hearing will be held before it goes up for approval. He said there are still figures that need to be added, but it currently shows the district's budget will be in the black by about $100,000.

Personnel

The board unanimously approved personnel changes including the certified employment of Melissa Frankfother (special education teacher, Tilton), Haydin Sorrentino (sixth grade ELA teacher) and Jennifer Gonzalez (eighth grade bilingual special education); and the certified resignations of Christie Billeter (reading interventionist, RMS) and Katherine O'Neil (sixth grade ELA teacher).