ROCHELLE — At its monthly meeting Monday, the Rochelle Township High School Board of Education unanimously approved an intergovernmental agreement with the City of Rochelle to continue its school resource officer program with the Rochelle Police Department through July 1, 2027.

Rochelle Police Department Officer Jim Jakymiw will continue to serve RTHS’s SRO. Sydney Jackson serves as the elementary district SRO. The SRO program began in 2018.

The cost for the SRO program is $200,000 total annually for both officers' salaries and benefits. Schools will pay a prorated share of salary, benefits and training. The elementary school district will pay $3,750 or 33 percent per month for SRO services. The RTHS district will pay $7,500 or 66% per month for salary and benefits. Those numbers will increase on each Jan. 1 by agreed-upon numbers with RPD's union.

"We feel lucky and fortunate to have this ongoing relationship with RPD," Superintendent Jason Harper said. "We appreciate the support and guidance they give for all things safety and for all they do above and beyond the typical SRO relationship."

Facilities

The board heard a facility update from Harper and District Business Manager Kevin Dale. 

Paving and detention pond work have taken place recently at RTHS. Recent work also includes sound and lighting upgrades in the auditorium and a multi-year LED lighting change throughout the school.

RTHS's next upcoming large project will be upgrades to the library media center, which will take place in June 2025. 

Substitute pay

The board unanimously approved an increase in substitute teacher pay from $105 to $120 per day in an effort to attract more substitute teachers to the district and to be competitive with other school districts. 

Harper said the district will consider raising the pay more after the first semester if it seems necessary. 

Goals

During his monthly presentation, RTHS Principal Chris Lewis covered progress of metrics from the 2023-2024 school year and detailed goals for the 2024-2025 school year.

During the 2023-2024 school year, RTHS saw a decrease in chronic truancy from 33 to 30 percent, increased average daily attendance from 90 to 94 percent, saw an increase from 85 to 95 percent in students on track to graduate, and saw 108 AP tests, its highest number since 2019. Sixty percent of RTHS graduates left with some level of college credit. 

For the 2024-2025 school year, focuses include getting more students to the 2.8 GPA level for college readiness and improving ACT numbers.

Personnel

The board unanimously approved personnel changes including the resignations of Gloria Hoffman (bus driver), Bob Martineau (bus driver) and Dawn Winters (library aide) and the employment of Tim Carlson (driver's education instructor), Christian Marigomen (choir teacher), Bob Messer (bus aide), David Molgas Zepeda (bilingual teacher), Suzanne Sage (Focus House paraprofessional), Jennifer Simmons (library aide), Mary Coglianese (paraprofessional) and Chrissy Smardo (main office secretary).