The Rochelle Township High School Board of Education on Monday, Nov. 17, heard a report from RTHS Principal Chris Lewis on the school’s Every Student Succeeds Act designation for the past year.

RTHS was graded as commendable. Schools can receive four designations: exemplary, commendable, targeted, and needs improvement/comprehensive. RTHS’s score was 86.73. In 2024, it received a score of 76.70 and in 2023 it received a 70.37 score. Graded items that make up the scores include English language arts proficiency, chronic absenteeism, climate survey, ninth graders on track to graduate, graduation rate, math proficiency, science proficiency and English language learning progress.

The cutoff for the exemplary designation was a score of 92.03. Lewis said RTHS has seen its graduation rate increase from 85 to 93% over two years and its chronic absenteeism drop from 33 to 17% over two years. Chronic absenteeism is when a student misses 10% or more days of school.

“I’m really proud of how far we’ve come in the past few years,” Lewis said. “We’re going to continue to work to improve these scores.”

Levy

The board unanimously approved its 2026 tax levy during the meeting. The increase was 4.99% over last year’s levy, which, due to being below 5%, did not require a truth in taxation hearing.

District Business Manager Kevin Dale said last month that the district will receive $536,813 more than last year due to increased costs associated with updating school facilities.

“We are also trying to capture all of the special education money available to us in the levy,” Dale said. “That’s the only fund we’re requesting the maximum amount for. Because that cost keeps elevating astronomically.”

Grant

The board voted unanimously to apply for an Illinois State Board of Education School Maintenance grant. If the grant is received by the district, the funds would be spent on updating RTHS’s fire alarm system.

The grant has been typically received by the district when it has applied for it and it includes up to $50,000 in matching funds.

“We have a 21-year-old fire alarm system in the school that is at the point of needing upgrades,” Dale said. “We felt like this was the best project to put this money towards and would replace it this summer from June to August.”

Solar

Superintendent Jason Harper said the district’s facilities committee has been recently working with solar power vendors regarding the potential installation of solar panels on district property in the future.

“We want to get a better idea of what, if any, options would make sense for the district,” Harper said. “We’ll continue to work on that in coming months and may have some action for the board to consider.”

Personnel

The board unanimously approved personnel changes, including the resignation of Joseph Howard (special education teacher, end of 2025-2026 school year) and the employment of Jennifer Beck (bus aide).