Dixon Public Schools: A look back at the top 5 stories of 2024

DIXON - Dixon Public Schools were busy in 2024 completing major renovation projects, expanding course offerings and sparking community conversations about student lunch debt.

Here’s a look at the issues that made an impact on the district in 2024:

Sixth school added to district’s lineup

After several years of planning, the goal of adding therapeutic day services to Dixon Public Schools District 170 was accomplished when Thomas J. Dempsey Therapeutic Day School opened its doors Aug. 14.

“A labor of love” is what Superintendent Margo Empen called the project.

[ Dixon Public Schools’ new therapeutic day school officially opens ]

The school, which serves kindergarten through 12th graders, provides special education services to students who experience difficulty in their home schools because of severe behavioral and/or emotional challenges. Before opening, in-need students were sent to locations that include the Quad-Cities, Rockford and Loves Park.

Dempsey functions as a “transition school” to fill in students’ emotional and social gaps in order for them to be successful at their home school, which is based on grade level within the district, Principal Janine Huffman said during a July 31 school board meeting.

By bringing those students back to Dixon, the district hopes to better incorporate them into the DPS community, Empen said at the meeting.

The school’s name was chosen by the school board in November 2023 in honor of the late Thomas Dempsey, a former special education teacher and principal of the former Nachusa – now Shippert – Campus.

Major updates to Career and Technical Education at Dixon High School

In an effort to increase student interest in the building trades, the district completed a $2 million renovation to the Career and Technical Education wing at Dixon High School.

[ Dixon Public Schools allocating $2M for improved Career and Technical Education space ]

The district’s goal was to make the classroom spaces more modern, as those facilities had not been renovated since 1959, Assistant Superintendent Doug Stansford said in a previous interview with Shaw Local.

Construction began May 30 and was completed in August.

Big items on the list were large new windows to make the space more inviting, interactive TV panels to display student projects and a space for new agriculture classes with easy access to the greenhouse outside.

In the metal and wood shops, updates included adding a full, separate classroom to both rooms; installing garage doors, donated by Raynor, for more natural light and access to outdoor areas; an extended mezzanine area for storage space; and new welding equipment.

The project was funded through a portion of the third round of Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief grants, which were first awarded to schools during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic as part of the federal pandemic relief effort.

Expanded course offerings at Dixon High School

A major part of the summer renovations at Dixon High School was converting a room into a classroom for its new agriculture program.

The school hasn’t offered agriculture classes since 1986, but three courses – intro to agriculture, animal science and horticulture – were added to its lineup of science class options for the 2024-25 school year.

About 90 students enrolled in the classes taught by new teacher Miranda Moen, who also facilitates Dixon’s new FFA chapter.

In Illinois, all students in agriculture classes are automatically part of FFA, although it’s up to them how much they choose to participate. At DHS, about 20 students are active in the organization, Moen said in a September interview.

The new ag classes were marked by growing student interest in the field, which Moen attributed to the hands-on nature of ag and the lessons they can directly apply to their own lives.

She gave an example from the horticulture class, where students will be growing their own plants in the school’s greenhouse.

In class, they will learn about plant nutrient deficiencies and pests. Out in the greenhouse, they’ll be able to see what is affecting the plant and figure out what they need to do to help the plant and watch it continue to grow.

“So it’s direct application right away rather than, like, ‘Oh, if you go into this career, you would use this.’ We’re using it here and now,” Moen said.

A celebration: Ronald Reagan’s centennial mark

The start of the 2024-25 school year also was a significant moment to remember the district’s history, as it marked 100 years since President Ronald Reagan began his freshman year at Dixon High School.

At an Aug. 21 school board meeting, Technology Director Jim Manley gave a presentation of DHS yearbooks from the years Reagan was a student there. He said that by celebrating this piece of history, the school hopes to show its students that “every one of them has the potential to achieve their goals and dreams.”

[ Dixon Public Schools to showcase century mark of Reagan beginning his high school years ]

In fall 1924, Reagan started classes at Dixon’s north side high school. Until 1929, when DHS’ current building opened, Dixon had two high school buildings that were known as the north side and south side schools, according to newspaper records from the Dixon Evening Telegraph.

During his high school years, Reagan was a member of the football team, participated in the boys “Hi-Y” Club – similar to today’s fellowship of Christian athletes, was elected student body president his sophomore year, was cast in two school plays and had three of his literary works featured in the 1928 yearbook, according to the yearbooks.

This concept that Reagan grew up in Dixon, wasn’t from a particularly wealthy family and didn’t have a lot of advantages but participated and went on to be the leader of the free world is the message the district wants to send to its current students, Manley said.

Community fundraiser to pay off student lunch debt

One initiative that members of the community took into their own hands this year was paying off the district’s student lunch debt – which totals about $9,625 – after a donation campaign was launched by the mother of a third-grade Jefferson Elementary student.

Destiny McElhinney began fundraising the week of Dec. 9, and the donations almost tripled after an article about the effort was published by Shaw Local on Dec. 17. The morning after it was published, Brett Nicklaus of Trinity Cares pitched in $2,000, which took Jefferson’s total balance of $1,168 to zero.

[ Donations paying off Dixon school’s student lunch debt spark larger conversation about school fees ]

“It just broke my heart when I read that article,” Nicklaus said in an interview with Shaw Local. “I told my wife I was going to call [McElhinney], and it took us less than a minute to decide that we were going to jump on board.”

The total donations made to Jefferson exceeded its total lunch debt balance. Those leftover donations were placed into a school lunch fund for future student debt, Principal Crystal Thorpe said.

The $930 balance at Washington Elementary also was paid off by an anonymous donor the night of Dec. 19, Nicklaus said.

As of Dec. 24, total donations have cleared almost half of the district’s total lunch debt, Nicklaus said.

To make a donation, go to the Trinity Cares website and put “nourish to flourish” – the campaigns tag line – in the memo. All donations will go directly to Dixon Public Schools' lunch debt.

Trinity Cares is a nonprofit organization that Nicklaus and his wife created about five years ago to raise money for various community needs as they arise. The organization also raised money and paid off a large portion of overdue lunch fees in Dixon Public Schools in 2020, Nicklaus said.

“When I saw that [article], I said, ‘I can’t believe we’re having the same issue right now,‘” he said.

Nicklaus' overall goal is to start an ongoing lunch debt fund for the district to ensure that the debt doesn’t build up again, he said.

“It’s been a cool little team-up with Destiny,” Nicklaus said. “She has made a statement. She wanted to help one kid and help the school, and now I think it could really blow up.”