Rockford Public Schools Board candidate Q&As

Click on the question to see each candidate's answer.

Can you sum up why you want to be a member of the RPS205 school board in one sentence?

What are three issues you would say are top priorities you’d look forward to addressing if elected?

What programs or initiatives at RPS do you think do great work and deserve more praise? 

There have been several community protests at RPS 205 board meetings over the past few months. There was even a physical confrontation with a former board member. How would you build trust and transparency with the Rockford community?

The graduation rate at RPS205 is 65.6% That’s more than 20 percentage points below the state average. Low-income students’ graduation rate is only 50%. The rate for Black students is just 53%. How can the district support students who may be at risk of not graduating?

Black & Hispanic students make up over 60% of the student population. But Black & Hispanic teachers only make up 8% of the teacher workforce. How can RPS recruit & retain more teachers of color? 

RPS has consistently ranked near the top of the state for suspensions & expulsions. The district re-wrote the student code of conduct last year to try to reduce exclusionary discipline. Do you think exclusionary discipline policies should only be used as a last resort?

Do police officers have an everyday role in schools? If so, what is that role?

The chronic absenteeism rate at RPS is twice the state average. The district ranks near the top of Illinois in student mobility rate (the percentage of students who experienced at least one transfer in or out of the school between the first school day of October and the last school day of the year). How can the district support and engage with its students and families who face the most disruption?

Over the past year, school boards have faced a record number of challenges on school library books, mostly about gender identity and sexual orientation. If that happens at RPS, how would you weigh the voices of parents, students & school library professionals? 

The pandemic has been incredibly disruptive for so many students and families. What lessons do you think school districts should take away from that experience?

What do you think of the job the current RPS administration, including the superintendent, is doing?

What’s an education issue you think is more important than some people may realize?

Note: Q&As have been edited for length and clarity.

Can you sum up why you want to be a member of the RPS205 school board in one sentence?

Lisa Jackson: I'm concerned about the direction that our district is going.

Kimberly Haley: I want RPS 205 to be the first choice of parents, employers, and students.

Juan Reyes: I want to help the children, parents and teachers

Denise Pearson: [With] the issues I've already brought to the board, some of the board members felt like it would be best to wait until other board members join me on the board to bring up those issues, such as creating policies where it relates to fair practices and hiring -- the only way that you're going to hold an organization accountable is through policy -- so I want to be a part of completing those efforts.

Jude Makulec: With all seven seats up for re-election, guaranteed four new members, possibility of six new members, I think my experience on the board is going to provide the historical and institutional knowledge to help mentor new members, and governing this very complex $580 million organization.

Nicole Bennett: I want to be on the school board, because I'm a parent, and I have a personal vested interest in the education that is provided to her.

Return to Questions

What are three issues you would say are top priorities you’d look forward to addressing if elected? (or issues currently on your mind if you are already a board member)

Lisa Jackson: To increase 3rd grade reading and math scores. To increase our high school graduation rates. Then No. 3 is to decrease in school and out-of-school suspensions and expulsions. Historically, Black kids have the highest incidence of student discipline, whether in-school or out-of-school expulsions. [RPS] has been Top 5 in the state [in exclusionary discipline].

Kimberly Haley: Currently, the board has in place three initiatives that they're moving forward [with], that's 3rd grade on-track, middle school on-track and high school on-track. One of my main initiatives is, of course, those three, but to also focus on early childhood education. If they're already at a deficit by the time they get to 3rd grade -- it's just an uphill battle.The second initiative I'm focusing on is vocational education.I currently work at Rock Valley College as a Student Services Advisor at the Advanced Technology Center in Belvedere. So I advise for CNC mechatronics and welding programs, because those are the skills that we are needing in our region. So, to build that up. The third one is to have parents involved in the school.

Juan Reyes: The 3rd grade literacy, middle school on-track and the graduation rate. Middle school is where you start to kind of groom them in the sense of looking at what they want to do in the workforce.

Denise Pearson: Early childhood education is absolutely vital. A lot of people focus on 3rd-grade literacy, but if you fix the problems in early childhood education, it kind of sets the pace for the rest of their educational experience. However, some students do very well in elementary school, and then they go to middle school and they're faced with new challenges, new friends, new environment, and they lose balance. They lose track, they lose focus, they may have some behavior issues and, before you know it, they're facing 9th grade. And because they weren't successful in middle school, the challenge doubles in high school. So those are the Top 3.

Jude Makulec: At the top of the list would be attendance. My second would be literacy. My third would be adaptive learning. That would include any behavioral components that we're working with in the district, and how we're doing that with adaptive environments within our system.

Nicole Bennett:My first priority is working on the middle school on-track rate. So, currently, there is a large need for high school graduation rates to increase so we have people entering the workforce in a productive and successful manner. However, if we can't get students into high school, we're not going to be able to work on that. There is research out of Johns Hopkins University called Early Warning Response System Data. From this data, I created an initiative called Move the Middle. From that initiative, you review attendance, behavior, course performance, and any social emotional data that you have on a student. From that data you can identify as soon as the student becomes on track. So, putting more resources in the school, more intervention supports, whatever referrals that family needs. My second priority is trauma support in the school. Partnering with community organizations to be able to get those resources to students. The number one reason teachers are citing leaving their profession currently is because of behavior. And sometimes that's an unintentional consequence of a trauma reaction. So my third priority is incorporating student voices. So, incorporating them in decision making and making sure that their voices rise to the level of the board. So being at schools and spaces that matter to them and interacting with them in ways to make sure that they know that they matter and that I am a representative in addition to the other six people on the board, to really guide their buildings, their classrooms and their educational experience.

Return to Questions

What programs or initiatives at RPS do you think do great work and deserve more praise? 

Lisa Jackson: I looked at the strategic plan of the district. I think all three of these [top priorities] are actually in the district strategic plan. I am glad that the district is realizing that there is a need in all of these areas.

Kimberly Haley: One of the tasks RPS 205 has undertaken is their diversity initiative where they are placing more funding at schools with the most need. One of those standout schools is Haskell Elementary. More funding has been placed there to support the students who were previously extremely underperforming. They've raised their literacy scores by 20% in a matter of a year. The other initiative that RPS 205 has is the Right Place to Start program. Students take community college classes while they're in high school for dual credit. In some cases, they're able to obtain an Associate degree and a high school diploma at the same time.

Juan Reyes: There are a lot of programs after school, the baccalaureate programs. But for me, I look at things like a business, because I know the school district is a business. I look at it going, well, there's good things, but at the end of the day, our report card is still saying our kids are down here. It's like the old saying goes ‘Don't confuse activity and success.’ Right now, for me, to be honest with you, looking at that question, I don't see anything right now that is great and deserves more praise. I really don't.

Denise Pearson: Everyone knows [teacher shortages] are a global problem. Our paraprofessionals have the opportunity to go to school to be teachers. RPS 205 has a partnership with Rockford Promise. Those students that earn a 3.0 GPA are able to go to NIU tuition free. There’s the Running Start program. There's opportunities made available for our students who have an interest in continuing education in the area of teaching. It is not a secret, behavior issues that we have in RPS 205. Washington Park Community Center has an alternative school suspension program. So, when students are suspended, they can go to Washington Park and continue their homework and decrease learning loss. When kids get suspended and there's no adult supervision, they're more likely to get in trouble. So, developing those partnerships, and making educational opportunities available are some things RPS doesn't get enough credit for.

Jude Makulec: It's really hard to narrow that list. You hear all the bad stuff, but we're doing a lot of things right. We're doing preschool right. We have almost 3,000 students in preschool. We have Haskell, that used to be our year round program that was not doing well. We turned it into a STEAM Academy. We have a waiting list. Their scores have gone up 20% last year, and they look to go up another 10% this year. We have Barbour. It's a two-way language immersion. All the students by 8th grade are fluent in English and Spanish. They're getting college credit for language proficiency. I think our high school academies with all the opportunities for certifications for careers or for college preparedness. The gifted program at Marshall. Roosevelt High School, that's an alternative learning environment, doing well and providing a lot of opportunities for students who aren't successful in a traditional large high school. We have a medical clinic. We actually have collaborative agreements with cosmetology places in town. They'll come and cut students' hair. We have the Running Start programs for Rock Valley College so you can end up as a senior also with an Associate degree. I don't think everybody realizes how many collaborations we have with the community -- $4.5 million worth. We have great professional development for our teachers during the summer. I think we're doing a lot of good things in the district, and that's just a short list.

Nicole Bennett: Yeah, one of the initiatives that I am really excited about is Rockford Promise. Being able to get the college experience available to students that it might not have been readily available. As a first generation college student, it was very difficult for me to navigate that space so [it would have been helpful] to have a mentor working with me. You have to work to have a 3.0 GPA, but you're in a public school and you're working hard and there's kind of a goal for you to work towards -- I think that’s awesome. And also, this is not an initiative, but I think something worth mentioning is the longevity of the staff at RPS. I've been able to speak with bus drivers, nutrition services, paraprofessionals and teachers who have 15-20 plus years in this district. It is amazing that people have put their time and effort and spent their career at RPS working in their own community, continuing to send their children to the district and working to improve it. I think that's a really good asset of RPS.

Return to Questions

There have been several community protests at RPS 205 board meetings over the past few months. There was even a physical confrontation with a former board member. How would you build trust and transparency with the Rockford community?

Lisa Jackson: When I was on the board, I learned I needed to understand that, whatever concerns they brought forward to me, I needed to listen to them and I needed to try to help them. You can't be in a position of leadership and because you don't agree with what someone says that you become upset about it. You have to have a very open mind.

Kimberly Haley: I think we let the community know that you're more than welcome to attend the board meetings. I think our administration as a board is open to open dialogue and to hear from our community and what their concerns are. I think people should attend those board meetings to voice their concerns, and as a board we should address every concern a community member has and follow up.

Juan Reyes: Getting more involved. I know people say this, but true and full transparency. I’ll give you an example. A couple of weeks ago, the [board] president Jude Makulec said, we're going to have a new curriculum coming out. I took the liberty to ask a couple parents, ‘do you guys know about this?’ ‘No, we didn't know anything about it.’ If I'm elected, it's going to be full transparency. My district alone or whoever wants to be involved is going to know what's going on with the district.

Denise Pearson: Simply one word: transparency. I know the community would like all the details all the time. That's not always possible, because you have to consider confidentiality and any possible legal matters. But I don't think the community should have to wait until an apparent leak of information. Making the community aware of situations will help earn that trust back. But if you give an impression you're hiding information, that perception will definitely interfere with trust.

Jude Makulec: Communication is No. 1. We, as a current board, are developing a framework -- and this will go into effect in the fall. We're expecting about 200 members, a combination of students, parents, staff, and community partners. we would have groups meeting quarterly in each of the quadrants -- probably thematic. For example, attendance. Get everybody together, what is the issue? Why are kids not in school? Have the students explain from their perspective, and then a responsiveness from the adults as to how to deal with that. So, that's how I think we need to keep engaged with the community. We used to have more formal structures that we moved away from with the pandemic. Moving back into that, I think, it would be regularly scheduled and, again, voices from all aspects of those participating in our district.

Nicole Bennett: I have met with so many different parents and stakeholders and community members. From those conversations, I’ve received lots of different endorsements from the Rockford Chamber of Commerce, the teachers union, the paraprofessional nutrition and bus union, Northwestern Illinois Building Trades. But what I really appreciate is as a social worker, we are master problem solvers. We are skilled at listening to somebody else's side of a point of view and being able to kind of marry those ideas together and conflict resolution. And I think just being transparent. And I think sometimes in our school district people have not been willing to talk about problems that exist. So, people lose trust right away because if they feel as though you're not being honest, what reason would they have to trust you? And so I want to also be present in buildings. One of the things I have heard in the community is that school board members are inaccessible, they're not in spaces where they are making choices, that they are presiding over.

Return to Questions

The graduation rate at RPS205 is 65.6% That’s more than 20 percentage points below the state average. Low-income students’ graduation rate is only 50%. The rate for Black students is just 53%. How can the district support students who may be at risk of not graduating?

Lisa Jackson: We have to increase the students on grade level in 3rd grade. That will get us on the right track. We don't do that. Sometimes we wait. It's going to be harder to get those students to graduate. There might be some tutoring that's available. But I really think we have to get kids before they get to that point. It’s too hard to try to bring them back from that brink of failure.

Kimberly Haley: There has been an increase in the [graduation] on-track levels and literacy rates from 2019 to 2022. There have been some improvements in those academic levels. Of course, they're not where we want to see them. I voiced the concern that we are seeing huge gains with our Hispanic population, but our Black population still remains low as far as achievement rates and our white population is flat. We have to look at those metrics altogether, if we're going to move the district forward. We need to offer extra tutoring,we do have community partners who work individually with students to address social or emotional issues or traumatic issues they're dealing with that may be preventing them from learning in the classroom. We have to get more parents involved and more aware of what's available to them as a support to their students. We can't just say these are the numbers and blame it just on truancy. We need to find out why students are truant, what are those underlying reasons that are keeping them? We can't treat it as a blanket issue.

Juan Reyes: We got to stop sending kids through when we know that they're in trouble. Have you ever heard of the statement, ‘the soft bigotry of low expectations?’ They're trying to say just because where you were born or grew up and your economic disadvantage, that it should be, ‘Hey, we’ve got to help these people.’ We’ve got to teach people how to overcome that. I hate to say cliches, like, oh, the American Dream, but I'm kind of that person. I grew up in a family of 11, single mom. Yes, we were very poor. But I told myself that I wasn't going to be a statistic. I'm not going to say I'm rich. I'm living comfortably. I have three businesses. I've done really well for myself, and that's what I want to teach our children today. We’ve got to start from the family and we got to start with the community and try to help encompass everybody.

Denise Pearson: Being on track to graduate, and this is a harsh reality, is not solely RPS 205’s responsibility. We play a big part in that, but the students must be present. They must do what they came to school to do, which is earn an education. When you look at the attendance rate, we don't always look at the contributing factors and why it's a problem. There are single parent homes where the parent has to get to work, and may have multiple children. The eldest may frequently have to stay home with the younger sibling. That, of course, creates an attendance problem. Ithink, in that case, once again it goes back to trust. Parents have to feel comfortable to go to administrators and have those conversations and say, ‘I'm struggling.’

Jude Makulec: Adaptive learning. Not everybody is successful in large environments. What I see happening in middle and high school, but also we can have this in elementary schools, is looking at adaptive learning environments -- smaller classroom sizes either within the same building or having them quadrant models. Teachers can be really intentional not only in the learning, but the behavior and the work with the families. I visited Summit, which is our regional learning academy, recently and one of the things they're doing is when students are unsuccessful is instead of having them start four different classes -- and they do them asynchronously on computers -- but to do one at a time. They have a timeframe to get through a class, like in 14 days. So the student can really focus. When they're trying to do too many things at once or they're unsuccessful in one, it kind of bleeds over into other areas. I think there's a lot we can do with that to make students feel successful, and also to move the bar on our graduation rate.

Nicole Bennett: We really need to look at those really early years. As soon as a student is off track, we have to do something about it. We have to be able to put in support and accommodation, do something differently for them. All of our students learn in different ways. So, getting supports into students' lives as soon as we possibly can. I continue to say this over and over. These things do not have to cost the district money. These are programs that already exist, already have federal funding, state funding, local funding, all kinds of different grants that have been received to improve our community. The number one thing teachers tell me they need is more people in the buildings, they need more support, they need more help. Schools are meant to teach children absolutely. But if a child is not fed, a child does not feel safe, is worried about a sibling, worried about their parent in their home, they're not going to learn.

Return to Questions

Black & Hispanic students make up over 60% of the student population. But Black & Hispanic teachers only make up 8% of the teacher workforce. How can RPS recruit & retain more teachers of color?

Lisa Jackson: During my time on the board, I championed the Diversity Council. It was a council created to not just recruit diverse teachers, but also to retain them. If we want to go to HBCUs and recruit, we have to have something to recruit them to in Rockford. I envisioned us working with our chambers, visiting bureaus, and our city council to make Rockford a place where those teachers would want to come and live.

Kimberly Haley: The board has several initiatives in place and just like hiring has been down anywhere, it's hard to gain and retain talent. It's not unique for the school board. So, currently Rockford Public Schools are looking within. They're offering opportunities for their paraprofessionals or pretty much any employee in the district who has the desire to be a teacher to have a pathway to go to school and gain those credentials to become a teacher. We have pathways with NIU and Rockford University. But also we have another initiative that we're working with HBCUs to recruit teachers of color. The current initiative is working with Central State University. We also offer a housing initiative for people to move into this area, hopefully to attract new talent.

Juan Reyes: That's not a priority for me. I don't care if they're yellow, green, or purple, as long as they can teach our children. I know the focus is on trying to unite someone that has the same experience, I get that. 100% I’m for that. It starts from the top. We, as a school district, need to work with our politicians and go, ‘Our taxes are really high. Our school taxes are really high. What can we do?’ Even though we have great programs, you're not really fixing the problem.You're just kind of putting a bandaid on it. So, to retain good teachers, regardless of Hispanic, Blacks, whites, whatever. -- we’ve got to start with our politicians and work together to go ‘How can we make either tax breaks for teachers or incentives of some sort. We’ve got to stop thinking to ourselves, it has to be Black, Brown. I feel as a Hispanic male, that we're kind of dividing ourselves. That's what I don't want.

Denise Pearson: Since I've been on the board, we have a chief executive director of equity, diversity and inclusion Dr. Antoine Reed, who is really putting forth a very genuine and strenuous effort in retaining or recruiting African American teachers. That is connecting with those HBCUs. It has been said that African American students learn better [when African American teachers are present], because they have a role model, someone that looks like them, and it gives them hope to look forward to something. We also have to keep in mind that the starting salary for teachers could come across rather insulting. So, that is a major issue.

Jude Makulec: We are looking for more of a grow-your-own situation, it's really hard. We're competing with the rest of the nation, not only is there a teacher shortage, but a shortage of minority teachers. We're offering staff who are parent liaisons, behavior specialists, people who are already in our schools, we will pay to send them to Northern Illinois University so that they can get a teaching license. We are working with the state on something called the Grow Your Own initiative for Black male teachers. There'll be 10 Teachers starting in that program next year. We have a relationship with a Historically Black University in Ohio. We offer our students who come here as student teachers, we pay them $15,000-a-year, give them full benefits, give them a $750-a-month housing allowance, so we capture their interest and get them in a building so they start a relationship and hopefully will stay with us. We have a pathway we start with our students in middle school and then goes through high school all the way through Rockford University for developing teachers. We have a lot of initiatives in terms of hiring bonuses. We have $3,000 or $5,000 depending on what you teach. If you're a science [teacher] you're $5,000. If you're in Special Ed, it's up to $8,000. We will send our teachers for Master's degree either in a content specific area or if they want to be a principal. We have additional housing incentives to try to keep our teachers here. We offer to pay like 10% of a new house and as long as they stay in that house for five years, they don't have to pay us anything back. It's totally forgivable. If they leave they pay based on how long they've been with us. I think we're really reaching out and trying to honor our teachers and their professionalism and development to retain them in the district.

Nicole Bennett: In my work in the middle schools, there was an equity team that was created. I was a part of that work. There was a lot of surveying of students, surveying of staff, in addition to the whole district. A lot of it really did boil down to safety and belonging. So, individuals who work in the buildings or go to different buildings in the school district do not feel a sense of belonging. Students of color and people of color don't feel as though these spaces were made for them or that accommodations are made -- and that's not accurate. there's lots of there's like multiple different initiatives that currently exist. So, different partnerships with universities to try to recruit staff, and those are great. But in terms of retention, we have to make sure that our buildings are diverse, and that we are using students’ voices and their experiences to be able to make changes. I think the retention issue is also [about] respect. So, making sure people are acknowledged for all of their years of service and all of their great performance they have had with students in our buildings.

Return to Questions

RPS has consistently ranked near the top of the state for suspensions & expulsions. The district re-wrote the student code of conduct last year to try to reduce exclusionary discipline. Do you think exclusionary discipline policies should only be used as a last resort?

Lisa Jackson: I do. Last week, I was at a school and I heard from someone who said, ‘the [student] behaviors are just off the chain.’ They can't discipline the kids. I believe part of it is we did so much disciplining, and then you come under scrutiny. -- now you don't want to discipline. It's been a struggle. And when it comes to Black kids, when I was on the board, it just seemed like they were looked at differently when it came to student discipline and it was not doled out the same,

Kimberly Haley: Oh, absolutely. Because if we are putting our students out of the school, where are they? They're out in the streets. I would like every effort to keep students in the classroom, whether that be at their home high school or in some alternative placement. I would prefer them to stay at their home schools not only for the social aspect, but because they build relationships with the teachers and the environment they're in. I think there is just more opportunity if they are engaged with the students that they been to elementary, middle school or high school with, there's opportunity for them to join extracurricular activities, whether that's clubs or a sport, if they remain in the high school and, and all of those activities, if they're students more involved, they're more likely to do well in high school.

Juan Reyes: Definitely, we should never just go, we're gonna get rid of this child. We’ve got to look at our district as a business, our product is our child. If we're just going to throw them out on the street because of a disciplinary problem -- we're not doing a service to that child. We should figure out why this child is acting this way. Is it a home issue? Is it a parent issue? Is it a mental issue? We’ve got to fix that problem. There are programs here like Roosevelt that have children that just are not disciplined enough to stay in school. I like that part. But let's ask the right questions before we just go ‘hey, we're just going to put them over there and not even worry about anything else.’ There's a lot of spending for tutoring. Where's the behavioral tutoring? But yes, definitely the last resort for exclusion -- I wouldn't want that on a child.

Denise Pearson: Senate Bill 100 got rid of the zero tolerance [for most discipline policies]. So know when it comes to exclusion -- it all depends on the behavior. We don't want to, just out of frustration, or not knowing how to deal with certain behaviors -- suspend kids. That is inappropriate. There must be restorative practices in place to help the student redirect their behavior. Many people talk about EIAs [expulsions in abeyance]. That is like an agreement a student and their family commit to stay on track for a period of time. It could be six months or a year of classroom time, depending on the offense. Ot gives them a second chance, as opposed to instantly being expelled. This is a good opportunity for me to share, because some parents won't agree to it, when you don't agree to an EIA, it is an automatic expulsion. I had a student’s parent reach out to me that her child was wrongfully suspended. While the administration did rectify the problem, it still disturbed this student that she was handled this way. The documentation had language related to an EIA -- so that can be very confusing. That's why I really stress how important it is that parents fully understand the purpose of an EIA as opposed to an expulsion.

Jude Makulec: We have shifted our model to one of progressive discipline. But we've also added a lot of supports -- they call it a Multi-Tiered System of Supports (MTSS). I think we've always had support, but we've never done a really good job of documenting progress or lack of progress, and adjusting goals and programs when things aren't working. We’re a part of a system called Panorama, so that it's very visible where a student is at with their attendance with their academics and their behaviors. We have middle school buildings, in particular, that I know start the day with circles. They can have an opportunity to touch base and develop relationships with this group. Washington is doing houses, students belong to families in this building. All that said, I believe in consequences. There is a place for the progressive discipline, it is not with weapons, it is not with drug distribution. I think that we need to draw the line in those areas.

Nicole Bennett: I've talked with parents and teachers, and so there's very, very diverse responses to the code of conduct. I think children should be provided with interventions and support and resources to be successful. However, there are times that things happen, or a child does something that is as extreme as they have to be excluded, and they have to be put in an alternative learning environment. But part of the current code of conduct is intervention. That's one of the largest pieces. So, if a child has physical contact with another student and they're suspended for two days, when they come back they're supposed to have an anger management group or some kind of conflict resolution. To my understanding, a lot of that piece is missing because there's not enough staff in the buildings. So, it's kind of unfair to say if it's working or not, because teachers are feeling as though students are having behaviors and incidents -- and there's not really a consequence. The behavior continues because there's no intervention to have taught them differently. I think the use of more mental health professionals in the buildings and more people to teach coping skills and self awareness and all of those different skills we need to learn as grown ups, to give them every opportunity to be successful.

Return to Questions

Do police officers have an everyday role in schools? If so, what is that role?

Lisa Jackson: I did have some concerns about police officers being in the school and how they were acting. They weren't being used the right way. We have a code of conduct that should govern student's behavior. But back then we had a lot of students, especially Black students, who were being arrested in the schools. We met with [the school officers] at the time and put our concerns out there. For that period of time, it seemed to have went well. I won't say they don't have a place in our schools every day. I know there are some concerns about safety. Just a couple of weeks ago, there was a gun at Auburn High School. So, I understand having officers in our buildings. I'm not opposed to that, but it's how they interact with our children is what I would be concerned about.

Kimberly Haley: We live in different times now. We have seen so many gun related tragedies at the high school. So, when it comes to police in the high schools, I am more prone to say I am on board with that. But I do believe that police are gonna be in our high schools, they need to be trained to work with high school age students. They need to understand that these kids are not adults.they need to be trained, so that they have more empathy and understand these are still underdeveloped minds, and students who may not know how to deal with trauma or issues they may be facing. We have psychologists in our schools to help deal with that. But I think police in the high schools need specific training to work with high school aged students.

Juan Reyes: If you're a resource officer, you should be engaging with those kids. They should be more of a role model or mentor. Be more proactive instead of reactionary, go around the class and talk to the students. But yes, definitely, we should do more, there should be more training, they should be more involved with the teachers. A good police officer in his beat, or his area is going to know the community, he's going to know who the problem makers are, he's going to know who the person that he can come to get information from. So, regardless of if he's in school, he should get all that and work with the teachers and all the students.

Denise Pearson: I feel that school resource officers should be in place. However, they should be significantly trained on dealing with youth and de-escalation. There is a need for them just because of the high level of behavioral issues, but we need to utilize them with caution.

Jude Makulec: We only have them in the middle and in the high schools. We have a contract for 13, they've only been able to provide us with seven this year. I do believe they have a place in the building. Our police, by being there every day, can develop relationships with students. A lot of times students will come to them and have conversations with them about what's happening in the community.

Nicole Bennett: I know school safety is a huge challenge and a huge concern. It was a concern of mine when working in a school. As a parent, I am very well aware of when my child goes to school that it will be a concern for me. However, I make decisions based on evidence and based on research and evidence and research does not support law enforcement in schools. There's not evidence to show that it’s effective. What is effective is community violence programming. So, certain cities that have implemented community violence programming have actually decreased their behavior referrals by about 60% -- which in our district would be life changing. Do I think [that] if there is a huge safety concern or something that is absolutely essential to contact law enforcement? Absolutely. But to have an armed police officer in a school tends to escalate minor behavior incidents so it criminalizes behaviors that don't necessarily need to be criminalized. So, if an issue is escalating to the point of contacting law enforcement, that is a decision in administration who are trained in behavior tactics, de-escalation, all of those different things that are really important for those situations to make that determination. So, I think that money could be allocated to more mental health professionals, licensed clinical social workers, people who are trained in de-escalation, trained in emotional regulation. As soon as a child becomes dysregulated or an incident happens, contact that professional to come in. If it rises to a different level, that's a different conversation. But, no, I do not believe that law enforcement should be inside schools.

Return to Questions

The chronic absenteeism rate at RPS is twice the state average. The district ranks near the top of Illinois in student mobility rate (the percentage of students who experienced at least one transfer in or out of the school between the first school day of October and the last school day of the year). How can the district support and engage with its students and families who face the most financial struggles?

Lisa Jackson: We when we really started to see this is when we went to zones. One of the things we did was say, if you move out of your zone, we will allow you to stay in your school to finish the school year and, at the beginning of the next school year, is when we'll help you transition. I don't know if that's something that the district still does, but that's something we did to try to reduce the amount of shifting.

Kimberly Haley: We have a Parent Resource Center at Rockford Public Schools. There are a lot of resources for parents to access. So, I guess one thing I would do is encourage that. But I also think there needs to be some type of collaborative effort with our community partners, whether those are social service community partners or even the Workforce Connection that engages adults in training or retraining so that they can get good jobs. Some of the stuff I'm throwing out here is not the only reason they're not in school. Maybe there's been trauma in the family. We also have a policy where if you are a mile and a half from school, you have to find your own transportation. And then in wintertime, to send a young kid to walk 30 minutes to school, that's something we really need to look at and maybe decrease that. So, the issues of students being truant or parents moving around -- there are several different issues that cause that and they need to be dealt with individually.

Juan Reyes: Going back to the police officer, that's where he could get involved in understanding is there an issue going on at home? How can we help you? How can the school district help? This sounds kind of ridiculous, but let's say, we can Uber you for a week. As long as you get into school, that's what we want. I think the issue is also having a cellphone in school. I think they should be taken away. I [recently] saw the report that [chronic absenteeism] is 60%. It's increasing. Why is it increasing? No one's answering that question. That's where I want us to start getting the parents more involved.

Denise Pearson: We have a program called the FIT program. Homelessness is a real issue that also contributes to educational issues. With this program, they're able to provide necessary resources to help them if it’s transportation, food, clothing, whatever the case may be to help that family be successful. Mobility is an issue. Mobility was never addressed until I became a board member. Dr. Antoine Reed rode buses and had conversations with students. One day, he's riding with siblings and, within two weeks, the sibling is not riding and that sibling had to move to live with another family member for whatever reason. So, the mobility rate was really never identified until recently.

Jude Makulec: We have greater movement interdistrict than intra-district. We have more students leaving and coming back, for example, than moving from school to school in our district. It was a surprise to me. Yeah, attendance is a real problem. Obviously, family engagement is important. Those smaller learning communities, when kids have chronic absenteeism could be helpful because it can be more focused. We already send attendance specialists to the home to try to bring students in. The issue with busing has been a problem. There was a program piloted just before COVID. It helped us to decide we would support schools with busing in less than the 1.5 mile radius that the state repays us for. I think, personally, I would push for busing for all. We're busing 18,000 of our students already. So, to add in the rest, just because we wouldn't get reimbursed by the state --I think that would be a good expenditure. I also think programming consistency is really important. If you have a high school math course, the sequencing in the curriculum should be the same, so if I changed schools, it's not a whole different curriculum. And the same with grading policies. People will talk about maybe you could go to any school in a quadrant. We did choice. Kids went all over the place. We didn't see any increase in scores. I think we need to do better at what we're doing with the students in the zones where they're at.

Nicole Bennett: There's a classification of services for students who are in the Families in Transition program (FIT). These students don't have permanent stable housing, so maybe they're staying with relatives or in between spaces. They're able to get lots of different benefits, and they have different rights. I think sometimes parents or guardians don't necessarily know the rights that they have or the things that they have access to. In addition, I know there's lists of these students, but to my knowledge, there's not really any wraparound services. So, I feel like some level of case management or support [would be helpful]. Having somebody providing housing referrals, making referrals to food pantries, and just different ways to support those families. It might take 2,3,4 years, but if somebody is working on it over time, to really build a solid foundation for families and really address the root cause. We know students have issues with attendance that are well beyond their responsibility.

Return to Questions

Over the past year, school boards have faced a record number of challenges on school library books, mostly about gender identity and sexual orientation. If that happens at RPS, how would you weigh the voices of parents, students & school library professionals?

Lisa Jackson: I was at a forum, and I was approached by a high school librarian and then a retired librarian. They both just share their concerns about this issue. I believe we had listening sessions. We listened to the community. For me, that's where you start -- you listen.

Kimberly Haley: I think you have to listen to everybody. I think it's important to understand why people feel the way they do. They have every option to come to the board and speak and talk to our administrators and board members to voice their concerns. I definitely encourage open dialogue and to find out what the specific objection is, because if we start banning books because we as a group or an individual feel they may be a form of indoctrination -- that's the one of the words I've heard -- then where does that end? Who's to say it won’t stop there and we can't have books on different religions in our libraries because that would be a form of indoctrination? But again, parents have every option to voice their concerns and have say-so with what their children are taught in the classroom.

Juan Reyes: I would like to actually be more educated on that. The school boards [often] want to shut the parents down. Now I get it. And I know some people aren't used to someone yelling in their face. When they're talking to me, I’m just gonna listen to them. Once they're done, I’m to engage with them. But we tend to go, ‘you're not listening to me, I'm just gonna stop talking to you.’ That's not how you fix the problem.

Denise Pearson: This is a good area where community engagement is vital. The expectation is for the administration to have those conversations with the librarians should that be the case and really hear from parents and community members on the issue.

Jude Makulec: I think the reason you haven't seen it in Rockford is that we are handling it at a school level. If there's an issue and a parent comes in and has a conversation with the principal and the librarian -- it seems to be handled at a school level and it doesn't escalate to everybody coming to the board. But going forward, because that is a risk, those quadrant-based community engagement events I talked about -- what a perfect place to have that conversation.

Nicole Bennett: I think how I said holding listening sessions, so being able to get that student voice, the parent, caregiver, people who are experts in their fields, to be able to have all of that together in addition to research. The role of the school board is for student achievement. Any choices that would be made, is if it's in the best interest of student achievement. All of those would have to be weighed. That's the responsibility of the seven individuals on the board. But it always has to tie back to what is best for our students.

Return to Questions

The pandemic has been incredibly disruptive for so many students and families. What lessons do you think school districts should take away from that experience?

Lisa Jackson: Curriculum is important, but the people, the teachers, are even more important. And just how important it is for kids to be in the classroom with those teachers.

Kimberly Haley: The pandemic has allowed us to put different mechanisms in place to deal with such an outbreak. We've learned from the pandemic, that the reason why our school district didn't decrease [academically] as steeply as other school districts is because our students were allowed to be in the classroom. But we still should have quality online learning options, too.

Juan Reyes: As soon as we found out about COVID, everybody was saying to mask up. But if you looked at the science, it wasn't affecting the children. Yes, teachers are there and I get that. But we found out that what they were saying wasn't totally true. I'm just speaking for myself. The district should learn that they should inform the parents a little faster as far as what they were going to do. We can learn from the pandemic that [when there’s a snow day] we can do remote learning of some sort. That’s a huge thing.

Denise Pearson: RPS 205 was one of the first school districts that had Chromebooks ready to go for online learning. I encouraged the district to stay ready at a moment's time if we have to shift gears like that. That is a very difficult way to learn. But, to the point of the district, just to stay ready and be proactive to shift immediately.

Jude Makulec: The biggest lesson is that kids need to be in school. We were the largest district that gave families and staff the option to be in person or be remote during that first year after the pandemic in 2021. The state came up and did a report and showed learning loss in our district, for example, on reading was 3%. It was 8% for the state. We have some great programs we've bought into. We have one that has a 24 hour, seven-day-a-week tutor system that students can go on and ask questions and get help -- but they have to be engaged. I think this is a big part. If you look at the absenteeism [rate] prior to the pandemic, we were very close to the state average. Our kids became disengaged, and they also lost their peer support groups. So my takeaway is that they need to be in the building to have a better academic outcome and more fulfilling academic experience.

Nicole Bennett: I think one of the largest things that we learned was that no one learns the same. So some students who were remote were thriving. Students who might have anxiety or maybe have been bullied, or maybe that structure just worked really, really well for them. Whereas other children were not thriving. I think learning how to do school in a different way, and being able to be more flexible with lesson plans or deadlines, different things like that, I think we can really implement.

Return to Questions

What do you think of the job the current RPS administration, including the superintendent, is doing?

Lisa Jackson: I think there's work to do. I've worked with this administration in the past. Some things in this district, they're doing right and some things in this district that aren’t being done right. We need to own those things and fix them.It's that simple.

Kimberly Haley: Sometimes I think the numbers speak for themselves. I think the new initiatives in place will keep them accountable to our students and to our community. As far as what the district has done in the past, a lot of that speaks for itself. I mean, it hasn't been great. Rockford Public Schools has not been a choice of parents and students for a long time. But I think being held accountable to the metrics that have been set before us will do better. But we have to be accountable. Not only do we have to set small and incremental steps, we don't want to just meet the state average, we want to go beyond that so we’re a model school district.

Juan Reyes: Give them a big, fat F. I’m sorry. 10 years ago, when I ran, it was bad then and they’re still not doing anything right, in my opinion. I'm looking at it not only as an individual from the community, as a parent, as a grandfather, but I'm also looking at it as a business owner. If you look at the Illinois Report Card, you see the teachers have a high rating, but our kids are down here. If this is our product, it should be at least equal, and it's not. There's where I see that disconnect

Denise Pearson: Students have self esteem, self worth, and influences that impact their learning. I don't think that we give enough attention to that. We have an amazing mentoring group at Auburn. We don't give enough attention to the internal things that are going on [with kids], the emotional support that students need.

Jude Makulec: I think there is a lot to be gained from continuity in leadership in the district. My first couple of years, I think I had six superintendents. I think you have to give people an opportunity, people, the administration an opportunity to put programs in place and see how they work. What is the return on that investment? This administration started pre pandemic, but we were delayed and derailed. It's fully in place now. I think it will really help but it has taken years of kind of understanding the system and the people to develop this system wide framework. What it does is it gives schools the opportunity to grade administration on whether or not the administration is giving them what they need to succeed as teachers. Concurrently, the district, the administration grades the schools. Are they doing what they're supposed to be doing? We can't tell if a program that we put in place is working if it's not being used. I'll give you an example. Integrated Math. We put algebra and geometry together over a two-year period. When we looked at the scores, we found out only 40% of the teachers were doing the integrated piece of it. We have a new reading program that's coming in for the fall. We just approved science kits for middle school. So we are progressing, trying to progress to meet better academic standards and to get more buy-in from our teachers. You need some people with experience. I look forward to working with people with new ideas. But it is a governance model. I think that you need a balance of experience as well as new [members] on the board.

Nicole Bennett: The current superintendent, he [said] last year, [the district assigns] different colors based on the performance of school. [Schools performing well] would be blue and a school that has exceptional needs would be red, and there's two colors in between. I think that way of looking at schools is really beneficial, because it's not saying a principal is doing something wrong or teachers are doing something wrong -- it's a whole school, looking at them as a unit. The plan from my understanding is to partner principals. Schools that are doing really well might partner with schools that are struggling. I think that that's a really good idea that the current superintendent has to provide more support. Teachers are reporting not ever seeing their board representative. They've maybe taught in a school for 10 years. So, different ways that teachers are feeling very unsupported by the board and not feeling heard. [They’re] feeling as though choices are made about their livelihoods about their classrooms by people who never interact with students, never visit a classroom, never visit their school. I think there is a big huge disconnect that seven people's responsibility are 1,000s of jobs, 20,000 students and all of their families. You have to be connected to your community, you have to be interacting with the people that you are governing. It's a huge responsibility. I just don't know if maybe that responsibility is felt to the highest level that it needs to be felt. So, that's what I hope to bring to this position is my passion, my community advocacy and my work with students and their families.

Return to Questions

What are three issues you would say are top priorities you’d look forward to addressing if elected? (or issues currently on your mind if you are already a board member)

Lisa Jackson: More of our students need to have soft skills. The hard skills, you can train anyone to do a job. But if they don't have those soft skills, it is very, very difficult. That is something I pushed for many years and didn't get a lot of support.

Kimberly Haley: Early childhood education. We are collaborating right now with Alignment Rockfort on a 0-3 initiative where we'll be working with students in their homes, making sure they have different resources, where they are learning from literally birth to 3 years old so they're prepared to go into the Headstart programs, which would make them even more prepared for for Kindergarten. I think that needs to be blasted throughout the city of Rockford.

Juan Reyes: I just revert back to the family. Let's check with the family. My mom was very involved. Even being a single mom, she was very involved. If we start with the family, I think our education system would excel. And If we're throwing these kids out as quickly as we can, because we're not worried about their education, getting prepared for the workforce -- that same child is going to be an adult. If he's not learning or she's not learning -- how is she going to teach her kid? Speaking with teachers, A lot of these teachers don't want money. They want to be heard. They need tools, they need help to teach. That's what I want to do for the teachers. I know they have their union, but I'm sorry, unions can be great and sometimes unions are bad. Right now, we’ve got to figure out how we can all meet together to help the children and not worry about what I'm getting paid. Let's worry about our children. First, let's get the families involved. I feel in my heart deeply that if we start doing that, our kids will excel and be better products for society when they graduate.

Denise Pearson: I think one of the areas we have not paid enough attention to that will contribute to the success of our students is, early on, identifying our students' learning styles. It is one thing for central administration to make a determination on the curriculum that will be used and tell the teachers ‘this is what you're going to use,’ as opposed to having a lot of input from teachers and to know how to most effectively help our students be successful. I think that is a huge opportunity for the administration to really work on for our students to be successful -- identifying students' learning styles and how we can be innovative and meet them where they're at to help them be successful academically.

Jude Makulec: The impact of all the mandates that we have from the state. Every week, we get a list of the bills. They’re on their first reading, their second reading, their third reading, they're going to the house, they're going back to the rules committee. There were 14 pages of bills today. I added them up. [There are] 342 bills progressing through with what will be mandates for school districts. I don't think the community and I don't even know other people who are interested in being board members who haven't been before really realize the extent of the mandates we are given by the state that we have to follow.

Nicole Bennett: The buildings are significantly overwhelmed. Overall, as a society, our educational system is on fire. And we have teachers leaving at high rates, we have behaviors that are at high rates. We need to really focus on collaborating and pulling our resources together. So having more grown ups in the building, having tutors from Collins Aerospace coming in and assisting with math or just different ways to be able to support the people in the buildings. Just realizing how hard it is right now for the people that are teaching our children, and how hard it is for the children who are going to school and trying to learn and doing the very best that they can right now. If I had to sum it up, it really is just the needs that our schools are struggling with.

Return to Questions