Rockford — The board room at Rockford Public Schools was packed to capacity on March 10 as people gathered to weigh in on whether Parkside Elementary should be repurposed into an early childhood education center. Ultimately — despite some outcry from the public and an hours-long board debate on the matter — the district opted to move forward with its plan to do just that.
In a 5-2 vote, the board approved a proposal introduced in February to largely consolidate the district’s preschool programming and early childhood services to Parkside and to send its students to the nearby Valley View Elementary in time for the 2025-26 school year. Parkside’s autism spectrum disorder students will move to Meadow Ridge Elementary.
Parkside was targeted for repurposing due to low enrollment, said Superintendent Steve Matthews. With 179 students in grades K-5, the school has the lowest enrollment among the district’s elementary buildings.
“We don’t think it’s optimal for students,” Matthews told SNN ahead of the meeting. “They’re in a grade with 25 other students for the year, and that’s really the extent of their social interaction at the school.”
‘School districts have a timeliness issue. … We need to respond year-to-year to enrollment, we need to respond year-to-year to developments within the district.’
— Superintendent Steve Matthews
During the meeting, Matthews noted that with only one section for most Parkside grade levels, there’s little opportunity for teacher collaboration. He also stressed that the district has, at any given time, a 50- to 100-family waitlist for its preschool and childcare services. Bolstering those services, he said, would benefit the district as a whole.
Parents Speak Up
Since first coming before the board in February, the proposal has drawn ire from some Parkside parents who are concerned not only about losing the school, but about the speed of the decision, and about students having to switch schools multiple times in just a few years, following the elementary redistricting efforts in early 2024.
Some of them recently organized a protest to urge the district to reconsider the plan. One of those parents, Robbie Augustine, was asked to present to the board and outline some of the community’s concerns. He expressed uncertainty about whether the plan would solve the issues cited by Matthews, and asked for more time for public input.
He also asserted that the process of introducing the plan has been “upside down.”
“This proposal’s lack of transparency — it nags at me,” Augustine said. “The community has not been fully engaged.”
Katy Petzak, another Parkside parent in attendance, told SNN after the vote that she was disappointed in the board’s decision, but “not surprised.”
“I don’t think that they actually considered the alternatives,” Petzak said. “It feels like they brushed them off and already had their mind set.
“I’m frustrated, disappointed in the board, disappointed in the lack of research and process.”
Board Dissent
The two board members who opposed the proposal, trustees Tricia Anderson and Barbara Helms, did so out of a concern about the speed with which it was introduced and brought to a vote.
“This has been so fast that every day I have more questions,” said Helms.
Anderson questioned why the proposal didn’t start at the committee level before being introduced to the full board.
“I’m with the majority of folks in here who are thinking that this feels kind of rushed,” Anderson said. “I don’t feel as though we’ve had enough time.”
‘I’m genuinely sorry to each of you for the ways that this has negatively impacted your kids.’
— Board President Jarrod Folsom
Matthews noted that the proposal originated with the district’s executive cabinet team, but stressed that he felt the issue was too pressing to potentially spend weeks or months working its way through different committees.
“The executive cabinet had the opportunity to forecast what next year would look like, so we got together, we talked through options, we looked at opportunities and we developed a recommendation that we brought to the board on Feb. 10 with the intent of having a month of public discussion and comment,” Matthews said. “And we did that. We had lots of emails, we met, we talked to people (and) we answered questions that were asked of us.”
He said he didn’t think the committee structure was the “proper vehicle” to bring about a quick and efficient resolution.
“School districts have a timeliness issue. … We need to respond year-to-year to enrollment, we need to respond year-to-year to developments within the district. So we believe that coming in February would give us the opportunity to have the discussion, make a decision by March, because people have to understand what’s going to happen in the fall.”
A Tough Decision
Matthews told SNN that he has heard from parents and teachers who support the proposal, but he said it’s a tough and emotional subject even for proponents.
“They’re a little sad because they have a great building culture at Parkside and have worked together there for several years, but they also understand that not having collaborative partners in the building really does make it more difficult to work together and to meet the needs of students in the building,” he said. “So it’s a challenge. … They are sad that there doesn’t appear to be another viable option.”
At the end of the discussion, Board President Jarrod Folsom said he supports the plan and believes it’s the “right thing to do for the district as a whole,” but he conceded that the situation isn’t optimal for many, and that perhaps the district should have made the proposal part of the 2024 redistricting project.
“There’s no question that this is not ideal for Parkside kids that were affected by redistricting a year ago,” Folsom said. “Should we have done this a year ago? I don’t know. Maybe. … But I think we thought Parkside was going to be big enough to serve the district as an elementary school.”
Folsom said he feels for Parkside parents and families.
“I’m genuinely sorry to each of you for the ways that this has negatively impacted your kids,” he said.
Folsom noted that as the project moves forward, district leadership will continue to engage with Parkside families to make the transition as smooth as possible.
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