OVERVIEW

ROE 4 At-Risk Student Services Hires Three New Attendance Interventionists

As we shared in our September newsletter, ROE 4 At-Risk Student Services Director, Meghan Hawkinson, successfully rewrote her department’s TAOEP (Truancy Alternative and Optional Education Program) grant. This competitive grant was awarded to ARSS and included an increase in the total funding made available for Mrs. Hawkinson’s team. This expanded budget allowed her to hire additional staff, including three new interventionists. 

These interventionists have eagerly jumped into their new positions and are proving to be excellent additions to the busy attendance department. Meghan described them as “off and running”. This is great news!

Also stepping into a new role within At-Risk Student Services is Amanda Sweet. Formerly the attendance interventionist for Harlem elementary schools, Mrs. Sweet is now serving under her new title as Intensive Attendance Interventionist for Boone and Winnebago Counties. Congratulations to Amanda on this transition.

Kudos to the At-Risk Student Services staff. It’s been an exciting time to watch this group of professionals grow individually and collectively as a team. The strides made by this department will unquestionably generate the greatest level of support for students and families with truancy challenges who attend school in our districts.

But that’s not all! Please continue reading to learn how Mrs. Hawkinson and her ARSS Team were instrumental in the newest middle school initiative recently unveiled at Summit Academy!

Dustin Oberbroeckling

Attendance Interventionist

Emily O'Neill

Attendance Interventionist

Dawn Polaski

Attendance Interventionist

Summit Academy Unveils Second Chance Program

Those present learned that Second Chance will exist separate from the middle and high school programs currently offered at Summit. This wellness-focused classroom will offer one seat for each of our district middle schools - as needed. The well thought-out classroom is equipped with accommodations and has been developed solely for use by this demographic. Check out the above infographic more details, and stay tuned for upcoming news about Second Chance classroom successes. 

Also during the month, a team from Summit Academy traveled to St. Louis, Missouri with Scott Bloomquist, Regional Superintendent of Schools, and Allison Pierson, Assistant Regional Superintendent, to attend the National Alternative Education Association 2022 Conference. Those Summit staffers included Executive Director Nicole Corbett; Lead Attendance Interventionist Kevin Anderson; Teacher Kevin Weaver; and Interventionist/Technology Coordinator Dwight Williams. Mrs. Corbett explained how they discovered that Summit Academy is one of only two alternative schools in the nation with their structure, which is focused on positivity and multi-tiered systems of support. Kevin Anderson shared that the team received an abundance of inquiries about how Summit managed their successful cell phone and backpack program as other alternative schools have struggled with their own systems. 

At the beginning of October, Summit launched its Basecamp program. Thirty-six presently enrolled students and 12 new students were enrolled in the 15- to 20-day program. Basecamp becomes the fourth tier of intervention at Summit. This focuses on empowerment and pre-learner skills for students who need reteaching or initial exposure in the areas of self-awareness, social awareness, relationship skills, responsible decision-making, and self-management. 

In another exciting development, the Regional Office and Summit are working with the Winnebago County Sheriff’s Department to secure a full-time School Resource Officer (SRO) to help support the school’s initiative to maintain a safe and secure learning and working environment. Assistant Director of Operations, Mrs. Hooks, and Mrs. Corbett collaborated with a student committee to work on qualities and characteristics of an ideal SRO. Two of those students will be included in the interview process in the coming weeks.

To conclude with a final emotional success story, School Social Worker Mrs. Cullen recently received an email from a former student which read: 

“Hello! …I'm not even sure if you still use this number, but I just wanted to let you know I started college and got all As in my first semester! I'm currently in a medical terminology class, and it's going well. I just wanted to say that your school really does help people. I won't lie - I hated it at the time, but I would not have gotten this far without all of you. Thank you.”

This student graduated from Summit with a Regional Office of Education diploma in May of 2022 after tapping into the Summit ALOP (credit recovery) Program in 2021. 

Congratulations to the entire Summit team for investing 100% in their staff and students’ successes! #SummitProud

Social-Emotional Learning

Pictured: "SELf Reflections"

In an effort to support the social-emotional learning needs of students, staff, and schools, the Area 2 SEL Hub is hard at work meeting with school leaders, creating and offering free and low-cost professional development, and acting as an SEL resource as needed throughout Illinois Area 2. 

The Area 2 SEL Hub began FY23 with a goal of signing 40 schools to participate in the Resilience Education to Advance Community Healing (REACH) statewide SEL initiative. The Hub is already at 60% of this goal, partnering with 24 schools all across Area 2 to advance their school’s social-emotional learning. These schools will actively participate in The REACH Project, where an Area 2 SEL Coach and Specialist will guide them through the five phases of becoming a trauma-responsive school.

Allison Pierson, Area 2 SEL Hub Director, and Kim Maville, Assistant Director, also met with all members of the Area 2 SEL Hub during October to refine their team’s mission and vision statements. The updated statements are as follows:

MISSION

The Area 2 SEL Hub supports the implementation of social-emotional learning in all schools.

VISION

All schools in Area 2 will have a healthy social and emotional climate and culture so that teachers can teach and students can learn.

In mid October, the Social-Emotional Learning Foundation (SELf) held their second in-person meeting at Loves Park City Hall Community Room and Gymnasium.



Approximately forty leaders from throughout Northern Illinois attended the learning and networking meeting, including members of the Area 2 SEL Hub. This session was facilitated by national experts on climate and culture and provided new SEL-aligned tools and resources for leaders to take back to their regions. 

The day also included a unique restorative practices circle, where attendees could gauge how knowledgeable they felt with all aspects of their SEL training to date. They also collaborated on ways to best move forward to continue to create school communities where staff and students thrive.

Continuing the restorative practices discussion, the entire Area 2 SEL team engaged in a Restorative "Train the Trainer" session with Kristin McKay, a restorative justice specialist. This workshop produced five new restorative practices trainers, who will now have an elevated ability to better support schools in Area 2.

Following the session, Ms. McKay was very complimentary and shared with Assistant Director Kim Maville that the Area 2 SEL Hub is a great team. She then followed up with an email to Ms. Maville stating, “It was so great to be with you this week. Thank you, thank you for leading such a thoughtful group of people. I would love to hear about all of their successes that come out of this school year.”

Contact Kim at kmaville@roe4.org to learn more.

Academic excellence is always a reason to celebrate at ROE 4. With that in mind, the Boone-Winnebago Regional Office of Education is proud to once again bring the Scripps National Spelling Bee to students in our districts.

This will be the 39th year ROE 4 has sponsored the Boone-Winnebago Regional Spelling Bee. The Regional Bee is scheduled to take place March 8, 2023, at the Harlem High School Auditorium. It is made possible with funding from the Eunice Wishop Stromberg Spelling Bee Endowment Fund. The fund was established through The Community Foundation of Northern Illinois and was created to permanently fund the Regional Spelling Bee.

If your school has not yet registered, it’s not too late! Schools must enroll with Scripps National Spelling Bee at www.spellingbee.com. This will also serve as your registration with the Boone-Winnebago Regional Office of Education for school winners to participate at the regional and national levels. Per the Spelling Bee website, for just a $175 registration fee, your school will also receive “all the word lists, competition instructions, and supplementary materials to engage your students in classroom and school spelling bees.” Keep in mind that school spelling bees are organized by each school and must occur prior to the Regional Spelling Bee deadline. This year that deadline is March 3, 2022.  

The champion of the regional competition will represent our area in the 2023 Scripps National Spelling Bee. The National Bee will take place in Washington, DC, in May. Even better, this year spectators and fans will be able to stream every round on ION Plus and Bounce XL. 

Don’t miss the chance for your school to participate in 2023. Join the fun and enroll your school today!

Other Central Office news:

• Brittany Bauer and Logan Watts both passed the Pearson Vue Certified Administrator Test, and are the newest proctors for the ROE 4 Testing Center.
• Mary Wilson, School Bus Driver Training Coordinator, successfully transitioned ALL bus driver training class registrations to the Regional Office’s online events registration system. This was implemented to increase efficiency and streamline the registration and documentation process. Ms. Wilson also held a successful on-site “lunch and learn” for area transportation supervisors interested in a walk-through of the new system or who had additional questions.
• Leah Blake, Director of Professional Services, received an outstanding review from a customer for great customer service while helping with licensure questions.
• ROE 4 has undergone a complete interior update. Employee zones have been upgraded to allow for more comfortable customer interaction and to accommodate additional staff for our busy office. Stop by and check it out!

Professional Learning

School Improvement

Chris Collins, Director of School Improvement for Boone-Winnebago ROE 4, was so busy facilitating on-site groups and training sessions at schools in our districts that it was difficult to track him down for a newsletter update. However, he did share that his department’s work continues at Flinn Middle School and East High School of RPS 205 and with Harlem Middle School of District 122.

Over the past month at East, they have been developing collaborative structures necessary to develop and implement their new multi-tiered system of supports (MTSS) process. The E-Rabs team is identifying how to best introduce the MTSS plan to the staff and how to organize its implementation. In addition, they’re also introducing restorative processes for the school and its staff.

As for the Flinn Falcons, they are working to review the progress of their Falcon Time (Advisory). The middle school staff is recognizing the progress the students are making in becoming “ready to learn”. The staff is also identifying areas that require improvement as a part of the continuous improvement process.

At Harlem Middle School, the first session of Effective Collaborative Teams with staff was deemed a success. Feedback given by teachers and staff was positive and constructive. Session 2 was presented to the leadership team, and appropriate adjustments to the staff presentation are planned based upon their feedback. 

Members from Harlem Effective Collaborative Teams spurred several great comments about their immersive training sessions: (This) “gives me hope that things can change” was awesome feedback. Others shared that the workshop “had my interest” and that “this training is what we need.”

Chris also brings his School Improvement mindset to the table during facilitation of the Women in Leadership (Superintendents) Network. He has also been instrumental in helping to create a new Building Administrator Network, which came about following this summer’s ROE 4 First Annual Administrator Breakfast. Feedback from that event set the developmental wheels in motion to launch a new networking group for building administrators.

Open to the first 40 to sign up, building administrators can learn details about involvement in the network by registering to attend. The Time Away to Connect with Others (TACO) Bar for building administrators will be held at Boone-Winnebago ROE 4 in Loves Park at the end of November. If you are a building administrator at a public or non-public school in Boone or Winnebago County and would like to attend and find out what's in store, click the EVENT RSVP button below to register for the final few remaining seats. Stay tuned as we'll share more about the Building Administrators Network kickoff in an upcoming newsletter.