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Rockford 205 presents equity ‘‘BAGS’’ initiative; schools report lower referrals and improved attendance
Summary
District staff and school leaders gave the Board an update on an equity-focused initiative (BAGS) that pairs student leadership, restorative practices and attendance interventions; presenters reported a 78% drop in monthly referrals at McIntosh and districtwide attendance gains in 10 of 13 pilot schools.
At a committee meeting of Rockford Public Schools (RPS 205), district staff presented an update on an equity plan centered on a student-led program known as BAGS, which pairs restorative practices, social‑emotional curriculum and attendance specialists with school-based incentives.
Dr. Antoine Reed, one of the presenters, said the district’s approach treats equity as actionable changes rather than a slogan. “Equity is not just a catch phrase for us. It’s how we navigate our daily experience for our scholars when they show up to school,” Dr. Reed said.
The district described several components of the initiative: train‑the‑trainer restorative practice coaching, Wayfinder social‑emotional curriculum (identified as a tier‑1 SEL curriculum), targeted universalism work with outside partners and student leadership teams that collect CHAMPS behavior data and run incentives.
Christina Porzell, assistant principal at McIntosh, said 10 student leaders observe common areas and run weekly incentives. “Our student leaders have been hard at work collecting CHAMPS data throughout our building,” Porzell said, and she reported that McIntosh has “reduced monthly referrals by 78%” since September.
Maureen Kirschman described a districtwide attendance toolkit and the addition of 35 attendance specialists this year. She said 10 of the 13 pilot schools show ‘‘significant improvements’’ in chronic absenteeism. At Froeburg Elementary, principal Kim Ward reported a schoolwide goal to reduce chronic absenteeism from 39% to 34% and said current rates stand at 35.6%.
Attendance specialist Maria Legg told the board her school identifies students with attendance rates between roughly 80%–90% and uses intake surveys, family outreach and MTSS attendance teams to address root causes. Legg described weekly perfect‑attendance raffles and multi‑tiered supports coordinated with behavior intervention specialists.
Presenters also described student leadership roles (peer mentors, a student court for tier‑1 infractions, a safety team) used at middle schools, and said campuses are creating calm rooms for students and staff. The district said it is building a district resource guide and distributing QR‑coded cards linking to that guide; the cards include the crisis number 988 and are translated into English, Spanish and Swahili with Arabic in progress. The district said the QR cards were rolled out to pilot schools about two weeks before the meeting and that tracking of usage is “to be determined.”
Board members asked how the toolkit addresses mental‑health protocols and weekend supports; presenters said the cards list school point people and external partners and include concrete instructions for students who need immediate help.
The presenters said the BAGS model is tiered: the 13 pilot schools receive the full suite of services while other buildings will receive portions of the toolkit and supports. Presenters said the district will continue to refine the program and expand parts of it next school year.
Supporters and staff framed the initiative as a combination of mentoring, incentives and restorative practices intended to reduce suspensions, build belonging and improve attendance.
The board did not take formal action on the presentation; presenters said administrative follow‑up on data and QR‑code tracking would be provided later.
