Superintendent: Rantoul City SD 137 reports stable enrollment, rising behavioral incidents and literacy gains

The superintendent presented Rantoul City School District 137’s 2025–2026 end-of-year summary to the board, saying the district maintained generally stable enrollment while serving a highly mobile, high-need student population.

"Overall, our data shows that we're a district with stable enrollment but very high levels of need and mobility," the superintendent said, reporting that March enrollment was just under 1,700 and that the district served 1,859 different students over the school year. The superintendent noted an internal attendance rate of about 92.1% and said that attendance remains an area requiring ongoing attention.

The presentation highlighted behavior as the year’s most significant challenge. "Behavior was the most significant challenge of this school year," the superintendent said, citing a substantial increase in office discipline referrals and exclusionary consequences that affected classroom learning conditions and staff capacity. In response, the district created a behavioral MTSS support position, added kindergarten-support work, and the board established a special committee for student equity. Staff reported the district plans an in-school suspension program focused on grades 2–5 as an alternative to long-term placements.

Academically, the superintendent said the district saw "very encouraging literacy growth, especially among students who were below grade level to start," while also flagging mathematics as an area needing focused work next year. The superintendent described the next steps for math as organizing a teacher team to assess current practices relative to the state numeracy plan, reviewing curriculum alignment and scheduling, and piloting structural changes similar to those used in literacy instruction. The superintendent summarized that some schools are already moving to schedule math in ways similar to literacy to allow flexible grouping.

Facilities and operations updates included work to improve warehouse and inventory systems, chemical safety, fire and security monitoring, digital work-order systems, and development of a long-term capital plan. Staff also noted the introduction of EduClimber as a centralized data analytics platform to support assessment and monitoring.

Board members asked follow-up questions about staffing and policy. Staff said three social workers had resigned for the next year, prompting external recruiting and consideration of revised job descriptions to widen the candidate pool. On cell phones and smartwatches, staff said elementary practice is largely to require devices be turned off and stored in lockers or checked into the office; repeated violators must check devices each morning and parents usually retrieve confiscated phones.

The superintendent closed by saying the district is "being honest about its challenges and intentional about building stronger systems" and that the coming year will focus on implementing systems consistently to produce measurable improvements in student learning, behavior and attendance.