Rockford Public School District 205
| Rockford Public Schools | |
|---|---|
|
Rockford, Illinois Northern Illinois United States |
|
| Coordinates | 42°15′45″N 89°04′53″W / 42.262418°N 89.081370°W |
| District information | |
| Type | Public |
| Motto | Readiness Rocks! |
| Grades | K-12 |
| Established | 1884 |
| Superintendent | Dr. Ehren Robert Jarrett |
| Asst. Superintendent(s) | Matthew Vosberg |
| Schools | 49 |
| Budget | $393 million |
| District ID | 1734510 |
| Students and staff | |
| Students | 26,980 |
| Athletic conference | Northern Illinois Conference (NIC-10) |
| Other information | |
| Website | rps205 |
Rockford Public Schools, officially designated by the state as Rockford Public Schools District 205 is a large unit school district located in Rockford, Illinois. In 2012, the district had an enrollment of 26,980 students, making it the fourth-largest school district by enrollment in Illinois.
Following its founding as two separate settlements in the 1830s, residents of Rockford, Illinois (joined in 1839 from two separate communities) began to set up a network of schools in the community. From the 1830s to the 1850s, all of the schools in Rockford were private, charging tuition for students. In 1855, Illinois passed a law requiring communities to establish public schools free of tuition.
In response to the state legislation requiring public schools, the city of Rockford established two separate school districts for each half of the city: District 1, east of the Rock River, and District 2, west of the river. Operated by the city council (in lieu of a formal school board), both school districts featured a graded structure, from first grade through high school.
The school systems on both sides of the city proved popular, with overcrowding becoming an issue by the end of the 1860s. Out of necessity, both districts built dedicated elementary schools.
In 1884, the city of Rockford consolidated its separate school districts into a single city-wide school district; a referendum to create a separate school board lost, keeping the schools under city control. As part of the unification, the two overcrowded schools serving high school grades were replaced by a centrally-located dedicated high school, with Rockford Central High School opening in 1885.
During the 1890s, the school district began a campaign of school expansion and updates, replacing several stone school buildings with brick ones. In what has become a long-running tradition, school names were renamed from individual city wards to take on the names of historical Rockford citizens.
As Rockford expanded during the first decades off 20th century, so did the school district, adding several elementary schools. By 1915, Rockford Central High had undergone three additions (in 1900, 1906, 1913), with the school district purchasing an additional building adjacent to the school in 1917. To partially address the overcrowding, the school district constructed two junior high schools in the early 1920s. As a further stopgap, 9th grade students were moved out of Central High School after their construction.
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