Rockwood School District Parents Spotlight Positives

With Rockwood School District’s Proposition S bond issue and school board elections approaching on Tuesday, many parents and taxpayers would like to express our thanks to the district for the efforts they continue to make in keeping one of the largest districts in the state in a category of academic and financial excellence.

Thank you, Rockwood School District Board of Education, administrators, staff and teachers for:

• Keeping Rockwood Schools on the U.S. News and World Report’s, Newsweek’s, and Missouri Department of Education’s list of top schools in the state and across the country.
• Our schools being identified as schools of excellence, distinction and character. 
• Maximizing our tax dollars and prudently managing the school budget to provide a high-quality education for a lower cost than our neighboring school districts (Rockwood spends $9,364 per pupil with state average at $9,487, and one neighboring district at $18,372 per pupil). That ranks RSD 16th out of 22 in St. Louis County for cost relative to state and county comparisons.
• Keeping Rockwood Schools as one in only four school districts in the state with an S&P AAA Bond Rating. With your past and continued efforts, our tax dollars go toward the classroom versus higher payments in our outstanding loans.

Thank you, Superintendent Borchers and Board of Education for not re-staffing all the administrator positions that were left open for Dr. Borchers’ discretion when he arrived. Bringing in consultants as lower-cost alternatives and eliminating 11 administrator positions saved us $1,154,736.0 in costs associated with salary and benefits over the past two years. 

In the meantime, you’ve maintained our district’s ratio of administrators to students at 282:1, which is among the most efficient in the county, better than 19 surrounding school districts. Only Lindbergh and Mehlville can compare. In doing this, you incorporated the community and staff to develop a plan for Rockwood’s continued progress.

Thank you, Rockwood School District Board of Education, administrators and staff for participating in the recent audit. State Auditor Tom Schweich scored us in the same category shared by other large districts in Missouri, and efforts are now being made to ensure future audit scores reflect the expectations we have to be among the best.

Thank you, Rockwood School District Board of Education, Superintendent Borchers and the 400-plus taxpayers that attended the open forums, plus the additional 400 phone survey and 500 online survey taxpayers for responding to the request to assess the financial status of the district and propose how to continue to move forward. Your efforts produced the recommendation to propose a bond issue on April 2. 

With support from the community, the bond will provide our district the ability to maintain its fiscally sound balance sheet, keep our students safe, improve building conditions, update necessary technology, and support our AAA Bond Rating by keeping our reserves intact. 

We, as Advocates for a Stronger Rockwood, believe in our Board of Education, superintendent, administrators, staff and teachers. Their expertise enhances our communities’ property values and the education of our children, and gives us pride in our Rockwood School District. We deserve to celebrate these successes and the willingness of our leaders to make improvements.

It’s time to cut through the noise of one small and angry group of people who are willing to sacrifice our schools, our reputation, and our long-standing status of excellence. 

We are not willing to wait any longer for the noise to subside. Our thanks for jobs well done.

Signed,

Arthur G. Romero
Donna L. Romero
Lawrence A. Lazar
Kellie M. Lazar
Catherine Moser-Hartsfield
Chester Strobel
Pam Strobel
Steve Steele
Rebecca Steele
Kim McGuiness
Jeff McGuiness
Janelle Worley
Tim Worley
Sharon Button
Brian Button
Darla Baker
Brad Baker
Tracy Alter
Mike Alter