Zurko leaving elementary school district

Russell Hodges
Posted 7/9/19

Rochelle School District 231 will see two administrative changes when the district and its board prepare for the 2019-20 school year. The changes were approved by the board during its monthly meeting at Rochelle Middle School on Tuesday.

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Zurko leaving elementary school district

Posted

ROCHELLE — Rochelle School District 231 will see two administrative changes when the district and its board prepare for the 2019-20 school year. The changes were approved by the board during its monthly meeting at Rochelle Middle School on Tuesday.
Justin Adolph, who has served as Central School principal for the last seven years, will become the next principal at Lincoln School. Adolph replaces Adam Zurko, who submitted a letter of resignation and accepted a principal position with Elgin Area School District U46.

adolph, justin - file photo

Central School principal Justin Adolph will be moving to the principal position at Lincoln School opened with the resignation of Adam Zurko.

“This is bittersweet for me as I leave my Central family,” Adolph said. “I’m proud of all we’ve accomplished together, particularly the launch of our dual language program. I’m excited to get to work with the Lincoln staff, students and families.”
“I’m thankful for all of the positive memories and I wish our students and teachers the best,” Zurko said.
With Adolph moving over to Lincoln School, the board approved Celeste Canfield, currently a bilingual interventionist at Central School, to become the new Central School principal. Canfield has worked with Rochelle School District 231 for the last four years after previously working in Moline.

“I’m eager to take on this role in hopes of continuing to take tremendous strides in our programming as well as the opportunities we are giving our students for greater success,” Canfield said. “I look forward to all the progress to be made.”
“We are thankful for Mr. Zurko’s years of service to Rochelle students and we wish him the best of luck in the next chapter of his career,” Superintendent Jason Harper said. “I’m excited about the changes we’ve made to our leadership team. Mr. Adolph and Mrs. Canfield not only are experienced in implementing a dual language program, but are both dynamic leaders who will continue to work in the best interests of our students.”

canfield_celeste

Celeste Canfield, currently a bilingual interventionist at Central School, will fill the position of Central School principal with Adolph moving to fill the role at Lincoln School.


Financials
The board approved health insurance plan revisions for the 2019-20 school year. Renewals increased by 4.2 percent, with the health insurance committee also choosing to cut Plan 1 (HRA Plan) from the overall plan and up prescription copays to $10 retail and $20 for mail order.

“As health insurance costs continue rising, we’re thankful that our district insurance committee continues coming up with ideas and ways to lower our renewal costs,” Harper said. “This way, both district and individuals are paying less toward insurance costs.”
Additionally, the board approved refinancing the district’s debt certificate, which was initially executed in 2007 with a 5.5 percent interest rate. With current rates surfacing around 3 percent, Harper said the district is looking to save $229,363 over the next nine years by lowering the interest rate.
“There were some larger payments that were part of the final payment structure, so we’d like to flatten those off and potentially add one year over the lifetime of what we need to pay back,” Harper said. “We’ll move to find ways to create more savings over the next few months.”