ROCKFORD, Ill. (WTVO) — A new five-year plan has kicked off for the largest school district in the stateline.

The master plan was presented on Wednesday for the community to stop by and learn about the process.

Rockford Public Schools (RPS) and DLR Group, the consultants working alongside the district, said that it must be transparent in order for this plan to work.

“Make sure that came out and got to hear what they had to say, and hopefully that we can say some things about some of the nice architectural gems that we have here in Rockford,” said Stephen Brooks, RPS parent and teacher.

Brooks went out with many others to get some insight and feedback into the district facilities master plan. The event marked the kickoff for the five-year endeavour.

“Well, I’m here to speak about Roosevelt tonight if I can, and we would just like to make sure that it gets a chance to get some of those new some improvements to some of its windows and maybe some other of its mechanicals and things like that,” Brooks said.

“To prepare for this, we completed the facility’s condition assessment and a building utilization analysis in 2020. We’ve recently completed a district-wide security audit in February to really have to understand our site and building vulnerabilities,” added Michael Philips, COO of RPS. “So, those three studies will help inform the master plan.”

Principals and staff have been able to submit capitol projects in the past that will be reviewed as possibilities to include. RPS has teamed up with DLR Group to be planning consultants. The two partnered in the last master plan back in 2012.

They tried to help better explain the ins and outs of the long range master plan.

“It mixes the facility assessment, looking at the roofs, the windows, the condition of the building with the educational suitability of the building to move forward into the future,” said Leanne Meyer-Smith of DLR Group. “As we know, teaching and learning changes, and they need new spaces to do different things in the future.”

“A good facilities master plan, it’s important to have a transparent and collaborative process,” Philips added.

Residents who missed out Wednesday night can still get all of the information, as well as get their questions heard, on the RPS website.