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River Bend Families,

We're excited to announce a new initiative at the River Bend School District! On September 17, our School Board formally adopted five Steamer Success Indicators to help measure and support your child's growth.

These indicators—Communication, Critical Thinking, Responsibility, Wellness, and Perseverance—go beyond traditional academic metrics. They are designed to ensure our students become well-rounded, innovative, and engaged members of our community and society. Throughout the 2024-2025 school year, students, staff, administrators, board members, and community members collaborated in a series of meetings to carefully develop the Steamer Success Indicators. We also incorporated valuable feedback from parent and community surveys to finalize this initial step.

Our staff will be incorporating these indicators into our curriculum and daily activities through a phased plan, with a focus on helping every student succeed. We believe this initiative will better prepare all learners for a rapidly changing world.

You'll be hearing more about the Steamer Success Indicators throughout the school year. We're committed to working together to help our students achieve their full potential.

Sincerely,

Dr. Darryl Hogue, Superintendent

Kelli Parsons, Assistant Superintendent

River Bend will be hosting a second town hall event to provide information and answer questions related to potential construction projects in the district.  This will be held at 6:00 on Wednesday, September 10 in the River Bend Middle School gymnasium.  The meeting will be livestreamed on Facebook for those who cannot attend in person. 

Dear River Bend Families,

Each year I provide a brief update of items, staff, and building additions new to our district.  Please see the attached letter to read about new items in the River Bend District.

Wishing all a great 25-26 school year,

Darryl Hogue

What's New, River Bend: 2025-2026 

Dear River Bend Families, Staff, and Communities,

The River Bend Board of Ed is seeking input on addressing the desire to offer PE everyday, athletic space shortages, and create a space for our performing arts programs by adding spaces to each building.  

The following link provides information and answers questions that arose from the public meeting in May when the projects were first presented.  A survey link is also embedded in the Q and A to provide additional information.

The Board of Education and the administration will continue to provide updates and information as the school year begins.  Your input is valuable as the Board considers the best solution to the address the building and expansion needs.

Thank you for the input,

Darryl Hogue and Kelli Parsons

River Bend Expansions at RBMS, FES and FHS Q and A

Please click here to fill out our Survey

River Bend Families,

After watching the weather forecast shift over the last two days and hearing today from the National Weather Service that their winter advisory has shifted to a winter warning with the expectation of 4 to 8 inches of snow falling, increased blowing winds and heavier snow fall from 8 to 10 AM,  River Bend will be switch to a remote learning day Wednesday, February 12th.  Teachers and administrators have been preparing students for the possible weather event.  After school activities will be cancelled.

Principals and teachers will provide remote learning schedules and information to students. Remote learning schedules are also posted below by building.

Please stay safe and warm,

Darryl Hogue

Remote Day Schedules for Each Building:

• FES/FBP: Remote Learning Days Schedule
• RBMS:https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1a-pO1e4bVtJbsLSLscUYmbpIxHN6RaKYYpsSyfZULbA/edit?usp=sharing
• FHS:

To: River Bend CUSD 2 Families, Staff and Students,  
Subject: PowerSchool Cybersecurity Update

Dear families and educators of the River Bend community,

We are writing to inform you of the latest updates regarding the recent cybersecurity incident involving PowerSchool, the software vendor that provides our Student Information System (SIS).

Yesterday, January 29, 2025, PowerSchool initiated the process of notifying individuals whose information was determined to be involved.

PowerSchool has engaged Experian, a trusted credit reporting agency, to provide complimentary identity protection and credit monitoring services to current and former students and educators that had information exfiltrated from PowerSchool SIS. PowerSchool is doing this regardless of whether an individual’s Social Security Number was exfiltrated. In the coming weeks, Experian (on behalf of PowerSchool) will be distributing direct email notifications to involved individuals (or their parent/guardian, as applicable) for whom PowerSchool has sufficient contact information.

Additionally, PowerSchool has worked with Experian to set up a dedicated, toll-free call center to answer any questions associated with these offerings and the incident. All the information regarding the activation of and access to these services will be included in the email sent to you by Experian. 

Whether or not you receive an email, you may also visit PowerSchool’s website to learn how to activate the offering from Experian, linked here: http://www.powerschool.com/security/sis-incident/notice-of-united-states-data-breach/.

As a reminder, we encourage you to visit https://www.powerschool.com/security/sis-incident/ for up-to-date information on the cybersecurity incident. Protecting our students and teachers remains our top priority. Thank you again for all of your support and understanding during this time. We will continue to share more information from PowerSchool as it becomes available.

Sincerely,
Darryl Hogue, Supt. River Bend Schools
 

River Bend Families, 

Dr. Hogue recently announced that he will retire at the end of the 2025-26 school year. The River Bend Board of Education is grateful for his 12 years of service to the River Bend Communities and we wish him the very best as he joins his family in full time service to support them.

It is the job of the River Bend Board of Education to hire and support a superintendent. Given the current educator shortage and shrinking pool of qualified candidates, it has become common practice for Boards of Education to work with internal candidates when filling open positions. Over the last year, Mrs. Kelli Parsons has earned her Superintendent endorsement, completing her internship in the district. During her internship, Mrs. Kelli Parsons successfully took on several District level duties including writing the Preschool For All grant and overseeing the resulting growth in preschool operations, attending budget and levy workshops, and participating in district committees. During the time of her internship, Mrs. Parsons expressed interest in becoming the superintendent of a small, rural school district. Given her interest, the Board of Education has had the opportunity to observe and work with Mrs. Parsons to evaluate her candidacy for the superintendency. After observing, meeting with and interviewing Mrs. Parsons, The River Bend School Board feels they have a highly qualified candidate who has demonstrated a high level of success throughout her internship and with the many activities and initiatives she has led.

While the historical approach to hiring a superintendent has been to engage a professional search firm, this process is not required. The Board of Education is excited to announce that Mrs. Parsons has been selected to replace Dr. Hogue, beginning her tenure as the next superintendent in July, 2026. She will be able to work closely with Dr. Hogue during the 2025-2026 school year. This will give Dr. Hogue and Mrs. Parsons a full school year to transition and plan for the future of River Bend.

Mrs. Parsons is currently working on completing her doctorate in educational leadership through Illinois State University. She holds a professional educators license with endorsements to serve as a superintendent, chief school business official, and director of special education. Mrs. Parsons has successfully worked as the Fulton Elementary School Assistant Principal for the last two years. Prior to joining the River Bend District she worked for Regional Office of Education 4 as a Social Emotional Learning Specialist. Before moving to the community, Mrs. Parsons worked for five years as a Special Education Coordinator for BMP Tri-County Special Education Cooperative and for fourteen years as a Special Education Paraprofessional then Teacher for the Henry-Stark Special Education Cooperative. Mrs. Parsons began her career in education as an Agriculture Teacher and FFA Advisor in Brown County and Roseville.

We look forward to Mrs. Kelli Parsons tenure as the next Superintendent of River Bend Schools,

Dan Portz River Bend Board of Education President