Bremen High School Principal Jessica Rucinski said she has long told herself in the morning “I’m going to school” instead of work. She said it will be tough to change that saying as she begins a new role.
Rucinski, a Bremen alum who has worked at the school since graduating college, is set to leave July 1 to work as Bremen High School District 228 assistant superintendent for teaching and learning.
She is filling the position as Superintendent Corinne Williams retires. Bremen Associate Principal Matt Meany is taking the mantel as the high school’s new leader.
Rucinski’s career transition marks the first wave of changes in District 228 as 70 administrators, teachers and support staff are scheduled to retire in the next five years. The district also includes Tinley Park, Oak Forest and Hillcrest high schools.
She said retirees will be missed, but that most new hires have worked for the district and know the community, giving the district an opportunity to take on recent challenges such as artificial intelligence, chronic absenteeism and cellphones with new energy, built on the foundation set by the people leaving.
“They’ll be missed, and I think they’ve contributed a great deal to our success for decades in District 228,” Rucinski said. “But it’s kind of an open door for the next crop of young, hungry, inspired staff members to get involved at a different level.”
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She said the younger group has a different energy and approach to artificial intelligence and some of the technology changes.
Rucinski said she is excited to be able to affect more people at a higher role in the district, where she will lead department supervisors and work closely with principals and teaching and learning teams to support student learning and help students prepare for post-secondary goals.
Meany has worked for the District 228 for more than two decades and has been a substitute teacher, a physical education and driver’s education supervisor and assistant athletic director.
He said he aims to continue Rucinski’s work meeting students where they are, supporting paths for students to pursue both vocational trades and college post-graduation and addressing attendance issues.
“I truly treat my students like my children,” he said. “It’s very much about being a servant leader, being about our students, giving them every opportunity to find the best version of themselves and what is going to be, what is their niche in life.”
Meany said the school has focused on decreasing the rate of chronic absenteeism, a mission he said will be one of his top priorities.
Chronic absenteeism is often defined by the number of students who miss 10% of the school year, or roughly 17 days — an issue area schools have struggled with since the COVID-19 pandemic.
Bremen High School’s absenteeism rate spiked in 2022, reaching 39% of students missing a significant number of days, according to Illinois State Board of Education data. That year this rate also spiked at neighboring schools, such as those in Orland High School District 230, after a return to in-person learning.
Last year, nearly 36% of Bremen students, or about 500 students, were chronically absent, compared to 8%, or about 112 students, in 2018, according to ISBE data.
Meany said the answer to lowering this rate is building relationships with students and families and helping them understand the importance of attendance.
“It’s getting our educators and our schools to understand about building those genuine relationships with the students because when a student really truly genuinely feels that you care about them, they are very much wanting to do their best in your classes because they don’t want to let you down,” he said.
He said the school started sending students a weekly report of their average daily attendance this year, and students are required to maintain their average above 90% to attend events such as field trips and prom.
This initiative, he said, has even improved “senioritis,” a term used to describe a decline in academic motivation during the final semester of high school. He said senior attendance has improved because seniors want to attend prom and other events.
Rucinski also said she seen higher engagement in Bremen classrooms since the attendance program and especially after the school started using cellphone lockers during class in 2023.
She said the success of this phone initiative was one of her proudest moments. After phone lockers were implemented, she said the number of missing assignments in class decreased significantly and grades went up. She also said students participated more in class, interacting with the peers around them and thinking more deeply about class material.
“It was a big undertaking but really the biggest piece was getting kids reengaged in class with their peers and their teachers in a way that was, I mean, almost like pre-pandemic,” she said. “After the pandemic, students were used to staring at a screen and socially hadn’t been around people in the same way, and it’s all tied to academic and social emotional metrics. We don’t want our kids sitting in isolation.”
Rucinski said these post-pandemic struggles and solutions are one of many ways her alma mater has changed since she attended and will continue to change under a new generation of district staff.
She said Bremen has also become a lot more diverse since her time as a student. She said Williams, who she is replacing, has improved the district’s opportunities for students to pursue post-secondary opportunities besides college, a task she plans to continue along with adjusting to ever-changing student needs.
“This building, I mean, it looked vastly different from when I walked the halls,” she said. “But I think our biggest strength is looking for opportunities to provide our students and continuing to diversify to meet the needs of our kids, because our kids want a lot of different things in life.”