The start of the school year in Moline, Coal Valley.

What challenges some students will face.

And releasing the pollinators.

Bringing back the monarchs in the cities.

Moline Coal Valley students are back in the classroom with homecoming just days away.

But this 2025, 2026 school year has some challenges for students, staff, teachers and administrators.

We talked with Moline Coal Valley School Superintendent Doctor Rachel Savage.

Start of a new school year.

Also.

Just so exciting.

After a long summer break.

How are the kids adapting?

And how is the staff getting along with the kids so far?

We are off to a great start, Jim.

Today actually marks, the two week mark.

So we've got two weeks and the students are doing a great job adjusting.

We are happy to say that our positions are filled.

We've got, fantastic, highly qualified teachers and support staff and amazing leaders in our schools.

Our students have adjusted very quickly.

It's like they never left.

Our extracurriculars are in full swing.

Our facilities.

We're up and running and ready to go on the first day.

We're just really excited to get back, and have everybody back in our schools.

Everything is better when the kids are there and the kids are there.

And that's, of course, the first day of school is such a big event.

But the next big event, of course, is homecoming coming up September 19th.

I mean, that brings back a lot of memories for anybody who went to high school.

But what an exciting time it is at Moline Coal Valley.

We're excited, for a couple of reasons.

First and foremost, we do have our very famous homecoming parade.

This is my seventh year now starting in Moline.

Are in Moline, superintendent.

And my very first homecoming parade.

I was completely astonished.

I had never seen so many people come out for a high school homecoming parade in my life.

The street.

They packed, the avenue.

They packed the avenue.

The community really, really comes out.

That's one of the things that I love about our community.

Such pride, such a tradition and just such support of the kids in our district.

I'm just always so amazed by that.

You said pack the avenue.

That's interesting.

Jim.

And we actually are going to have a change this year for our parade.

It's not something that we just decided to do on a whim.

As you know, we have a fantastic partnership with the Moline Police Department.

They are probably one of our most important, partners that we have with the school district.

They help keep us safe.

They help us with, making safety decisions.

We have a fabulous school resource officer program, and, they are they're great.

Just trusted partners in decision making and and guidance.

And, we were approached by Chief Gault, in late spring, and we had some tough conversations about our homecoming parade.

As you know, traditionally, our homecoming parade does go a long avenue of the city's one of the most busiest streets in our community.

30,000 cars a day, I learned.

Additionally, there are so many open, driveways, streets, lots that have just become far too many for the police department to really feel comfortable to, be able to monitor, patrol, and keep protected.

And so for those reasons, we made some, some interesting and difficult decisions to really change our parade route.

So we did get some communication out this summer.

We sent out some press releases.

We put the parade changes out in our summer newsletter.

We're going to be, actually starting this week and next week start to push out some remind messages to our staff and families through Class Dojo and remind, that we're going to have a different route.

So the Moline High School homecoming parade route will actually start now on the corner of 41st Street and 26th Avenue over by Whitey's.

And it's actually going to actually circle the perimeter of Moline High School.

The route will actually be a little bit longer.

So for anybody that might be concerned that the parade route will be shorter, it's actually going to be 3/10 of a mile longer.

Want to make sure that's clear and that everybody knows that.

And so the parade route will run along 26th and turn over to 34th and end up back on the corner of avenue of the city's.

And that's where the parade route will stop.

A couple of, important caveats about that.

The parade, as much as it is for the community and the the spectators and alumni, it's for the students.

It's a student event.

And historically, we have had so many students that have not been able to participate when the parade ended up over at Wharton Fieldhouse, or it ended somewhere further away from campus, and students with transportation barriers have had a hard time getting back to campus or getting to the parade start.

So this keeps the parade beginning and ending closer to campus so more students can participate.

It it seriously minimizes the number of driveways entry streets exit streets, open lots.

It significantly reduces the number of open lots that need to be patrolled and track and and protected which exponentially increases the safety of the kids during the parade.

And that really was that main driver.

Now, for folks that might be really, really, really, caring 100% about tradition, that might not be the favorite thing that they want to hear.

But as I mentioned in our newsletter, we care about our traditions, but we care about the safety of our kids more.

So we are going to try this new parade route, for the first time.

There will be probably some kinks and barriers that we're going to have to work through, but ultimately we're choosing to make this change before something tragic happens.

Rather than after.

And so that's really that big change, all leading up to the very exciting football game.

Yeah.

At our, our new field at Browning.

And let's talk about that because, I mean, you mentioned tradition and you take a look at, Wharton Fieldhouse and what it has, been, refurbished as.

And now you took on Browning Field.

I mean, this is really significa It has been a long time coming.

Like I said, I'm not from Moline, even though I've been trying to be in Moline or ever since I've arrived.

I'm not sure how many years it takes to become a Moline or.

But I'm trying.

It has really generated a lot of excitement.

And what I love about being a school district that has only one high school is that every single student in the Moline Valley School District will benefit from this investment and the turf project and the improvements to Browning Field and the safety improvements around Browning Field are not just for football players.

They are for every single student.

They are for our student musicians.

They're for our contemporaries.

They're for our cheerleaders.

They are for our soccer players.

There are for our youth programs.

Historically, our students have not been able to practice on those fields.

Our marching band has not been able to spend a lot of practice time on those fields.

All saving up for game day because of the mud, the gopher holes, not wanting to cause further damage.

And so, we will be able to see a lot more use on that field.

And we're just really excited about that as well as the safety.

Far fewer turned ankles.

There's just the previous field was just riddled with holes, and I'm not sure people really knew that well.

And you look at Moline and you look at Browning Field, you compare to other schools in the district in the conference, I should say.

And it was like, it's high time that Moline got to that level.

I think we were the last one.

Yeah.

Yeah.

And so it'll be nice for the visitors to see it and go, oh, it's the Maroons.

We have to be careful with this team.

That's right.

We also were able to, in that same project, refurbish the track.

That process is still in, in the works.

The track will be complete towards the end of September.

But completely redoing the bathrooms as well.

They are now Ada accessible.

Yay!

Finally.

As well as the concession stand, which is Ada accessible and, just new fencing, new retaining walls, new concrete, all of those pieces that will just create a far safer experience for our patrons and our spectators.

And just a better experience for generations of kids to come.

Let's talk about, proficiency in various areas such as reading and math.

Yes.

The state of Illinois is really trying to set goals, for for increasing those numbers.

And Moline has, has, has done its best.

What is the key to improving the reading and the math scores in the Moline district?

Let's talk about that a little bit.

I know some of those.

The current report card metrics that are available on, the Illinois School Report Card.

Now, that data is a couple of years old.

That's first and foremost, 20, 22, 23, I believe it's exactly.

And you're exactly right about Illinois finally taking charge and addressing the cut scores, once and for all.

For decades, Moline High School has had more than half of its students going to college.

We have had students that have taken three and four and five AP courses had GPAs.

Well over 3.5, been involved in activities, held part time jobs.

And still, when they take the Illinois assessment of readiness, they are told they are not proficient.

So I am so glad that we have a fabulous new state superintendent, Doctor Tony Sanders, who is addressing this issue once and for all.

I don't think everybody realizes that Illinois has among the highest cut scores in the nation, and there has been a discussion in regards to changing that.

But some people see that as dumbing down, the numbers.

You would argue against that.

I would argue against that.

It's not necessarily dumbing down.

It's actually right sizing the proficiency scores so that they are actually a true description of the child's ability.

As an example to your question.

We utilize a benchmark assessment called Map Measures of Academic Progress.

A lot of districts use it.

We give it three times a year.

And what map is telling us versus what IAR is telling us is a completely different story.

As an example, we have about 145 elementary classrooms.

And just in our last map assessment, about 85% of those classrooms met or exceeded their growth targets.

That is completely polar opposite to what the IAR data is telling us.

So something is upside down.

And so it's the map data that our teachers really use to inform instruction to prescribe interventions, to assign, more rigorous work for our students that are excelling.

We have a lot of students that are performing above grade level.

So someone that might feel that changing or rightsizing a cut score is dumbing it down, might not have the full picture or the full understanding.

In fact, nape that national report card has Illinois at the highest in the nation, whereas Iowa, our next door neighbor, is at the third from the lowest cut score in the nation.

And so when we're right next to each other, it's really easy to make assumptions about those scores without the full story.

So our teachers, our instructors, our leaders, we look at both.

We certainly do.

We don't turn our back on any data, but it's that every day map data that three times a year, data that's giving us a more accurate picture about kids ability.

And we're just waiting for the our data to catch up because it's not really telling us the truth about where kids are at.

Briefly, we just have a few moments left and we want to talk about school security because once again, you hear these school shootings and it's just gut wrenching.

And as a superintendent, you know, by the grace of God go I you just worried that it could happen here how security think Moline schools are.

And there's only so much you can do.

My heart goes out to Minneapolis.

It is awful.

I imagine every superintendent lays awake at night, as do parents, as do law enforcement.

Safety is not one thing.

It's not a binder on a shelf, and it's never done.

We have a huge safety committee, and we meet monthly, and we are constantly evaluating our safety protocols.

We run drills.

We evaluate our safety technology, our SROs and law enforcement.

They practice their drills inside our schools.

Every year we are changing and evaluating our practices and our protocols.

We review our communication systems.

We review, every aspect of our safety procedures to make sure that we are constantly, ready, as ready as we can be.

So safety is never finished.

And, it's gut wrenching, to use your phrase, that this is where we are at in our country, but we do everything that we can in the Moline Valley School District to protect our children.

And that's something that we will never stop doing.

Our thanks to Moline Coal Valley school superintendent Doctor Rachel Savage.

Still to come, releasing the monarchs.

But first, a look at some of the great events and activities you can enjoy in September.

Thanks to visit Quad Cities.

Check out the things to do this week in the Quad Cities.

Start your week off by heading to Schubert Riverfront Park for the Rock Island Labor Day Parade, then catch the Quad Cities River bandits in action at Modern Woodmen Park on September 2nd.

You only have a few more chances to see Mary Poppins at circa 21 Dinner Playhouse, so grab your tickets today, then get ready for some great food at Food Truck Friday in LeClaire.

And finally, get ready for an awesome event at the Renwick Mansion on September 7th.

For more events like these, check out our events calendar at visit Quad cities.com.

Well, here's some encouraging news.

The World Wildlife Organization reports the eastern monarch butterfly population nearly doubled this year.

But the group also says populations remain far below the long term average.

Nahant Marsh is trying to help bolster those numbers with its 10th annual monarch party coming up.

September 6th has its Davenport Education Center and Amy Loving, the education director at Nahant Marsh, joined us to talk about the event.

It is the 10th annual monarch release party that's coming up.

That's right.

September 6th.

What?

What made you start getting involved in this monarch release ten years ago?

So we got involved in this, this project about ten years ago with a local organization.

And it's just sort of grown from there.

And it's a really exciting event where we can really highlight monarchs, their, unique life cycle.

And, we've expanded, actually, and to include more insects and just conservation in general for insects because it's really critical.

Well, not only insects, but specifically pollinators.

Yes, pollinators are extremely important.

And tell me a little bit more about the monarch, release party that you have right now, because a do you call them growing?

You're, you're you've got the monarchs at, at Nahant Marsh.

So the event will include us tagging butterflies, monarch butterflies that have been reared by local volunteers and some of our staff members as well.

We'll also be catching wild monarchs and tagging those.

How do you tag a monarch?

So there is a special tag that was developed by, an organization called Monarch Watch, and there was some tagging that had gone on before this organization came to be.

But they're in their 34th year.

So they've developed this special tag that has a series of letters and numbers, and you place it on a special spot on the underside of the monarch wing on a particular cell, and then you record that number and you let it go.

That is amazing.

Well, I think a lot of people don't really understand the entire migration of monarchs.

I mean, you think of migratory geese, you don't really think necessarily of butterflies going a number of miles.

Yes, it's absolutely incredible.

Which is why tagging is really important to help scientists understand how far they're moving, how weather is affecting them, how their populations are doing.

So it's really, an important thing because their migration is pretty unique compared to a lot of other animals.

So the ones that are migrating back to Mexico now are actually like the great great grandchildren of the ones that came up in spring.

So we are tagging this fourth and fifth generation, and these are the super monarchs.

So these are the ones are going to live for an extra long amount of time.

Mostly adult monarchs are just a few weeks, their life span.

So these ones are going to actually live for up to six months.

While you're talking about monarchs that are here.

Are they actually going to make it all the way to Mexico?

Well, we hope so.

I mean, that's just amazing.

Yeah, absolutely.

And why Mexico?

Do we know why it's eastern Mexico?

I believe.

Yeah.

There are some fur forests down there where they like to overwinter.

And so they gather by the millions and they just drape over these fir trees can even see the the pines or the pines of the trees at all on those.

So they just absolutely drape it.

We have talked about world wildlife saying the population actually doubled in 2025.

That certainly is good news.

But yes, it is good news.

But we've seen a downward trend.

So some years are better than other years.

But overall it is a downward trend.

And what do we what do we attribute that to.

There's a lot of different factors.

A huge one is weather and climate.

So if there is a really bad storm down in their wintering grounds and it takes out a lot of the trees, you're going to have mass, you know, fatalities, not extinction.

But yeah, mass tality.

And in an instance like that, there is also habitat destruction.

Fragmentation of different habitats.

Diseases affect them as well.

So there's a lot of contributing factors.

We were really I mean, they were on the brink of what I mean, the population had dwindled to such a small number.

We were almost going to lose monarch butterflies.

Yes we were, yes we were.

What takes it to that point?

I mean, is it that we just ignored it for or the problem ignored for a while?

A lot of it is our ecosystems have drastically changed over the last hundred and 50 years, so there's just a lot less habitat to support monarchs in that number.

Okay.

And what has helped grow it, obviously, you know, people better understanding what's going on, but also efforts such as yours.

Yeah.

So conservation efforts and what you could do like on a local level as a homeowner, as plant native plants.

And that doesn't include just milkweed.

So monarchs rely on milkweed as their larval host food.

So the little caterpillars are eating all the milkweed leaves.

Well, that's good for the caterpillars.

But as adults they need nectar sources as well.

So planting nectar sources throughout the growing season is also really encouraged.

And when you're supporting monarchs, you're supporting other insects and other wildlife as well.

Let's talk about the pollinators.

I mean, like you said, there's a number of bugs.

We always think of bees as well.

Nahant Marshes is really leading the effort, at least in the cities, in order to get these pollinator populations back up.

Yeah.

So we continue to assess our prairies and our native areas and making sure that our, forbs are in high numbers and even planting trees is really good as well, especially oaks.

They support a hunt hundreds of numbers of moth and butterfly caterpillars.

So I mean, what do you suggest to people?

As far as the better plants to put in their yard in order to foster more growth?

So here in the Quad Cities, there are a ton of plants that you can plant that will grow throughout their growing season.

Different types of echinacea.

There are different types of milkweed that you can plant, different types of goldenrod, this different asters.

So there's a lot of different ones that you can plant.

But also think about shrubs and trees as well because those are also part of the ecosystem.

So you're basically when to look at your landscape and thinking about how you can scale it down to mimic our natural ecosystem here in the Quad Cities, which let's be honest, a lot of people just have lawns and and hedges that don't really do much for anybody.

Yeah.

Light, clean and tidy.

Let's talk about some of the other programs you have going on.

Because I wanted to bring up on September 19th at 2 p.m., you have part of your home school program and this particular one is a grasshoppers life.

Explain to me the home school program, first off.

So the homeschool program is something we've been doing for, gosh, I would say close to 15 years maybe.

And it's a really great program.

It's open to homeschool families in the area.

We offer it once a month, and we try to keep activities seasonal.

So right now there's a lot of grasshoppers that are around.

And so we're going to learn about their adaptations and get to catch a lot and identify which ones we're finding.

And then coming up in October is the 25th birthday bash and Fall Festival.

That March has such a great story to tell from how it was created about how bad the Marsh was because of, I want to say, lead shot.

Yes.

Okay.

Because of the lead shot, because it was basically a spring Sportsmen's club.

And the pollution in the marsh was so bad.

It has come back and it really shows the vibrancy of nature, the strength of nature, especially once people understand what's going on and they get involved.

You know, we're really excited to celebrate our 25th year with our fall festival, and we're going to have a lot of fun games for families.

There's going to be live entertainment, we'll have food trucks, and it'll be just a great way for people to, enjoy the beauty of the marsh and the significance of the marsh, because, I mean, I always think of, how it has, helped, filter the water after the floods, how it has, been a place that has brought back the pollinators or has, really made that part of the West End more vibrant.

I mean, like I said, it is a good story to tell.

It is we have gone from 78 acres to almost 400 acres now that's protected under that preserve.

And when you think about the amount of wetlands that have been filled in, especially on the upper Mississippi River, having a huge wetland complex like that right in our community is absolutely critical.

We're on the Mississippi Flyway.

You know, we've documented over 200 birds that visit the marsh.

So we are really grateful to have the support of the community to continue to do, what we do.

Well, plus the education center.

It's one of those things that some people may have been to Nahant Marsh a number of years ago.

But there's always something new.

There's always something new.

I've been there for quite a while and I learn something new every day.

One last pitch for the monarch party once again.

Who do you want to have come out?

We want families to come out anytime between nine and noon.

It's an open house style.

We'll have butterflies and our butterfly tent throughout.

We've got a lot of community partners that will be hosting booths.

So, a lot of fun to to to hat to be had.

Our thanks to Amy Loving with the Nahant Marsh.

America is getting ready to celebrate its 250th birthday next year, and leading up to July 4th.

We're talking with people in the cities about their role in making America the nation it is today.

So many people have what it's called a civic spark.

That impetus that made them get involved in a way that makes a difference for others.

So we posed that question to the head of the Quad Cities Health Initiative, Nicole Kirchner.

What is your civic spark?

I enjoy solving big problems.

I enjoy really thinking about how all the pieces of our community fit together, and this opportunity to work with the Quad City Health Initiative was one that really emphasized how we needed to partner, how we needed to collaborate, and how we all have a role to play in keeping ourselves and our community healthy.

Our thanks to Nicole Carter, head of the Quad Cities Health Initiative.

On the air, on the radio, on the web, on your mobile device and streaming on your computer.

Thanks for taking some time to join us.

As we talk about the issues on the city's