Urbana Deans Update

There were more updates on the issue of switching from disciplinary deans to restorative practices that appear to be a bit more difficult to explain than the more familiar current system. The News-Gazette had some of the issues discussed at last night's forum arranged to discuss them:

Staffing changes, fighting top parents' concerns at Urbana district forum
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Still, some in the audience said they were worried that the dean positions were disappearing just as the number of violent incidents among students seemed to increase at the middle school.

"The thought of not having deans is scary," said Tori Exum-Johnson, a UMS parent.

But Owen disagreed.

"I hear a lot of people saying this isn't new, that the middle school has progressively been getting worse," Owen said. "Adding more deans is not necessarily the best solution. If you have people who aren't necessarily trained in social-emotional learning or restorative practices, and we add a bunch more of those people, I'm not sure we're making the change we need to make."

Owen referred several parents to the district's strategic plan, which outlines its goals in upcoming years and includes objectives like hiring more student support staff and improving "interpersonal relationships among staff and historically marginalized groups."

That plan won't be finalized until December, though plans call for a working draft to be available by August...

By hiring more student support staff, Owen said, the district will be able to curb bad behavior before it happens and implement a culture that focuses less on kicking a student out of class and more on hearing both sides.

Tonight, the Urbana school board will vote on a proposal written by middle school staff. It outlines staffing plans and policies that will guide the school on how it moves forward without deans.

UMS Associate Principal Shawna Scherer said the lack of communication from district leaders about all of the changes was a mistake.

"Hopefully, as we continue to roll things out, we'll better engage you guys," she told the crowd.

Full article here, which also addresses staff turnover which is high this year, but it has been higher in other recent years. For more information on tonight's District 116 Board of Education meeting, check out their meeting page here. Tonight's agenda available here. It appears that their live streaming link is broken, but it looks like they're still posting videos on their YouTube channel when they become available here. [UPDATE: WCCU Fox Illinois also had segment on this here.]