Local Government September Updates

Reminder: 2026 Midterm Elections in 60 Days!

Election Updates:

• Early Voting starts September 24th! See Early Voting locations and times here at the Champaign County Clerk and Recorder's Website.
  
  

• Illinois Public Media 2026 Candidate Interviews: in collaboration with the NAACP Champaign County Branch and the LWV of Champaign County.
  

• LWV Local Candidate Guide: available through Vote411.

• Reminder for the Next Election (It may be sooner than you think!): Municipal and many other local elections such as school board elections will be occurring early in 2027. The process to getting on that ballot has already begun. See the 2027 Abbreviated Election Calendar for more key dates and deadlines!

City of Champaign:

The City Council passed two major policy frameworks at their August 18th meeting:

• Homelessness Prevention Blueprint
  
  

• Enacting a policy based on the Housing Needs Analysis and Strategy

I’m still looking into the changes made to the zoning code which the City Council replaced at the September 1st meeting.

There is a continuing campaign to get City support and funding towards a Champaign County Reparations Commission. This is being led by the CU Reparations Coalition.

Earlier last month there was a controversial special use permit that the City Council failed to approve for a commissary kitchen for local food trucks and catering business needs. The commissary kitchen would have been located in the North End and there was local pushback on that location. Approval required a supermajority vote, but the measure only had a simple majority in support.

Unit 4:

The Board of Education approved a ballot referendum on bonds towards new middle schools and other facilities improvements. This is following the findings and presentation of the facilities committee. The consent agenda also included details on repairing the Kenwood playground recently damaged in a fire.

There was a great deal of public participation at the August 17th Board of Education meeting, especially in regards to the implementation of the new enforcement process for residency and district boundaries.

• WCIA had coverage of some of the new registration struggles families were facing this year, including a statement from the districts chief communications officer.
  
• Fox Illinois' coverage included a statement from Board President Tony Bruno.

Superintendent Ponce put out a public statement on the district’s appreciation of NAACP Champaign County Branch President Pearson and the NAACP's work towards addressing and resolving the registration issues moving forward. She also spoke at the August 17th meeting. Superintendent's statement from an email sent to the district after that meeting:

Charlisa Hart, a regular speaker during public comments at Unit 4 and other local government bodies, announced her candidacy for Board of Education in public comments. Four out of the seven school board seats are up for election during next year’s municipal elections. There were an increased number of interruptions and outbursts from the audience throughout the course of the 3 hour meeting.

There's been continued calls for school board seats by sub-district in Unit 4, as opposed to only at-large members for the entire district. Smile Politely's Editorial Board appeared to give cautious support to the idea, noting that "we have seen how the neighborhood sub-district model hasn’t always worked for Urbana."

City of Urbana:

Grace Wilkins announced her resignation a couple months ago and that became official on August 24th The City of Urbana is now accepting applications for the vacancy, to be appointed by Mayor DeShawn Williams. The deadline for applying is 5 p.m. on Thursday, September 11, 2026. Residency and other requirements are listed on the application page here.

Last month’s political action report noted that there had been some audio issues with the City Council meetings. The technology team for the City found a workaround to avoid interruptions to livestreaming. There are still no real-time adjustments for some sound issues, but significant discrepancies can be adjusted afterward for the streaming / recording. There had been an announcement that council, board, and commission meetings would no longer be livestreamed due to those issues, but that appeared to have been released prematurely given the workaround.

July and August Local Government Updates

Reminder: 2026 Midterm Elections in Less than 90 Days! 

For county government updates (including news on indictments, nursing home beds, homelessness strategies, and more) please see our latest Champaign County government updates here.

City of Champaign:

The City of Champaign is working on its own local “Homelessness Prevention Blueprint.” The proposed draft from June is available here starting on page 32 of the PDF. There was also a recent Study Session on Housing Needs Analysis and Strategy, with the final draft of that available here.

There is an ongoing campaign to get City support and funding towards a Champaign County Reparations Commission. This is being led by the Champaign-Urbana Reparations Coalition.

There is also a growing organized opposition to Flock and other AI based surveillance systems in the area, with the City of Champaign’s systems a major focal point. You may have already seen an increase in signage, social media posts, and local articles in opposition to the systems around town.

Illinois Public Media had coverage of the completed improvements in the Garden Hills Neighborhood involving drainage and Hedge Park. Phase 2 of the Neil Street Plaza project will begin soon. The City passed its Fiscal Year 2026/27 budget at the June 16th City Council meeting. The C-U Reparations Committee started what is to be a monthly advocacy for the City to support a reparations commission for Champaign County at that same meeting.

The City Council also extended an additional year of funding for the Strides low-barrier shelter. This is in collaboration with the City of Champaign Township who operates the shelter, but does not have sufficient revenue for those operating costs.

City of Urbana:

The News-Gazette had an overview of the new surveillance approval process approved by the Urbana City Council this week. That article highlighted Councilor Shirese Hursey’s opposition. Her full remarks are available from the meeting video here.

Dr. Stephanie Renae Stewart-Cockrell was appointed to the vacancy in ward 5 at the June 22nd Council meeting. Grace Wilkins announced her upcoming resignation last month. It’s unclear when she will make the decision final. She was at the most recent City Council meeting on August 3rd, in spite of earlier reports that she was likely to step down towards the end of July.

There had been some audio issues with the City Council meetings and there had been an announcement that council, board, and commission meetings would no longer be livestreamed due to those issues. This issue was resolved with a work around by the time this had been reported, however. The city is continuing to livestream the same meetings and recordings are still available a few days after each meeting (usually with some helpful sound adjustments for the quieter parts).

There was a presentation on the proposed Philo Road Ahead Initiative at the June 8th City Council meeting (video link here). C-U Citizen Access had detailed coverage of the initiative and properties at issue.

There was a great deal of coverage, back in June, over a proposed landmark designation of the old Urbana Civic Center and its possible future use as an MTD transfer station. The landmark designation proposal failed, and the MTD appears to be moving forward to apply for federal funding for the transfer station project. A June 17th News-Gazette article had a helpful overview of the issues surrounding the decision and numerous links to related articles and opinion pieces.

The debate over a proposed apartment project in a West Urbana neighborhood had raised concerns about disparities in zoning, planning, and investment. This particular item was pushed to July 13 for further discussion and a vote, which passed.  There was a large focus on protecting the “character” of neighborhoods, which has some historically problematic ties to previous segregationist policies and rationalizations locally. An example from a 1939 Champaign County Realtor's ethics guide, for example linked character to maintaining racial and ethnic purity of neighborhoods:

The language was softened to a "colorblind" wording after World War II, though the actual policies remained effectively unchanged for decades longer.

There is a very preliminary draft report for the Alternative Response Task Force. It was discussed at the June 25th Stakeholder Meeting. It was noted repeatedly that this preliminary report is still missing several sections expected to be in the final report.

The City Council approved the “community engagement and violence prevention office” at Sunnycrest Mall. The News-Gazette had a brief overview of the concept and the opposition by two Aldermen. There was an Urbana Police presentation at the March 23rd City Council Meeting on the proposed office and team (video of that presentation here).


Other Local Government Updates:

• METCAD: C-U Citizen Access raised concerns about ambulance response times in Champaign County compared to the Eight-Minute Standard.
  
  
• MTD: The C-U MTD board had to redo its annexation vote for areas that would allow a link for local bus routes to Carle at the Fields in Southwest Champaign. There was a technical violation of state law that prohibits meetings on election day (one of the public hearings for the annexation fell on the day of the March primary). There was a new annexation Public Hearing on June 22nd. The board approved the annexation at its June 24th meeting.

June Local Government Updates

[Update 6/11/2026 at 8:17am: The Alternative Response Task Force meeting today (6/11) was canceled and rescheduled for June 25, 2026 at 3:30pm (see notice here). It's listed as a "Focus Group Session" and will likely be scheduled at the IMC again.

There were also delays and movement on a couple of the Urbana City Council items mentioned when this report was written last week. The UPD engagement center at Sunnycrest was approved, and the apartment development in the West Urbana neighborhood was postponed until next month.]

There is a separate post highlighting some of the local Juneteenth events, as well as some other event information for June and in general here. 

Issue highlights:

Gun Violence: There have been numerous incidents of gun violence in recent weeks. The Police Chief Updates at the June 10th Community Coalition meeting will likely be the best source for more general updates. That meeting starts at 3:30pm, but will also be available online as early as the next day at this link.

Homelessness: Both the City of Champaign and the CSPH (Champaign County Continuum of Service Providers to the Homeless, operating out of the Regional Planning Commission) are developing strategic plans on the issue. The CSPH process involves the national consulting firm Homebase and is working towards “a community-wide plan to achieve functional zero homelessness by 2028.” 

A draft version of the City of Champaign’s Homelessness Prevention Blueprint was included in the Study Session report on May 26th (starting on page 32 of the report here). The City’s planning already includes a proposal for a new “homelessness and community services manager” position. The position and its duties are expected to evolve, with decisions on permanently funding the position after the initial three years. I’d expect the final vote(s) on the finalized blueprint to happen with the Fiscal Year 2026/27 budget votes this July.

Aging Care: There will be a public hearing on an application by Advocates for Aging Care for 120-licensed skilled nursing beds, as part of its efforts to address the local need. The hearing will be held at the Savoy City Council Board Room (611 N. Dunlap) on Tuesday, June 9th from 1:00-4:00 pm. Those wishing to submit a letter of support must submit them no later than June 20th. AAC's flyer is information, regardless of your views on the topic (click to enlarge):

Champaign County Health Care Consumers has a lot of additional information on the project being proposed and discussed at this Public Hearing here. 

Municipal and other Local Government:

City of Champaign: See the highlight on the homelessness blueprint above. There is additional information on the homelessness blueprint and public input efforts at the Engage Champaign website here. The C-U Reparations Coalition will be attending city council meetings in both Champaign (6/16) and Urbana (6/15) this month. They will be pushing for the cities to support establishing and funding a Champaign County Reparations Commission for African Americans. Like many modern reparations movements, the efforts are aimed at education and addressing harms that are often far more local and recent in nature.

There were positive updates, both organizational and financial with the City of Champaign Township and the Strides Center earlier this week (that video presentation is available here). The Council also recognized Gun Violence Prevention Week with a proclamation highlighting local organizations and organizers attempting to implement the gun violence prevention blueprint.

City of Urbana: Chaundra Bishop has passed away. Last month’s report noted that she had resigned for health reasons related to her extended battle with cancer.

There will be a vote at the next City Council meeting for the final approval of the “community engagement and violence prevention office” at Sunnycrest Mall. The News-Gazette had a brief overview of the concept and the opposition by two Aldermen. There was an Urbana Police presentation at the March 23rd City Council Meeting on the proposed office and team (video of that presentation here).

There has been a controversy about a possible apartment complex project in a West Urbana neighborhood. Smile Politely has had a couple articles on it, including one that took a stance in favor of supporting the project and another opposed. Local officials like Danielle Chynoweth have come out publicly in favor of the project as a necessary step towards addressing the general housing shortage and its impact on affordable housing as well. Alderman Christopher Evans has posted a four part opposition on social media (example from Smile Politely comments on facebook here: part 1 of 4).

The next stakeholders session of the Alternative Response Task Force will be June 11th at the IMC from 3:30 to 5pm.

MTD: Last month’s report pointed out that the C-U MTD board will redo its annexation votes for areas that would allow a link for local bus routes to Carle at the Fields in Southwest Champaign. There appears to have been a technical violation of state law that prohibits meetings on election day (one of the public hearings for the annexation fell on the day of the March primary). There will be new Annexation Public Hearing on Monday, June 22nd at 5pm, held at Curtis Road Church of God in Champaign

June Events Highlight: Juneteenth and Jettie Rhodes Community Events

I'd like to start off by highlighting a few of the many Juneteenth celebrations and activities happening this year, as well as the annual Jettie Rhodes event. People may have different opinions on these events. Some are clearly more secular in nature and others more overtly religious depending on your own preferences and interest. 

For our purposes at the Cheat Sheet, they tend to involve a great deal of local political information and outreach: from tabling by various organizations, voter registration events, and often a lot of education on local issues and advocacy. 

This list is in order of starting date/time. The flyers are by city location:

• June 13th, 12pm-3pm: Champaign Park District Juneteenth celebration including a lot of tabling and other events.
  
  
• June 19th, 10am-3pm: DREAAM hosting a Freedom Bike Ride, festival, basketball shootout, and voter registration events at Stratton Elementary campus. 
  
  
• June 19th, 2:30pm-5pm: The Well Experience is hosting a parade and celebration in Urbana starting and occurring at the Sunnycrest Mall parking lot.
  
  
• June 19th, 6pm-8pm: Champaign Park District hosting a free concert at Douglass Park. 
  
  
• June 27th, 12pm-4pm: Jettie Rhodes Day which will include tabling and other events.
  
  
• Wednesdays in June, 6pm: Juneteenth Bible Study via Zoom featuring AME pastors from Champaign, Bloomington, and Minneapolis.

Click to enlarge the images for the event flyers.

Champaign:

 

Urbana:

 

Online:

There are some events in June for Pride month, but the larger local Pride Fest event usually occurs in the fall here when the students are in town. For more information on local Pride events, reach out to the Uniting Pride Center. The UP Center is generally a good starting point for events and organizing around LGBT and related issues.

Of course there are always a lot more events going on locally, many may be directly related to your political interests or issues that you care about. It can be difficult to keep up with everything going on and many organizers struggle to get the word out on their events to a wider audience. 

The Champaign County Community Coalition may be a good starting point for most people learning about all the organizations and organizers out there related to local issues: on everything from gun violence to rental assistance, from youth programs to the need for nursing home beds.

Local Government Updates

We'll be trying out a little bit of a new format to try to have more regular and concise updates moving forward.

General Updates:

Elections:

Election day for this year’s midterms is November 3rd, 2026, with Early Voting starting around October 24th. You can find the local primary election results here on the News-Gazette website. There are new local party chairs, with Urbana Mayor DeShawn Williams chairing the Champaign County Democrats and perennial local candidate Jeff Brownfield replacing Susan Mantell in the County GOP.  

Federal Changes / Local Impact:

So-called “work requirements” for food assistance are going into effect. Champaign County Health Care Consumers have a great deal of information and assistance available on how to navigate the new hurdles for those having to prove their eligibility, exemptions, etc.

Gun Violence: The latest updates, including the police chief updates, can usually be found at the monthly Community Coalition meetings available here. There has been a number of recent shootings, many involving minors, in recent weeks. Unsecured guns, lost or stolen from homes and vehicles here and across the country, appear to be a major source for guns used in these types of crimes. Sheriff Heuerman noted that in one recent car theft, at least two guns were taken from a local unlocked vehicle. As we have seen, time and time again, if someone wants a gun, they just have to check enough car door handles in any given parking lot or neighborhood.

There still remain severe challenges in ensuring school attendance across both local school districts here with dozens of kids in each at ongoing and regular risk. There was a detailed discussion on those challenges at the recent Race Relations Subcommittee of the Community Coalition last month.

Local Government Roundup:

Municipal / School Boards:

City of Champaign: The affordable housing crisis has been a longtime and ongoing issue for the C-U. According to the housing needs assessment report and presentation earlier this year, the City is expected to present “the final document to the stakeholders and to the City Council for approval and moving into the implementation of the Housing Needs Analysis and Strategy” this month. 

The annual township board blocked an agenda item for an advisory referendum related to a state law restricting boycotts of Israel. The same referendum passed in Cunningham township at their annual meeting and several other township meetings around the state.

Champaign Park District: The Champaign Parks Foundation is looking for four new members. This organization helps raise money for unmet needs of the park district itself. Elections for Champaign Park District commissioners occur staggered in odd election years, with two commissioner terms expiring in 2027.

City of Urbana: The Alternative Response Task Force (re: policing / 911 calls) had a community engagement event with video available on the Urbana Public TV YouTube page here. President Pearson has been actively working with the stakeholder meetings over the past several months, looking at various alternative response systems around the country and possible local implementations here.

Unit 4:  The Board of Education has approved some of the new cabinet members for the incoming new Superintendent, Dr. Geovanny Ponce, who will begin that role on July 1st of this year. The district approved a separation agreement with former Central High School Principle Montia Gardner, with both sides agreeing not to sue each other in the aftermath of the falling out in a short, but apparently contentious year.

The district renewed its contract for Student Resource Officers. The News-Gazette had details of the contract, including the limitations on officers to issue tickets and other issues here.

MTD: The C-U MTD board will likely have to redo its annexation votes for areas that would allow a link for local bus routes to Carle at the Fields in Southwest Champaign after a technical violation of state law that prohibits meetings on election day (one of the public hearings for the annexation fell on the day of the March primary).

Champaign County Government:

The County’s budget process has begun with the Budget Director’s financial forecast presentation at the April County Board meeting. The board is openly considering across-the-board cuts, especially in light of the recent voter referendum supporting cuts to staff and services and opposing any new tax revenues.

The long-delayed Fiscal Year 2024 Audit is still being processed by the external auditor (Clifton, Larson, Allen LLP). There was an update on that process at the last Committee of the Whole (page 54 of the agenda packet). In March there was a presentation on the history of audit issues that led to our current predicament (video and slides).

The expectation is that these continued delays will impact funding, with the county likely missing out on funding it may have otherwise qualified for (e.g. through the state and federal government). The work on the 2025 audit is also being delayed while the County attempts to complete the 2024 audit.

The County Board also passed a one year moratorium on massive “hyperscale” data centers, as part of a process that may lead to blocking their construction here completely. The centers tend to have massive electric and water needs. As the recent mapping of the Mahomet aquifer has confirmed, however, those impacts may still threaten Champaign County if one is built in neighboring counties.

Unit 4 Updates for 2025 So Far

The last few months of Unit 4 School Board meetings have continued to be contentious with a great deal of frustrations aired on process and personalities. This was especially pronounced through the local elections where five seats were being filled (three seats for a four-year term, and two seats for a two-year term). Three of the current board members, including President Baker, were not running for re-election. 

Two seats were already set for an election due to being vacancy appointments, including Mark Holm's (who was running as an incumbent). Sam Bank's seat was vacant and unfilled since his resignation 12/15/2024. WCIA had coverage of his resignation here. The News-Gazette also had an article on the three recent Unit 4 resignations here.

The News-Gazette has local election results here. This post begins with a couple general highlights so far in 2025 and then some brief highlights and related news coverage links for the meetings thus far.

Approval of the Agenda

One of the changes for Board of Education meetings heading into 2025 was the removal of the "Approval of Agenda" from the meeting agendas. This resulted in an extended back and forth about whether the Board was adhering to Robert's Rules. This occurred at the beginning of the 1/27 meeting. Statements from the former Board parliamentarian Vazquez, Board President in her dual role as Board President and Parliamentarian, argued that the Board wasn't required to have it and that it had to be removed to avoid arguments like they were having now. Members Armstrong and Holder took issue with the removal, at least without a more formal statement that Board was suspending the use of Robert's Rules.

The discussion ended with the understanding that the Board is not required to follow Robert's Rules and the President has the ultimate authority per the Board's Policy's to suspend Robert's Rules:

Rules of Order

Unless State law or Board-adopted rules apply, the Board President, as the presiding officer, may use the most recent edition of Robert’s Rules of Order Newly Revised, as a guide when a question arises concerning procedure.

The Board President, or a majority of the Board may suspend use of Robert's Rules at any time.

This appeared to satisfy the initial question of whether Robert's Rules was being suspended in the affirmative. It may lead to more questions about whether that suspension was permanent for all meetings going forward as the "Approval of the Agenda" has not been on any agenda since. This will likely be addressed by the new board when it is seated after the election is certified.

Sam Banks Vacancy Appointment:

There was a bit of process towards a possible appointment for the vacancy created by Sam Banks, including public candidate interviews for Joseph Abrisz, Q’keomi Clemmons, and Kelly Ransom. WCIA had coverage of the candidate interviews here. The News-Gazette also covered the deadlock on the Board to move forward with the appointment process from there. 

The process of the appointment would normally go to the Regional Board, but according to the Regional Superintendent the upcoming election made the appointment such a short term prospect, that he viewed it as more disruptive than simply waiting for the election results. None of the applicants interviewed for the vacancy appointment ran in the recent election.

2025 Meeting Highlights through March:

As of this posting, there are meeting minutes available for all of the Board of Education meetings through the end of February 2025. Other meeting highlights so far this year (all agendas and meeting documents are available here on BoardDocs):

March

3/24 meeting (video) had appointments for the assistant principals at Central HS. The News-Gazette had coverage of that here. There was a long presentation on the English language curriculum for grades 6-12 (following up on previous curriculum for earlier grades). This will be voted on at the next Board meeting. President Baker took the opportunity to comment about her experiences on the Board and airing a long list of grievances against a couple other board members.

3/10 meeting (video) included the approval of a "Special Education Student Settlement Agreement," although there didn't appear to be any public details on this yet. There were a number of public and board comments related to the upcoming election, support for the Superintendent and accusations against Amy Armstrong and Betsy Holder.

February

2/24 meeting (video) included the appointment of the new principal at Central High School. The News-gazette had coverage of that moment and some of the remarks by Dr. Montia Gardner which included her family history and struggles. Public comments were related to the election again and included two candidates for Unit 4 Board of Education seats: Al Molina and Tony Bruno. President Baker noted the decision by the Regional Superintendent not to attempt a short term appointment process with an election coming up to fill the vacancy and most of the other seats in a few weeks. 

2/10 meeting (video) included an appointment for the district's Special Education Administrator: Jacquelyn Teague. WCIA had coverage of that appointment here. A couple of the public comments raised concerns of an appointment prior to the Special Education audit that may have recommendations on what roles this new position should take on.

At this meeting, the board also appointed a Campus Level Administrator for the International Prep Academy and renewed the American Institute for Research Contract which comes with State funding.

2/3 meeting (video) mentioned above included Board vacancy applicant interviews, with a deadlock on selecting one for a short term appointment prior to the upcoming election.

January

1/27 meeting (video) mentioned above included the dispute over the removal of "Approval of the Agenda" from the meeting agendas starting this year. Public participation included support for the Superintendent and concerns about immigration raids on school grounds.

There were reports on the fiscal year 2023-2024 audit by the outside auditor Baker Tilly (full report here, financial report, with a helpful overview on pages 4-7 of the PDF, here) as well as a presentation overview of the district's capital and maintenance plans and a chart of its needs list.

Starting on page three of the meeting minutes, there is a helpful overview of some of the other agenda items voted on at this meeting, including the Centennial softball field renovations, the demolition of a district owned house near Franklin, and a couple items related to the 2024-25 ISBE Discipline Improvement Plan. The News-Gazette had coverage on a couple of these items here. WCIA had some background on a Title IX (discrimination) complaint related to the softball field renovations.

Board communications rehashed some of the discussions and disagreements about the use and disuse of Roberts Rules. The Superintendent expressed frustration at the amount of questions and requests from board members and concerns about "gotcha" questions. She openly asked whether a couple board members were trying to run her out of the district. An extended discussion among board members and various arguments ensued. The News-Gazette highlighted some of the back and forth in its coverage of the meeting here.

1/13 meeting (video) was the first meeting without an Approval of the Agenda item on the agenda. There was a discussion by the board on selecting a process to fill the vacancy left by the resignation of Sam Banks. The board was split on whether a short term appointment was the best option with the upcoming elections. They agreed to a timeline and process, including public interviews of applicants. The News-Gazette had coverage of that portion of the meeting here. WCIA had a shorter blurb here.

There was a discussion of capital and maintenance plans prior to approving projects on the agenda. The conversation led to an agreement for a presentation and vote on the projects afterward at the next meeting, although not before an extended bit of arguing on motivations and intentions for the delay. The News-Gazette had coverage on that delay here.

There was also a lot of discussion and clarifications prior to votes related to the district's legal bills passing unanimously. 

Urbana School Board Updates

Our new collaboration with the League of Women Voters and the NAACP of Champaign County is allowing us to share more local government reports and highlights than we have been able to cover in the past. We hope to have a lot more from Urbana government bodies moving forward. Corrie Proksa is the LWV Observer for District 116 Board of Education meetings. These meetings are open to the public and also available on YouTube. From the BoE webpage:

USD116 BOE Meetings are held on the 1st and 3rd Tuesday of each month  (except October, November and March) at 6 p.m. There are no meetings in July. Meetings are held in the Board Room at Tiger Academy, 303 East Fairlawn Dr., Urbana, unless otherwise indicated on the agenda.

There are links to the meeting agendas and minutes on that same webpage. The most recent Observer reports for the beginning of 2025 are available here:

Highlights:

• The 1/7 Board of Education meeting (report, video) included an update on the CU 1to1 mentoring program (jump to video link). There was also an update on technology in the schools (slides, video link) which was followed up by the new year 2025 legislative updates (slides).
  
  
• The 1/21 meeting (report, video) included members Langendorf and Hixson's concerns about a renewed federal push for mass deportation and potential issues with federal agents (jump to video link). Superintendent Ivory-Tatum followed that with some related updates and a brief discussion among board members.
  
  The Student Ambassador report also highlighted quality concerns with Quest Food Management Services, the school lunch provider. Her report also included continued girls bathroom privacy, use, and sink issues. (video jump to link).
  
  There was an overview of the hiring process for middle school leadership positions, along with the introductions and approval of the new hires. There was also an overview of the Vision 2030 initiative (slides, template resolution for school districts, jump to video link).  News-Gazette coverage here.
  
  
• The 2/4 meeting (report, video) included a Student Ambassador report (jump to video link) on new student orientation. The meeting also included an overview of the GEAR UP program (jump to video link on the grant and program) and a discussion about the proposed 2025-2026 calendar. The Board approved the GEAR UP and Vision 2030 resolution discussed at the previous meeting.

2024 Reports:

The District 116 Board of Education Observer Corp reports for October through December 2024 are available here. Highlights:

• The 11/12 meeting (Observer report, video) had the 2023-2024 School Report Card presentation: Observer report, PowerPoint slides, and video jump to link. One of the major points of the presentation is that the district has not bounced back since the pandemic measures in contrast with the rest of the state.
  
  
• The 11/19 meeting (report, slides, and jump to video link) had a presentation about tax revenue and the property tax levy for people interested in the nitty-gritty of that part of the budget. There was also an audit report on the district's financial situation available here.
  
  
• The 12/3 Student Ambassador report raised concerns about privacy in the girls restrooms and concerns about weapons bring brought into the school and whether the metal detectors are effective. There was some additional conversation about this with the Superintendent during that report (Observer report, video jump to link). 
  
  
• The 12/17 meeting included a discussion and vote approving an updated policy on public participation that limited comments to 3 minutes (from 5) and 1 hour total at Board of Education meetings (report, jump to video link). Member Langendorf had an opinion column in the News-Gazette about the public comment and communications policies. There was another opinion piece by a resident opposing the changes here.

More District 116 News:

It's looking like the next school board will begin with a need to fill empty seats immediately after the election due to a lack of candidates for open seats (unlike Unit 4 which has a plethora of candidates running this term). From the News-Gazette:

With four seats about to open up and only one candidate running for election in April, the Urbana school board is gearing up for a challenging start to its next term.

“We would all have to be present in order for us to have a quorum and then for the board to act,” said board President Paul Poulosky. “It’s not a situation we could live with for long.”

Poulosky said the board’s first order of business will almost definitely be to fill those remaining seats as soon as possible.

This isn’t unlike the situation the board was in last year, when all seven seats were open due to redistricting and only six candidates ran for election.

More at the full article here, including some discussion of possibly making changes to the districts and adding at-large seats. The Champaign County Clerk has a list of candidates for local offices, including the Urbana School Board here.