School Board Updates

At Monday's Unit 4 School Board meeting, the local ACLU and NAACP chapters will be addressing continued racial disparities in the district. From the News-Gazette yesterday:

Two civil-rights groups are challenging the Champaign school district to address racial disparities in student achievement and discipline, 10 years after Unit 4 was released from federal oversight.

The American Civil Liberties Union of Champaign County and the Champaign County NAACP released a letter Thursday saying they were “deeply concerned” about growing disparities in the district since a federal consent decree to improve racial equity ended in 2009.

A decade later, “we would expect to find significant improvement. Instead, tragically for the students and families of Champaign, the situation has deteriorated,” said the letter from ACLU President Carol Spindel and NAACP President Minnie Pearson.

The disparity in English language and math proficiency has widened to a “chasm,” their letter said, citing data showing just 8 percent of black children in Unit 4 schools are proficient in English language arts and 6 percent are proficient in math, compared with 47 percent and 49 percent for white children.

More at the full article here. WCCU had additional coverage, including a video segment, here as well as a link to the letter addressed to the Unit 4 school board. At last night's county NAACP General meeting, people were encouraged to attend and show their support for equity in education. The meeting technically begins at 5:30 on December 9th at the Mellon Administration Center, though the first half hour is generally taken up in Executive Committee (outside of public view). More information at the agenda and directions here.

At Urbana Schools, the School Board recently approved permanently adding two additional School Resource Officers. In the last Cheat Sheet update on this, the board had delayed the vote until their next meeting. Since then, the measure has been approved. From the News-Gazette earlier this week:

Despite several more residents speaking out against a proposal to add a police officer to Urbana High School and another at Urbana Middle School, the Urbana city council approved it.

The council voted 6-1 in favor of the amended agreement, with Ward 7 Alderman Jared Miller voting no and saying he was frustrated with the process...

Fourteen people spoke at Monday’s meeting, including 10 against the agreement and three in favor of it.

More at the full article here. There is video of the full board meeting, including public comments available here. Final approval is likely at their December 17th meeting, and a petition in favor of approval is already circulating among supporters. From WCIA:

A petition in favor of two school resource officers at the Urbana School District middle and high schools now has more than 120 signatures. Supporters say the BB gun a man brought to school Wednesday reinforces the need to formalize the intergovernmental agreement.

Urbana City Council members approved those officers Monday night. The petition aims to encourage the Urbana Board of Education to give the final approval on December 17.

More details as well as a video segment from WCIA here. WCCU had a segment on police support here. More information on the opposition voices is available from the News-Gazette here, as well as in the public comments of the recent school board meetings available here and at the previous Cheat Sheet update here.

Today's Tom's Mailbag also had an update on Urbana School Board president's possible future plans on the board after he plans to step down as board president. Whether he stays on the board may be up in the air until the 2021 local elections get closer.