This month's Unit 4 update post only has a few recent news items related to the district. For more information and updates please see the Unit 4 Board website for recent and upcoming meeting topics. Recent school board meeting videos are available here. For the most recent district announcements and highlights, check out their facebook page here.
Higher substitute teacher pay was approved last month, putting Unit 4 in closer competition with Urbana and other area districts. From WCIA:
A lot of school districts in central Illinois are in need of substitute teachers. One district just voted to raise the pay to hopefully bring in some subs. The Champaign School Board voted to raise pay for substitute teachers. They hope this will be an incentive to get people to work for them.
The pay for a regular substitute teacher will now raise from $110 to $140 dollars per day. Half days will change from $55 to $70 dollars per day. Experienced substitutes or retired Champaign teachers will receive a bit more than regular subs per day.
Full blurb here with comparisons on pay with other districts. More coverage from Illinois Newsroom here.
The News-Gazette's recent Tom's Mailbag column addressed the school bus driver shortage locally:
Champaign like most every other school district in the country is still experiencing a shortage of drivers, said Stacey Moore, the chief communications officer for the Champaign Unit 4 school district.
"This has impacted the length of time that students are on buses. Since July, our transportation department has routinely updated routes and eliminated situations that would lengthen the time for routes to be completed. However, because we are facing driver shortages of this magnitude, any disruption will put an additional strain on our system and lengthen travel times," she said.
"It is also worth noting that many school districts across Illinois have resorted to cancelling school and eliminating after school opportunities (including sports), while Unit 4 has been able to keep our schools and after school opportunities open for our students.
More at the full Mailbag article here.
The LIFT program, mentioned in our City of Champaign updates last month, got its official start last month. From WCIA:
LIFT stands for “Leading Individuals and Families to Transformation.” [Deputy City Manager Joan Walls] and other city and school district leaders have said it’s all about lifting up students and families that have been marginalized, something that the numbers show has particularly impacted schooling, and social and emotional health, for Black children in Champaign.
LIFT staff has identified 69 families who would benefit most based on data, like attendance records, grades and behavior, according to Angela Ward. She is Champaign Unit 4 School District’s Assistant Superintendent of Equity and Engagement...
When the city unanimously approved the program in May, it was discussed alongside gun violence solutions. Ward said LIFT was not created to react to the violence.
Instead, she described it as “a proactive approach to finding, who are the people who are struggling to be their best selves? And, how can we get in front of that?”
Full article along with video segment available here.
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