Unit 4 Updates: Reorganization and More

Last month there was a Cheat Sheet post on possible demographic reorganization plans put forward for Unit 4 by Cooperative Strategies, a consulting firm working for the Board of Education. That post had a preliminary overview, links to coverage, and a lot of background information. This month's post covers a lot of the fall out and cascading responses between the public, the Champaign school board, and the consulting firm. There are also the usual Unit 4 updates and news items afterward.

Demographic Reorganization Updates:

There was a rally before the school board meeting on 10/10 by the Unit 4 Families for a Smarter Solution group. Illinois Newsroom had coverage of the rally and meeting here with a lot of details. WCIA's coverage also included the text of the Superintendent's letter that caused a stir separating the consulting firm's task and Board's focus on the achievement gap.

There was a great deal of public comment from parents, residents, activists, and organizations at that meeting (public comment starts at 27:27 in the meeting video here). The local NAACP branch made a statement about its concerns at this meeting as well (also laid out in a News-Gazette guest commentary here).

In between the two Board of Education meetings in October, there were also in-person focus group meetings by the district's consulting firm on the issue, Cooperative Strategies. Coverage of the 10/17 and 10/18 In-Person Focus Groups:

• From Illinois Newsroom on 10/19: Parents at Champaign Unit 4 open houses: don’t move students next year
• From the News-Gazette on 10/19: Community members hold Unit 4's demography consultants' 'feet to the fire' in Tuesday meeting
• Blurb from WCIA on 10/19: “It won’t make the kids happy”: Unit 4 parents meet in Garden Hills
• Coverage from the first in-person focus group meeting at Carrie Busey Elementary from Fox Illinois: Cooperative Strategies addresses Unit 4 School of Change concerns

The 10/24 School Board meeting (videos, agenda packets) had a bit more of a response from the Board members themselves after additional public comment (begins on the first video around the 2:31:45 point). Illinois Newsroom had an overview of that meeting here. Excerpt:

[Unit 4 Superintendent Shelia Boozer] spent twenty minutes of the meeting detailing her efforts to implement the district’s 2020-2025 strategic plan. The document focuses on ways the district can undo systemic racism and improve academic outcomes for Black students, multilingual students and students with disabilities.

In addition to balancing spending between schools, Boozer described new training for teachers and administrators, supports like therapy and more. One of her top priorities is to expand the AVID program (Advancement Via Individual Determination) to all schools in the district. The program gives low-income students mentors, peer networks and writing training to help them excel.

Boozer framed changes to the schools of choice as one strategy – a way to remove barriers to low-income students and students of color. Board members echoed the sentiment.

The latest coverage from the News-Gazette's 10/28 "Meeting Minutes" feature also had an overview of what we've learned, remaining questions, and some other highlights about the reorganization plan and players. One particular personnel change at Cooperative Strategies seemed to puzzle a lot of folks:

An email sent this week from The News-Gazette to Cooperative Strategies’ Ohio-based point person on the Unit 4 project came back with an automatic reply noting “Scott Leopold is no longer with Cooperative Strategies, LLC.”

Asked how his departure from the firm, after 17 years, would affect the district’s plans, Unit 4’s Stacey Moore said: “Mr. Leopold is still the lead on this project until the district’s decision is finalized.”

According to his LinkedIn page, Leopold is now director of planning for HPM, a strategic management services company based in Birmingham, Ala.

More at that full article here. I haven't heard any clarification or explanation about how a former employee will be running lead on their company's project, however. The other big highlight is that the Board and others appear to be coming around to pushing the Board's original timeline (which originally would have finalized plans presented in November and approved with a vote this December).

The villages of Bondville and Savoy, which are also part of Unit 4 came up at the Board of Education meeting as well as a special Savoy Village Board of Trustees meeting this week. Discussions about the diversity of those towns as well as their desires for the district were brought up in public comments in both meetings. WCIA's coverage of the Savoy meeting highlighted some interest (and financial pitfalls) in leaving the Unit 4 school district:

The Savoy Board of Trustees voted unanimously to encourage the Champaign School District to create neighborhood schools Tuesday night. They held a special meeting to hear from concerned families.

The district is considering proposals that could uproot many elementary students from their current schools, including Carrie Busey in Savoy. Some people suggested detatching from the district, but Village President John Brown said that outcome is unlikely.

“If you detach or a section of the village detaches from Unit 4, not only do you have to find another school district willing to accept you, but you also have to take along a portion of that debt,” Brown said.

That full article here. There was more coverage on that meeting at WCCU and Illinois Newsroom as well. Other speakers warned (or threatened depending on the point of view) that Unit 4 will lose even more families and residents to neighboring districts rather than accept the plans laid out thus far. 

Those who can afford to leave may have to weigh concerns about crowding in those peripheral districts and related tax questions. The News-Gazette recently highlighted the crowding issues at one of the nearby school districts to the West, Mahomet-Seymour Community Unit District No. 3.

A map of the school districts around Unit 4 within Champaign County highlight some of the ongoing issues with racial disparities and long term effects of segregation in the area. From the Champaign County GIS Consortium website (click to enlarge): 

One can compare the demographic data (available via national or state level data tools) around the area and see some familiar historical trends. The districts encompassing Champaign, Urbana, and Rantoul have racial disparities with far more Black students and far fewer white students than the state average. Every school district bordering them has extreme racial disparities in the opposite direction with almost no Black or Hispanic students and generally a vast overrepresentation of white students. 

Compare with Fisher CUSD 1, Thomasboro CCSD 130, Prairieview-Ogden CCSD 197, St. Joseph CCSD 169, Tolono CUSD 7, or Ludlow CCSD 142 on the Illinois State Board of Education's Illinois Report Card data. Here's a snip of the data for the other district the Village of Savoy area borders:

This modern data has been highlighted in recent segregation overviews in Illinois from Governing Magazine that included Champaign-Urbana and surrounding areas mentioned in a previous Cheat Sheet post here. The News-Gazette had an overview of desegregation efforts within C-U school districts back in 2019, but that doesn't address how segregation evolved along and outside school district boundaries during those efforts.

Some of the trends date back over a century as the Black population grew in the area after the Civil War and into the Great Migration. During the Racial Nadir era here (roughly 1890-1930s) is when much of the county became "lily-white" in the parlance of the times. De facto segregation and the color line became more brutally enforced by local authorities and private vigilance efforts (with varying cooperation and conflict with local law enforcement bodies). This chart compares the changing Black population within the Twin Cities and the rest of Champaign County:

During the decades between the racial Nadir era here and segregation efforts in the last generation, a great deal of factors compounded these disparities including: racial covenants, open loan and realtor discrimination, redlining, community disinvestment and neglect, etc. The growth of the Chanute military base also played a major role in creating a new large African-American community within the County during this time. 

Having an internationally renowned state flagship university in the middle of the county has made us unique in many other demographic respects as well. There's are additional aspects of diversity that set us apart from other regions of downstate Illinois. There are also a lot of examples of early activism and desegregation actions within Champaign-Urbana that put us ahead of many regional trends.

The districting, zoning, and bureaucratic systems that have created and maintained familiar racial disparities throughout the Midwest, however, have in many other ways made us sadly typical. Often people wonder how we could be struggling in our local education systems while having such a prominent university in the middle of it all. Some have pointed to a recent article in The Atlantic highlighting research suggesting that many college towns suffer even more inequality problems: The College-Town Achievement Gap.

Other Unit 4 News:

• The Champaign Urbana Schools Foundation issued a variety of grants for projects and classroom ideas, according to the News-Gazette. The CU Schools Foundation website also has an overview of the program and the grants here.
• Area superintendents participated in a TV special on issues facing area school districts, including Unit 4. Coverage by Illinois Newsroom here. Full video of the event here.
• Already mentioned in a recent MTD Updates post, was an update on Unit 4 versus Urbana's District 116 contract costs with MTD. The same News-Gazette article also highlights some of the local changes and competition in substitute teacher pay.

MTD Updates

This post covers updates on staffing, the half-fare taxicab access issue, an African-American history mural and bus donation, and other MTD coverage and news in recent months.

The MTD is still struggling with staffing shortages. From the Daily Illini a couple weeks ago:

The Champaign-Urbana Mass Transit District continues to face a shortage of bus operators, which has led to MTD implementing service reductions to some of its bus routes...

As a means of attracting new drivers, MTD drivers will only have to wait 90 days rather than a year for their health insurance to take effect, the premiums of which are paid in full by MTD itself. Training wages themselves have also been increased, in addition to hourly pay becoming more competitive. 

The shortage has also caused current drivers to pick up more overtime hours to make up for deficiencies. 

That full article here. More details on campus route changes here.

MTD's half-fare cab program was in the news for failing to comply with disability and accessibility needs. From the News-Gazette back in August:

A Federal Transit Administration final report on a review done once every three years stated that at the time of the review, there was only one local taxi company participating in the half-fare cab program and that its fleet didn’t include any accessible vehicles.

The MTD provides the half-fare cab service offering discounted cab rides within MTD service boundaries as a supplemental service to its DASH Pass. The MTD has DASH passes for both seniors and those with disabilities that make it difficult for them to get on and off a bus...

In all, the FTA focused on the MTD’s compliance with federal requirements in 23 areas, and found deficiencies in two of the 23.

The other deficiency had reportedly been corrected already. More information at the full article here. The latest update on the half-fare issue from the 8/31 MTD Board Meeting:

For the deficiency Demand-response service deficiency (ADA-GEN 5-1), by December 30, 2022, MTD must submit to the Regional Civil Rights Officer (RCRO) its procedures for monitoring the half-fare taxi program to ensure that equivalent service is provided to persons with disabilities, including wheelchair users, according to the criteria described in 49 CFR 37.77(c). In addition, MTD must submit at least three months of data to demonstrate the equivalency of the service.

That full report here (this issues is covered on pg 48 of the PDF file, pg 10 of the "Fiscal Year 2022 Triennial Review" document in the August agenda packet).

Smile Politely highlighted a bus mural dedicated to local African-American history on a bus donated by MTD to the Champaign Park District:

The newest addition to the Champaign County African American Heritage Trail is an MTD bus wrapped with a colorful and impactful mural created by artist Keenan Dailey. The bus was donated to the Champaign Park District by MTD, and it will be used for park district programming, and as a mobile part of the heritage trail.

The interior of the bus includes panels about Frederick Douglass, the history of Douglass Park, and other African American history in Champaign County. 

That full blurb with additional links here. News-Gazette had a bit of coverage here as well.

Recent MTD Board Coverage: 

There was coverage of the August MTD board meeting in the 9/9 "Meeting Minutes feature of the News-Gazette here. It included this quote:

Slowly but surely, MTD Managing Director Karl Gnadt told his board, “we are moving back to the pre-pandemic numbers.”

In July, ridership totaled 290,301 — up from the two years prior (260,815 in 2021, 226,004 in 2020) but well short of the 2019 figure (420,729), when the district was operating at full capacity vs. the current 80 percent, Gnadt noted.

The News-Gazette had coverage of the July MTD board meeting in their 8/5 "Meeting Minutes" feature here (subscription eEdition link). It covered a grant application for new busses, an intergovernmental agreement with Unit 4, and American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) related expenditures.

Last month's MTD board meeting coverage included updates on the increasing sophistication of ransomware attacks, including targeting of backups. More on that from the 7/22 "Meeting Minutes" article here. Purchasing a data backup system that can reduce that risk was proposed (agenda pg. 45) and approved (minutes pg. 3).

More recent MTD Board Meeting videos and documents available on the MTD website here.

Other MTD News:

• The Urbana school board renewed its contract with MTD at $180,239 (a $4,014 increase). From the News-Gazette's here. The article noted that Champaign schools renewed there contract in July at $556,110 (covering far more areas).
• MTD helped sponsor a Bike to Work day last month according to WCIA.

City of Champaign Updates

 

This Cheat Sheet post covers City of Champaign meetings and news from September and October thus far. Topics covered include updates on gun violence, police hiring, homeless shelter plans and more. There is an upcoming meeting on Tuesday 10/25 that will include a study session and presentation on the tax levy and financial forecast. Financial forecast report is available here from the City's website.

October Updates:

WCIA had an update on gun violence in Champaign. Excerpt:

WCIA reporters last sat down with police leadership in mid-July. Then, Chief Tim Tyler touted that police received half the number of shots fired calls as they had by the middle of 2021.

The gap has closed some since then. Still, about 15 more people had fallen victim to gun violence at this point last year than to date in 2022. That said, 2021 was a record-breaking year and not necessarily the benchmark.

If the shooting rate the city is experiencing now continues, Champaign may see as many people hurt and killed as in 2020.

More at the full article here. There were overall gun violence updates around Champaign County on a previous Cheat Sheet post here. For the very latest Chiefs Reports at the Champaign Community Coalition meeting this month jump to the 4:30 minute and mark of the latest meeting video here.

In other gun violence related updates, the City of Champaign also signed off on additional funding for its Community Gun Violence Reduction Blueprint this past week. From the News-Gazette's 10/21 "Meeting Minutes" feature:

$218,103 to the Scott-led Y, part of Champaign’s Community Gun Violence Reduction Blueprint. [Jeff Scott of the Stephens Family YMCA] told council members it will be put to good use — the expansion of after-school/weekend youth development programming for 25 to 30 kids a day in underserved communities. It will take place in Y-rented space at the Swann Special Care Center.

Full coverage of that meeting is available here from the News-Gazette's s eEdition.

In other City Council news, Tom Bruno won't seek re-election for the first time in a very long time. From the News-Gazette:

One of Champaign’s longest-serving city council members, Tom Bruno, said he’s going to step aside next year and give someone else a turn.

A council member since Aug. 5, 1997, Bruno said Thursday he doesn’t plan to seek re-election next April...

A 68-year-old attorney with law offices in Urbana, Bruno was originally appointed to the city council in 1997 to fill an at-large seat vacancy. He’s been elected and re-elected ever since.

That full article here.

In coverage earlier this month, the News-Gazette highlighted a likely upcoming honorary street sign and an "Island of Misfit Toys" holiday parade theme. More from the 10/7 "Meeting Minutes" feature here. The News-Gazette had additional coverage on the proposed honorary street sign for Toby Herges here. The Study Session report includes the application and letters of support for the signage. The "Meeting Minutes" feature on 10/21 included an overview of all of the City of Champaign honorary street signs here (News-Gazette eEdition link).

September City Council Updates:

The News-Gazette had coverage of the 9/27 Study Session here. Topics mainly covered the promotion of tourism and marketing slogan campaign details:

During a goal-setting session a year ago, the city council endorsed a project to “develop and implement a comprehensive marketing campaign to promote Champaign’s positive attributes and strengthen community pride.”

But when the two-year, $140,000 pilot program was put under the spotlight as the focus of a study session this week, several members had questions.

Most of them revolved around the general issue of: How to pull it off without trumping, or repeating, the campaigns that already exist — many of them involving some of the city’s closest partners?

More at the full article in the 9/30 "Meeting Minutes" feature here. That Study Session report with background and additional details is here. The general concept and discussion inspired criticism from the editorial staff of both Smile Politely and the News-Gazette.

    Also: "Champaign City Council member Danny Iniguez, left, tapped the ceremonial first keg at last weekend’s C-U Oktoberfest as the Developmental Services Center fundraiser returned to an in-person event for the first time in three years."

In Township business, there have been ongoing plans and negotiations over purchasing property for a homeless shelter. I have yet to see any updates where a deal has been finalized, however. From the News-Gazette's 9/23 "Meeting Minutes" feature:

Now that he has his board authorization to spend up to $1.25 million on a home for a first-of-its-kind local shelter, it’s on to the negotiating table for Township Supervisor Andy Quarnstrom... 

Township officials had originally considered launching the shelter in a leased building at 119 E. University Ave., which is being vacated this month by Habitat for Humanity of Champaign County.

But with C-U at Home in the midst of investigating other locations to move its own shelter and other services for the homeless, purchasing the East Washington space became the better option, given that it “is essentially turn key, (so) nothing would need to be done to it for Strides to move in outside of setting up our network, phones, some furniture, etc.,” Quarnstrom said.

More at that full article here. There were some additional updates on the ongoing property sale negotiations here and here (eEdition blurb) from earlier this month.More background on the option and plans from last month here.

The News-Gazette's 9/23 "Meeting Minutes" feature also included an overview of area gambling revenue here and a brief summary of the expenditures approved by the City Council at that week's meeting here. (summaries are also available on the 9/20 agenda here or the actual meeting minutes here).

The 9/9 "Meeting Minutes" feature included updates on police hiring, an additional meeting related to approving McKinley Field games (more detailed coverage on McKinley Field games here), and other expenditures approved here (more details available from the agenda and minutes). It also included some earlier gun violence data here.

More City of Champaign Updates:

• WAND had coverage of this year's immigration Welcome Week events and the City's collaboration with the YMCA's New American Welcome Center. Related News-Gazette blurb on Welcome Week here. WCCU had coverage on preparations being made locally for possible future increases in welcoming local immigration and refugees.
• WAND also had coverage of this year's Champaign Fire Department 9/11 Memorial Ceremony here.
• Some have suggested building a community center at the current site of the County Fair Shoping Center strip mall according to WCCU.
• The News-Gazette also previewed Fire Prevention Week events in Champaign and Urbana here.
• Two Champaign Police officers were promoted to Deputy Chief positions according to the News-Gazette.
• The Hedge POP! Park project in Garden Hills received recognition and an award according to WCIA.
• There was also an update on the City's progress with Costco's sales tax rebate.
• The News-Gazette had pictures and a short blurb on City Council member Danny Iniguez at an Oktoberfest fundraiser here.
• The News-Gazette highlighted a new local Park District pickleball complex.
• Farren's will continue to be the provider of "adult beverages" at Virginia Theater events. From the News-Gazette 9/2 Meeting Minutes.

City of Urbana Updates

 

There was a lot of City of Urbana news and City Council coverage this month. Below is a summary of that coverage, links to more information on new Fire Station placement, Florida Avenue path projects, Safer Streets proposals, and a whole lot more.

Starting with the most recent meeting, the News-Gazette looked at some of the nuanced drama in another extensive Urbana City Council meeting last week. From this week's "Meeting Minutes" feature.

During a marathon committee-of-the-whole meeting that lasted every bit of four hours, one organization’s funding request was pushed back, another’s sparked a philosophical debate and a third brought some tension of its own.

In the middle of all three: Grace Wilken, the inquisitive, second-year Ward 6 representative, who dominated the night’s discussion, asking to be called upon 17 times and following up with questions on another 31 occasions.

That full article here. If you want to jump to the various discussions covered in the article, here is a link to the agenda packet and the list of videos for each agenda item's discussion here. The sound was very low on the videos, so you may need a device where you can really amplify the volume. There were also some public comments related to develop around the old Lierman Community Gardens (see agenda packet staff report page 185-7 of the PDF). Many of the comments revolved around previous desires to keep the community gardens and previous discussion on insurance costs highlighted by WCIA this past summer.

This week there will be both a Cunningham Township Board meeting and a regular city council meeting with some of the final votes on topics discussed at this past Committee of the Whole meeting.

Previous Meetings:

The News-Gazette's 9/30 "Meeting Minutes" feature had an overview of some of the agenda items passed at the regular City Council meeting earlier that week. general updates including fire station issues. Video of the Fire station scoping follow-up questions and discussion is available on the City's website here. For those who want to start at the beginning of the new Fire Station discussion the first presentation began here at the 8/15 Committee of the Whole meeting (summary in item 4 of the minutes) and continued here at the 8/22 regular City Council meeting (summary in item 12 of the minutes). Older WCIA coverage on the Fire Station locations here.

The 9/23 "Meeting Minutes" feature included coverage of the presentation and mayor's remarks on Florida avenue plans: 

The topic: the recommended offstreet, shared-use concrete path on the south side of Florida between Lincoln and Race Street, which a working group determined would “improve safety and accessibility for pedestrians and cyclists” and fill in a gap that would create a nearly four-mile stretch of pathways.

That full article is available here in the News-Gazette's eEdition along with some data on local gambling revenues here. Video of the full Florida avenue presentation and Mayor's remarks are here with the Mayor's remarks starting at the 1 hour and 11 minute mark.

WAND also had preview coverage on the Safer Streets proposal along Florida avenue that was approved at the meeting. Discussion of the proposal (resolution number ending in -067R) was available under the video for the resolution ending in -066R (at the very beginning).

The 9/9 "Meeting Minutes" had an overview of study session items forwarded to the regular City Council meeting for a vote. It mainly highlighted the agenda items listed for the meeting here (minutes with more detailed summaries here).

The 8/26 "Meeting Minutes" had a lot of coverage and details about the Urbana City Council meeting. Excerpt:

Five things we learned from [Executive Director at The Urbana Free Library] Celeste Choate‘s fiscal-year-in-review presentation to the city council this week:

— Two-plus months since scrapping late fees altogether — and forgiving $70,363.13 in overdue fines accrued by 6,113 adults, 82 teens and 480 youths — library staff is “over the moon” at the response, Choate said: “We’ve already heard people coming in and saying: ‘I didn’t feel like I could have a card before because I was afraid of having fines.’ We have already seen that happening, and that’s very powerful for us.”

That full article is available here and covers a variety of topics from the library to homeless shelter collaboration with the City of Champaign, appointments, and more.

Earlier last month, the News-Gazette also reported that there may be the potential for another solar array in the old landfill location:

The city of Urbana may be poised to see an expansion of solar power being generated at its former landfill site.

The city is entering a lease option with global energy company TotalEnergies Distributed Generation USA that could lead to a second solar array being developed on the last unused acres at the 127-acre former landfill at 1210 E. University Ave....

The next step would be for TotalEnergies and the city to negotiate a long-term lease for the land, he said.

The presence of a second solar array at the old landfill is expected to take some time.

That full article here.

Other Urbana Updates:

• The News-Gazette's "Meeting Minutes" feature highlighted details of Urbana's search for a new Chief of police available here. More from the City's website here.
• Applications for ARPA funds to implement approved City projects and programs are open according to the News-Gazette. City announcement and links here. WAND coverage here.
• The News-Gazette also previewed Fire Prevention Week events in Urbana and Champaign here.
• WCIA had updates on the planned City Building remodeling.
• Smile Politely highlighted Urbana's upcoming leaf collection dates here.

Unit 4 Reorganization and More

The biggest news out of Unit 4 this past month were the proposals to drastically reorganize the school district away from the current "School of Choice" system. The proposals were introduced during a presentation by a consulting firm known as Cooperative Strategies at the 9/26 school board meeting. The next school board meeting is tomorrow October 10th and is likely to have many people organizing before the meeting, attending the meeting and participating in public comments towards the end (links for meeting agenda, information, and public comment rules). 

For folks interested in seeing the 9/26 proposals presentation for themselves it starts just after the 2 hour, 1 minute mark in this school board meeting video on the Unit 4 website. The PDF presentation is available here. The school board meeting agendas and documents are available here.

The News-Gazette had initial coverage of the announcement, presentation, various players, and reactions in their 9/30 "Meeting Minutes" feature. A few excerpts:

You’ll likely be hearing and reading the acronym SES frequently in the coming weeks. “That is ‘socio-economic status,’” board member Kathy Shannon spelled out at this week’s meeting, and it’s severely out of whack between the neighborhoods of elementary schools on the high end of the spectrum (Carrie Busey and Barkstall) and the low end (Booker T. Washington, Garden Hills, Stratton). “We as a community, I think, I hope ... we know that it’s really important that we don’t have schools full of rich kids and schools full of poor kids,” Shannon said....

This is just a report, this is an initial step presented to the board,” President Amy Armstrong emphasized to those anxious parents watching Monday’s meeting — most of them on Tuesday after streaming issues prevented the meeting from being broadcast live on Unit 4’s website. “And the community steps into the next part of the process.”

...

The project website that houses the aforementioned survey is also home to a handy school-locator tool, where users can type in their address and see which cluster they’d fall into if this option is adopted.

A lot more information at the full article available on the News-Gazette website here. There were additional articles on the reaction by the community here. One organized group mentioned in that article, Unit 4 Families for Smarter Solutions, is pushing for alternative policy proposals and has already had its own public meeting towards that goal. Video of latest community meeting here (PowerPoint presentation available here). People didn't appear to be coalescing around any particular alternate proposal at this initial meeting. Many different perspectives were shared on the history of school segregation here, multilingual needs of the community, and criticisms of how focused the Cooperative Strategies proposals actually address any of the problems they're focused on.

More details on the focus groups arranged for further community input to the Cooperative Strategies firm. Links to the survey and focus group application are available on their website here.

More coverage:

• WCIA initial proposal coverage here. Latest reaction coverage here, including yesterday's community meeting and an interview with NAACP president Minnie Pearson who attended and spoke at that meeting. Additional recent Unit 4 articles here.
• Illinois Newsroom 10/4: "Families weigh desegregation benefits, familiarity as Unit 4 discusses abandoning its school choice system"
• Reaction news segments from WAND and WCCU.

For more background on Unit 4's previous attempts at dealing with racial and socioeconomic disparities, local segregation, and integration of schools there is a lot of territory to cover. The most recent and helpful overviews to get started may be the district's recent Needs Assessment (February 2020) and Strategic Plan (September 2020).

• The Needs Assessment was developed by another education consulting firm called FourPoint Education Partners and is available on the Champaign Board of Education's website here. This also relates to the board's declaration of racism as a health crisis in June 2020. 
• The Strategic Plan for the district was developed based on that assessment.

For even more background, here are some additional helpful links:

• A 2019 Cheat Sheet post on segregation in Champaign-Urbana highlighting excerpts of a Governing Magazine series looking at modern segregation in downstate Illinois, including towns like ours.
• WILL coverage of the local branches of the NAACP and ACLU 2019 letter explaining ongoing concerns about racial disparities in outcomes, opportunities, and treatment in Unit 4. The full letter is still available on the Champaign County ACLU's website here.
• A critical look at the aftermath of the Consent Decree and settlement from a former Unit 4 teacher and administrator in 2012. It was republished on a searchable local Unit 4 blog that covered Unit 4 from late 2008 through 2020.
• The News-Gazette had a very brief overview of the extent of school segregation here during the racial Nadir and desegregation attempts after World War II and then the Civil Rights Movement in the late 1960s.

For legal wonks here is the text of the 2009 Settlement Agreement that helped usher in the end of the Consent Decree and the 2002 Consent Decree ruling itself. There are also records available through the University on the history of the legal battle that led to the Consent Decree. 

The long history of integration and segregation in Champaign-Urbana is difficult to summarize. In some ways we were unique and different from other Northern towns... but in other ways we were tragically typical. I strongly recommend folks take advantage of our great African-American history resources and archives locally to learn more about the evolution, changes (forwards and backwards), and the backlashes that occurred both nationally and locally over the past generations here.

Other Unit 4 Updates:

• CU One-to-One mentoring training dates and coverage from WCCU.
• The News-Gazette had coverage of the Superintendent's pay raise and overview of the previous school board meeting. Other approved items including the sale of excess Chromebooks to other districts and the donation of other surplus supplies.
• The 9/16 "Meeting Minutes" feature noted some approved district hires and "a moment of silence for Central coaching icon Lee Cabutti."
• The latest updates on the tentative SY 2022-2023 budget is available from the last meeting agenda packet here. 
• Area superintendents (including for Champaign schools) had a public event on area school needs covered by WAND here. 

UIUC and Parkland Updates

 

On public safety and law enforcement issues on campus and in the area, see the Area Gun Violence Updates Cheat Sheet post on our County page. The UIPD's preparation for arriving students was also mentioned in coverage by WCIA.  

University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign:

The Daily Illini is reporting that there has been a tentative agreement with the University on the contracts for food and building workers on campus. The union's members are currently voting on whether or not to approve the agreement according to its website. The News-Gazette had additional coverage and details here as well as commentary piece from the union side here.

Last month the News-Gazette reported that the "University of Illinois System has pledged to hire 300 new faculty in the next three years." It included some Urbana-Champaign campus specifics:

Meanwhile, UIUC’s student-faculty ratio has climbed. In the fall, instructor-student ratio ticked up to 21 to 1, highest in the Big Ten, according to the universities’ Common Data Sets.

In fall 2011, the UIUC’s faculty-student ratio was 18 to 1. The Illinois budget impasse from July 2015 to August 2017 cost the UI system several hundred million dollars, and faculty hiring lagged. Back in the March 2019 UI trustees meeting, the UI System announced plans to hire 916 tenure-system faculty over the next five years, including 448 new positions. But that was put on hold once the pandemic hit.

Student applications for next fall are moving “steadily in a positive direction,” Killeen said, and officials anticipate enrollment being on par with last year. The Urbana campus received a record 47,593 freshman applications last year.

That full article here.

The News-Gazette also had coverage on the process of replacing the outgoing Provost:

The UI is seeking faculty nominations for the provost search committee that is advising Chancellor Robert Jones. Seven to eight faculty members will consult with Jones as he picks the successor for Andreas Cangellaris, four-year provost and vice chancellor for academic affairs...

After 25 years at the UI, Cangellaris is moving to northwestern Saudi Arabia, where he’ll begin his term as founding president of NEOM U: the flagship university of the country’s $500 billion developing megacity, Neom.

More at the full article here along with some preliminary updates on COVID guidelines. The interim provost was Bill Bernhard according to reporting earlier this month. Quick answers on "what is a provost" available from the Provost's Office website here.

More on COVID guideline updates from WCIA here. WCIA also had some recent campus COVID and Monkeypox updates. As of this article there were no student Monkeypox cases, although there is a high risk level with close quarters living and activities.

Other UIUC Updates:

• Some brief Board of Trustees meeting highlights from the News-Gazette's 7/22 "Meeting Minutes."
• Updates on new deans in the 7/8 "Meeting Minutes" and another article on the retirement of the law school dean of students here.
• The News-Gazette reported earlier this month that "a Pakistani politician and University of Illinois business instructor was arrested last week in his home country on charges of sedition." 
• The 9/22/2022 Board of Trustees meeting here will have information on the "new tenure and promotion process" according to the News-Gazette.
• The News-Gazette also had the UIUC Chancellor's updates on the Health Innovation and Visioning Committee.
• WCIA highlighted the new Illinois Neurodiversity Initiative Pilot Program. More news and links for that program from the University's website here.
• Parking meters will be removed from campus, according to WCIA, in favor of mobile apps and other alternatives.
• A former UIPD officer was sentenced for misconduct related to using police resources to track women he was interested in. The News-Gazette had coverage on that and other allegations of sexual assault earlier this month here.

Parkland College Updates:

The News-Gazette was reporting an increase in enrollment at Parkland after a previous decline last month:

At least part of an enrollment boost may be the result of more finely-tuned marketing Parkland has undertaken to reach prospective students with an interest in Parkland and to communicate better with those students, he said.

Parkland also this past spring continued a freeze on its tuition rate for the 2022-2023 school year starting with the summer semester, which may also have had some effect, according to Ramage.

On top of all that, a struggling economy tends to have a positive impact on enrollment, he said.

That full article here. 

Parkland also distanced itself from a referendum question the Urbana City Council had put on the upcoming ballot. More on that at the Urbana City Council cheat sheet post this month here.

More Parkland Updates:

• The News-Gazette had an interview with Parkland's President who will be retiring at the end of the year.
• WCIA has recently highlighted training and education programs in highway construction, electric vehicles / automotive, and aviation.
• WCCU featured Parkland College as it relates to new state legislation on mental health services on campus.
• More opposition to former Champaign Police Chief R.T. Finney teaching community policing at Parkland college came from President Minnie Pearson of the local Champaign County branch of the NAACP. Recent defenses of Finney came from his wife in a letter to the editor and an interview with the News-Gazette's Jim Dey. There were protests against retaining Finney at Parkland earlier this summer. WCCU's coverage included a general response from Parkland after that protest here.

School Board Updates

 

 

The News-Gazette "Meeting Minutes" feature on 8/12/2022 included a breakdown on substitute teacher pay across local and area districts here. There's already an update to that breakdown for Tuscola CUSD 301. As one of the lowest paying of the districts, it has increased their substitute pay shortly after this article. Last month there was also an overview of area school construction, including a couple Champaign and Urbana updates here.

There was also a News-Gazette article highlighting the 5 year anniversary of the "Evidence Based Funding" legislation to address school funding inequities. It goes into a lot of detail about where it has fallen short, the impact of the pandemic, and where it may have helped.

Champaign / Unit 4:

There was some intergovernmental drama between the City of Champaign and Unit 4 on the feasibility and/or appropriateness of hosting varsity games at Champaign Central High School's McKinley field. From the City of Champaign Cheat Sheet post this month:

Whether or not varsity football games may be played on McKinley Field  appeared to dominate the attention on local government this past month. A lot of the controversy stems from the fact that during the referendum to "keep Central central," promises were made to the neighborhood that the improvements to Central High School wouldn't include such events. The News-Gazette had a lengthy overview of the situation here and some of the arguments being made here.

More on that and City of Champaign updates on the Cheat Sheet here. The Superintendent was also interviewed and discussed the topic with News-Gazette coverage here. 

There was also a general update on Unit 4's 2016 referendum projects and cost overruns in this week's "Kathy's Mailbag" column:

The original budget for the construction projects was approximately $208 million. “With early supply and labor shortages, unforeseen conditions at the various sites, and the decision to build a new International Prep Academy K-5 elementary building, the overall project cost increased to approximately $273 million. Each requested increase to the construction budget was carefully reviewed, and publicly discussed at various committee and board meetings. The recommendations from the Referendum Oversight and Finance Committees were brought to the board for final approval.” [Unit 4 spokesperson Stacey Moore] said Unit 4 was fortunate to be able to issue new bonds “during historically low interest rate periods...

Unit 4 has wrapped up the majority of the 2016 referendum-approved construction projects to upgrade facilities at South Side Elementary, Dr. Howard Elementary, Centennial High School, Edison Middle School, International Prep Academy Elementary and Central High School. In addition, the referendum provided for renovated athletic facilities at McKinley Field, Tommy Stewart Field and Spaulding Field. Moore said the district’s final project to be completed is the new Central North Fields, which will be ready for use in the Spring of 2023. 

More on that and other local topics at that full article here. 

More Unit 4 Updates: 

• The News-Gazette's weekly "Meeting Minutes" feature on 8/19/2022 included an overview of the Affirmative Action / Equal Employment Opportunities report for 2020-21. The full report is available here and the presentation is available in the Board Meeting video here, just after the 29 minute mark (Agenda packet for the 8/8/2022 and other meetings here).
• More Unit 4 board meeting coverage is available from the 8/12 "Meeting Minutes" (subscription eEdition link) with an overview of training, hiring, and other spending issues addressed.
• The 8/5/ "Meeting Minutes" feature included updates on Central High School projects and other referendum project price tags here.
• Updates on the lower cost of the contract with the MTD for bussing due to recent district changes. From the 7/15 "Meeting Minutes."

Urbana / District 116:

The school board member fired over a "spy pen" pleaded guilty after years of legal wrestling with the States' Attorneys office about an appropriate level of remorse or acceptance of guilt. The News-Gazette had a great deal of background information in addition to the lack of jail time for the misdemeanor plea deal. Of all the strange Urbana school district drama this case dips into, there was one additional "spying" part of the story that appeared to be legal, if not shady in its own way:

However, three days before the board meeting, Kevin Erlinger, a district teacher and information technology coordinator who was among those critical of the administration’s hires and Byndom, testified that he found in Byndom’s personal email an order confirmation from a company called “SpyGuy.”

Erlinger testified he found it while installing software updates on district computers and brought it to the attention of a board member rather than his own boss or the superintendent.

That full article here. More on other legal fallout from the district's attempt at diversification and restorative justice methods at this Cheat Sheet post here. That led to a legal settlement according to WCIA.

More Urbana Schools News:

• The News-Gazette's weekly "Meeting Minutes" feature on 8/5 included an overview of the school board meeting. It included some staffing, promotion, and Thomas Paine Elementary maintenance updates. Masks will likely be strongly recommended, but not required "during periods of high [COVID-19] transmission." There were also some updates on vaccination requirements and other COVID related policies.
• School officials hoping for a sense of normalcy after COVID from the News-Gazette.
• WAND had coverage of the further expansion of the CU Farm to School project.

Urbana Summer Updates

 

There was a great deal of discussion and News-Gazette coverage about a potential blood plasma collection center coming to Urbana:

• Coverage of the special-use permit being looked at by the City Council from 7/9.
• Council meeting coverage on the discussion, concerns and a lack of a vote from the 7/15 "Meeting Minutes" feature.
• An article about the ongoing local plasma needs in the context of the Urbana City Council discussion.
• A preview of the company's appeal to the Urbana Zoning Board this month. More at the special meeting (agenda, video) links on the City's website. The board followed the staff memo suggestion that the case be continued to the 10/19 regular Zoning Board meeting.

For folks who have endured some of the marathon sessions of the Urbana City Council meetings in recent years, the News-Gazette reported a very brief one in the 7/29 "Meeting Minutes" later that week:

The six council members who turned out for this week’s under- 10-minute meeting unanimously approved a six-year collective bargaining agreement between the city and the local firefighters union that Mayor Diane Marlin noted was “historic” in length and “provides certainty to both management and employees.”

The deal ensures across-the-board wage increases of 2.75 percent effective the start of this month, followed by 3 percent hikes on July 1 of the next five years.

The full "Meeting Minutes" coverage is available from the eEdition here. Most of the details for the agreement were covered in the previous Committee of the Whole meeting documentation covered in the 7/22 "Meeting Minutes" here.

There was also mention of the brief Cunningham Township meeting prior to the City Council (which shares the same members). This was due to advisory referenda from the annual township meeting being approved for the ballot. The News-Gazette article noted that Parkland wasn't pushing for this additional funding or this referendum in support of it.

The referendum question is advisory only and, if approved, wouldn’t bind Parkland College to take any action.

It arose from a citizen petition brought to Cunningham Township’s annual town meeting in April.

Parkland College spokeswoman Stephanie Stuart, who oversees the program, said this isn’t a question Parkland is asking of voters.

“Our program is fully funded at this time, and we’re not making a request to any other units of government,” she said.

That full article here. The language of the non-binding, advisory referendum items were included in the meeting agenda. They are phrased as yes or no questions:

Shall the federal government create a universal national healthcare system of Improved Medicare for All to insure that all of the residents of the United States receive quality healthcare that is equitable and fair from birth to death? 

Shall Parkland Community College increase the enrollment for the Support for Workforce Training program as well as increase the stipends of all those enrolled in that program through an intergovernmental agreement with local governments?

More August Urbana Updates:

• There were discussions about replacing a couple of fire stations, rodent problems, and community needs. The News-Gazette had coverage of the 8/15 Committee of the Whole discussion here and proposal details here. Video links of that meeting here. The discussion on fire stations continued to the regular City Council meeting on 8/22 including a presentation and overview on the facilities history and current needs (video link here). Additional News-Gazette coverage previewing that presentation here.
• The 8/12 "Meeting Minutes" included an update on the City Council technical difficulties in livestreaming meetings. There are delays on some new equipment in addition to working out some other technical kinks.
• The News-Gazette had coverage on proposed honorary street signs (similar to the City of Champaign's program) in an article and coverage of Committee of the Whole meeting (eEdition link) and discussion on 8/1 here (agenda, video link on this topic).
• This week's "Meeting Minutes" feature included some appointment updates from the recent City Council meeting and a public suggestion for sharing the burden for the new year round homeless shelter in Champaign.

July Urbana Updates:

• Urbana Park District board coverage in the 7/22 "Meeting Minutes" included a short blurb on the organizational "intergovernmental agreement with the Champaign County Forest Preserve District and Vermillion County Conservation District regarding the Kickapoo Rail Trail."
• There will be some Urbana related information on area gun violence in an upcoming Champaign County Cheat Sheet Post here (when posted).