The biggest news for many may be that masking has become optional in most schools over the past month, although not without some last minute changes, disparate enforcement, and confusion as lawsuits played out towards that end. Urbana schools, for example, required masks through the end of the State mandate and then on to Spring Break (regardless of court rulings that made it possible for some districts to make them optional even earlier).
Champaign / Unit 4:
In addition to contract negotiations with teachers (more below), Unit 4 has been struggling to retain its special education nursing staff. From WCIA:
Some special education nurses are planning on leaving the Champaign School District. They say the district increased nurse salaries an extra five dollars an hour, but they weren’t included.
Bridget Tribout says there are 13 special education students at her child’s school who need a variety of intense care, including feeding tubes, help walking and going to the bathroom. When she found out the nurses put in their two weeks notice to leave since they weren’t getting a fair pay, she tried to take action. Now, she’s lost on what to do and afraid if her child doesn’t get the treatment she needs it could be detrimental.
WCIA spoke with one of those special education nurses over the phone. She didn’t want to go on camera, but said she put in her two weeks notice. She says the district’s four special education nurses are paid less than the building nurses, so she and another nurse are planning on leaving. Parents, like Bridget Tribout, are upset.
That full article here, which included the district's response and denials. Parents and teachers showed up to show their support for the nurses at a school board meeting, mentioned in another WCIA article here. As of 3/14/2022 there are still numerous Special Education nursing position vacancies on the district's website.
Back in late January, Teachers voted to authorize a possible strike as negotiations continued with the District on a contract and the School Board's discussions on extending the school day. From WCIA:
As contentious contract talks continue, Champaign teachers have taken the next step toward walking off the job.
The teachers union on Wednesday night released the results of a strike authorization vote, saying members voted in favor of continuing strike discussions. Of the 733 teachers that voted, 91% voted to authorize a strike.
Another more formal vote – an intent to strike vote – would be needed next. That vote along with a state filing would start a countdown to when teachers could legally walk off the job. During that window of time, each side’s offer would be posted online for public viewing.
Full article here with the District responding with its disappointment. WCIA also had coverage of the context heading into the vote here. More on the initial reactions on the extended school day here as well as a solidarity rally with parents and teachers here. Additional coverage is available from Illinois Newsroom here. By late February the teachers union was still describing a stalemate with the district over the extended day, according to WCIA. Illinois Newsroom had an article on what parents might be able to do to deal with a sudden childcare emergency last month.
The following informational links and descriptions help highlight how the discussions have gone since then to the most recent updates from the News-Gazette:
- The union's next step towards a strike sets in motion a process that could see a strike as early as March 22nd, from the News-Gazette.
- "On Friday, the union initiated the next step toward a strike: the public posting process, where both parties have to submit their most recent contract offers to the Illinois Educational Labor Relations Board within a week’s time." - News-Gazette 2/22/2022
- The paper reported an airing of frustrations at school board meeting by teachers and parents and the Superintendent's response here. The News-Gazette took issue with her blaming "the media" as part of the problem in an editorial here.
The Champaign Federation of Teachers is willing to consider an extended school day in two years, according to their first publicly disclosed contract proposal amid tense negotiations with the district.
Unlike the district’s four-year proposal, though, they’d like to hammer out some details over the course of a proposed two-year deal before agreeing to the measure...
Both proposals were publicly posted for the first time as part of a process put in place by the Illinois Educational Labor Relations Board, and both are on the district’s website at champaign schools.org. Union members voted in January to authorize a strike with 91 percent support, and initiated the posting process on Feb. 18.
WCIA also had coverage and included the contract offers on their website as well here.
I don't know what the future holds, but the next Unit 4 Board of Education meeting appears to be on March 28 (regularly the 2nd Monday of each month). The Board has a "Bargaining Update" page here. The local union has updates on their facebook page here.
Other Unit 4 Updates:
- Updated masking rules for staff from the News-Gazette.
- WCIA had coverage of the new metal detectors installed at some Unit 4 schools.
- The "Yes" program appears to be getting a boost after two years of pandemic issues, according to WCIA.
- Coverage of Centennial High School's blood drive in the News-Gazette.
- Street pavers from around Central High School are available for anyone who wants a piece of local history. Blurb from WCIA here.
Urbana / District 116:
COVID Masking Updates from the News-Gazette:
As school districts around the state drop mask requirements, the Urbana school board voted Tuesday to keep its requirement, at least through spring break.
“If we see a big increase in positivity due to spring-break travel, it will be way harder to say, ‘Hey, we’ve taken our masks off, let’s put them back on,’” Superintendent Jennifer Ivory-Tatum told the board. “Once we take the toothpaste out of the tube, we cannot put it back...
Ivory-Tatum said she’s been in close contact with the Champaign-Urbana Public Health District, specifically about the new omicron BA.2 variant and its prevalence, and has gotten positive feedback about the district’s plan to move forward.
That full article with a lot of additional information available here. A preview of that decision before the board meeting highlighted some of the context going in, from the News-Gazette.
Urbana's school board also voted to approve metal detectors this school year. From WCIA:
The Urbana High School Board of Education approved on Tuesday the implementation of metal detectors for the high school.
The board voted 6 to 1 to bring a special kind of metal detector at the school. The detectors are specifically designed for weapons detection as opposed to detecting cell phones and keys.
Surveys among students and staff showed a majority of them wanted something to be done to increase security at the school.
Full blurb available here. An overview of the meeting and vote is available here. More meeting information is available at the District 116 updates page here.
A student's petition on pandemic measures got a lot of attention last month. From WCIA:
Lily Wells is a sophomore at Urbana High School. She says at first, the school district handled the pandemic really well. But now, she says there are not enough safety measures in place.
Wells posted a petition online asking for required COVID-19 testing, KN95 masks and transparency. When she woke up the next day, 20 signatures turned into 120. Right now, she has almost 200 signatures. She says the other students are supportive but they suspect funding will be an obstacle. School officials are set to meet with Wells to discuss what can be done...
A district spokesperson says the school district has many measures in place to help prevent the spread of COVID-19, including weekly surveillance testing. You can find the district’s COVID Testing Plan & Protocols by clicking here, its Back to School Plans here and the district’s COVID dashboard here. All of that information can be found on the district website.
Full blurb here.
District 116 was highlighting recent efforts to collect donations for Ukrainian refugees on their twitter and facebook pages today:
The City of Urbana is offering new opportunities to honor students for good citizenship. From WCIA:
A new program will help honor Martin Luther King Jr.’s legacy and support young people in developing skill sets to exercise their rights and responsibility as citizens.
The Urbana School District, along with the City of Urbana, launched the Mayoral Recognition Program on Monday to recognize Urbana High School (UHS) students who make meaningful contributions in the community.
The program is open to any UHS student who commits to a minimum of 30 hours of volunteer service during the academic year. Students with 30 hours of service will receive a Certificate of Service from Urbana Mayor Diane Marlin, USD #116 Superintendent Dr. Ivory-Tatum and UHS Principal Nance. Students with 50, 75 or 100 hours of service will also earn bronze, silver or gold status and receive an additional recognition item.
Full blurb here.
Independent Schools:
COVID updates: Safety measures ahead of Spring Break from WCIA.
The Academy High school is moving into a new building according to WCIA:
An independent, non-profit high school in Champaign will move up the road into a bigger building this summer to keep up with growth of the student body.
Academy High has been at 2302 Fox Drive since 2017. It will move a half-mile north to 2001 Fox Drive. The school has partnered with BLDD Architects to renovate 20,000 square-feet in the new building, taking into account feedback of parents, students, staff, and other stakeholders. The school has launched a four-year, $2.2 million dollar fundraising campaign to support the move and renovations. But fundraising is not expected to prevent students from starting in the new building this fall.
Full article here.
Other local school news:
- In a recent Illinois Public Media’s News, Brews and Beatz, there was a discussion on the need for schools to adapt to the culture of their students to be more effective and welcoming.
- Before the mask mandate ended, Illinois Newsroom had an overview of the varying quarantine protocols by the local districts after earlier CDC guidance.
- The CU Schools Foundation named its distinguished alumni from Unit 4 and District 116. From Smile Politely.
- Illinois Newsroom had an overview of the teacher and substitute teacher shortage in East Central Illinois here.
- Illinois Newsroom also had a general overview of the teacher and substitute teacher shortage in Illinois here. Another article specifically highlighted the regional superintendent for Champaign and Ford counties here.
- Illinois will be looking to employ tutors to deal with pandemic related learning loss, according to the Illinois Newsroom.
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