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.

Champaign City Council Updates

Local elections have already begun for 2025. Early voting has started for the consolidated February 25th primary, election, with one contested race for the City Council and township supervisor here. VoteChampaign and the League of Women Voters have a non-partisan candidate guide out for local candidates in the primary race. 

Early voting for the April 1st consolidated general election will begin soon after the primary. There will be another referendum on a property tax increase to fund the low barrier Strides shelter, after the previous referendum failed in November.

City Council Updates:

Recent City Council meetings have spent a lot of time on the fallout from Council member Davion Williams antisemitic comments in December and swastika post on social media in January. More details on that and the response below. The full  2/11 City Council meeting is available here: agenda, video. 

There was a progress report on Council Goals for 2023-2025. It mostly covered outreach on community organizing, gun violence, and a lot of updates on local affordable housing issues. A brief overview of the Council Goals is available on the City website here. The full staff report on the Council Goals Progress Report is available here.

2/4 City of Champaign Township and City Council Meeting

The Township meeting was only a few minutes long. They mayor asked the Township supervisor to address a need by City staff for documentation related to a flex spending account after many failed requests. He agreed to get that documentation to them.

There was a great deal of public comment (jump to video link) related to Council member Davion Williams previous antisemitic statements in December of 2024 and his more recent decision to change his social media profile picture to a swastika and highlighted the religious and cultural use of the symbol prior to that of Nazi Germany.

The News-Gazette highlighted a notable exception to those public comments were the proud parents of recent hire of Valena Greene as "the management analyst for the city’s public works department" announced earlier in the meeting.

Council comments included calls for Davion Williams to resign, echoing many in the public comments. Council member Kathy Shannon noted that the swastika on his social media wasn't just part of a post discussing the history, but that he had made it his profile picture. Every comment that he was making to her and others concerned about his actions was posted with a swastika by it.

The News-Gazette had a series of articles on the fallout after Davion Williams attempted to start a conversation about the cultural history of the swastika symbol, in part by changing his social media profile picture itself into a swastika:

• 2/23: Champaign mayor condemns remarks by council member, public commenter
• 2/24: Champaign council member apologizes for comments at meeting
• 1/31: Champaign council member will not resign, says swastika post was not meant as hate
• 2/4: Williams apologizes for swastika post on his latest statement of apology
• 2/4: Williams apologizes but staying put with coverage on his later statement and his intention not to resign.

The post and his profile picture change has since been deleted, but screenshots taken that morning were shared widely online: 

Davion Williams Post / Profile Change on 1/31/2025

His comments in defense of this post and his previous comments that day were all posted as a swastika:

Davion Williams Comment on 1/31/2025

Many people who aren't Jewish and don't study extremism and antisemitism may be unfamiliar with a lot of antisemitic tropes brought up in his December remarks, but the idea that Jews are secretly controlling our governments and media are certainly the most notorious ones. These were front and center with antisemitic conspiracies like the "Protocols" Hoax, the 1920s Klan, and some of Nazi Germany's most heinous propaganda.

Attempts to normalize the use of the swastika by antisemites will also be familiar to people who face and research antisemitism. This is often explained as doing so on behalf of cultures or religions that are not their own and not done in collaboration with those communities or actual education outreach by them.

It's worth pointing out that the fight against segregation, racism, and bigotry locally has long been a collaboration with many from the local Black community and Jewish community, from the early beginnings of the NAACP branch here through the Civil Rights Movement itself and to this day. Unfortunately, one can find anti-Black racism among some Jewish people and antisemitism among some Black people to this day.

Council Member Davion Williams had a community meeting for District 1 last night (video), but organizers made it clear in the ground rules that no comments about the past would be tolerated, only those looking towards the future and solving problems in District 1. 

The meeting included many updates on local programs available, updates from Champaign Police Chief Tyler, and the City. It focused almost entirely on building collaborations and better communication between those attempting to organize and provide services in the historic Black communities of Champaign's North End within District 1. Many area pastors and local officials attended, including the State's Attorney.

General Housekeeping Update:

Due to illness, I haven't been able to keep the Cheat Sheet up to date as I would have liked over the past few months. But I'm catching up as I can. There should be a flurry of updates on the way through the rest of February as that happens.

The City Website has the meeting minutes and full videos of the meetings that I missed during our downtime. One highlight that we missed at the time was the latest update and staff report on the Community Gun Violence Reduction Blueprint (jump to video link).

Champaign Human Relations Commission Updates

The City of Champaign's Human Relations Commission met this month after cancelations in November, December, and January (agenda, video). This continues a pattern from 2024 where HRC meetings were canceled more often than they were held. Many of the cancellation notices noted a lack of a quorum as the reason last year. The League of Women Voters had an observer at the most recent meeting and filed a report with a meeting overview here. Excerpt:

Discrimination complaints: 3 in October-December. For 2024, there were 11 cases of which 1 was closed, 2 dismissed. There are many reasons for dismissal, which can include the case not reaching the level of discrimination, or a complainant no longer available to respond or dropping the case. 

Police complaints: There were 2 in October for a total of 8 in 2024. 4 have been heard by the Citizen Review Subcommittee. All 2023 cases were heard.

During the audience participation portion of the meeting, two members from a small group of individuals spoke. The group, Northend United, asked for a status update on a concern they raised at the October 2024 meeting. They mentioned that they had emailed the commission during the interim with no response. Since this meeting, the group’s October complaint has been posted as part of the October 2024 minutes. 

That full report is available here. Audience participation (starting at the 14 minute mark in the video) included citizens continuing to raise complaints about the tiny homes "Hope Village" project and the role the Cities of Champaign and Urbana have played in its development. A full copy of their written complaint is available from the HRC's October 2024 meeting minutes here (starting on page 2 of the PDF file). Excerpt:

The News-Gazette had some funding, completion timelines, and other updates on the Hope Village project in November 2024 here, with a more comprehensive overview back in July here.

David Palmer was also voted in as the new secretary for the commission. The HRC's page on the city website has already been updated on this.

Amy H. Contributed to this Cheat Sheet.