Local Government Updates

We'll be trying out a little bit of a new format to try to have more regular and concise updates moving forward.

General Updates:

Elections:

Election day for this year’s midterms is November 3rd, 2026, with Early Voting starting around October 24th. You can find the local primary election results here on the News-Gazette website. There are new local party chairs, with Urbana Mayor DeShawn Williams chairing the Champaign County Democrats and perennial local candidate Jeff Brownfield replacing Susan Mantell in the County GOP.  

Federal Changes / Local Impact:

So-called “work requirements” for food assistance are going into effect. Champaign County Health Care Consumers have a great deal of information and assistance available on how to navigate the new hurdles for those having to prove their eligibility, exemptions, etc.

Gun Violence: The latest updates, including the police chief updates, can usually be found at the monthly Community Coalition meetings available here. There has been a number of recent shootings, many involving minors, in recent weeks. Unsecured guns, lost or stolen from homes and vehicles here and across the country, appear to be a major source for guns used in these types of crimes. Sheriff Heuerman noted that in one recent car theft, at least two guns were taken from a local unlocked vehicle. As we have seen, time and time again, if someone wants a gun, they just have to check enough car door handles in any given parking lot or neighborhood.

There still remain severe challenges in ensuring school attendance across both local school districts here with dozens of kids in each at ongoing and regular risk. There was a detailed discussion on those challenges at the recent Race Relations Subcommittee of the Community Coalition last month.

Local Government Roundup:

Municipal / School Boards:

City of Champaign: The affordable housing crisis has been a longtime and ongoing issue for the C-U. According to the housing needs assessment report and presentation earlier this year, the City is expected to present “the final document to the stakeholders and to the City Council for approval and moving into the implementation of the Housing Needs Analysis and Strategy” this month. 

The annual township board blocked an agenda item for an advisory referendum related to a state law restricting boycotts of Israel. The same referendum passed in Cunningham township at their annual meeting and several other township meetings around the state.

Champaign Park District: The Champaign Parks Foundation is looking for four new members. This organization helps raise money for unmet needs of the park district itself. Elections for Champaign Park District commissioners occur staggered in odd election years, with two commissioner terms expiring in 2027.

City of Urbana: The Alternative Response Task Force (re: policing / 911 calls) had a community engagement event with video available on the Urbana Public TV YouTube page here. President Pearson has been actively working with the stakeholder meetings over the past several months, looking at various alternative response systems around the country and possible local implementations here.

Unit 4:  The Board of Education has approved some of the new cabinet members for the incoming new Superintendent, Dr. Geovanny Ponce, who will begin that role on July 1st of this year. The district approved a separation agreement with former Central High School Principle Montia Gardner, with both sides agreeing not to sue each other in the aftermath of the falling out in a short, but apparently contentious year.

The district renewed its contract for Student Resource Officers. The News-Gazette had details of the contract, including the limitations on officers to issue tickets and other issues here.

MTD: The C-U MTD board will likely have to redo its annexation votes for areas that would allow a link for local bus routes to Carle at the Fields in Southwest Champaign after a technical violation of state law that prohibits meetings on election day (one of the public hearings for the annexation fell on the day of the March primary).

Champaign County Government:

The County’s budget process has begun with the Budget Director’s financial forecast presentation at the April County Board meeting. The board is openly considering across-the-board cuts, especially in light of the recent voter referendum supporting cuts to staff and services and opposing any new tax revenues.

The long-delayed Fiscal Year 2024 Audit is still being processed by the external auditor (Clifton, Larson, Allen LLP). There was an update on that process at the last Committee of the Whole (page 54 of the agenda packet). In March there was a presentation on the history of audit issues that led to our current predicament (video and slides).

The expectation is that these continued delays will impact funding, with the county likely missing out on funding it may have otherwise qualified for (e.g. through the state and federal government). The work on the 2025 audit is also being delayed while the County attempts to complete the 2024 audit.

The County Board also passed a one year moratorium on massive “hyperscale” data centers, as part of a process that may lead to blocking their construction here completely. The centers tend to have massive electric and water needs. As the recent mapping of the Mahomet aquifer has confirmed, however, those impacts may still threaten Champaign County if one is built in neighboring counties.

Unit 4 Special Meeting and Updates

 

Photos provided by Natalie Schneider

Heads Up! There is a Special Meeting of the Champaign Schools Unit 4 Board of Education next week on April 9th to interview applicants for the two vacancies on the same school board.  There were 26 applicants for the two vacancies according to the News-Gazette (WCIA coverage here). After our last Unit 4 updates in March looked at the controversies surrounding the district and the resignation of board vice president Jamar Brown, there was an addition resignation of another board member. From the News-Gazette last month:

For the second time in two weeks and a day, a Champaign school board member has resigned after serving less than a year in office.

On March 4, it was Jamar Brown, who said months of “mistrust, missteps and misinformation” had left him seeing “no value” in continuing.

Tuesday night, it was a similarly frustrated Mark Thies, who in a letter to board members and Superintendent Shelia Boozer said he’s come to realize ”that my vision is not aligned with the future direction and initiatives of Unit 4.”

That full article here including some details of Thies' resignation letter that mirrored Jamar Brown's concerns about a lack of respect and trust. WCIA had the full text of Thies' resignation letter here. WCCU had some responses from parents as well here. WCCU had an additional interview with board member Betsy Holder about her concerns with the district and a response from Board President Dr. Gianina Baker.

Next week there is a regular school board meeting scheduled on Monday evening, as well as an additional special meeting for interviewing applicants for the board's vacancy on the next evening on Tuesday.

More March Meetings:

Since our last update there was a March 20th special meeting to address the process of appointing people to the two open seats on the board (video here, agendas here). There was a number of public comments before the board president laid out that process. The timeline and other details were discussed and agreed to by the remaining board members. WCIA's coverage of that meeting is here. WAND's coverage specifically covered the citizen complaints and concerns about transparency here.

There was another regular meeting that was cancelled shortly after it began on March 25th. This caused a great deal of confusion for members of the public who found themselves locked out of the building. While the meetings begin at 5pm, there is a closed session at the beginning of Champaign board of education meetings to discuss employment and disciplinary issues. The main public portion of the meeting generally doesn't start until after 6pm.

The very beginning of the meetings, before entering the closed "executive session" is technically public, but it is generally not included in the meeting videos. Few (if any) members of the public show up for the brief call to order and vote to go into the closed session, which would also mean waiting for an hour or more in an empty room while the board meets privately.

The News-Gazette had coverage on the walk outs and confusion after the meeting.

Amy Armstrong said she’d asked twice in the past six days — once in a meeting, then again in a Monday morning email to President Gianina Baker — that the item calling for the special election of a new board vice president be tabled until the board was back to full strength.

When Baker declined to pull it at the start of Monday’s meeting, Armstrong walked out, followed by fellow member Betsy Holder.

With only three members left at the Mellon Administrative Center — Baker, Heather Vazquez and Bruce Brown — the meeting was called off for lack of a quorum... 

But with no meeting, there was no public comment session, leaving them to air their frustrations outside. 

That full article here. WCIA had similar coverage and explanation of events:

The seven-person board currently has two vacancies. With less than four members, the board cannot meet in order to be compliant with Illinois’ Open Meetings Act.

The two members, Amy Armstrong and Betsy Holder, walked out of the meeting after Armstrong objected to the agenda since it contained an item for electing a new Vice President. Jamar Brown, who served as vice president, resigned from the board earlier this month.

Only three members were in attendance after Holder and Armstrong left. With no way to continue, the meeting was cancelled.

That full article here. According to at least one of the school board members that walked out on social media afterwards: the doors had been unlocked for the public at 5pm and members of the public were inside when the initial open session was called to order. There appears to be questions as to what exactly the quorum rules dictated if the meeting began with a quorum, but no longer had one afterward. For example, could there have been public comment, even if there weren't enough members present to vote on action items. A hurdle there would be whether or not they could even approve the agenda to get to that point.

Other Updates on Unit 4 Controversies:

• Illinois Public Media had an updated (as of April 1st) overview of the Unit 4 controversies here.
  
  
• The News-Gazette had coverage of the lawsuit surrounding the transfer of Booker T. Washington STEM Academy Assistant Principal Rebecca Ramey here. She claims that it was retaliatory, specifically against her wife's criticism of the Superintendent. Coverage of Unit 4's response and denials of the claims here.
  
  
• One of Unit 4's Deputy Superintendents will be returning to the Urbana school district for an administrative position there, according to the News-Gazette. The article notes that this is the latest in a number of recent moves from Champaign schools to Urbana's District 116.
  
  
• The News-Gazette published its own criticisms and opinion on the Unit 4 controversies in an editorial on March 16th.

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.

School District Updates

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.

And finally, the public posting of contract offers, reported a few days ago in the News-Gazette:

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.

School District Updates

 

K-12 schools are starting their Spring semesters this week, while balancing pandemic concerns with the need and demand for in-person learning. The News-Gazette had coverage of Urbana's District 116's first day and concerns by other area districts ahead. Excerpt:

The first day of Urbana High senior Tommy Wright’s final semester went fine, he said, though attendance was lighter than usual.

Several of his friends were out for COVID-19 reasons on Monday: some isolating or quarantining, some just staying home to avoid getting the virus. He’s not sure whether it’s COVID-19-related, but two of his seven classes were taught by substitutes...

Unit 4 Superintendent Shelia Boozer said her district planned to go ahead with in-person learning, though “it is always recommended that staff and students take their Chromebooks/ laptops home with them in the event we need to return to remote learning,” she told parents on New Year’s Eve.

Full article available in today's eEdition here. Many parents and teachers have talked about the shortcomings of remote learning compared to the benefits of in-person learning. Recent data appears to support that contention. Illinois Newsroom had coverage on standardized test scores dropping across the state, including linked data for Unit 4 and District 116 locally.

University of Illinois social work professor Kate Melissa Wegmann isn’t surprised by the statewide score declines.

Wegmann researches how students cope after disasters, among other topics, and teaches about public school policy.

COVID-19 disrupted everything about school, Wegmann explains. Teachers struggled to teach in a new format. Administrators scrambled to fill computer and internet divides. Parents faced unforeseen decisions about who would watch their child while they went to work.

That full article here.

In other State of Illinois news, a new State law on school dress codes is going into effect this year to take into consideration concerns about equitable treatment. Excerpt from Illinois Newsroom coverage:

Under a new Illinois law, hair dress codes like this would be illegal, according to the Illinois State Board of Education. The law is named after Jett Hawkins, a Black child in Chicago who was told by his school that he couldn’t wear his hair in braids. 

The law bans dress codes that say students can’t wear hairstyles traditionally worn by people of color including braids, locks and twists.

More at the full article here.

Other local district updates:

Unit 4:

Unit 4 approved some security measures this month. From WCIA:

One, was to keep paying security officers until June. The other was to have a four year contract with Evolv Technology. That would place metal detectors at two of the high schools.

They also named Jeremy Canales as their new director of security and school safety. He is a former Champaign Police Officer that will be responsible for all safety and security staff for the district...

He starts on January 3rd, 2022. By approving the metal detectors and security officers, the district will be spending over one million dollars.

Full article here. The News-Gazette was reporting that some Unit 4 schools will see metal detectors on the first day of school today.

When high school students return to Champaign Central and Centennial on Tuesday, they’ll be greeted with newly-installed metal detectors, which the Unit 4 School Board approved to purchase in October.

Students will walk into school as normal, the district said in an email to families, but they’ll need to remove their school-issued Chromebooks from their backpacks.

WCIA also had an overview of the "Yes" program at Unit 4 which helps kids towards their career goals.

District 116:

Urbana schools have joined Champaign in moving towards implementing metal detectors. From WCIA:

After their neighbors across Wright Street approved metal detectors at some school entrances, Urbana public schools next week will talk about installing similar devices.

The school board on Tuesday night will get a demonstration on the OPENGATE system from Ohio-based CEIA USA Ltd. The company described OPENGATE as “a Groundbreaking Weapons Detection System designed for the automatic screening of people in transit, including their luggage, backpacks, and bags, for the detection of Mass Casualty Metal Threats, such as high caliber assault weapons and IED devices.”

Full blurb here. More on the Champaign schools vote back in October from WCCU here.

From WCIA a couple months ago:

Sophomore Parker Schroeder and freshman Mycal Turner are the district’s first ever BOE Student Ambassadors. Sophomore Achly Ramos is an alternate.

This program started because board members want to know more about what students are going through and what they think about district-wide policies. The students applied for the positions, went through an interview process and took an oath to serve through the rest of the school year...

Ambassadors won’t be able to vote or go into closed executive sessions, but they will serve as the voice of the student body. They will study the agenda, chat with their peers and then answer board members’ questions or share concerns.

Full article here. WCIA also had brief blurb on the same ambassador program earlier in November here. Illinois Newsroom had similar coverage on the student ambassadors here. Excerpts:

More teachers in hallways between classes. Inclusion of Latin American history in dual language programs. Fewer weapons in schools.

These are some of the top issues of the first ever student representatives on the Urbana District 116 Board of Education. The three students took their official oaths of office on Tuesday evening...

Ramos Rivera is also a sophomore. She is focused on expanding opportunities for Hispanic students. For example, she is in the Urbana High School dual language program and would like to see the material tailored more to the students in the program.

“I’m from Puerto Rico, so I’m from a very small island. We know a lot about the United States and other countries. When I came here, the history was more about the United States,” Ramos Rivera says.

Ramos Rivera’s suggestions have already prompted changes on the school board. She asked the board to translate its materials into Spanish, which is easier for her to read. The superintendent announced on Tuesday that all board agendas will be in Spanish and English from now on.

That full article here. 

Urbana School Board Updates

At the most recent Urbana School Board meeting (agenda, video) there were updates on in person learning plans, a presentation on the district's Farm to School program, and the approval for a housing program in collaboration with Cunningham Township government.

First there was a presentation (jump to video) on the Farm to School nutrition program by folks from Sola Gratia and the Champaign-Urbana Public Health District. The presentation slides are available here. The program is now up on social media (facebook and instagram) and has a website here. WAND had coverage of the program earlier this month:

The project is a collaborative effort between Urbana School District 116, Sola Gratia Farm, and the Champaign-Urbana Public Health District, along with support from a USDA Farm to School Planning Grant.

It is being informed by school district members and other local partners. The organizations are launching this project in February and intend to spend the next six months soliciting ideas and planning, with implementation to begin in late 2021...

After piloting the project in Urbana schools, the coordinating team hopes to expand to involve the Champaign Unit 4 School District as well.

More at the full article here. Smile Politely highlighted the public input the program is requesting from the community with links to their survey and email here.

The Superintendent had a presentation (jump to video) on upcoming plans for in-person learning for District 116. The News-Gazette had coverage last week:

The Urbana school district is looking at ways to get more students in the classroom for the fourth quarter, particularly at the early-childhood and elementary levels.

Administrators will send out surveys to families of all elementary school students Friday, with the hopes of receiving commitments by March 1 from families of students who want to return to in-person classes....

At the middle and high school level, Ivory-Tatum said, the sticking point is lunch. Currently, the district has allowed back students who need extra support, which is decided at the school level. Ivory-Tatum said schools are reaching out to students who have been given the option to return but have not and are looking to eliminate barriers for those who can’t come at a specific time because they’re home with siblings or at work.

More information at the full article here. This presentation focused on the 4th Quarter. January's in person report was more in depth and covered the 3rd Quarter (jump to that report in the January 19th meeting). There was also a general COVID-19 Update at the February 2nd study session meeting (jump to that video here).

Most of the items on the agenda passed without controversy in the consent agenda. It's worth highlighting one approval, however: an intergovernmental agreement with the township to "assist in making adequate housing available to homeless families within the Urbana School District boundaries." WICS had coverage earlier this week:

On Tuesday, the Cunningham Township Supervisor's Office and Urbana School District drafted an agreement called the Emergency Shelter Program, providing resources and shelter to families in need.

"Right now this is a program that serves families that don't have another place to stay," Cunningham Township Supervisor, Danielle Chynoweth said.

Having had 26 households with 11 students go through the program informally already, it is a need they are ready to meet.

That full article here. Illinois Newsroom had even more coverage on the program earlier this month after February's Cunningham Township Board meeting (Cheat Sheet post on that meeting here).

The regular Superintendent's report included an overview of the winter teacher's institute and a thank you to local health care workers from Urbana Middle School students.

School Board member Dimit praised the social distancing and work of the people working in drama projects through the pandemic. He also praised local News-Gazette writer and Urbana High School student resource supervisor for his writing, insight and efforts.

MTD Updates

There have been some updates on the local mass transit service in the C-U metropolitan area, the MTD, in the news in the past few weeks. These include reduced service on campus, safety measures for kids getting to school, and  "Learn to Ride" resources for younger riders.

The Daily Illini highlighted the reduced service for the spring semester:

The service and frequency of MTD rides will mimic the model that was in place over winter break, with some changes...

According to Snyder, these service reductions came after the University contacted MTD regarding “compromised revenue streams.”

“The University needed MTD to pull back the service because they could not pay for the normal full UI service that we normally provide,” Snyder said.

Full article here. More details available at the MTD press release and website here. The Daily Illini had additional coverage on reduced fees as well last week:

Lowa Mwilambwe, associate vice chancellor for Auxiliary, Health and Wellbeing, said that these reductions were made in response to lower bus ridership and less students on campus.

“We looked at the big picture, the ridership at every level,” Mwilambwe said. “And those decisions were made based on what is best for the University.”

Mwilambwe notes that students have asked the University for a reduction in fees, which the University accommodated. 

That full article here.

WCIA highlighted the CU Safe Routes to School program:

“The program is designed to help encourage and support students being able to walk and bike to school,” said CU Safe Routes to School Co-Chair Cynthia Hoyle...

Volunteers brave the cold to ensure clean sidewalks. They are asked to clear a designated route within 48 hours of snowfall...

The program is supported by C-U school districts and CUMTD. They were recently awarded a grant by the Illinois Department of Transportation.

Full article with video segment here. More information available at the program's facebook page here.

The MTD website also has a press release with information and links for younger riders and "Learn to Ride" resources. From that press release.

We hope the tools and School Trip information we’ve been able to provide virtually will be helpful to families and students preparing for the resumption of in-person learning, families who may be new to our community, or those families who just need a refresher.

Urbana School District 116 in-person learning for Middle and High School students will occur on Mondays, Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Fridays, in both the morning and afternoon. Champaign Unit 4 in-person learning for Middle and High School students will occur Tuesdays through Fridays, only in the afternoon.

Families can use our Schools page to find updated School Trip information by clicking on a school, and clicking View Route Info for your neighborhood. A detailed route map with School Trip start times and bus stop information will display for trips to school and home from school. Click Download Map to save a copy of the route information for your student’s trips.

Families can also click on a school and enter a starting or home address in the white Address box on the school’s landing page. MTD's School Trip Planner will provide updated routing information for trips to school and home from school.

Full press release here. 

Coronavirus Updates 8/4

This post has a collection of coronavirus updates including the trends locally, regionally, at the State and federal level. At the end is also a list of tentative school reopening news links as well.

The local and regional coronavirus news is still better than many parts of the State of Illinois and the country in general. There was an update from the Champaign-Urbana Public Health District (latest COVID information from C-UPHD here) in an interview with Elizabeth Hess on Urbana Public Television yesterday and available on YouTube here:

Illinois Newsroom had additional coverage on C-UPHD guidance last week here. Unfortunately the bad news is our local cases and hospitalizations are up recently. More details available from the News-Gazette website here and reporter Ben Zigterman's twitter feed here. Here's a snip of the chart's he posted today:

The News-Gazette had a more detailed local breakdown for the area with some recent remarks from the Governor today here.

Looking at the regions of Illinois for coronavirus data, we're still doing better than other regions by test positivity. This bug doesn't respect borders, so it depends entirely on people on whether the it moves from place to place, however. Illinois government and politics reporter Hannah Meisel has regular updates on her twitter page here:

The national numbers are disheartening after many were expecting the daily deaths to plateau at a low of roughly 500 per day, which is still pretty terrible compared to many of other Western industrialized nations at this point in their response. Unfortunately that plateau came and went and we have gone back up to roughly a thousand American deaths every day and rising. Where we go from here is completely dependent on public behavior when it comes to mitigation policies. More at the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation here. This chart is from last week, so expect an updated projection later this week based on the latest numbers:

A lot of folks locally are concerned about schools reopening. The C-UPHD put out its guidance for school openings last month (Smile Politely had a brief overview and links here). More recent updates on school openings here:

• Daily Illini on UIUC summer athletic testing and infections.
• The Champaign Federation of Teachers statement opposing the Unit 4 reopening framework (available in full here).
• UIUC to require coronavirus test to enter buildings from today's News-Gazette.
• UIUC to shift most classwork to online and no return to classrooms after Thanksgiving break.
• Chambana Mom's had a recent overview of the Urbana reopening plans here.
• The News-Gazette had an overview of Parkland's reopening plan with most classes online and mask requirements here.

With rising cases and the future difficult to predict, it's hard to say how these plans will change over time, if reopenings will go on as planned or if they'll face sudden cancellations like the Major League Baseball season right out of the gate. Hopefully this post gives readers some helpful links to stay updated on the various numbers they may be interested in. As always the official County numbers are available from the C-UPHD website here and regular updates are posted on their facebook account here. 

Reopening Schools - Preliminary Ideas

[UPDATE: The News-Gazette had more on this very topic a couple days after this post. Excerpt:

As they try to prepare for next school year, superintendents are trying to create some semblance of a plan without knowing what’s coming next. The Illinois State Board of Education hasn’t issued guidelines for the upcoming school year yet, so districts are planning for three different possibilities: a return to full-on remote learning, all students back in school, or some sort of a hybrid model where a portion of students are in school at a given time.

Full article here.]

There have been several news stories about potential and very preliminary plans for schools reopening in the fall with the ongoing concerns about COVID-19. Our region has been doing better than others when it comes to keeping infections and outbreaks contained (see previous Cheat Sheet update on the coronavirus updates here). The current Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation out of the University of Washington has their latest forecast models here.

People might remember their projections from earlier in the pandemic being used by the White House. Their projections have continued to incorporate new information, new policies, and how populations have adhered to those policies. Here is the latest as of this posting on total death and daily death projections going into the next school year (click to enlarge graphs):

The projected plateau of daily deaths bottoms out towards the end of summer and appears to rise with the reopening of schools and typical epidemiological factors in the fall. As always, none of this is written in stone and depends on our own behaviors and sometimes good or bad fortune with outbreak events. The Atlantic had a recent article looking at various challenges facing schools in general here.

The Daily Illini had an overview of the Parkland hybrid fall plan here. Excerpt:

For Parkland students, this would mean on-campus courses will be marked as such, but part of the coursework would still be completed online, according to a Parkland College press release.

On-campus courses would still have to follow social distancing guidelines, meaning students may be divided into smaller groups and classes larger enrollments may require staggered scheduling.

Additionally, many on-campus meetings may end after Nov. 20 in order to minimize contact after Thanksgiving break. The classes would still continue online through the end of the regularly scheduled semester.

Some career classes may meet on-campus until the end of the semester, though.

That full article here. The University of Illinois is still formulating its plan, but there have been some updates on that process. Tom's Mailbag had some questions and answers on the subject last week here. Excerpt:

Urbana campus spokeswoman Robin Kaler said a decision on fall instruction would be made in mid-June...

Earlier this week, however, Provost Andreas Cangellaris said that the draft recommendation from an academic affairs team called for an end to on-campus instruction at the fall break. After that, students would return home for eight days of online instruction and six days of exams.

That seems to fall in line with what other Big Ten schools are planning.

Full Tom's Mailbag article here with the U of I planning question the second question down. Other recent articles noted an ACT/SAT testing waiver being approved and an updated timeline on a fall plan within the next couple weeks:

A draft of that report recommended ending in-person instruction at Thanksgiving break, with the last eight days of instruction and exams held online to reduce travel back and forth to campus.

It also said that if central Illinois is in Phase 4 of the governor’s “Restore Illinois” plan, which is likely, classes with more than 50 students would have to be held entirely online.

And to help spread out students, classes may be held in the evening, on Saturdays and in non-academic spaces, the report stated.

That full article from Wednesday here. Illinois Newsroom had coverage and links for the draft plan here as well as faculty safety concerns and opposition to reopening in the fall.


I'm still catching up on Unit 4 and District 116 meeting information, but I have some highlights from the coverage so far. Illinois Newsroom had an interview with Unit 4 Superintendent Zola about potential issues with the fall here. Excerpt:

I think we learned a lot in this first chapter of COVID-19 around food, and what our families need. We’ve created a pretty significant platform around remote learning. We also are finding that by providing devices to homes and by mitigating the access to technology that we are beginning to sort of level that playing field. I would sense that if there is another stay-at-home order in the fall, that we’re going to be in a much better place in terms of the timely response and also making sure families already have devices. We’re not going to have to roll out the numbers of devices that we did this spring. I’m in several conversations. We have an area superintendents group that meets with the regional superintendent on a regular basis. I’m in a larger group called the large urban districts, and so that’s large school districts across the state. So those are two spaces where we’ve begun to have some conversations about what school might look like in the fall...

I think schools will raise their value level in the fall. I think parents are going to be grateful when we reopen. I think they’re going to be appreciative of what school has been for them and for their children, I think they’re going to be excited to return in the fall, and whatever version that looks like, hopefully a somewhat normal version where the bus comes up and the students get on, and we’re able to feed them breakfast and do some learning and have a healthy lunch and some recess time.

That full article here with a lot of information about Summer programs, budgets, feeding kids, and more.

District 116 Board of Education had a study session meeting on June 2nd (agenda, video) where they discussed remote learning and registration planning going into the fall. It was a long meeting and I haven't had a chance to wade through it, but it appeared that they are still working out managing the fall and coronvirus safety concerns and touched on the topic in those two presentations.

As has come up in the Urbana City Council and among activists and protesters locally and nationally, there has been another look at police officers in schools. Illinois Newsroom had an overview of the issue here. The same safety and budget concerns with putting Student Resource Officers into schools remain along with concerns about the school to prison pipeline for minority students who tend to face disparities in school discipline (including in Urbana schools).

It's not a lot of information yet, and a lot of it depends on how the coronavirus projections diverge from actual infections and deaths over the summer. The interrupted Spring semester was a crash course in a sudden and extreme scenario where super spreader events could have created untold numbers of uncontrolled outbreaks. With some luck and hard work, the Fall semester should be far less extreme, even if far from the normal we'd like.


[Updated: Original post published on 6/12/2020 at 10:39am.]