As we complete our third week of school and enter into the Labor Day holiday weekend, the District is working hard to keep students and staff safely learning in person by implementing multiple prevention strategies and following public health guidance. As I have mentioned during the past several weeks, keeping our schools in person will continue to take diligence and support from the entire Urbana Community. I am proud to be in a community where we continue to lead by example. We continue to enforce universal masking and follow safety protocols. We continue to think of our neighbors, friends, and colleagues, not just ourselves, and in doing so, we will continue to keep students safely learning in person. This is why we are Urbana Better Together and Stronger Together.
We are not only following the masking requirements, but we are also adhering to the Governor’s Executive Order for vaccinating staff and frequent testing for the unvaccinated. Due to staff shortages during the past two weeks, I have been supporting our USD Testing Team. This has allowed me to see firsthand the large number of students and staff testing in our schools and via our drive-thru locations. Just like wearing a mask is a simple, easy, and effective way to protect one another and our loved ones, so is regular testing. Our testing protocols are working. We are identifying concerns and resolving them quickly through both testing and contact tracing. These steps will help us alleviate outbreaks and control the spread of the virus. Help us control the spread and take advantage of the many testing options available to our USD Community. Staff and families can also visit any of the Community COVID Testing Sites.
As Superintendent, I am taking these requirements very seriously because every one of our students deserves a safe in-person learning environment. This is a difficult time to be a leader, and I sincerely appreciate the cooperation and efforts of our building principals, central office administrators, and Board of Education. As a leader in our community, I have been disheartened by the gun violence that has risen to the forefront for some of our students and our neighborhoods. The pandemic has created and exacerbated so many crises for children and families, and gun violence is no exception. The consequences of and the threat of gun violence have become more pervasive in our community and most recently have impacted our school community, specifically, our secondary schools.
I want to ensure students, staff, and families that the District takes school safety very seriously. We will continue cooperating with building leaders, community leaders, and Urbana Police to keep safety first. We aspire to support all of our students’ needs academically, socially, emotionally, their physical well-being, and mental health needs. Our goals are to provide our students with best practices and strategies to help them develop conflict-resolution skills and communication skills to help them identify and regulate their emotions. We hope that with our District’s increased focus on social-emotional learning (SEL) skills, we are ultimately helping our students understand their emotions and how they affect their behavior so they can appropriately respond in ways that are not harmful to themselves or others. These are long-term goals, but we can accomplish them one student and one day at a time.
In order to help our students safely transition back to school, we have added additional positions in our District. We are still working hard to fill vacancies and can always use substitute teachers, lunchroom supervisors, and substitute teaching assistants in our schools. If you are interested in becoming a part of the Urbana Family as an employee, please see this link for additional information: https://usd116.org/employment/. Please consider joining us to elevate our student’s future success as we truly are #UrbanaBetterTogether.
All my best,
Dr. Ivory-Tatum,
Superintendent
