Superintendent Update Mar. 12, 2021

To view past superintendent updates, please click here. To view weekly updates online, please visit our District Updates archive on our website.

I hope everyone enjoyed the beautiful weather we experienced this week leading up to Parent-Teacher Conferences. I trust your student(s) were able to share with you all of the new things they have been learning this semester.

Early this week, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) shared interim guidance for fully vaccinated people. This is the first set of public health recommendations for those that may be fully vaccinated. I expect there will be additional guidance in the weeks to come as more of the general population is fully vaccinated. We will keep you updated as the CDC’s guidance changes or is expanded.

On Tuesday, the Illinois Department of Public Health (IDPH) and the Ilinois State Board of Education (ISBE) released Revised Public Health Guidance for Schools. We are reviewing the updated guidelines and will incorporate these changes into our future planning for the upcoming school year. We will update you very soon on our plans to return to full in-person instruction for the Fall of 2021-2022. While we are awaiting final 2021-2022 guidance from ISBE, we have been developing preliminary plans for next year. We also have many plans for summer learning opportunities to share with you.

All of our schools are offering extended summer learning options, which we hope will excite students to attend in person. Our extended learning programs will allow for a more robust in-person experience where students can interact with their teachers and classmates under a different model of instruction. Our summer options will also help support students as they transition back to in-person learning in the Fall. We understand the desire from families to know “exactly” what learning will look like next year, and we will communicate our early plans soon; however, final plans will be shared once we receive more concrete information from the Illinois Department of Public Health and the Illinois State Board of Education. We are looking forward to sharing extended learning summer programming options with families following Spring Break.

One significant highlight from the revised ISBE guidance is a commitment to universal mask-wearing regardless of whether a person is fully vaccinated or not. This conflicts with the CDC’s interim guidance, which relaxes mask wearing for fully vaccinated people. Schools must follow ISBE and IDPH guidance as we are mandated to comply with the Governor’s emergency pandemic executive orders. We are thankful that so many of our staff are vaccinated, but we are also a public body, and mask-wearing continues to be mandated no matter your vaccination status. I also want to remind our staff and families that participating in the vaccination process is a personal decision. We respect the fact that vaccination is an individual’s personal choice. We understand there may be different CDC or IDPH mitigation measures for the widespread community; however, we are committed to reducing the transmission of COVID-19 in our schools and community. Therefore we will continue to expect all staff, students, family members, and visitors to continue to follow the CDC mitigation measures we have in place whether vaccinated or not:

• Universal and correct use of masks

• Physical distancing to the greatest extent possible

• Hand washing and sanitizing

• Maintaining clean facilities and disinfection practices

• Strategies for careful contact tracing and isolation of potentially exposed individuals

Thank you for your continued support in all of our safety efforts. Enjoy your Spring Break, and we will see you when school resumes on Monday, March 22.

Be safe and stay well,

Dr. ivory-Tatum,

Superintendent

Following Spring Break, we are changing the operating hours of the COVID-19 Drive-thru testing location. We are hoping this new schedule will allow an opportunity for more of our elementary staff to test mid-day or during lunch breaks. In recent weeks, we have seen a steady decline in the number of staff members taking advantage of our COVID-19 testing since the decrease in community positivity rates and increase in the number of staff vaccinated. I want to encourage everyone to continue to test regularly. Getting vaccinated is adding an additional layer of mitigation strategy and can decrease the severity of illness, in addition to reducing (but not completely eliminating) the risk of COVID-19 infection. Please be reminded that asymptomatic or mild infection is still possible after vaccination; therefore, teachers and staff are encouraged to continue testing.

New COVID Drive-Thru Testing site hours:

Monday 7:00 - 1:00 p.m.

Tuesday Closed - No testing

Wednesday 7:00 - 10:00 a.m.

Thursday 7-00 - 10:00 a.m.

Friday 7:00 - 10:00 a.m.

You can sign up here using this link to take you directly to the scheduler:

USD116 Drive-Thru Testing Schedule Direct Link

If you have pre-registered appointments for upcoming Tuesdays, we will cancel those appointments for you, and we encourage you to sign up for a different day of the week. Our testing staff will be ready for testing on Monday, March 22, following your Spring Break travels.

Each year, all Illinois public schools are required to administer state assessments like the ACCESS for ELLs, Illinois Assessment of Readiness (IAR), and the Illinois Science Assessment (ISA) to its students. The Illinois State Board of Education (ISBE) asked the United States Department of Education to waive this requirement; the waiver has, unfortunately, been denied. ISBE has instructed school districts to begin preparing to administer ACCESS to our EL students, the IAR to students in grades 3 - 8, and the ISA to students in grades 5 and 8. ISBE has also indicated that ALL students will be asked to complete these assessments in person at their school. The U.S. Department of Education has provided assessment flexibilities, including shortening the tests and offering fall administrations. As directed by the state, we are moving forward with planning for our spring assessments while we await further information from ISBE and the Department of Education. We will continue to keep you posted as more information develops.

In an effort to ensure that eligible students and families can use the P-EBT benefits, the Illinois Department of Human Services (IDHS) has provided the linked notification letters, P-EBT Update Notice - English, P-EBT Update Notice - Spanish, P-EBT Update Notice - French. The Illinois State Board of Education is asking Districts to share the notification letters with eligible students. As part of the Community Eligibility Program (CEP), all USD116 students are eligible to receive benefits during the 2020-21 school year. P-EBT is a food assistance benefit for students who get free or reduced-price meals in schools under the National School Lunch Program. P-EBT benefits will help Illinois families buy food during the COVID-19 pandemic. As I have shared during previous communications, families do not need to apply for these benefits. The Illinois State Board of Education (ISBE) will provide the eligible student’s information to the Illinois Department of Human Services (IDHS) monthly. It is essential that your child’s school has your correct address on file. For more information on activating your card, misuse, and availability of the benefits, see the linked letters.

Should families have questions regarding the P-EBT benefits and issuances, please review information at https://www.dhs.state.il.us/page.aspx?item=131776, including the frequently asked questions. They may also contact the DHS toll-free P-EBT Helpline number at 1-833-621-0737. How to update your mailing address is a common question we are receiving.

If you have already received your P-EBT Link Card and need to update your address, contact the LINK hotline at 1-800-678-5465. If needed, you can order a new card at that time as well.

If you have not received your P-EBT Link Card, but have been told that at least one student in your household is eligible, request an address change online at the P-EBT Change of Address Form.

If your family has an existing case for SNAP, Cash, or Medical benefits, use Manage My Case (MMC) to report your change of address or call the LINK hotline at 1-800-678-5465.

If you have unanswered questions, please email pebt@isbe.net. Additional resources for schools are available at www.isbe.net/pebt.

Dr. Gene Amberg began his career in public education in 1972 as an elementary school teacher in St. Louis, Missouri. He served as superintendent of Urbana School District #116 from 1992 until his retirement in 2007. In 2003, the Champaign Urbana Schools Foundation (CUSF) Gene Amberg Excellence in Teaching Endowed Chair was established to honor Dr. Amberg’s leadership and dedication to children and educators throughout his career. Every three years, an Urbana School District #116 teacher is chosen to receive the Gene Amberg Excellence in Teaching Endowed Chair. This recognition comes with a monetary award from the Endowment held by the CUSF.

Nominations may be submitted by: 1) self 2) peer 3) student 4) former student 5) parent 6) supervisor 7) administrator.

There are many deserving USD teachers who could be nominated. The nominations require a letter of support from an administrator, and I hope you will have time between now and the end of April to make a nomination. The deadline is Friday, April 30, 2021, 4:00 pm. Please see the attached information linked here for more details.

Email: contactus@usd116.org
Website: usd116.org
Location: 205 North Race Street, Urbana, IL, USA
Phone: 2173843600
Facebook: facebook.com/usd116
Twitter: @urbana116