Superintendent Update: 4/29/22

To view past superintendent updates, please visit District Updates on our website.

Student and staff safety is always our highest priority! On Thursday, April 28, the District conducted a drill to help us practice our evacuation and reunification procedures. We relocated a team of students from UMS to an off-site location following a simulated gas leak. This drill allowed us to implement our processes and procedures to notify families and reconnect them with their students in an orderly and timely manner. Following the conclusion of the drill, and once we receive all feedback from families and staff, we will finalize a template for all schools to add to our District Crisis Safety and Communication Plans. I would like to thank Team Phoenix, UMS administrators and staff, Central Office Staff, Facilities, Maintenance, Grounds, First Student, and Urbana Police. Most importantly, I would like to thank Stone Creek Church for opening their doors to us as our Reunification site. We appreciate their partnership during these safety measures! We are Urbana Better Together!

With only a few Board of Education meetings remaining for the year, several important topics and end-of-the-year reports are on the schedule. Next week, we will be sharing information from the Spanish Dual Language Committee. The Dual Language discussion will be shared as a two-part presentation during the month of May. On Tuesday, we will also be sharing feedback on the School Resource Officer (SRO) Program at UMS and UHS and the updated Intergovernmental Agreement that allows us to maintain two SROs in the district. Stay tuned for more information and tune in on UPTV or our YouTube channel to view these upcoming discussions or join the meetings in person.

This week we celebrated our Administrative Professionals in our schools. They are the glue that holds us together! We also celebrated with our After School Professionals during their week of recognition. I encourage you to check out the full Superintendent Update for a video and pics from the week. Also, remember next week is Teacher and Staff Appreciation Week!

Our amazing staff are what makes Urbana the best that it can be!

Celebrating our greatness,

Dr. Ivory-Tatum,

Superintendent

• May 2-6: Teacher Appreciation Week

• May 4: Bike and Roll to School Day

• May 5-8: UHS Spring Musical | Anastasia

• May 18: UHS Honors Night/National Honors Society Night

• May 24: Adult Ed Graduation | 6 p.m. | UHS Auditorium

• May 26: 8th Grade Promotion 9 a.m. Team Divergent | 10:30 a.m. Team Jedi | 12 p.m. Team Hercules

• May 26: UHS Graduation State Farm Center 6 p.m.

Urbana High School Theater Presents: Anastasia The Musical

• UHS Cobb Memorial Auditorium
• May 5, 6 & 7 at 7 p.m.
• May 8 at 2 p.m.
• Adults $10 | Students $7
• PlayBill

DIRECTOR'S NOTE

If we had been in possession of a crystal ball when we selected Anastasia as our spring show, we likely would have reconsidered. As late as when we cast the show in the fall, we had no idea that Russia would attack the sovereign nation of Ukraine, putting the whole world in the position of deciding which side of history it would be on. When the news began to develop, we sat down with our cast to discuss: Is this show, a show that is in many ways a love letter to Russian history and Russian mythology, the show that we should be doing right now? The cast stood firm. Why? They pointed out that it is something more than that. It is a story about the stories that we tell because we need them to see us through crisis. It is a story of refugees finding their way home. It is ultimately a story of hope and love, something that all of us need to feel right now.

This is a love letter to kind people of all nations finding their way to a new sense of home through painful loss. We perform this show for them.

Thank you for joining us on this journey.

Jennifer Heaton & Alyssa Pavlakis, Directors

If you would like to donate to the people of Ukraine, we urge you to visit/: https://donate.unhcr.org/

National Bike & Roll to School Day is next Wednesday, May 4. The purpose of the day is to promote safety and bicycling for fun, health and transportation. The following USD116 Schools have signed up to participate in Bike & Roll to School Day:

• UHS
• UMS
  
• Thomas Paine
• Leal

Any student is welcome to bike to school, even if their school didn't officially "sign up."

6th grade AVID students from UMS were able to go on a college tour at Illinois State University this week.

This week is AfterSchool Professionals Appreciation Week! A week dedicated to recognizing the hard work and commitment from our after school professionals, who make a daily impact on our students. We appreciate all of the #USD116 staff in the before and after school child care program and are thankful for all they do for our kiddos.

Wednesday, April 27 was Administrative Professionals Day. USD#116 appreciates our Administrative Professionals and all of the hard work they have done this year.

Save-the-date for Kindergarten Open House! Bring your student to tour their new school.

More information is on our website.

In continued partnership with our transportation provider First Student, USD116 will

launch the FirstView App this fall. FirstView is a bus tracking and parent communications app

for your smartphone or desktop. Set up the app to track your student’s bus in real-time

and receive alerts prior to arrival.

We successfully piloted the FirstView app at UMS and Thomas Paine this spring and are excited to expand it districtwide starting this fall.

Once bus assignments have been finalized, you will receive information from your school on how to set up the app. We are excited about the timely access to bus information that the FirstView app will bring!

COMING SOON! #USD116 is starting a community newsletter!

Want to stay informed with what is happening in the U? Sign up today! We hope to connect with more of our Urbana residents who don't have kids in our schools, but anyone is welcome to subscribe!

Sign up: https://bit.ly/USDCommunityNewsletter

REMINDER: Online registration opens May 31. All returning students must register by Monday, July 25 in order to have transportation on the first day of school.

Email: contactus@usd116.org
Website: usd116.org
Location: 1101 East University Avenue, Suite B, Urbana, IL, USA
Phone: 2173843600
Facebook: facebook.com/usd116
Twitter: @urbana116