USD116 BOE Update: March 5, 2024

Since 1994, the University of Illinois and the Urbana School District have had an intergovernmental agreement to support the education of a multicultural population, including children for whom English is a second language.

View the Intergovernmental Agreement

Dr. King School Multilingual Programs Overview:

• King Elementary has housed the USD Multilingual Program for more than 40 years
• Right now, 111 students at King School have a language other than English in the home and/or speak another language.
• 28 languages other than English are spoken at King School.

Native Language Classes:

• Students receive native language arts instruction for 35-45 minutes every day.
• This year we offer Arabic, Pashto/Dario and Mandarin Chinese classes. In past years, we have offered other native language classes. The classes offered are reviewed annually, based on the number of students we have in those language groups.

English as a Second Language at King: Combined small group pull-out and push-in services.

View the presentation

Q: What enrollment threshold does it take to start offering services for a new language?

A: In order to have a Transitional Bilingual Program, we have to have at least 20 students in that building. At King School, we have always had our own internal guideline, that if we have five or more students of the same language, we try and find them a Teacher TA to give them Native Language class support.

Q: How are students and families identified and brought into the program?

A: All families fill out the same form when they register that identifies if another language is spoken in the home and/or if the child speaks another language.

Q: How is redistricting going to effect King School and this population?

A: Right now, 67 students in concept 1 and 36 students in concept 2 would move to King School.

With any of our programs, if a family opts out of what we are recommending for services, the student would go to their home school.

The Board was given an overview of the District's Transportation Program. Nearly 60 percent of students (or 2,600) in USD #116 are eligible for transportation, which means they live more than 1.5 miles away from their school or they live in an IDOT designated hazard area. First Student and C-U MTD are the District's contractors for transportation.

Staffing:

• A full staff for First Student is 37 drivers
• First Student started the 2023-24 school year with only 25 drivers
• They are currently fully staffed -- with 38 drivers

Behavior Management: The expectation for student behavior is that the bus is an extension of the school. Every family receives a copy of the bus rules and expectations as part of the registration process. The building administrator is responsible for student behavior management and assigning consequences for student behavior on the buses.

• Seating charts have helped behavior issues.
• Additional support personnel have been assigned to routes where there have been a higher number of issues.
• First Student has split some of the routes now that they are fully staffed, which has lowered the number of students on the buses.

Q: In terms of our current transportation configuration, what is the biggest challenge?

A from First Student: The overflow has been a big issue for years and it's getting worse.

Q: If we do redistricting, how would that look for the bus routes?

A: It would help. In one area, we have about 130 non-special education students who live in one neighborhood that are transported by five buses to four different elementary schools. Redistricting would alleviate many of these constraints, specifically in the Dr. Williams neighborhood. There would also be a number of students who would be able to walk to school and not need transportation.

View the Transportation Presentation

First student has provided a proposal for a three year contract extension with a 14.9 percent increase the first year and 4 percent each additional year. This contract will be brought back to the March BOE Business Meeting for approval.

View the contract proposal

Q: If we are awarded the grant for an electric bus, how would that impact this contract?

A: This contract doesn't include anything about electric buses, but this contract can be amended if we receive the grant in the future and we have the discussion as to whether it's feasible to move in that direction.

The Urbana School District #116 Board of Education has a vacancy in Sub-District 2 resulting from the resignation of Dr. Ravi Hasanadka. The Board has 60 days to fill the position from the day of the resignation; which in this case is April 26, 2024. The person appointed will serve until April 2025.

Applications: Applications will be accepted from March 6 through March 27. Statement of Interest forms may be picked up at 1101 E. University, Suite B beginning on Wednesday, March 6, 2024. You can also request a Statement of Interest form electronically: Request Statement of Interest Form

Dr. Ivory-Tatum's Superintendent Report is available here: March 5, 2024

Highlights:

• Opening event for student-created mural at Urbana High School
• UHS Bands 100th Anniversary Alumni Reunion and Concert is April 19 and 20.
• FAQ's from the public input meetings with RSP