USD116 BOE Update: April 16, 2024

A moment of silence was held for Dr. Will Patterson, an Urbana alum who devoted his life to public service in the community.

Jennifer Hixson took the Oath of Office at the beginning of the meeting. She will serve as the Sub-District 2 Board Member until April 2025 (the remainder of the term).

The Board of Education voted on the elementary redistricting plan for the 2024-25 school year. Concept 1 was chosen as the new student attendance area map. This means Yankee Ridge will become the Dual Language School beginning in 2024-25.

Families will be notified of their school assignment via email. They can also reference the new Elementary Attendance Map. There will be opportunities for families to visit their new school, that information will be announced soon.

Thirty-five students traveled in November 2023 and February 2024 with the UHS Habitat Club to the Mississippi Delta for one week.

• This is the club's 10 year anniversary. More than 200 students have participated during that time.
• Once a month the UHS Habitat Club volunteers with Champaign County Habitat for Humanity
• Students are able to attend the trip regardless of their financial situation. Everything is paid through donations, fundraisers and grants.

View the full Habitat Club presentation

First Student/First Consulting gave a transportation routing study for 2024-25. Using the Concept 1 boundaries, First Consulting created two sets of routes:

• Scenario A - All elementary (including Dual Language and ESL) receive individual bus runs.
• Scenario B - Dual Language students are co-transported with elementary students whose boundary they now reside in.

First Consulting recommends Scenario A as it results in the same number of buses as we currently have.

• Both scenarios accommodate approximately 138 extra elementary riders, primarily due to the addition of native English speaking Dual Language students.

Scenario A requires 33 routes (25 general ed and 8 special needs), same as currently.

• Requires 19 AM and 21 PM elementary runs.
• An additional 138 elementary students are eligible for transportation.
• The number of riders per route increases from 54 (current) to 59.
• Average run times decrease by 4 minutes (AM) and 2 minutes (PM).

Background

• Currently there are five elementary schools with around 200 students receiving overflow transportation to non-home schools.

• Leal, Dr. Williams and Yankee Ridge have dual language programs where students are transported cross-boundary. (Native English speaking Dual Language students are currently not eligible for transportation.)
• King has an ESL program for elementary students with some transported cross-boundary.

Question: Why was only the concept 1 routing study conducted? (And not concept 2)

Answer: The consultant said they could only provide one study due to time constraints. So I (Caty) selected concept 1. We needed to know if we needed to add more buses to our fleet for next year.

Q: How long would it take them to do a second study (based on concept 2)

A: Probably 2-3 weeks. A little less than it took to do the first one.

Q: Is the amount charged back to the district related to the number of buses or students?

A: Our bus contract is based on the number of routes -- not the number of students. By increasing a bus, that would increase the cost. Keeping the same number of routes we currently have, it wouldn't.

View the full transportation study presentation

We anticipate the 6th grade center project will require approximately $21 million in bond proceeds, which may change after final bids are received. The remainder of the project will be funded by pay-as-you-go facilities sales tax.

Bond Term: The 2024 bond term will be shorter than the term of our previous large bond

issuances. Based on the two scenarios, the term of the bonds will be between 12 and 14

years, with interest-only for the first four years.

Pay-As-You-Go Sales Tax Funding: Both scenarios maintain the Board's goal of reserving 33%, or $1.5M/yr, for pay-as-you-go projects from facilities sales tax, except for in FY26 and FY27 which dip to just below 30%.

Future bond issuances: The next opportunity that the District will have the capacity to issue bonds will be in 2031 with proceeds of approximately $10-$12M.

View the Bond memo

Ms. Chasity Beckless will serve as the Director of Equity and School Improvement beginning July 1, 2024.

Beckless is an accomplished educator with a strong background in educational leadership, a passion for equity and a commitment to ensuring all students have the opportunities to thrive in their educational journey. She is currently a principal at an elementary school in Evanston.

The Board approved Quest Food Management Services as the food service provider for the 2024-25 school year.

Dr. Ivory-Tatum's Superintendent Report is available here: April 16, 2024

Highlights:

• Commencement/promotion dates
• Young Authors Celebration

The Student Ambassador Report is available here: April 16 Student Ambassador Report

Highlights:

• Scholarship opportunities for seniors
• IHSA Journalism -- UHS Students qualified for state
• UHS Spring Cleanup is April 17 from 2:30-4 p.m.