Superintendent Update: 10/22/2021

from USD116 Superintendent Dr. Ivory-Tatum

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

Greetings Urbana Family and Friends,

It is a great time to be part of the Urbana School District! I would like to share two new initiatives that will impact our District in many positive ways. On Tuesday evening, during the Board’s Business Meeting, the Educational Equity Policy Draft was approved. I am looking forward to the opportunity to share the draft more widely with other stakeholders. We will be sharing the draft with staff, parents, students, and administrators to gather feedback. I will be offering several “Lunch and Learn with Leaders” sessions in the coming months as another way to collect stakeholder feedback. View the draft policy

The Equity Task Force will discuss the next step to secure an external consultant or external group to complete an Equity Assessment Audit. An equity audit will help us identify areas of strengths and needed improvements with particular attention to historically marginalized groups. The committee will review the processes for collecting comprehensive quantitative data with critical qualitative information. There will be self-evaluations, needs assessments, and opportunities to provide focus groups in the months to come. Stay tuned for the work moving forward.

I am also excited to share that students will now have an active role in voicing their perspectives and assisting with the work of the Board of Education. Today we are officially opening up the application process for our first Board of Education Student Ambassadors. The Board will appoint two UHS students that reflect our student body’s diversity, ethnicity, and economic backgrounds. Students will first complete an application, followed by a review process, and the final stage will be an interview with two Board members and myself. Student Ambassadors will be responsible for many duties, including, but not limited to, attending regular Board meetings, meeting with a variety of students and student groups, sharing information with the Board, and communicating student viewpoints. The application link has been shared with all UHS students. I also ask you to encourage any UHS student(s) that you know to apply for this leadership opportunity. We look forward to announcing the new student ambassadors at the November Board Business Meeting.

Parent-teacher conferences are next week! There are several resources available to help you navigate the sign-up process, Student-led conferences - English, Student-led conferences - Spanish, Student-led conferences - French.

Thank you for your continued support of District initiatives!

Dr. Ivory-Tatum

Board of Education Student Ambassadors

Urbana will soon have its first pair of Board of Education Student Ambassadors!

Students will need to apply for the leadership position, which includes answering essay questions and participating in an interview.

Student applications are due Friday, November 5 by noon with the goal of swearing in and

seating the Student Ambassadors during the November 16 BOE Business Meeting. In the future, this process will open up at the end of the school year and students will be selected by mid-July.

Student Ambassador Program - Administrative Procedures (draft pending BOE approval)

Student Ambassador Program Policy 2021 (draft pending BOE approval)

BOE Student Ambassador Application

Equity Policy

On Tuesday, the Board of Education approved a new Equity Task Force Policy to be included in the Board of Education Policy Manual. The Board approved this policy as a draft to be revisited once the equity assessment audit is done and additional stakeholder feedback is collected

View the draft policy

UHS Boys Soccer headed to Regional Championship

The UHS Boys Soccer Team will go head to head with Champaign Central on Friday for the Regional Championship! Friday's matchup started at 6 p.m. at Urbana High School.

The Maroons and top-seeded Tigers have played twice already this season. Urbana won the first matchup 11-10 in penalty kicks and the second ended in a 3-3 tie.

UMS French Teacher receives Outstanding Educator Award

Urbana Middle School French teacher Bonny Thiel was selected for the University of Chicago Outstanding Educator Award.

The University of Chicago identifies an Outstanding Educator as someone who shapes young minds in meaningful ways, thoughtfully approaching instruction, sharing an infectious love for learning, and caring for students both inside and outside of the classroom. The award has existed for more than three decades.

Each year, newly admitted University of Chicago students have the opportunity to reflect on their time in school and nominate an educator who played a significant role in their education, made a positive impact in their lives, and whose influence has brought them to where they are today.

The anonymous student who nominated her said the following:

“I'm grateful to have had many great teachers throughout my time in Urbana schools, but Ms. Thiel stands out as someone who deserves special recognition for her dedication to education. During the two years she taught my middle-school French class, I learned French very rapidly due in part to the French grammar handbooks she meticulously constructed and stapled together for each of us. She often assigned projects which required collaboration and creativity, such as skits to be performed in front of the class, allowing us to have a great deal of fun with our work. Some of our units included French food tasting, and others included the explication of contemporary French music videos. Overall, I'm inspired by Ms. Thiel's dedication to helping her students succeed and opening our minds to the depth and breadth of language and literature..."

All award winners receive a commemorative award, certificate, and letter that includes details from the student they were nominated by.

Urbana School District thanks Ms. Thiel for going above and beyond every day, leaving a lasting impression upon her students.

Fall Conferences

Fall Conferences are October 28 and 29. You can do conferences in-person or via Zoom. All families should have received communication about this from your school. Please schedule a conference as soon as possible. If you have questions, please contact the school office.

Sign Up for Conferences

Panorama Family Survey

We have an opportunity for families to share how your child’s school can create a more welcoming school environment, support student learning at home, and build lasting partnerships that contribute to student success. We are using a tool developed by Panorama. Panorama is a research-based technology platform used to measure social-emotional, and learning skills.

The survey has four categories. Please see description listed below:

Family engagement- the degree in which families become involved with and interact with their child’s school.
School safety- perceptions of student physical and psychological safety at school.
Barriers to engagement- factors that can create challenges for families to interact with or become involved with their child’s school.
School climate- perceptions of the overall social and learning climate of the school.

There will be a total of three surveys taken, with 12 questions total for the Fall, Winter, and Spring. The Panorama family survey will provide schools with family perspectives of classroom and whole school experiences. The feedback received will serve as an indicator for our District Improvement Goal.

We used our Skyward information system to gather family emails. Families received an email from Panorama. Please do not delete. Please fill out the anonymous survey. Your voice matters. If you have any questions regarding the survey, please email: knorton@usd116.org

Tiger Marching Band Food Drive

You're invited to the Tiger Marching Band Halloween Food Drive on Friday, October 29th at 6 p.m. They are collecting donations for the Eastern Illinois Food Bank. There will also be: