Superintendent Update May 7, 2021

from USD116 Superintendent Dr. Ivory-Tatum

SuperintendentUpdate May 7, 2021from 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,

May is Asian-Pacific American Heritage Month. Please join us in celebrating the rich history and culture of the generations of Asian and Pacific Islanders who have contributed to America’s diversity and success. Learn more about how AAPIs have enriched America’s history by visiting some online resources. You can help children or your students discover different aspects of the AAPI community by reading books related to the Asian American experience. The Smithsonian’s Asian Pacific American Center has a list of books aimed at developing multicultural appreciation in students. For younger kids, consider this list of children’s books (U. S. Department of Education).


At Tuesday’s Board of Education Study Session, the Board said goodbye to two of our long-standing members, Ruth Ann Fisher and Peggy Patten. I would like to thank Ruth Ann for 22 years and Peggy for 12 years of service to our Board, the students, staff, and families of Urbana School District. We wish them both the best and appreciate their commitment to public education and Board service. We also welcomed our two newest Board members during Tuesday’s meeting, Ravi Hasanadka, Sub-District 3, and Lara Orr, Sub-District 5. We appreciate their willingness to serve in their new roles and look forward to working together as we continue to move Urbana forward as a premier District in Champaign County, Central Illinois, and the State of Illinois. We are truly Urbana Stronger Together!


Our schools and our County have led the way to help our community maintain low positive transmission rates and return to some semblance of normalcy through our diligent mask-wearing and physical distancing efforts. We will soon see the benefits of our hard work as we move to the Bridge to Phase 5 level of the state’s Restore Illinois Plan. What does this mean for our community? The Bridge Phase will allow for larger gathering sizes and expanded capacity limits. These incremental steps continue to move us in the right direction as we move forward with our plans to return to full in-person learning for the 2021-2022 school year. For more information about the Bridge to Phase 5, click HERE! We will continue our universal mask-wearing, physical distancing, contact tracing, testing, vaccinations, etc. The District has offered vaccinations to our staff and, most recently, our 16 & 17-year-olds and their parents/guardians. We are excited to announce that we plan to offer a vaccination clinic for Urbana Students age 12+ and their parents/guardians. Through a partnership with the Champaign Urbana Public Health District, we will provide the vaccine for any eligible students and parents/guardians. If you are interested in learning more, please be on the lookout for an email from me with an interest survey for you to complete for your 12+ student(s) or yourself.


As we wind down the school year, we have much to celebrate! Please continue to read the remainder of the Weekly Update for several special recognitions! We want to keep the positivity going! The District and the Board of Education would like to invite the USD116 family, our partners, and our overall community to join us for the opportunity to meet and greet our new high school principal. Mr. Taren Nance will be at UHS on Thursday, May 27, from 4:00-6:00 p.m. Please join us in person as we welcome Mr. Nance to Urbana. Mr. Nance and his family are relocating very soon, and he is eager to get started in his new role. Join us on May 27th as we welcome our newest Urbana Tiger!


Be safe and stay well,


Dr. Ivory-Tatum,

Superintendent

LATEST NEWS

Project Ignition - Urbana High School

During Tuesday evening’s Board meeting, the Board and Administration honored the Project Ignition team from Urbana High School. Urbana Project Ignition has been one of the top 20 PI programs in the country for the past three years. To learn more about the Project Ignition Team at UHS, click HERE. The Team received another banner last night from the National Youth Leadership Council and National Highway Traffic Safety Administration recognition as the school of the year. They received $1,500 that will pay for the club to give a presentation at the American Driver and Traffic Safety Education Administration national conference in Knoxville, Tenn., in July at the National Student Safety Program. The team also received a $2,500 grant from the Driver Education Teacher Endorsement Program. Members Francky Maemble and Park Mitchell received the senior and junior leadership awards, respectively, and Francky Maemble was named student of the year. Congratulations to this inspiring group of young people. We are Proud of U!

Teacher Advisor of the Year - Nathan Watson, UHS

Nathan Watson, a teacher at Urbana High School, was selected as the 2021 Illinois High school and College Driver Education Association Teacher of the Year Award. Mr. Watson was recognized for his organizational skills, professionalism, enthusiasm, and positive impact on the driver education program at Urbana High School. The organization is composed primarily of high school and college driver education staff and specialists from over 600 public schools in Illinois. Mr. Watson would have received his award at the annual state conference in May, which was moved to a virtual format due to the pandemic. The Board and Administration were honored to recognize this phenomenal accomplishment at our Tuesday evening Board Study Session. Congratulations, Mr. Watson! Learn more about Mr. Watson and the Award HERE.

CU Schools Foundation - Shining Star Award Winners, Ellen Archer-Puffer, Leal and Bathel Gilbert, UMS

Champaign Urbana Schools Foundation (CUSF) honored four teachers in 2021 with the Shining Star Awards. Selected teachers are nominated by their peers and exhibit exemplary service, extra efforts, enthusiastic attitude, and innovative ideas that noticeably benefit their students. This week CUSF recognized our very own Ellen Archer-Puffer from Leal and Bathel Gilbert from UMS. All teachers will receive a $500 grant from CUSF for their classrooms.


Ellen Archer-Puffer’s nominator says, “Ellen’s extra efforts and innovation have been instrumental in implementing effective curriculum during the pandemic.” Ms. Archer-Puffer created easy to use take-home materials for her 2nd grade students at Leal Elementary to access.


Bathel Gilbert, an 8th grade special education teacher at Urbana Middle School, began his career as a TA (teaching assistant) at UMS in 2000 and has worked his way through the state licensure program to become a Shining Star educator! His nominator recognizes that Mr. Gilbert is an “excellent colleague and problem solver. He advocates for his special education students as both a case manager and a teacher.

Emerging Professional Award - Starra Priestaf, Yankee Ridge

Congratulations to Starra Priestaf, French Dual Language Teacher at Yankee Ridge, for receiving the Emerging Professional Award during the Early Childhood Champion’s Virtual Award Celebration on May 4th. This event recognizes educators who support some of our youngest learners. To learn how Madame Priestaf excelled during this pandemic, follow the Youtube link below to see the entire ceremony starting with Madame Priestaf’s award: https://youtu.be/iibtzhFxaow?t=2468.

N-G Teacher of the Week - Alyssa Harpst, District

Teaching Braille over Zoom hasn’t been easy, but Alyssa Harpst, one of our itinerant teachers who works with students with visual impairments, has figured out how to make it work. Ms. Harpst, who travels the entire Urbana school district as an itinerant teacher who works with blind students, has taught since 1993 when she worked for the Rural Champaign County Special Education Cooperative. Click HERE to read the full N-G article. Congratulations, Ms. Harpst, on being named the News-Gazette Teacher of the Week.

International Bike to School Day

Wednesday, May 5th, was International Bike To School Day! Several students and even families stopped by the softball field outside Urbana Middle School to participate in the morning’s festivities. Student participants received a “swag bag” with a T-shirt, reflectors for their bikes, activity booklets, and more. Mayor Marlin read a proclamation making Wednesday, May 5th, officially “Bike to School Day” in the City of Urbana. Thank you to C-U Safe Routes to School and the City of Urbana for organizing this event for our students.