Our community is dealing with the trauma of recent shootings in our neighborhoods and close to us in Chicago. The gun violence in our community disproportionately impacts our youth and families of color. When our neighborhoods are exposed to gun violence, it directly impacts our children’s and teens’ psychological and mental well-being, which ultimately affects their school performance. We know and understand that our community is hurting and dealing with these traumatic events, and we want to be supportive and responsive to their needs. Our students need time and space to process, and we are working to provide those spaces in our schools and community. We will share more details in the next couple of days, but please know that we are doing our best to support our students and families directly impacted by these recent events.
We are continuing to plan for the 2021-2022 school year. While we look forward to seeing our students back in person, full days, five days a week, we cannot forget our youngest and newest additions to our elementary schools. We want to welcome our incoming Kindergarten students and their families. Current USD116 families, please share this message with your friends, family members, or neighbors who may have children who will be 5 years old on or before September 1st. It is time to sign up for Kindergarten! Our District is comprised of neighborhood schools. To learn which elementary school your child(ren) should attend based on your current address, please visit usd116.org to access the attendance boundary map.
Kindergarten Pre-Registration started on April 6th and continues through May 7, 2021. You can begin the process by accessing the site to pre-register for Kindergarten via two options. You can submit a hard copy of the Kindergarten Pre-Registration Form OR complete and submit your forms online at Kindergarten Pre-Registration. You can also click on this link to follow the directions to access virtual tours for every elementary school to learn more about each campus. For our incoming K families and new families wanting more information about our early in-person learning plans, you can find more details in the Board of Education News 4-6-2021Update linked here. We will be offering Online Registration for the second year in a row. Online registration for returning families will open on Tuesday, July 6th. We will continue to share details and information throughout the school year and into the summer months.
As we welcome our Kindergarteners, we want to highlight the academic excellence of our elementary students, who will be recognized soon for their writing skills. It is time for our Young Authors Celebration! We are excited to host our Young Authors Celebration on Wednesday, April 28, 2021. Our guest authors are excited about presenting to our building winners. Young Authors winners from last year and this year are invited to the event on Wednesday, April 28, 2021. The District is providing yard signs for each winner from both years. This will be a fun-filled afternoon recognizing our young writers with special guest authors joining us while celebrating our young writers under the theme, “ Lifting Our Voice Through Writing.”
We are here to support the best interest of students, families, and the Urbana Community! Please let us know how we can help.
Be safe and stay well,
Dr. Ivory-Tatum,
Superintendent
