Teacher, custodian unions grill candidates for Champaign Unit 4 school board on shortages, Black Lives Matter
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Teacher, custodian unions grill candidates for Champaign Unit 4 school board on shortages, Black Lives Matter

About three-quarters of districts in Illinois are struggling to hire bus drivers, cafeteria workers and teachers’ aides. Workers in Champaign want to know how future board members will help them.

Some school board candidates this year are pushing to limit lessons on Black history. Where do Champaign Unit 4 candidates stand?
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Some school board candidates this year are pushing to limit lessons on Black history. Where do Champaign Unit 4 candidates stand?

Six candidates say students should learn African American history and the history of racism. The seventh, business owner Mark Holm, declined to be interviewed.

NIU ‘Project FLEX’ offers fitness and college experiences to incarcerated Illinois youth
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NIU ‘Project FLEX’ offers fitness and college experiences to incarcerated Illinois youth

DEKALB — Several times a week, a team of NIU graduate students led by professors Zach Wahl-Alexander and Jenn Jacobs bring physical activities to three juvenile justice youth centers in northern Illinois. Wahl-Alexander and Jacobs teach in the school’s Department of Kinesiology and Physical Education and have run the program for the past four years….

COVID federal funding will expire. How are schools investing in student mental health for the long term?
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COVID federal funding will expire. How are schools investing in student mental health for the long term?

LA MOILLE — Students in the La Moille School District don’t have a full-time school social worker or psychologist. For tiny, rural districts like La Moille — which has only 170 students — that’s not unusual. Rural schools are much less likely to offer mental health services than urban and suburban schools. 37% of high…

Community in uproar after board votes to temporarily close Wiley Elementary for asbestos abatement
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Community in uproar after board votes to temporarily close Wiley Elementary for asbestos abatement

  URBANA – The Urbana  School District 116 school board received significant backlash at its February 21 board meeting after voting to close Wiley Elementary School this coming summer to fix its asbestos problem.  People gathered en masse dressed in red Wiley attire to speak out against this decision. Many spoke during the citizens comments…

Former trustee: Kinzy’s abrupt exit was about fit, not wrongdoing

Former trustee: Kinzy’s abrupt exit was about fit, not wrongdoing

NORMAL — Illinois State University marked its annual Founding Celebration on Thursday with the usual traditions – bellringing and a toast of faculty and staff – even as unanswered questions hovered as to why President Terri Goss Kinzy had abruptly resigned. Some faculty and staff told WGLT they were surprised by Kinzy’s exit. Others heard…

ISU President Terri Goss Kinzy resigns less than 2 years on the job

ISU President Terri Goss Kinzy resigns less than 2 years on the job

NORMAL — Illinois State University President Terri Goss Kinzy has resigned after less than two years on the job. The surprise announcement came Wednesday afternoon in an email to campus. Kinzy’s resignation is effective Tuesday, but she’ll be paid an additional 20 weeks of salary (about $144,000) and her unused vacation time, plus get to…

When half of a Rockford elementary school has no bus, the community takes action

When half of a Rockford elementary school has no bus, the community takes action

ROCKFORD — A group of Rockford elementary school students stand against the front of Lewis Lemon Elementary, trying to stay out of the snow. They’re wearing colorful winter coats and hats to keep warm, which is tough since it feels like -4 degrees with the wind-chill. They live within a mile and a half of…