CHAMPAIGN — Two open houses at Champaign Unit 4 schools this week yielded the same response – parents don’t want their children to change elementary schools next fall. Parents and grandparents assembled in the Garden Hills Academy gym on Tuesday to discuss the proposal to reassign students to help desegregate the district. Like the first…
Updated October 15, 2022 at 11:31 AM ET A beta version of President Biden’s student loan forgiveness application is now open — the first time borrowers have been able to apply for up to $20,000 in debt cancellation. The early opening is a test to help the Education Department find problems with the site before…
URBANA – Children still face mental health challenges as the COVID pandemic comes to an end. That’s one of the lessons garnered during an hourlong television special with the school superintendents of Champaign Unit 4, Danville School District 118, and Urbana School District 116. The TV special was taped in late September at Illinois Public Media…
CHAMPAIGN — Dozens of parents rallied on Monday evening at the Unit 4 Board of Education meeting in Champaign. They have joined under a new group called “Unit 4 Families for a Smarter Solution.” The district is currently weighing how to reassign students next year to desegregate elementary schools, and the group largely opposes that…
Mario McMinn’s eyes start to burn by hour five of staring at screens. He’s a high school sophomore who isn’t blind but has a visual impairment. When he and everyone else were forced to learn from home in 2020, it meant his whole day was looking at his iPad and computer. https://cpa.ds.npr.org/s528/audio/2022/10/1004stuf.mp3 Listen to this…
CHAMPAIGN — Families are beginning to weigh in on plans from the Champaign Unit 4 School District to change how it assigns students to elementary schools next year. Some families are excited that the district wants to further desegregate schools. Shanita Weatherall likes the idea of her daughter attending school with students who live near…
CHAMPAIGN — In December, the Unit 4 school board plans to vote on a new way to assign students to Champaign elementary schools. The Champaign Unit 4 School District began its school choice system in 1998 to help desegregate Champaign schools. Allowing families to rank choices for their preferred school hasn’t solved the issue of…
CHAMPAIGN — Del Jacobs likes almost everything about her job. As a SNAP-Ed community worker in Illinois, she likes getting to know the regulars at local food pantries and teaching them about healthy eating on a budget. She likes working with children, especially since she doesn’t have any kids of her own. What she doesn’t…
An Illinois State University administrator has died four days after he collided with a bicycle on the Illinois State University campus. According to a joint news release from McLean County Coroner Kathy Yoder and ISU Police Chief Aaron Woodruff, 49-year-old Adam Peck died on Friday morning. Peck was a pedestrian who was involved in a…
CHAMPAIGN – A business incubator focused on disadvantaged neighborhoods in Champaign is expanding its chess program. The classes started with a handful of teenagers about six weeks ago. Since then, adults have become so interested that the nonprofit, Business Elevator, is planning to start a separate, adult class. The chess coach, Eduardo Carrillo, Jr, uses…
Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin’s administration has proposed new policies for the state’s schools regarding how they treat transgender students, including restricting which bathrooms they can use and which pronouns they may go by. The Virginia Department of Education released its 2022 Model Policies online Friday, effectively rolling back the work of Youngkin’s predecessor, Democrat Ralph…
Yeshiva University says it’s pausing all student clubs on campus just days after the U.S. Supreme Court refused to block a lower court ruling that ordered the school to recognize an LGBTQ group. In an unsigned email to students, the New York City school said that, considering upcoming Jewish holidays, “the university will hold off…
CHAMPAIGN – A total of eight Illinois community colleges will soon be certified to do competency-based learning, thanks to $5 million from the U.S. Department of Labor. This means students only need to take classes on new material — instead of sitting through lessons they already know. Nancy Sutton is the vice president for academic…
NORMAL — Unit 5 has invoked a rarely used state statute that allows school districts to reject teacher resignations in certain circumstances. McLean County’s largest district denied four resignations, submitted by special education teachers weeks before the first day of school. Two of the teachers agreed to stay for the 2022-2023 school year. https://cpa.ds.npr.org/s402/audio/2022/09/unit5resign-segment.mp3 Listen…
CHAMPAIGN – Ri’Chard Frazier took his role as a big brother seriously from a young age. By middle school, being the “tough” one started to get him in trouble. He bounced between public and alternative schools. The first time he felt cared for was at FirstFollowers, a nonprofit Champaign recently entrusted with half a million…