NORMAL – Tracy Freeman heard from a former student earlier this year. Freeman, who teaches social studies at Normal West Community High School in central Illinois, says the student had traveled to Washington D.C. to participate in the Trump rally on January 6. The former student said they didn’t go into the U. S. Capitol…
SPRINGFIELD – Illinois and other states across the country recently called on the federal government to waive requirements for federally-mandated standardized testing this year, due to the COVID-19 pandemic. But in a letter published late last month, the Biden administration’s Department of Education wrote that schools must administer the exams, though they won’t be held…
URBANA – The University of Illinois’ COVID-19 testing process has received Emergency Use Authorization from the federal Food and Drug Administration. Authorization was granted in a February 24 letter to the university from FDA Chief Scientist, Rear Admiral Denise M. Hinton. Ben Taylor, spokesman for Shield Illinois, the U of I’s program for marketing…
TONIGHT at 7pm: Join WILL & Illinois Public Media’s Lee V. Gaines for the second virtual town hall following her investigative series on campus policing. A world without campus police: What would that look like? What does it mean to defund and abolish university cops? What are the alternatives to campus police? Join us as…
CHAMPAIGN – Earlier this month, 1,291 teachers and other staff members at Champaign Unit 4 Schools received their first dose of the Pfizer BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine. This week, they return for a second dose. Dozens of staff members and some members of the community filed in and out of Centennial High School on Monday. They…
SPRINGFIELD – Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker outlined a proposed budget for the next fiscal year this week that keeps state spending on both K-12 and higher education mostly flat. If approved by state lawmakers, this would be the second year in a row that Illinois hasn’t invested in its school funding formula. The formula, passed…
The University of Illinois has backed down from an initial decision to dismiss a graduate student for a full year for not getting regular COVID-19 tests during the fall semester. Late last month, Yidong “Ivor” Chen, a fourth year physics PhD student from China, faced a disciplinary committee made up of students, faculty and staff…
URBANA – At a panel hosted by Illinois Newsroom this week, University of Illinois police, administrators, professors and students discussed the role of the campus police — and why some want the department abolished and their funding invested in other services. The discussion follows an Illinois Newsroom series by education reporter Lee Gaines about the growing…
URBANA – Within three weeks of having tens of thousands of students return to the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign for the spring semester, the campus had identified more than 450 cases of COVID-19. This is fewer than half the number of cases identified by the same time last fall — and lower than U of…
This is the second installment of a two-part digital series. You can read the first story here. URBANA – On a Friday night in late October of last year, University of Illinois police Officer Kyle Krickovich began his shift at 10 p.m. — it would last until 8 a.m. — patrolling the east side of…
This is the first of a two-part digital story series. The second story publishes on Illinois Newsroom tomorrow, Tuesday, Jan. 26, 2021. URBANA – Surrounded by dozens of people wearing face masks, carrying pots, pans and handmade protest signs, William Burke stepped up to a microphone outside the University of Illinois Police Department on the…
CHAMPAIGN – The next superintendent of Champaign Unit 4 Schools is moving from Springfield. On Thursday night, the Board of Education announced its selection of Shelia Boozer. Boozer is 23-year veteran of education. She is currently the Director of Teaching and Learning and Technology in Springfield District 186. Boozer earned a Bachelor’s Degree in Psychology from…
WASHINGTON – Federal financial aid to people in prison was quietly restored as part of a COVID-19 stimulus bill passed by Congress last month. The U.S. Department of Education has until 2023 to reinstate Pell Grant access to people in prison — which was previously banned under the 1994 Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement…
URBANA – As University of Illinois students return to the Urbana campus this month, administrators urge them to remain vigilant as the COVID-19 pandemic rages on. Campus leaders said during a virtual COVID-19 briefing yesterday that many of the same precautions that were enacted in the fall semester will remain in place during the spring,…
URBANA – At least 1,300 students plan to return to Urbana classrooms later this month, according to data shared during an Urbana District 116 Board of Education study session Tuesday night. School officials say their safety plans will be bolstered by access to a rapid COVID antigen test — known as the BinaxNOW COVID-19 Ag…