Tag: urbana district 116

A 6-year-old grins at the camera in a pink t-shirt while her father holds her arm. Both are in a car.

Families have mixed feelings as Urbana opens its first fully multilingual school

URBANA — Felix Ayanbode has statistics at his fingertips for why his daughter should learn multiple languages.  His first grader, Faith, is learning to be bilingual in French and English at Urbana District 116’s first multilingual school, Yankee Ridge Elementary.  “When you know another language, you are able to have a peek into another culture.

Urbana’s school board paused its vote for one Spanish-English school. Now, dual language parents and teachers are setting a deadline.

URBANA – The Urbana school board will reconsider in January how to establish a fully dual-language elementary school for Spanish and English. This comes after renewed pressure from dual language teachers and families. The district currently has two schools with partial-building, dual-language programs. “White privileged families and community members can and do fight for justice

Champaign, Urbana Schools Donate Thanksgiving Meals To Families In Need

  CHAMPAIGN – During a typical school year, Laura Dees says families in need rely on food drives held at school buildings in the Champaign Unit 4 School District. Dees, director of food services for Unit 4, says that wasn’t a possibility this year because schools are closed due to the COVID-19 pandemic.  But Dees

Champaign Unit 4 Elementary Students Can Return To In-Person Instruction

CHAMPAIGN – Champaign Unit 4 elementary school students will have the option to return to some in-person instruction at the end of this month.  Unit 4 officials unveiled plans this week to bring students back into classrooms for shortened school days. The first day of in-person instruction is scheduled for Oct. 27.  Parents can still

Urbana Schools To Continue Remote Learning For Most Students Until At Least January

URBANA – Most Urbana District 116 students will continue to learn remotely — at least until January when the third quarter of the school year is scheduled to begin. The district initially recommended elementary school students move toward a hybrid schedule, which included in-person instruction in the morning hours four days per week, and remote

Student Arrest Records A ‘Disturbing Mess’ At Illinois School Districts

Twenty-one Champaign Unit 4 students were arrested during the 2013-14 school year — 19 of them were Black — according to documents obtained via a Freedom of Information Act request. During the 2015-16 school year, 17 students were arrested — of which 15 were Black. But the federal government thinks there were no arrests.  That’s

Working Parents And Closed Schools: The Childcare Struggle During COVID-19

Sierra is in a bind. She and her husband have two children — ages three and nine years old — and they live in Urbana.  Sierra’s 9-year-old son is attending school remotely this fall, because the local school district has deemed it unsafe to reopen for in-person instruction. While she and her husband placed their