USD116 BOE Update: August 20, 2024

Citlali Cortes-Alvarez (senior) and Valentina Gonzalez Ahuerma (junior) were seated as the new BOE Student Ambassadors. They will serve as student ambassadors until June 2025.

The Director of Equity and School Improvement presented the remaining school improvement plans for Yankee Ridge Multilingual Elementary, Urbana Early Childhood School, UHS, Gerber and Thomas Paine.

View each school's goals in the full presentation: USD Improvement Plans

Q: Is there a French Language Arts goal at Yankee Ridge?

A: Not right now. It's partially because we don't have the same level of curriculum and assessment in French that we have in Spanish.

Q: How do we know what chronic absenteeism for Yankee Ridge students was last year, if these are all new students?

A: We pulled the students that would be enrolled at Yankee Ridge and we put a predictive analysis together for the principal.

Urbana Middle School is preparing to distribute Yondr pouches to all students in order to create a phone free space. We hope to hand out the pouches to students on Monday, August 26. (tentative)

• Research shows teens with cell phones have more anxiety and poorer sleep habits.
• Thousands of schools in multiple countries are already using Yondr pouches.
• Schools already using the pouches report an improvement in student engagement, student behavior and academic performance.

HOW IT WORKS:

• Students will be assigned a pouch.
• Upon arrival, they will unlock their pouch at one of of the various unlocking stations, and place their phone, air pods and smart watch inside.
• If a student says they don't have their phone, they will be reminded that if a phone is heard or seen it will be taken to the office and their adult will need to pick it up
• If a student does not have their pouch, their phone will be kept in the office for parent pick up.
• Students will unlock their pouches at the end of the day on their way out of the building.
• If a student damages their pouch, they will be charged a $30 fee to replace it

Families have received phone, email, text and social media communication around this.

A virtual community roundtable is scheduled for August 28 from 5-6 p.m. Join virtual meeting

EMERGENCIES:

In an emergency the school will follow safety protocols first. Students should not be on their phones, but rather following staff instructions during an emergency. School staff and administrators will have access to their phones and once students are in a safe location, they will be able to quickly open their pouch and use theirs as well.

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Q: Any idea how many students currently have phones (at UMS)?

A: I don't have a firm number, but almost all of them do.

Q: Can they have the phone at lunch?

A: No, UMS is a 100 percent cell phone free zone.

Q: How many pouches has the District purchased?

A: We bought around 1,000 pouches.

Q: Will students be able to be on Chromebooks during lunch still?

A: Yes, that will still be allowed.

Dr. Ivory-Tatum's Superintendent Report is available here: August 20, 2024 Superintendent Report

Highlights:

• UMS open house August 21 at 6 p.m.
• UHS open house August 28 at 6 p.m.
• Virtual community roundtable meeting on Yondr pouches on UMS is August 28 from 5-6 p.m. | Join virtual meeting