The Urbana District 116 School Board voted unanimously Sunday night to appoint Jennifer Ivory-Tatum as the new superintendent of schools. Ivory-Tatum previously worked in both Urbana and Champaign Unit 4 schools. She’s leaving her position as assistant superintendent of curriculum, instruction and assessment at Unit 4 to take the job in Urbana.
Schools in Illinois and across the country are turning to restorative justice practices as an alternative to traditional discipline models. Mikhail Lyubansky, an associate professor of pyschology at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, studies restorative justice, and he's written about some of the criticisms of the way it's used in schools.
Urbana school officials promised a capacity crowd attending Tuesday night’s school board meeting that they would do better. Their statements were in response to a series of fights Monday at Urbana High School that resulted in initial arrests of seven students and a parent, sent a teacher to the hospital, and led to the early dismissal of class.
In a recent interview, Champaign County State’s Attorney Julia Rietz said any conversation about criminal justice reform in Illinois must include the concerns of those living outside of the Chicago area.
Five principals as well as several parents and teachers voiced their support for superintendent Don Owen at an Urbana District 116 Board of Education meeting Sunday evening.
