USD116 BOE Update: Jan. 6, 2026

January is National Mentoring Month. CU One to One Mentoring has been in our community for 31 years and there is consistently an increase in the number of students in elementary and secondary schools who would like to be paired with a mentor. Mentors meet with their mentees one hour a week during the school year.

If you are interested in becoming a mentor, please attend an upcoming training.

• January 29 from 6:30-8:30 p.m. at the Champaign Unit 4 Mellon Building located at 703 S. New St.
• February 4 from 11:30 a.m.-1:30 p.m. at the Champaign Mellon Building located at 703 S. New St.
• February 12 from 6:30-8:30 p.m. at Urbana Middle school located at 1201 S. Vine Street

If you would like more information on mentoring, please contact Angie Armstrong: aarmstrong@usd116.org or visit the cu1to1 website.

Accelerated placement is the placement of a student in an educational setting with a curriculum that is usually reserved for students who are older or in higher grades than the student.

Accelerated placement includes:

• Early entrance to kindergarten or first grade
• Accelerating a student in a single subject
• Whole grade acceleration

Referral Process

• Parents, Guardians, Licensed Education Professionals, and/or a student (with written consent from a parent/guardian) may refer a student for acceleration using the Referral for the Acceleration Placement Program Form
• Referral for early entrance to kindergarten is turned in to the kindergarten coordinator
• All other referrals for single subject/whole grade acceleration is turned in to the district curriculum coordinator

• If the student is a multilingual learner, the ELL Coordinator is consulted

All acceleration requests are due by January 31, 2026.

Looking ahead:

The district is working to increase the knowledge of the acceleration process for both staff and families.

The Board was given an overview of technology throughout the district, security upgrades and use of AI in the classroom.

There are two new District Policies in PRESS118 that are related to AI in the classroom:

• 7:190 Specifically addresses plagiarism using AI
• 6:325 Includes new language related to AI

District staff were given written guidance on best practices for allowing students to use AI in the classroom, along with recommended platforms to ensure student data is protected.

January 6 Superintendent Report

USD has transitioned to a new communication platform called ParentSquare. We hope this platform will increase engagement and contact with all of our USD families. Families and staff should have received an invitation to activate their account (sent before winter break and again on Jan. 5). You can use ParentSquare on any device. We encourage you to download the free mobile app for iOS or Android. You can also use the desktop version.

Email: contactus@usd116.org
Website: usd116.org
Location: 1101 East University Avenue, Suite B, Urbana, IL, USA
Phone: 2173843600
Facebook: facebook.com/usd116
Instagram: instagram.com/urbana116/