Champaign School Board Schedules News Conference, After Meeting With Consent Decree Plaintiffs

The Champaign School Board holds a special meeting tonight (July 29th) at 7 PM,followed by a news conference. Both will be held at the Mellon Administrative Center, 703 South New Street in Champaign.

The previously scheduled board meeting is to discuss the Consent Decree. School Board President Dave Tomlinson won't say what the news conference is about. But representatives of Unit Four and plaintiffs in the Consent Decree on racial equity matters met Tuesday in Peoria. The settlement conference was held to see if the two sides could reach an out of court settlement of their differences, prior to a court hearing set for next week.

Champaign School officials want to end the Consent Decree this summer. Attorneys for the plaintiffs have argued it should be extended in three specific areas.