The Champaign County chapters of both the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) and the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) jointly sent a letter to the Champaign Community Unit School District 4 Board of Education and superintendent Susan Zola highlighting a lack of access to gifted and advanced placement classes for black Unit 4 students, as well as disparities in discipline and academic proficiency for black pupils as compared to their white peers.

Champaign County State’s Attorney Julia Rietz says she won’t be filing criminal charges against Champaign police officer Matt Rush. Rush has been the subject of four excessive force lawsuits – three of them, to date, resulting in settlements.

Attorney Sally Scott of Chicago-based Franczek Radelet provided a brief history of the Unit 4 consent decree, and its 2009 settlement to address racial inequities.  But community leaders who worked on the agreement want more changes in areas like discipline and hiring.