Betsy Crosswhite says it felt like a punch in the gut when her son’s school closed to limit the spread of the coronavirus. That’s when she realized she would need to become her son Shane’s teacher and therapist. 

UPDATE on September 13, 2019: Urbana Police say they’ve found no evidence to support allegations of inappropriate contact between a staff member and a student at Thomas Paine Elementary School. The allegation that such an incident occurred during recess at the school playground came to light earlier this week and led to a hotline call to the state Department of Children and Family Services.

Former Urbana District 116 superintendent Don Owen is resigning from his high school teaching position over his concerns about how black and brown students, their families and district staff have been treated by the district's Board of Education. 

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.

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.