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Board lays out year—s study topics and negotiation schedule; UEA requests targeted lunch roundtables
Summary
The Urbana School District board set study-session priorities for the year, confirmed contract-negotiation planning and invited community partners and administrators for topic-specific briefings; the UEA asked the board to focus on administrative lunches and reduced roundtable meetings during the negotiation cycle.
At its study session the Urbana School District Board of Education reviewed and refined a list of board goals and committee assignments for the 2025—2026 year, set a framework for contract negotiations and agreed to an outreach plan that includes in-school noon-hour roundtables.
President Paul Pawlowski outlined the negotiation timeline and time commitment for board members: negotiating sessions with the union typically run about three hours once a week with an additional two- to three-hour prep meeting the day before, which can mean “upwards of 6 or 7 hours a week,” he said. The board discussed forming a negotiations team and noted negotiations are exempt from the Open Meetings Act when the topic is collective bargaining. Pawlowski and Member Jennifer Hixson said they will serve on the negotiations team and invited at least one additional board member to learn the process.
Board members reviewed a list of prospective study-session topics that the board began in June and refined during the meeting. Topics included an update on implementation of the high-school cell-phone policy, kindergarten readiness and demographics, immigrant/refugee services and the Welcome Center, exit interviews for families leaving the district, school-safety briefings (including inviting Urbana Police Chief Boone) and the AVID program rollout beginning at the sixth-grade center and an elementary pilot.
The board also discussed committee assignments. Several standing and working committees were confirmed or re-instituted, including program council, crisis and school safety, school-wellness, finance, facilities/property acquisition, parent-teacher advisory, and the new finance working group aligned to the strategic plan. Board members volunteered to serve on committees; the district will publish a tentative calendar and confirmed that meeting notices and participation rules will follow board policy and Open Meetings Act requirements where applicable.
The Urbana Education Association (UEA) requested the board prioritize administrative lunch meetings with teachers this fall rather than holding the usual roundtable schedule. The UEA proposed the district replace some standing roundtables with school-site lunch visits during October and November; the board accepted that request and set two roundtable meetings for Oct. 21 and Feb. 10, with school lunch visits to be scheduled separately.
No binding board action was required; the session was used to set priorities, assign committee roles, and plan outreach and negotiations timing for the year.
