Urbana School District 116 approves discipline improvement plan after debate over expulsions and racial disproportionality

Urbana School District 116 trustees voted unanimously to approve the district's Discipline Improvement Plan, a document the district must submit to the state. The plan, presented to the board by district administrator Chassid, lays out tiered strategies to reduce exclusionary discipline and racial disproportionality.

Chassid told trustees the district has been identified in the state's top 20% for exclusionary practices and said the district's racial disproportionality metric is currently a 4.9 risk ratio for Black students. "Right now 4.9 is extremely high," Chassid said, describing the ratio as the relative likelihood that a Black student will receive a suspension or expulsion compared with white students. The plan attempts to reduce that gap by expanding restorative practices, PBIS and targeted interventions.

The three-tier plan calls for universal, schoolwide implementation of restorative and positive behavioral interventions at Tier 1; targeted social-emotional and progress-monitored interventions at Tier 2; and individualized, intensive behavior intervention plans at Tier 3. Chassid described concrete operational steps: a schedule of professional development for staff, monthly and quarterly data reviews by school teams, and use of the district's Panorama system to document interventions and progress for individual students.

Board members pressed staff about a recent, emotionally charged expulsion hearing and asked whether adequate interventions had been tried before the expulsion. A trustee who described the prior expulsion as "a very difficult" case urged a deeper review of the student's history and the timing of earlier interventions. Chassid and other administrators said Panorama will be used more intensively next year to create individual plans and to document the sequence of prior supports.

Staff also highlighted recent reductions in bus-related referrals and other evidence of progress but acknowledged the district must still scale training, data-sharing and consistent use of the response continuum across classrooms and schools. The plan includes success criteria, responsible staff points of contact and methods of evaluation; staff said the district will embed a culture-and-climate goal in each School Improvement Plan to ensure alignment.

Because the plan must be filed with the state promptly, trustees voted to approve it the same night it was presented; staff said the district will still accept stakeholder feedback and can amend the submission if needed. The roll-call vote recorded Member Baxley, Member Langendorf, Vice President Exom, President Palowski, Member Jones and Member Hixon as voting yes; the motion passed 6-0.

Next steps: the district will implement the tiered strategies beginning this school year, schedule professional development, embed the plan in school improvement planning, and submit the plan to the state education agency (as referenced in the packet). Administration said it will report progress to the board on a regular schedule.