Parents concerned about Unit 4's new student placement proposals

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. (WAND) - The Champaign school district is working to create an equal learning environment for all students with a new model to assign elementary school kids to new schools.

But parents are worried this could derail their children's academic success.

"We've been really happy with the school that he's been at and it's been a rough 2 years since COVID happened," Unit 4 parent Meghan Burke told WAND News.

Burke's second grader is a special needs student who is now thriving with his new team of support staff this year.

"They appreciate him for who he is. They like his sense of humor, they like that he tells jokes, they like that he's energetic and he's social. And so that's really nice to know because he also has significant support needs," Burke explained.

She was worried to hear he would be relocated to a new building on either of the two new proposals being considered by Unit 4's Board of Education.

"It would be detrimental. I mean really it would set him back, just the time it would take for him to acclimate to a new place, a new team, a new routine, a new system," Burke said.

Unit 4 said data shows less than 10% of its African American students are proficient in English and Math, and something must be done to fix the disparities.

The board hired the company Cooperative Strategies, which proposed two models. One would assign students to a new school and the other would divide the district into three clusters, with parents being given a short list of schools to chose from.

Unit 4 is asking for family feedback about these two proposals. Focus groups will begin Wednesday morning and run through the end of the month.

WAND News reached out to the district to find out how many families had signed up for the focus group and how the data would be used- but the superintendent declined to speak with us about the issue. Parents can still sign up for the virtual focus groups by clicking here.