During the couple of years that I followed the happenings in the Urbana School District, I kept marveling at the success rate of the administration. With one notable exception, they invariably got what they wanted. Want to hire a bozo principal? sure, why not. Fire him, not two years in, for encroaching on the boss’ […]
The newly convened Urbana School District Facilities Committee, presented as the ultimate decision-making body in the casus Wiley, – an egregious attempt to disband a successful majority-minority elementary school, – had its second meeting on May 9th. A few patterns came into focus, all familiar. One is the administration’s reliance on raw power: the voting
agendas and manipulations Read More »
This post is a popularization of a (pretty well known) theorem by Richard McKelvey on agenda manipulation. This is a work of fiction, a fable, having nothing to do, whatsoever, with the real people or real events, whether in USD116 or outside of it. In a quiet Midwestern town, a school district looks for a
McKelvey’s theorem and facility choice Read More »
This happened on November 11 last year. A friend’s kid attending Yankee Ridge Elementary was pulled out of a classroom activity dedicated to Veterans Day and sent to the office to do some unrelated work instead. Why? The voicemail left on the parent’s phone explained that they think the parents don’t want the kid celebrating
antisemitism, inclusive edition Read More »
On February 17, families of the Urbana High School kids were hit by the email: The inability to say in plain text what this all is about brings on sweet memories of Pravda accounts on Politbureau reshuffles. Let’s do a bit of Kremlinology, and try to decipher what is going on here. It is pretty
bizarre case of fresh principal Nance Read More »
Champaign’s County clerk’s website lists the candidates for the Urbana School District’s Board of Education as: • Benjamin Baxley – Subdistrict 7• Paul Poulosky – Subdistrict 5• Ravishankar Hasanadka – Subdistrict 2• Citlaly Yuritzi Stanton – Subdistrict 1• Sheri Langendorf – Subdistrict 3• Torionna L. Exum – Subdistrict 6 We see three old names (Ms.
new board, quo vadis? Read More »
Note: I contacted the Board and the Superintendent asking for comments or objections to this post. They did not provide any. So, now Wiley. Two months after the district managed to avoid turning Leal school into a dual language castillo, the administration is at it again, with all the attendant drama. I will bracket out
I am not sure Rodney Davis deserves a political epitaph. His political career was defined by blandness, so he wouldn’t complain. His time in the Congress served as the rank and file Party soldier, he tried at all cost to avoid any controversy while making sure to create enough inconsequential partisan babble to remain in
on ideological affinities and gratuitous trolling Read More »
I have to admit that my initial analysis of the Urbana School District 116 drama’s most dynamic plotline of 2022 season – the consolidation of the dual language programs in one school, – was wrong. I surmised, from the general principles, that the main tension is created by the dual mandate of the dual language
reflections on the past season Read More »