To the Champaign Unit 4 Board of Education and the Unit 4 Administrators,

Cc: The News-Gazette, WILL, WCIA

We the undersigned are members of the larger Dr. Howard community, including current and former students and families, and staff. We write to express our disappointment in the decision to remove Dr. Howard from the plans for the November ballot referendum. We find this prioritization particularly questionable given Dr. Howard’s chronic needs, prominently identified in the Future Facilities plan. mention here the website for FF plan or that it said as of June 2014 that DH would be on the referendum (along the lines of what Jennifer said?)

Dr. Howard serves over 420 students in 20 classes, and is one of our larger elementary schools. add the number of staff in this sentence? Many of us chose Dr. Howard for our children because of the staff, the location, and the reputation of the school. We care deeply about our students, staff, and community, and we are happy to be there.

I might add this paragraph about supporting the 1% sales tax back here

The problems with the building, and the contrast with conditions at the other elementary schools ⅞ of which were renovated with the recent sales tax, are making it more and more difficult to stay at Dr. Howard. The building’s physical needs are many. They include:

combined cafeteria, gym, and community room that floods in heavy rains and that is too small to accommodate the entire school.

roof leaks that have caused at least one ceiling tile to collapse in a classroom with children in it.

chronic pest problems.

no central air conditioning, causing humid conditions and peeling paint inside the school.

out of date windows that are blocked by insulation.

out of date electrical systems.

a library that is small and located in the school basement.

many different levels and no elevator, so the school is not ADA compliant.

We recognize that the high school needs are great, and we support the district’s outstanding effort to work with the community to address those needs.

But Dr. Howard’s needs are also great, and we are concerned that there is currently no plan to address those needs before 2025. If no solution is found we will have more than a decade of serious inequality in the conditions in which our children and staff learn and work.

We urge the administration and the board to start working with the Dr. Howard community—staff and families—to form a plan to address these needs as soon as possible.