Sometime over the past couple days, ufea.org was hacked by an organized hacking group. We are in the process of cleaning the site and re-installing everything so it will operate normally.
You may find missing images and links. We are aware of those issues and are restoring them as quickly as possible.
Please be patient. We apologize for the inconvenience.
Welcome to another school year!
Our website will likely be going through some updates and changes as we start a new year, so please let your UFEA leadership or building rep know if you have ideas for making the website even more beneficial for you, your colleagues and the community.
Be sure to check the calendar for the UFEA President Building Visit schedule for the first part of the Spring 2011 semester.
We’re tying something a little different this semester. Your Building Reps have been asked to schedule a visit in your building only if it’s requested. So, if you don’t see your building on the calender, it could be that a visit has not yet been scheduled or because no visit was requested this round.
Additionally, Buildings may request a visit at a time other than over the lunch hour if it is more convenient. There are a few buildings that have requested times for before or after school … so be sure to check the calendar and check with your Building Rep for more details!
In an effort to demonstrate to our students the power and importance of a college education, UFEA is sponsoring “Wear Your College Logo Days” during every Late Start Day. The District supports us in this effort, so please join your colleagues and wear a t-shirt, sweatshirt or other apparel that displays the name or logo of the college or university you attended. We hope it will be a great conversation starter and will help us collectively show our students the “super power” of a college education!
Feel free to share this poster with your colleagues or post in in your building (thanks to UFEA member Julie Hinman for the design!): College Logo Day Poster 
UFEA President Vickie Mahrt shared the following during the public comments section of the Unit 5 Board Meeting on December 8, 2010:
Last month, UFEA members celebrated American Education Week with our traditional invitation to public officials to spend time with us in our classrooms. Teachers provide lesson plans and supports so that these community leaders can actually do some teaching, and get a taste of what it is like to work and learn in Unit 5.
This event gives us the opportunity to showcase our Unit Five public schools, along with our great students and our outstanding teachers, and we think it gives officials the opportunity to show their support of public education in our community.
This year we hosted Representative Keith Sommer; McLean County Board Members Don Cavallini, George Gordon, and Paul Segobiano; Bloomington Alderman Jennifer McDade; Normal Town Councilmen Jeff Fritzen and Chuck Scott; Unit 5 Board Members Scott Lay, Mark Pritchett, John Puzauskas; and our own Superintendent, Dr. Niehaus.
We were able to get pictures of several of our participants, and when you look at them, you can tell that they are having a good time. Some of them even wrote us notes to tell us about their experiences, and we got this from Chuck Scott, who spent time with Maureen Thomas’ 2nd grade class at Fairview:
“Believe me, I was impressed. Gary, you have a good group of educators within Unit 5. I am proud of their accomplishments and proud to live within this school district.”
The teachers who hosted these visitors are not unusual in our district. We have hundreds of great teachers in this district, doing what it takes to educate each student to achieve personal excellence.
We aren’t waiting for Superman in Unit 5. Superman, and Superwoman, show up in our 22 school buildings every morning.
Connect with UFEA