Rantoul School District confirms Roundtree’s appointment

RANTOUL, Ill. (WCIA) — Last Wednesday, the outgoing principal of a Champaign elementary school was confirmed to be relocated from the school , leaving many supporters wondering where he will go next.

In a unanimous vote at the Thursday evening meeting, the Rantoul City Schools District 137 confirmed Jaime Roundtree will be transferring to Rantoul City Schools with his new position of Director of Curriculum and Instruction. Roundtree was formerly a beloved principal at Booker T. Washington STEM Academy.

During the meeting, Roundtree was brought up to the “hot seat,” the board members joked, as they welcomed him as a special guest.

“Board, I am excited to recommend Mr. Jaime Roundtree to serve as Rantoul City School’s Director of Curriculum and Instruction,” said Superintendent Scott Wood.

He then recounted Roundtree’s previous experience in his educational career, which began in 2005 when he taught fifth-graders at South Side Elementary School in Champaign. Roundtree has served in many positions since then over the past 20 years as a teacher and administrator in the Champaign Unit 4 School District.

Wood then read a statement provided by Roundtree:

I am excited to join the RCS family and held to support the amazing students, families and staff, by creating meaningful learning experiences that allow us all to identify strengths of this community.

Jaime Roundtree

The board then opened the floor to Roundtree for additional comments.

“I just first want to say thank you for the opportunity,” Roundtree started. “I’m crazy excited.”

He added that while he’s had other experience as an educator in Chicago, he’s been “ingrained in Unit 4” for a long time.

“Sitting on the interview team and just meeting the people there, it was an instant draw to the leadership here. I’m really, really excited to learn from and about them,” Roundtree said. “I’m also really interested in learning from and about the students, the families and the staff in this district as well to try to identify, to see what they want in their educational experiences, so we can start to work towards that and what they want from their educational experiences.”

“I think once I can help identify some of those things, then we can try to help connect the dots,” he added. “But as I said in the interview, I’ll always come here not with answers or suggestions, just I’m here to ask, you know, ‘What do you need, how can I help?’ So my hope is that I can help you guys move the direction you’re trying to work towards.”

Roundtree will start in his new position on July 1.

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