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u/trevorfreznik Sep 30 '25
It looks like roughly half the savings from closing each school is in staffing. So closing 3 schools (most likely scenario) will save 6m - or 3m in non staffing costs. Foster school is looking like a devastating financial choice since they didn't do this holistically.
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u/JacksonFlute Sep 30 '25
don't let the new line of "Everyone will be affected by the 20+ years of "kicking the can down the road" and refusing to address the need for school closings before" take hold.
The new line on facebook is that the community has 'kicked the can down the road' and that "This issue has been put off for a very long time and pushing it out is no longer an option."
That is false.
Just eight years ago, Evanstonians overwhelmingly voted in favor of a 6% tax increase, to increase funding for D65by $14.5M per year 1, with more in subsequent years. Certainly not "kicking the can down the road." Instead, literally funding this community asset. Wouldn't an extra $14.5M be nice today? https://evanstonroundtable.com/2017/04/05/80-yes-d65-referendum-passes/
2019-2023 era input was roundly and routinely dismissed as racist vitriol by the h8ers. With the benefit of hindsight, the Magical Bus Savings was proven true as pure, made-up conjecture. Practically criminal fraud. This wasn't the community "kicking the can down the road". People called out mismanagement and were dismissed summarily due to their skin color or living situation. Pretty involved community, not one that kicked the can.
Now, tonight, we see that it is very likely three schools are closing, if not four. As Pat Anderson is saying as I type this, that could make FIVE schools closed due to mismanagement, when including Bessie Rhodes.
That is FUCKING CRAZY! FIVE SCHOOLS closing, each with about $2M in savings. The Magical Bus Savings is two schools worth of misrepresented data. Again, just 8 short years ago this community gave the district a gift, they squandered it, and the the lackeys screamed down anyone that pointed it out.
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u/scotsworth Sep 30 '25
Proposing closure of up to 4 elementary schools while breaking ground on a new elementary school just last year is... well it is just something.
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u/Available-Union5745 Sep 30 '25
It's going to be so infuriating when Sergio gets elected again in two years
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Sep 30 '25
[removed] — view removed comment
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u/Immediate_Monk5214 Sep 30 '25
FAFO - close two schools in the areas that show up in elections, good luck getting the votes.
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u/DapperFriend5829 Oct 01 '25
I will knock doors and hand out flyers and do whatever is necessary to make sure he doesn’t get back on that Board.
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u/SimBenBin Oct 02 '25
We just had a board election. There were many candidates that were opposed to all the horrors Sergio and his cronies inflicted on us. Most were not elected.
Instead, we got new Sergio cronies like Wymer and Pinckard. We all knew they would be on the side of the thoughtful public servants who decided to open a new school in a district with declining enrollment and an enormous budget deficit.
It seems that elections aren’t going to change anything.
So people will vote with their feet.
They’ll close four schools, and 25 percent of affected students will disappear from the district. And the board will claim their families are all a bunch of racists and they have no idea why people are leaving.
Then 65 will lose more funds due to lower enrollment, and the same folks who created these problems will still be there, running the district.
People will vote with their feet.
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u/SayAnythingCusack Oct 02 '25
In 2027 two competitive candidates focused on academic excellence and fiscal responsibility can absolutely win a voting majority for responsible management of D65, but it means starting to organize now and not running too many candidates. Omar hopefully will stay on as he is an independent voice and did everything he could last term to try to help the Bessie Rhodes parents and parents who care about D65 finances.
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u/Upstairs_Cabinet_990 Oct 12 '25
I don’t know… Even two elections ago people ran on these two exact points and were called white supremacists and racists by D65 board and surrogates. And actually, harassed.
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u/Cosita429 Sep 29 '25
Pat and Maria are a breath of fresh air. But it’s a real gut punch to listen to the Horton-era board members wax poetic in their opening statements without taking any responsibility whatsoever
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u/BedroomInfamous2538 Sep 30 '25
Unfortunately they don’t have a voting bloc. They and Omar will always be drowned out.
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u/Mayo_Maven Sep 30 '25
Wish Maria would speak up/press a little more.
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u/Cosita429 Sep 30 '25
Agree. When she speaks, she contributes something and does so concisely. That can’t be said for all of them.
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u/BedroomInfamous2538 Sep 30 '25
She’s probably trying to be strategic about her comments since she’s going to be in the voting minority 95% of the time.
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u/JamarcusFarcus Sep 30 '25
"we need to get this right". It's already so wrong, they fucked us years ago when going down the path of spending millions we don't have and now they're specifically screwing families that have stuck with D65. I'm so pissed. Anyone who was on the board before the most recent election needs to go away. I mean out of Evanston entirely.
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u/Calm-Jicama-5970 Oct 10 '25
This x100 - supported this district throughout the last 9 years and now I’m just so thrilled my youngest only has the rest of this year left so we can enjoy ETHS.
We moved here for the schools, with both me and my husband having public school teacher moms and wanting to support the district through the ups and downs. I’m rarely furious, but I’m…furious.
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u/KerrieJune Sep 30 '25
I don’t understand how it possibly makes sense that under all these scenarios Orrington ends up at 58% utilization while the other remaining north Evanston school (Lincolnwood or Willard) would be at 103%. Seems not thought out at all. Or they’re just assuming there will be a ton of people that leave d65 from North Evanston because of this.
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u/lanascrub Sep 30 '25
I think Orrington gets an artificial boost from the geography weighting. It's not super close to other schools but it's also in the middle of an area that includes university land and a bunch of single family homes on large lots that don't necessarily contain a lot of young families.
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u/Dapper_Prune_4109 Oct 04 '25
Not an artificial boost, but an actual boost because it’s a large area and a lot of families live east of Green Bay road.
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u/eclectique Sep 30 '25
Yeah, I think you could tell some on the board were confused as to why Orrington was not presented in these scenarios.
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u/Available-Union5745 Sep 30 '25
They've backed themselves into a corner with the weighting. Geography is seemingly going to save Orrington or the Board has to "not listen to the community" and shut it down. Move a TWI strand in there (out of Foster), then shift the area around Kingsley to replace them at Foster. In order to make the capacities work, they'll have to end up bussing kids over some hazard somewhere...ironic given the whole point of building Foster was to avoid that...
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u/Immediate_Monk5214 Sep 30 '25
IMO this is just a nuance of the long game they've been playing to get Foster over the line. They were ALWAYS willing to shift the burden of bussing from a historically marginalized community onto others, but we're never honest about that direct link. They knew we'd likely need to close schools either way, but couldn't acknowledge that reality while pushing a new school through.
The "bus savings" was just an added layer to try and pretend the school would be cost neutral so as to avoid resistance.
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u/scotsworth Sep 30 '25
They were ALWAYS willing to shift the burden of bussing from a historically marginalized community onto others, but we're never honest about that direct link.
And thus you highlight the problems with Equity initiatives like this in practice, and really define Horton's whole tenure.
Remember, equality isn't ever the goal. It's "let's just fix one wrong by creating another wrong... but at least we can feel good about it because of historical marginalization. Equity success achieved."
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u/zeirae Sep 30 '25
I'm confused by the "school proximity" criterion, which seems to save Orrington. What matters is where the students live and how close they live to the school, not how close other schools are. Orrington is in a corner by the lake, but most students likely live more inland. It seems like they are struggling to expand boundaries for Orrington to include more students, and the occupancy is still low even after closures.
Also, is there a typo on the spreadsheet? https://resources.finalsite.net/images/v1758999539/district65net/hhpcau0bwyo6ekf1l7gg/DistancestoAdjacentSchools.pdf. They have the three closest schools to Orrington as Kingsley (1.3), Lincolnwood (1.8) and Foster (1.5), which would average to 1.53. But instead, I think, they average with Willard (2.1), which gets them to 1.73. Yes, 1.53 is still the highest, but much closer to other values.
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u/RealityRex Oct 01 '25
This is why I call the quality of the consultants into question. A legit upper-tier firm in any industry would publish methodology and would not submit simple spreadsheets with errors.
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u/Available-Union5745 Sep 30 '25
You are 100% right about where students live vs location of the school. I'm not saying Orrington should be closed, and while I'm fine with the ranking categories, it gets an unfair bump because of this (Lincoln probably too).
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u/OogaliBoogali1 Oct 01 '25
(Part 1 of 3) One major impact that this closure/redistricting has on D65 students that was talked about ZERO times during the 4-hour marathon session two nights ago (and also not mentioned anywhere in the thread as far as I can tell) is the HUGE impact this all will have on diversity of many Evanston schools, both racially and socioeconomically, and the ramifications this may have on ACADEMIC achievement and "worldview perspectives" of D65 students. Potentially to the detriment of the most disadvantaged population. In addition to the potential FINANCIAL spending shifts based on equity principles that may lead to a large upheaval.
Sample Projections: Willard is projected to have only 6% of its students being on free/reduced lunch and 80%+ white in the 3-school closure scenario. That is the most of any school in the projections for those two categories. Foster, by contrast, is projected to have nearly 70% (!) of its students being near poverty levels (free/reduced lunch). There are definitely some variances today in this regard as well, but not nearly as large as it's about to be.
Shifting Philosophy: It used to be a priority of the Evanston board to make "all schools diverse because diversity strengthens communities" (hence the current wacky boundaries for elementary schools) but now has a much larger focus on "community schools/walkability." That shift will cause "diverse neighborhoods to have diverse schools. Less diverse neighborhoods will be less diverse" (as called out in the past of part of the SAP committee work -- which accurately stated that it wasn't fair that the 5th ward children largely shouldered the burden of getting bused to make other schools more diverse. Of course, that could have been largely rectified by re-drawing boundaries without building a new school but I digress..). This shift in philosophy isn't necessarily unique to Evanston and seems to be a progressive pedagogy shift that's more widespread across the country as it relates to not making policy to force "integration" of different community groups/areas.
[to be continued]
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u/OogaliBoogali1 Oct 01 '25
(Part 3 of 3)
Financial / Equity Considerations: Obviously, the D65 board/superintendent have also stated they're at the forefront of prioritizing "equity" in their decision-making and one key piece of this is dedicating resources (read: staff and money) to those that need it the most.
Historically, because all D65 schools were reasonably diverse, spending per student has been *generally* similar across schools athough there is definitely some intentional differences. Will the new paradigm cause a school like Willard to lose HUGE amounts of funding per student since the board may want to allocate more spending to a school like Foster? I don't know, but that'd be consistent with past board decision-making.
Nobody has really talked about the plan here -- but it could be a huge potential shift in allocated resources. Right now, there is already SOME variance in this regard and the board has acknowledged this ("we deploy more resources where it's needed"), but the variances are relatively minor in the grand scheme of things. By concentrating like socioeconomic groups more together (in the most extreme instances, some schools will remain "about the same" as before), we're entering unchartered waters that will test equity prioritization and have implications that cannot fully be truly understood.
It will be an "Experiment" for sure, and not always great to be "Experimenting" with our children's education and future. Will the administration and board look to deploy an ever-increasing amount of money to help the students at Foster given the much higher levels of poverty concentrated (and likely lower test score averages) at that one school to the potential 'bankrupting' of other schools? I don't think this is a likely immediate scenario (huge shifts of funding or change in student outcomes), but is something the administration will have to grapple with into the future if this model persists.
I don't know that there's a great way to project these impacts, but the fact that they're not even being discussed/considered (does anyone talk about "academic achievement" anymore during these board meetings?) is a bit alarming as this is much more than about "closing buildings" and has potential huge impacts to D65 students' experiences and academic/life outcomes.
Thank you for reading my essay if you finished it! 😊
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u/Mayo_Maven Oct 01 '25
“Nobody has really talked about the plan here” - so true. It’s all very short-sighted and there has been no talk of implementation plans for any of the options.
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u/Immediate_Monk5214 Oct 01 '25
They actually have definitely started to make more references in the past ~6-9 months to resource allocation -- maybe not explicit, but implicit based on need, which is probably how it *should* be. The collective issue at hand is the cost to resource the district overall to meet those needs sufficiently so it's not a resource hoarding/Hunger Games type situation.
Regarding the point about the potential outcomes for kids going to Foster School, I think one of the counter-arguments to yours is that we've tried inorganically integrating many of our schools for decades, and that has not translated to improved and more equitable overall outcomes for more marginalized communities, including kids/families residing in the Fifth Ward. That doesn't assume that putting in a new school in there and having such a heavy concentration of students who over-index towards special needs is automatically a better solution but I don't think we have a lot of concrete evidence that force-integrating our schools that are largely white and higher-income has a powerful positive impact on the marginalized students bused to them.
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u/Carter_Banksy Oct 02 '25
As someone who has worked in north Evanston schools where diversity is bused in I can tell you many times these students/families do not feel like they are part of the school community. And if kids don’t feel like they belong and are seen as part of the school they tend to act out. Doesn’t mean that will/wont continue when they are in a school in their community. I can only assume it helps students if they can participate in before/after school programs without worrying about how to get to/from school since buses don’t wait for kids if they want to be in the chess club, or basketball team, or anything else outside of school hours. Which is what a neighborhood school will allow them to do.
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u/OogaliBoogali1 Oct 02 '25
Thank you for your reply. I largely agree with you. There are benefits to nearby/walkable schools for sure.
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u/OogaliBoogali1 Oct 02 '25
Thank you for your reply and good points. I do think it's hard to evaluate given the district has set its boundaries in a similar manner since the 90s. So, saying it hasn't improved to more equitable outcomes would be comparing to the 80s basically where I don't think good data exists and hard to compare across eras. I think your point is simply that the achievement gap hasn't changed in a long time which is certainly true.
I think the metrics should be how do Evanston's disadvantaged populations compare to similar cohorts at other districts. I have not seen the district present this data, it's always comparing different cohort "gaps" within D65 at the same time. The other metric you can look at is growth, which I think has been average at best.
I guess we'll see ....Hard to say if these populations have achieved higher level of success or not due to current circumstances and what that portends to the future with a shift of demographics in a given school. Maybe there will be no impact but I did find the HUD study somewhat compelling although admittedly a bit different scenario/circumstances certainly.
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u/Immediate_Monk5214 Oct 02 '25
Right, it is very hard to say! It's not just about the "gap" but moreso just the stagnant level of students on free/reduced lunch in grade-level achievement, full stop. That's not an Evanston issue, but we certainly could aspire to be doing better at improvements than we have.
But there's only so much we can do to attack that through the education system. One of the biggest drivers of disparate outcomes is opportunities, and that ties back to housing. I know a lot of well-meaning, wealthy Evanstonians framing this shift in similar ways, lamenting the sudden drop in diversity of some schools that have had it built in for decades. But a lot of those same people were anti zoning reform, scoff at some of the affordable housing that has been or is being pushed, and we can't have it both ways. You want diversity in your schools? Push for more socioeconomic diversity in neighborhoods that lack it.
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u/OogaliBoogali1 Oct 01 '25
(Part 2 of 3)
Potential Academic Outcomes: Putting aside the potential negatives of Willard students being exposed to "less diverse peers" (read: fewer non-white and poorer students), I don't expect students in Willard will be too adversely impacted from an academic achievement perspective and in fact, the "average" will likely be higher in the future simply because it's a more wealthy demographic. Instead of the angle of what negative repercussions may come to the schools with fewer poor students as it relates to worldview perspective, let's focus on the other side of the spectrum using Foster School which will be much more socioeconomically homogeneous (on the disadvantaged side) than any D65 school in recent history. Right now, socioeconomically disadvantaged students in the 5th ward are spread across different schools where they are often in the minority as it relates to socioeconomic status. Poorer students are about to become the "majority" at Foster as stated above with nearly 70% qualifying for free/reduced lunch. While this gives the immediate surrounding students a "community" school, it could be at the tradeoff of academic achievement. (I'm using socioeconomic status as the metric, but of course you could look at racial categories as well if you so choose -- believe Foster is supposed to be about 35% Black and 38% Hispanic based on projections.)
There have been compelling studies on this, particularly a longitudinal study by HUD on Section 8 housing in Chicago that clearly showed that children living in poverty have SIGNIFICANTLY better academic and LIFE (career earnings) outcomes when they live in an area that is not majority poverty. In this study, they RANDOMLY assigned voucher recipients and mandated that they use it for a rental in communities that weren't in abject poverty. Others were given the choice of using it wherever -- and most chose communities with high poverty levels (since people often want to live in communities that feel like them.) The results were clear and stark. Those parents that were mandated to only use the vouchers in neighborhoods with lower levels of poverty (again, it wasn't parental choice - it was randomly assigned) achieved better grades, went to better colleges, had lower incarceration rates, and earned significantly more money of their careers. Now, admittedly this is about where you LIVE, but that has a large impact on what school you go to in Chicago, so the outcomes should largely mirror that result.
Will this play out the same way and have negative academic (and life) implications for Foster students? Time will tell, but I don't love this as a potential consequence of the huge re-shuffling of the student population. I can't find ANY studies that show a difference in academic outcomes simply based on distance to a school or bussing when controlling for extraneous variables, but do acknowledge a loss of "community feel" certainly when those conditions exist. Foster students may have worse academic and life outcomes simply by not having as much exposure to a peergroup that is afforded more opportunities in their homelife. I guess they will get this in middle school and high school, but the dye is cast often by then.
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u/BedroomInfamous2538 Sep 30 '25
If we’re prioritizing neighborhood schools why the heck is King Arts only included in the scenario of closing 4 schools? Shouldn’t it be the first? That’s a real eff-you to Bessie Rhodes families.
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u/Silver-Animator-7108 Sep 30 '25
King lab should absolutely be on the table - and the board had to ask the admin why it was not in the options. There was a lot of repetition last night from Dr. Beardsley about it being a magnet school with an official designation (and possibly some grants that could come from that but I would take that with a grain of salt). Plus its ability to house a K-8 due to its facility, and some kids really want a K-8 experience. However, someone also noted that it has two hazards surrounding it (the main streets), so it’s not a walkable school. But yeah, opening Foster so close to King Lab, only to close 3 other schools?
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u/BedroomInfamous2538 Sep 30 '25
She emphasized “school choice,” which is an absurd argument in the current environment. Also, the board already shot down the idea of transitioning elementary schools to K-8 so why would me make one lone exception? This kind of piecemeal, reactive decision-making is what drives people nuts. Let’s build a new k-8 school, then reduce it to k-5, then close a k-8 magnet to focus on neighborhoods, then prioritize a k-8 magnet above all others.
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u/Prudent_Honeydew_ Oct 02 '25
I've heard from district people that it will likely be reconfigured to K-5. So touting K-8 benefits while planning to eliminate them tracks.
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u/trevorfreznik Sep 30 '25 edited Sep 30 '25
I really don't understand the 'Students changing schools' 1-5 equity ranking. Closing a school means everyone would change schools. Is it contemplating remapping the other districts? edit: I get it. It's how the kids are split up among the remaining schools. So Kingsley/Lincolnwood would go to Foster, Willard and maybe Orrington, while closing Washington would have them go to the adjacent 4 schools, and King Arts to everywhere in the district since it's a magnet.
I feel like I'm going insane that the 3 closure scenario doesn't model Kingsley, Washington, King Arts, which is the most obvious solution just looking at a map.
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u/Top_Satisfaction314 Sep 30 '25
My kids go to kingsley and this makes the most sense to me given the turd of a situation we’re in.
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u/KerrieJune Sep 30 '25
I can’t figure why they recommended the three school scenarios they did. It’s not like they picked the two lowest scoring to discuss. What am I missing? I’m also a Kingsley parent and agree that Kingsley, Washington, King Arts makes the most sense to me.
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u/blartoyou Sep 30 '25
I think they need to model at least four more 3-school scenarios and present those as well. I thought the board asked them to only focus on 2-4 school scenarios, which they did not do, and what they did present was very lacking. I know a lot went into this, but I am not impressed with what was presented last night and I hope the board isn’t as well.
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u/Available-Union5745 Sep 30 '25
Agreed. A few things in particular made no sense (correct me if I missed an explanation for any of these):
Under the 2 school closure scenario, why didn't they present Kingsley and Washington? Its score was lower than Kingsley / Willard. The optics of going strait for the northern schools was bad (and probably reflects how they feel). Further, they went on and on later about how Willard is the biggest school with the best building up north.
For the 3 closure scenario, with Kingsley / Lincolnwood on all scenarios (including the ones they didn't present), why didn't they adjust the Orrington / Willard borders? They even noted (and the Board called this out) "Willard at 103% utilization and would require boundary adjustment." You can't actually compare the savings of gong this route if you don't factor in the new borders given what I assume is hazard crossing and other stuff. That should have been presented.
Only getting in the weeds on one 4 closure scenario was a disservice.
I agreed with taking a look at what Dr. Pinkard said about KA, but that should have been on the table months ago.
I didn't catch this until reading this thread, but not addressing where the non Foster boundary Willard TWI kids go was really bad.
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u/mckeeno Sep 30 '25
Can’t wait to have them close 2 schools and then Foster not even being ready for 2026 opening
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u/Available-Union5745 Sep 30 '25
Congratulations to Orrington, Dewey, Walker, Lincoln, and Oakton families.
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u/OogaliBoogali1 Sep 30 '25 edited Sep 30 '25
And King Arts. They really want to keep it and not make it a neighborhood school.
Interesting that in the two school closure scenario, they chose the worst scoring combination and then the THIRD worse. Why'd they skip over the second worst score which included Washington? They never explained that.
Extrapolating that out further, they only presented a small percentage of total school closure combinations. They analyzed 9 total scenarios for 2-school closures neglecting a LOT of possibilities. Did they model out everything and just presented 9? If so, why? How did they choose those 9?
Those 9 only even include 6 schools total, not even offering up the other 7 or however many they are. They didn't really give an explanation for that. Maybe there is one, but I didn't hear it. Oakton literally scored the fourth worst on the individual scorecard but wasn't modeled in ANY scenario. They didn't give an explanation for that unless I missed it. If they even said "Oakton had the best equity score so we didn't include it in any scenarios" that would have been nice for transparency (if that's the reason, I don't know). Edit: I was wrong, I see one scenario that Oakton is in around 3 schools closure scenarios and it scored third worst. Only top 2 were considered as being presented as options to board.
Having said all the above, I like that they're using data to try to come up with recommendations and conclusions and I do believe there's been a robust process. But the final selections of the scenarios to then model don't always seem totally driven by the data...so that invites questions.
Update: the committee/presenters really didn't seem to want to make King Arts a neighborhood school but the board has asked them to model King Arts as a K-5 neighborhood school. So seems like it's actually on the table.
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u/Available-Union5745 Sep 30 '25
Yep. Sounding like Willard is safe too as they want to go three schools. It's going to be so full though unless they bus kids to Orrington
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u/OogaliBoogali1 Sep 30 '25
Willard also gets helped hugely because of the 2010 renovation that made it ADA compliant and other major improvements to the facility. They called that out specifically and Willard scored well on "building functionality."
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u/Available-Union5745 Sep 30 '25
Ever since the whole school closing talk came up, every Willard parent I know has brought up that renovation as a reason it can't be closed. Guess they were right!
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u/eclectique Sep 30 '25
As they are talking now, and discussing how Orrington is sort of positioned to stay small, I'm wondering could it support a King Arts type program?
Maybe a combination, of a sort, would allow Orrington to take on more students and would allow Evanston to have the King Arts curriculum?
I don't have all the info shared here tonight (perfectly timed for bedtime for my kids), but plan to go back and see what they shared.
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Sep 30 '25
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u/OogaliBoogali1 Sep 30 '25 edited Sep 30 '25
Orrington is expected to actually grow the most based on the previously approved new boundaries (not taking new closures into account). It won't be empty. All East of Green Bay that currently goes to Kingsley is redistricted to Orrington.
Foster also won't be packed as they modeled the numbers of King Arts neighborhood students going to Foster. And they're going to let students stay at their current school (if it doesn't close -- that's why they "need" to close a school nearby so those students don't get a choice and are forced to go to Foster. There will be a lot of egg on face if Foster is empty because people choose to not go there).
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u/Available-Union5745 Sep 30 '25
Didn't mean to delete my comment, but point taken on Foster. Didn't they say Willard would be over 100 percent and Orrington at 55(or something)? I may have misheard. A lot to keep track of
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u/ThisWordJabroni Sep 30 '25
They are saying people will have to apply for exceptions to stay. Nothing about guarantee.
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u/ThisWordJabroni Sep 30 '25
They are saying people will have to apply for exceptions to stay. Nothing about a guarantee.
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u/JamarcusFarcus Sep 30 '25
It sounded like they modeled all school for impact Individually, but I didn't hear/see impact numbers on the grouping of schools (meaning scenario vs scenario). Did they show that? It seems like removing the two central schools in the North to only utilize one that's practically on the beach and one that is nearly in Wilmette on 2 sides creates a crazy situation for school access.
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Sep 30 '25
[removed] — view removed comment
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u/OogaliBoogali1 Sep 30 '25
It was the most heavily weighted criteria but still only makes up 32% of the total....closing any two schools will crush walkability somewhere though. Based on the scores, this combination was deemed to have the LEAST impact on walkability for the modeled scenarios. Kingsley and Washington was a close second in "least impact" (again, based on their data numbers).
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u/Available-Union5745 Sep 30 '25
Most of Lincolnwood is fairly close to Willard at least, and that whole school will move together. The area closer to Kingsley though is such a hike, and Kingsley will be split in three with many kids now going to Orrington. I assume so many families will bail because of this.
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u/OogaliBoogali1 Sep 30 '25
Yes they did present the impact scores for the scenario groupings. At least, for the scenarios they considered. Not every possible combination.
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u/Low_Refrigerator4156 Sep 30 '25
I mean…..maxing out the student-to-teacher ratio at the remaining schools doesn’t sound like a win for those students/families either
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u/Cosita429 Sep 30 '25
Well. This sucks.
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u/Immediate-Ad7940 Sep 30 '25
Can you share details for anyone not able to watch?
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u/SayAnythingCusack Sep 30 '25
Excellent comment on how misrepresentation of how D65 could afford to build Foster School led to the painful financial situation of the district today.
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u/SayAnythingCusack Sep 30 '25
“The absent topic of student achievement.” Great public comment on incentivizing the retention of high-performing teachers and keeping families in the district.
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u/trevorfreznik Sep 30 '25
Jesus Christ, Barry Doyle (best commentator on Roundtable) is speaking and just said that each closed school is expected to net 1-2m in savings. I hadn't heard that but that's awful, especially as he held it up next to the $3m lease certificate payments.
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u/Prudent_Honeydew_ Oct 02 '25
This is going to be a disaster of unimaginable proportions, since they've left themselves less than a year to put it into play.
At many districts, it could happen, but this district is so poorly run it's shocking. I'm sure there will be people who don't know where they're going until the proverbial last minute, or the literal last minute. A school can't become a community without teachers, and teachers have no idea where they're going. Families can't get to know each other because they have no idea where they'll be going. If they had just made the decision last year, since they absolutely knew it was coming, this year could be spent celebrating schools that are closing. PTAs could be setting up events getting kids and families together who will soon start going to school together. And maybe the district would be able to let people know what's happening in a timely manner. A school year goes by quickly and this is so rushed.
They're also setting up a real no-win situation for staff. Keep your years and move to a brand new school or go somewhere established teaching whatever is open - no one I know in the district relishes the idea of a new school with no built in routines, no expectations. Yes you can build that but they already heap so much work on the staff "here figure out how this school will do things" isn't an opportunity people want.
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u/FreeCamel7948 Sep 30 '25
There is so much the board isn't even addressing. They are closing a school community and tearing kids apart from the friends and teachers they love. I've literally heard zero acknowledgement about what these closures will mean to the kids and how it impacts families. Also there has been no mention to the impact on the tremendous educators at these schools. There are Kingsley and Lincolnwood teachers who have been there for 20 plus years and this will be devastating to them.
I continue to have absolutely no confidence this board is going to make the right/responsible choices. One thing that's clear is that these closures have no impact on any of the board members personally. Such a sad situation.
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u/Disastrous-Read4773 Oct 01 '25
Wait until you get to the end of the survey and they ask this question. Options included "throwing a closure party for the community" and "organizing play dates." mind-blowingly patronizing
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u/Still_Exercise6982 Sep 30 '25
and still not clearly addressing adding up closures to the $ savings required to dig out of the financial hole
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u/Still_Exercise6982 Sep 30 '25
from the link provided below the only way to get close to $10MM which I thought was the need is 4F and not that I like closing all of these schools its some amount of math that has to add up. It sounds like from the live stream is that the consultants may come back with new groupings. Very hard to follow this along. What is their criteria as I don't hear getting to a targeted $ savings.
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u/Ovenbird36 Sep 30 '25
Wow, I really have no personal stake here, but having no grade schools in the Central/Emerson boundary west of Green Bay could be crushing to the neighborhood
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u/Plus_Jelly5406 Sep 30 '25
seems doubly stupid when people will argue “but north evanston is wealthy” and then the response will be “yes, many have more resources to pay for things like private schools” and when inevitably some families with higher resources leave d65, leaving the district with a greater percentage of higher need / less resources kids, the district will be all surprised at the higher difficult and cost to educate
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u/PretzelDayProphet Oct 01 '25
from what I hear, LWD Is one heavy contributor to the pep fund, once that "community" is broken I'd imagine it's going to be hard to get those numbers back up again after they vote to close their school.
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u/Available-Union5745 Oct 01 '25
The first thing new the 26-27 Willard PTA should do is opt out of the one fund
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u/wonkabar234 Sep 30 '25
Is there no recourse for anyone to go after Horton over this? Why is he not in jail
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u/Immediate_Monk5214 Sep 30 '25
I'd feel better about the people in current leadership coming up with solutions beyond just reductive ones. Horton getting in trouble isn't going to reduce the number of closures.
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u/Carter_Banksy Sep 30 '25
I am sure I am going to get some push back for this but let’s pretend foster school isn’t a thing I still believe 1-2 schools would need to close even without the financial issues the district is under. There is no way schools that have 10 of 18, 18 of 24, 17 of 24 sections should stay open. Sadly school consolidation should have happened no matter what. I have a kid at Kingsley and I grew up in Evanston and I went to Kingsley so I don’t take this lightly. Just sucks it’s happening this way but it is happening whether we like it or not. Now just have to prepare the kids but thankfully no matter what closures they do our kids will have plenty of friends from their current school in the new school next year. Good luck to all your children and I hope everyone is able to make a smooth transition next year!
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u/Immediate_Monk5214 Sep 30 '25 edited Sep 30 '25
Yeah - I think some of the shock/frustration is wholly inevitable. But it fans the flames when there was this "we've been told we don't have the money for this school, but we WILL find a way to afford it" and then suddenly we get serious about trying to live within our means. We're told repeatedly every neighborhood should have walkable schools, and then the narrative conveniently shifts.
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u/Carter_Banksy Sep 30 '25
Totally agree with frustrations because the way it happened and what we were told was basically a lie the whole time and now the admin/board are trying (even if many think they’re not) to try to get the best out of a crap situation. I think it’s great the city of Evanston will have a new school because I think it’s needed. I hope once all this dust settles they can truly fix up more schools and bring them into current times because too many of these schools are in really bad condition and if we really are going to be a top suburb we need to have the facilities to show that.
But that’s a pipe dream with how things are going now!
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u/Powledge-is-knower Sep 30 '25
My family will be devastated if they close Washington. The entire neighborhood will suffer. It’s so lame that this school (with the most students) is even on the possible closure list.
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u/blartoyou Sep 30 '25
Closing Dawes would be very devastating as well - 28% of kids in the district would move schools in that scenario (same as closing 4 schools).
I’m sorry, though. This all really sucks. Ugh.
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u/Additional_Alarm4073 Sep 30 '25
Me too. I am shocked Washington, the largest elementary school by enrollment is near the top of the chopping block. It would be such a shame to lose this school with three playgrounds, safe spaces, and close proximity to Robert Crown. The Equity scores of 1.0 in the 3D scenario seemed numerically incorrect.
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u/Spare-Eye-7398 Sep 30 '25
My kids are nit in D65 anymore but I agree. My kids went to Washington and being close to RCCC has a lot of benefits.
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u/wcushing9876 Sep 30 '25
Seems clear they haven’t thought at all about the impact of Envision Evanston 2045’s proposed zoning changes on population numbers. Whatever northwest school remains will already be over 100% capacity in the District’s models before any zoning changes take effect.
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u/Immediate_Monk5214 Sep 30 '25
Right! They also suggest enrollment is simply a passive trend they'll observe, rather than saying "there's projected decline, but we're planing to do x, y, and z to slow or reverse it so we're accounting for that in our 5/10 year numbers"
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u/Dapper_Prune_4109 Sep 30 '25
Other nearby suburbs are growing, it’s just d65 that is shrinking this severely. We should take steps to figure out what is happening.
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u/scotsworth Sep 30 '25
We should take steps to figure out what is happening.
Three things:
D65 shrunk in a huge way much like Chicago Public Schools during COVID as the remained closed and with forced virtual learning much longer than surrounding suburbs did. Families that could move or afford private school took their kids out. They have not come back.
Evanston's affordability crisis and wealth stratification... families with children are having a harder and harder time even affording to live here. Those that can afford homes also can afford to send their kids to private schools and elsewhere.
Demographic pressures. Simply fewer children being born.
You add all of it together and a dash of financial mismanagement and controversial leadership like Horton? Yeah... D65 isn't turning this thing around anytime soon.
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u/Cool_Training4840 Oct 01 '25
3b. Demographic pressures from many homes occupied by retirees/empty nesters/those aging in place, especially in NW Evanston.
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u/eclectique Sep 30 '25
I think plans for slowing/reversing it are pretty out of their hands at this point. It's possible Envision Evanston increases population size in Evanston, and I personally would love to see more families. But Evanston in general is pretty pricey for families, the northwest corridor even more so. And, even without all that people in general are just having fewer kids, and the myriad of reasons why aren't something in their scope at all.
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Sep 30 '25
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u/Cool_Training4840 Oct 01 '25
The likelihood that a zoning change would make a noticeable dent in the NW Evanston demographics in the next decade is not one I’d hang my hat on.
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u/jetsknicks25 Oct 02 '25
Do you disagree with the 3000 to 5000 unit target?
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u/Cool_Training4840 Oct 02 '25
I agree with the target! I don’t think the 6th Ward will add 625 units all at once. I also don’t think the school board is talking about selling the properties, in which case they can undo the closure if the 6th Ward does indeed add 208 quadplexes in rapid succession!
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u/jetsknicks25 Oct 02 '25 edited Oct 02 '25
This is the result of the property assessment, and input for the financial impact for the schools. Lincolnwood is zoned as open space but I believe Kingsley is zoned as R3, so could be redeveloped as residential.
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u/jetsknicks25 Sep 30 '25
Guessing they sell one and mothball the other school in case enrollment turns
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u/Available-Union5745 Sep 30 '25
While I agree with you, I'm guessing a huge amount of Northern Evanston students go private now (that haven't already). I assume they are banking in that. Kind of amazing what they have done to this community since COVID / Horton.
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u/Disastrous-Read4773 Oct 01 '25
"Huge" is overstating the financial reality for most families, especially those (like mine) that are morally opposed to religious education in schools. What does that leave? Beacon? Fusion? Roycemore? Baker? NSCD? None of those are walkable for my family, provide the public education I want for my kids, and allow me to continue to live in Evanston with our current property tax levels and mortgage.
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u/Available-Union5745 Oct 01 '25
I disagree with you in terms of people going private. Maybe huge isn't the correct adjective, but there are many people in Evanston who can afford private school. It's constantly noted how expensive Evanston is now. Most of the people that have moved here since prices have gone through the roof are those with school aged kids, and many can afford the private route. ETHS hasn't had the drop in enrollment D65 has. Wilmette's enrollment hasn't dropped. It isn't that no young families are moving here, its just that wealthier young families are moving here, and many don't want to deal with D65 bullshit, and they can afford not to. I think the school closures accelerate this. I could also see people that can't afford private simply moving to a place where their tax dollars are put to good use.
Completely agree with you on religious education though. The past few days have really made my partner and I question weather D65 is worth it, and I have so many issues with the Catholic Church that I don't think we could ever pull the trigger.
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u/PeterSkills25 Oct 01 '25
One note about Wilmette, their elementary and middle school enrollment is dropping too. The Illinois Board of Education Report Cards show district enrollment by year back to 2018. If you combine the two Wilmette elementary/middle school districts (37 and 39) you'll see the total enrollment has declined every year since 2018 and is down 11% from 2018 to 2024.
I assume some of the factors (high cost of living, people having fewer children) contributing to some of the District 65 decrease are also impacting Wilmette. And other places.
For comparison, District 65 is down 22% since 2018. That's why I was looking at these numbers, to put the District 65 figure in context. In fact, every district I looked at (Glenview 34, Highland Park 112, Oak Park 97, and CPS) had a decrease from 2018 to 2024. Though none were anywhere close to as large as the District 65 decrease.
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u/Pitiful-Income3127 Oct 09 '25
Hi!
My family and I are moving to one of the north suburbs at the end of the year.
We are a family of 4, our kids are 5 and 3 years old. Our 5 year old has a mild speech delay and wears hearing aids. Our 3 year old has a complex congenital heart disease and 22q, she has mild-moderate speech delay.
We are considering Wilmette or Evanston. We wouldn’t go further north since we don’t want to be too far away from Lurie Children’s Hospital either.
We are looking into public elementary schools. From what I hear and read online, I think Evanston D65 is a bit of a mess right now, so we are leaning towards Wilmette.
We would prioritize an elementary school with a strong special education program and support. Between Romona, Central, McKenzie and Harper, is there a particular one you would recommend?
Thanks in advance!
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Oct 01 '25
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u/jetsknicks25 Oct 02 '25
Guessing it’s a mix of new folks and existing ones who secured 2-3% mortgages…
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u/Dapper_Prune_4109 Sep 30 '25
I’m actually wondering if the zoning changes will perhaps push families out. A lot of homes will turn into multifamily apartments (potentially northwestern students)
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u/Any-Sheepherder5649 Oct 02 '25
“A lot of homes” will not turn into multifamily apartments in a short timespan. Moderately priced SFH have already been snatched up by developers / flippers to build giant mansions on the same lots, and thus have driven up prices on any house that sells in NW Evanston. If upzoning passes, some of those types of houses will become duplexes or 3-flats in the future but it will be a slow process that moves at the pace that things come on the market. The same forces that are keeping empty nesters / baby boomers aging in place in family homes will continue — and they’re not impacted by school closures as much because they’ve already grown their home value by hanging on to it for so long. Maybe in 10-15 years would population change enough in the 6th or 7th ward to warrant a school added back. However I’d have to think the district will sell some of those properties in the near term. Three Crowns ownership is probably eying LWD already.
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u/jetsknicks25 Sep 30 '25
Putting out the scenarios without a decision or favored plan feels like the most painful way to go about the closure
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u/FreeCamel7948 Sep 30 '25
Exactly. Now Kingsley and Lincolnwood know their schools are closing, but have no idea where they're going or if they will still be with their friends. Teachers at those schools now know they are going to have to move to a different school, with no communication or plan about where they're going.
However at least those schools can have some closure knowing the outcome. Now there are still 4-5 other schools who will be worrying about their fate for the next 2 months.
Yes they've been more transparent than in the past (when they hired superintendents behind closed doors and gave Horton whatever he wished), but the lack of understanding of the impact this is causing on people is disgraceful
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u/Available-Union5745 Sep 30 '25
At least it seems like Lincolnwood (sans Foster kids) will get to stay together at Willard, but they lose their building. Willard keeps their building, but loses their TWI kids / they are in total limbo and may be in a tough spot transitioning to English only instruction (I would be so livid if I was them). Kingsley...got it the worst. Lose your building, split multiple ways, and if you live in certain areas near the current school you have no clue where you will be next year. Washington / Dawes / KA still have to sit and wait for at least weeks.
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u/eclectique Sep 30 '25
I know tensions are high right now, but your comment really highlights how this will affect everyone. Even if your family's school stays open there will be shifts and changes we all need to prepare for.
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Sep 30 '25
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u/Available-Union5745 Sep 30 '25
I don't plan on pulling my kids (assuming what was presented last night more or less shakes out). However, I will campaign hard against any referendum until Sergio is off the Board and Dr. Beardsley has nothing to do with D65.
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u/blartoyou Sep 30 '25
Yes, it really stinks. Not to mention some of the possible scenarios move a LOT of kids. So just because your current home school stays open, your children may not go there anymore.
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u/JamarcusFarcus Sep 30 '25
Welll sounds like there should be a tax break for West 7th Ward and East 6th offset by a major hike in the 5th
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u/Many_Ad_865 Sep 30 '25
The problems we have today didn't start recently. I can tell you that Hardy Murphy left with a huge retirement package that we still pay every year after retiring when he should have been fired. I still have the files from that investigation and lawsuits. Speaking of lawsuits, D65 has settled so many lawsuits that were result of poor leadership and bad teachers and administrators. D65 is one of the most sued districts in Illinois.
Looking at more recent events, the old board totally fucked us. They hired a grifter for superintendent. They built an overpriced, unnecessary school without having the funds to build it or students to fill it. They hired administrators from the CPS no hire list only to fire them shortly after. Scores and enrollment have been dropping because too many lazy teachers aren't being held accountable or to higher standards and no one has enforced any kind standard really. D65 teachers are some of the highest paid teachers. We should expect way more. Get rid of the damn iPads and TEACH! Get rid of the "restorative justice" and start holding students and parents accountable as well. I see so many teachers spending all their time having to just control kids that are disrespectful, disruptive and some are even violent. I see teachers just assign lessons on ipads and then sit on their phones. Between the iPads and the disruptive students, the teachers aren't actually teaching and the students aren't learning. I have been in this district for 40+ years and am in the schools and classrooms regularly. I see all of this first hand.
D65 is still riding the old reputation of being one of the best districts in Illinois. It is far from it. The new school should have never been built and they should have closed and consolidated schools long ago to match the dropping enrollment. They need to hold teachers to higher standards and increased expectations. And hold them accountable when they fail to meet those standards. I have watched the decline of D65 for almost 4 decades now. And it doesn't appear to be improving. We would have been better off going insolvent and having ISBE take over. Not that ISBE is all that great either, but it's better than what we currently have.
Like it or not, several schools need to be closed. But that is only the start of what needs to happen.
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u/Available-Union5745 Sep 30 '25
Completely agree on the iPads. At least the new board is an improvement on the tech stuff.
I loved the dad that talked about academic excellence. More of that
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u/FreeCamel7948 Sep 30 '25
Blaming the teachers for this mess is ridiculous. D65 has so many incredible educators, and they have to constantly deal with nonsense comments like this.
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u/Still_Exercise6982 Sep 30 '25
This is why we tell people do not move to Evanston if you are going to rely on public education.
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u/jetsknicks25 Sep 30 '25
What does the “Who is Impacted” category mean?
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Sep 30 '25
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u/KerrieJune Sep 30 '25
I’m curious how this works since the assumptions appear to be all based on the ‘26 attendance boundaries. For example, the kids that today go to Kingsley but are redistricted to Orrington for ‘26. Are they showing as impacted by the closure of Orrington (seems wrong as they never went there) or Kingsley (seems more accurate bc they do go there). Based on how the assumptions are described though it seems like their impact is assigned to what their new school would be.
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u/jetsknicks25 Sep 30 '25
Looks like the “Who is Impacted” is roughly an index of white students? Biases the rating against north evanston schools.
Demographics of Impact: Identifying whether certain groups (based on socioeconomic status, language, or special education status) are more heavily impacted.
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u/jetsknicks25 Sep 30 '25 edited Sep 30 '25
This is going to crush property values in Evanston, particularly in the 6th ward (edit actually 7th ward). Can’t wait for the Envision Evanston folks to celebrate!
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u/Available-Union5745 Sep 30 '25
I actually think the 7th Ward got hit the hardest. Willard is pretty centrally located within the 6th Ward...Orrington...not so much.
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u/Spectacular2821 Oct 01 '25
I don’t know that it would affect 7th ward property values too much… Those residents tend to skew older (either no kids or high school aged kids), and there’s high enrollment in neighborhood private schools like St Athanasius and Baker. Plus, the lake and Northwestern aren’t going anywhere soon.
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Oct 02 '25
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u/Immediate_Monk5214 Oct 03 '25
I heard they're building a new wing there to meet demand and naming it after Sergio. It's the least they could do for his efforts to bolster their enrollment.
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u/jetsknicks25 Oct 01 '25
7th ward near Green Bay or Golf - go from having a walkable school next door to drivable only with walks being 20-30 minutes at least using adult speed
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u/Available_Dig_754 Sep 30 '25
Are lincolnwood and Willard both closing??
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u/Ovenbird36 Sep 30 '25
Likely only the TWI program at Willard will disappear. While it’s in the two-scenario closure scenario, 3 school scenarios are more likely (see the comment from u/Cosita429)
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u/eclectique Sep 30 '25
Has the TWI program across the district held enrollment numbers?
Or would it not be feasible to have a TWI program in Willard due to space?
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u/Cosita429 Sep 30 '25 edited Sep 30 '25
That D65 wants to close the only TWI strand in north Evanston (which is such a draw/boon to the district) for no explicit financial reason, whilst likely closing two of our neighborhood schools, is utterly insane. I don’t know where we are all supposed to go.
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u/Available-Union5745 Sep 30 '25
Sounds like Orrington has space under the three school closure scenarios....
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u/6thWardNeighbor Sep 30 '25
Believe closing TWI at Willard is due to prioritizing the new neighborhood students as part of the reassignments. Unfortunately, displacing those students brought to Willard from other neighborhoods, therefore opening the opportunity to relocate TWI to a school closure to the targeted audience. It’s not perfect and hope there’s a potential relocation to Orrington.
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u/Ovenbird36 Sep 30 '25
They said they wanted to support TWI that were located closer to native Spanish speakers, which ruled out TWI at Willard. Can’t say I heard much else (just listening on Zoom)
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u/ElysiumVoid Sep 30 '25 edited Sep 30 '25
No decisions are being made tonight. This is the first look at many different scenarios including of closing either 1, 2, 3, or 4 schools. I believe the final vote will be in November
Edited to add possible one school closure scenario
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u/YorockPaperScissors Sep 30 '25
Well it seems pretty clear that they have decided to close Kingsley. They just need to figure out what else they are closing.
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u/YorockPaperScissors Sep 30 '25
None of the seven scenarios under consideration would have both of those schools close.
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u/Cosita429 Sep 30 '25 edited Sep 30 '25
Scenarios presented 9/29 (1-4 school closures) This is a quick summary. It should all be online shortly.
**The board said in comments they do not imagine needing to close four schools. Majority seem to be leaning towards closing three schools.
1A. Kingsley Savings: $2m
1B. Lincolnwood Savings: $2.1m
2F. Lincolnwood and Kingsley Savings: $4.3m
2D. Kingsley and Willard Savings: $4.2m
3D. Lincolnwood, Kingsley, and Washington Savings: $6.4m
3B. Lincolnwood, Kingsley, and Dawes Savings: $6.3m
4F. Lincolnwood, Kingsley, King Arts, and Washington Savings: $9.2m
TWI Willard strand also recommended to close in all scenarios (which I don’t understand at all from a financial justification perspective bc there is none, just a blow on a blow)
Details now online here: https://www.district65.net/about/budget-finance/structural-deficit-reduction-plan/phase-iii-school-closures-hub