Su wants the comment section to come and talk to a group of expressionless/dead faces at a BOE meeting?To reason with the very people that ripped people to shreds in prior elections; that sided with the bullies on all FB Evanston community pages? To plead and beg our case to the people who love to lecture us on our privilege and tell us …
Su wants the comment section to come and talk to a group of expressionless/dead faces at a BOE meeting?To reason with the very people that ripped people to shreds in prior elections; that sided with the bullies on all FB Evanston community pages? To plead and beg our case to the people who love to lecture us on our privilege and tell us how racist we are (remember telling Angela that she prioritizes money over Black kids because she works in finance?)—while clinging to their perceived moral superiority—all while they thoughtlessly destroy our school district? To believe that the very same people who got us into this mess and refuse to take responsibility to this day will be moved into action to save this district?
What a joke. They did this. They’re being told what they need to do & still they blindly push forward —with Foster School being the sword they’re going to die on. Sadly they’ve destroyed the district, screwed over a generation of at risk kids and will end up disappointing the elder Black community when the school they’ve promised doesn’t materialize the way they’ve promised. And don’t even get me started on the gentrification that will come with that school that will look like a diamond compared to the crapola schools left once this disaster board gets done doing its thing.
Sad days for our community. All preventable and yet here we are.
The comment section *DID* come and talk to the Board during the Bessie Rhodes hearings (including me) and at least one Board member played around on her phone during public comment. It accomplished nothing. Whether they like it or not, digital spaces are the public square these days.
I do think perhaps what they meant to say was that during public comment they have yet to have someone come in and oppose the school outright - which is true - I've been in a lot of meetings and haven't heard a single person, in public in person, voice opposition to Foster School.
No one wants to speak out against building the school because they’ll immediately be vilified as a white supremacist, opportunity-hoarding racist, both on social media and probably right there in the meeting. It’s very effective because how do you refute that you’re not racist? Discourse in Evanston is almost impossible. Even Tom, who is evidence/data driven and clearly very progressive, is (unfairly) called names.
To be fair I think only like 2 people have called me names. They are still welcome to email me (tom@foiagras.com) and I will give them space to publish on this blog their anti-Tom arguments. I have nothing against them or anyone in Evanston (besides the lady that yelled at me at Out of Space), even if they disagree. We agree on far more than we disagree.
I am such a fan of Tom!! And grateful for your information gathering and analysis.
That said, behind your back.... the same thirty people and their disciples say that your blog, the Round Table, & Evanston Now are all racist. The only local publication that they endorse is the Daily Northwestern, because, you know, college students are the masters of the truth. Nah, its that they require less Koolaid to get their job done. Ouch.
I think there's a difference between simply saying "I'm against building the school" vs. "if we're making decisions through purely a cost lens, here are areas where we can possibly cut in order to close the deficit and balance the budget. If the school is one of those areas, then a comprehensive analysis of how much pausing for 1 year, 2 years, or entirely canceling the project until a time (3-5 years from now?) where we can actually map out its affordability."
The board is allowed to evaluate non-financial factors within the "menu of options", so if the juice isn't worth the squeeze on stopping the construction (compared to other proposed savings measures) so be it. But time isn't really our friend if expensive work will continue to go on while we work to define the rest of the deficit reduction options.
They can say whatever they want. As if coming there does anything. They are emboldened based on the last two election cycles. They are arrogant and act like they are untouchable. The only thing that will shake them (maybe) would be a state/federal investigation and/or a lawsuit naming them all —every board member, every administrator that facilitated all of this. They’ve stolen our money (anyone know where the Covid millions have gone??!), destroyed our school district, harmed kids (most importantly). So much destruction. So much trashing of their fiduciary duties.
I have an answer to the COVID million thing. D65 took about $10m in ESSER funding. A little under a million of that went to the CREATE65 boondoggle, of which about $330k of that went to a friend of Dr. Horton:
As far as I know, none of it was stolen in the technical sense.
I should add - this is actually a major national problem right now, especially in CPS. All these School Boards are waking up this year, when the ESSER money runs out and asking "hey what happened" - only to learn their administrations burned all the money on headcount and pet projects. This is the main issue why CPS is a mess right now.
This is correct. The ESSER money came in rounds and each round had different spending requirements defined by the ISBE (if you google it you can find their list of permitted expenses). I've seen the list, by ESSER2 it was pretty much most stuff allowed except major capital improvements and teacher salaries.
I have yet to find any school district in America that used it for HVAC upgrades. This is just absolutely mindbogglingly stupid considering that when we had those hot days a month or two ago, even some of the nicer Districts north of us had to close because they .. didn't have air conditioning. None of this makes any sense because all the buildings were closed, so it would've been ideal for HVAC improvements.
Many, including D65 did use it for tutoring. D65 spent more than $2.5m of the ESSER money on tutoring, but that includes a lot of headcount on tutors, administrators, programming, etc that is hard to get rid of after the money is gone. This is the big issue facing a lot of Districts now.
I can verify that nothing was done where I taught in D65. The only HEPA filter you would find would have been purchased by a teacher for their own room. I was told by our custodial staff that the heating system could not handle the enhanced filters without burning out the motors.
Thanks Tom. I’ll check out the links you provided over lunch. I Appreciate the quick reply and am really grateful to see that you’ve found accounting for that $$.
Every school district in America except the most judicious (there are a few in IL that used it purposefully) pissed this money away. It's really quite sad.
I know this is crazy but we should expect our school district to be one of the judicious ones, like literally everyone in this town has a masters degree. We should expect and demand better governance.
I am so sick of people pointing to national averages, or distant school districts of similar enrollment numbers but quite possibly differently composed populations, land coverage, etc. and claiming being average or a little below average is what we should aim for.
I hope the aspiring candidates for the coming election aren't setting the bar at simply balancing the budget. What's on the back end of those measures that will actually lay the ground work for thriving vs. surviving?
Su wants the comment section to come and talk to a group of expressionless/dead faces at a BOE meeting?To reason with the very people that ripped people to shreds in prior elections; that sided with the bullies on all FB Evanston community pages? To plead and beg our case to the people who love to lecture us on our privilege and tell us how racist we are (remember telling Angela that she prioritizes money over Black kids because she works in finance?)—while clinging to their perceived moral superiority—all while they thoughtlessly destroy our school district? To believe that the very same people who got us into this mess and refuse to take responsibility to this day will be moved into action to save this district?
What a joke. They did this. They’re being told what they need to do & still they blindly push forward —with Foster School being the sword they’re going to die on. Sadly they’ve destroyed the district, screwed over a generation of at risk kids and will end up disappointing the elder Black community when the school they’ve promised doesn’t materialize the way they’ve promised. And don’t even get me started on the gentrification that will come with that school that will look like a diamond compared to the crapola schools left once this disaster board gets done doing its thing.
Sad days for our community. All preventable and yet here we are.
The comment section *DID* come and talk to the Board during the Bessie Rhodes hearings (including me) and at least one Board member played around on her phone during public comment. It accomplished nothing. Whether they like it or not, digital spaces are the public square these days.
I do think perhaps what they meant to say was that during public comment they have yet to have someone come in and oppose the school outright - which is true - I've been in a lot of meetings and haven't heard a single person, in public in person, voice opposition to Foster School.
No one wants to speak out against building the school because they’ll immediately be vilified as a white supremacist, opportunity-hoarding racist, both on social media and probably right there in the meeting. It’s very effective because how do you refute that you’re not racist? Discourse in Evanston is almost impossible. Even Tom, who is evidence/data driven and clearly very progressive, is (unfairly) called names.
To be fair I think only like 2 people have called me names. They are still welcome to email me (tom@foiagras.com) and I will give them space to publish on this blog their anti-Tom arguments. I have nothing against them or anyone in Evanston (besides the lady that yelled at me at Out of Space), even if they disagree. We agree on far more than we disagree.
I am such a fan of Tom!! And grateful for your information gathering and analysis.
That said, behind your back.... the same thirty people and their disciples say that your blog, the Round Table, & Evanston Now are all racist. The only local publication that they endorse is the Daily Northwestern, because, you know, college students are the masters of the truth. Nah, its that they require less Koolaid to get their job done. Ouch.
Thats fine, I cant win em all
I think there's a difference between simply saying "I'm against building the school" vs. "if we're making decisions through purely a cost lens, here are areas where we can possibly cut in order to close the deficit and balance the budget. If the school is one of those areas, then a comprehensive analysis of how much pausing for 1 year, 2 years, or entirely canceling the project until a time (3-5 years from now?) where we can actually map out its affordability."
The board is allowed to evaluate non-financial factors within the "menu of options", so if the juice isn't worth the squeeze on stopping the construction (compared to other proposed savings measures) so be it. But time isn't really our friend if expensive work will continue to go on while we work to define the rest of the deficit reduction options.
They can say whatever they want. As if coming there does anything. They are emboldened based on the last two election cycles. They are arrogant and act like they are untouchable. The only thing that will shake them (maybe) would be a state/federal investigation and/or a lawsuit naming them all —every board member, every administrator that facilitated all of this. They’ve stolen our money (anyone know where the Covid millions have gone??!), destroyed our school district, harmed kids (most importantly). So much destruction. So much trashing of their fiduciary duties.
I have an answer to the COVID million thing. D65 took about $10m in ESSER funding. A little under a million of that went to the CREATE65 boondoggle, of which about $330k of that went to a friend of Dr. Horton:
https://www.foiagras.com/p/district-65-teacher-residency-program
The rest was mostly spent on misc programs and headcount, some COVID related, some not. Here is the District's own breakdown:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/10IMDecU2cDKnSV3T3I4mL15UyCqBUMBd/view
As far as I know, none of it was stolen in the technical sense.
I should add - this is actually a major national problem right now, especially in CPS. All these School Boards are waking up this year, when the ESSER money runs out and asking "hey what happened" - only to learn their administrations burned all the money on headcount and pet projects. This is the main issue why CPS is a mess right now.
I thought the ESSER funds were supposed to be used for HVAC upgrades in buildings and tutoring services for learning loss.
This is correct. The ESSER money came in rounds and each round had different spending requirements defined by the ISBE (if you google it you can find their list of permitted expenses). I've seen the list, by ESSER2 it was pretty much most stuff allowed except major capital improvements and teacher salaries.
I have yet to find any school district in America that used it for HVAC upgrades. This is just absolutely mindbogglingly stupid considering that when we had those hot days a month or two ago, even some of the nicer Districts north of us had to close because they .. didn't have air conditioning. None of this makes any sense because all the buildings were closed, so it would've been ideal for HVAC improvements.
Many, including D65 did use it for tutoring. D65 spent more than $2.5m of the ESSER money on tutoring, but that includes a lot of headcount on tutors, administrators, programming, etc that is hard to get rid of after the money is gone. This is the big issue facing a lot of Districts now.
I can verify that nothing was done where I taught in D65. The only HEPA filter you would find would have been purchased by a teacher for their own room. I was told by our custodial staff that the heating system could not handle the enhanced filters without burning out the motors.
Unrelated but maybe related. Remember when Horton gave all the teachers a $500 check in Sept 2022 and cost $700k?
https://evanstonnow.com/district-65-to-give-employees-500-bonuses/
I wonder if that came out of ESSER money they had to discharge before a certain date. Gonna have to do some research on that.
Thanks Tom. I’ll check out the links you provided over lunch. I Appreciate the quick reply and am really grateful to see that you’ve found accounting for that $$.
Every school district in America except the most judicious (there are a few in IL that used it purposefully) pissed this money away. It's really quite sad.
Now that you said that, cue one of the board members or their apologists saying "this is a national problem, not our board's!"
As if it was unknown that ESSER funds had an expiration date we could plan for.
I know this is crazy but we should expect our school district to be one of the judicious ones, like literally everyone in this town has a masters degree. We should expect and demand better governance.
THIS!
I am so sick of people pointing to national averages, or distant school districts of similar enrollment numbers but quite possibly differently composed populations, land coverage, etc. and claiming being average or a little below average is what we should aim for.
I hope the aspiring candidates for the coming election aren't setting the bar at simply balancing the budget. What's on the back end of those measures that will actually lay the ground work for thriving vs. surviving?
Who would dare?