I am incredibly disappointed in D65. From the handling of Dr. Horton's late payments to Dr. Turner's professional goals, or lack of them to the abysmal student achievement/growth scores to the 5th ward school funding issues. I am so worried about the brown and black students in our district. Building a new school won't raise those scores, it's going to take some fundamental changes to make a real difference and I don't believe we have the leadership that is brave enough to do it.
The reason they are putting the cart before the horse with naming the school is because they want to keep the public’s interest and media attention positive on this colossal dumpster fire.
I completely agree. Horton posted a principal position roughly 9 months before he left for the new 5th Ward School who he said would also name it but from my knowledge the position was never filled. Building this school, in this financial climate, in the deficit D65 is in will be a calamity. I question if a referendum would pass-those of us that voted for one before have learned their lesson and are literally paying the price with no results.
Thanks again for the detailed reporting. You noted the open house on the 7th, but there is also a "Listen & Learn" with Dr. Turner tonight at DeSalvo's Pizza on Central from 6:00 - 7:00. I hope to attend. My spouse went to a "Chat 'n Chew" during the Horton era, and we learned a lot from that experience.
You say that the board can only use the lease certificates on construction and can't use operating budget funds. Not that the money is going to be there, but what happens if they say "screw it, lets tap into the general budget for the new school?"
They violate the Open Meetings Act all the time. They clearly have nothing but contempt for the public given their failure to hold a referendum and the consistent lies about the school cost. We are on our second superintendent with zero experience running a school district.
I think the working assumption is that they don't know what they are doing in terms of financing and management. I could see them just raiding the operations fund. Who is going to stop them?
Just to be clear, there is no evidence they violate the OMA “all the time”. If there was, I would be challenging it with the AG. I do have one case open with them on this, regarding the residency requirement. If you have evidence of more violations, my email is tom@foiagras.com
Why don’t they raise some philanthropic money to support the project? That’s what ETHS does for lots of capital projects. We have a lot of deep pockets in Evanston committed to our schools.
So this was part of the original plan for the school before Dr. Horton YOLO'ed it, back when it was part of a thing called "Evanston STEM School." I think it might be too late now in the game to do it now, but I did email the District earlier in the week to suggest they reach out to the reparations fund people at the city. They've got funding (via evanston transfer taxes) and a mission that aligns with the fifth ward school. A few million bucks would really limit the downside risk of having an incomplete building and being stuck.
The reparations fund is on shaky legal ground to begin with. Using that money on the school would be way out of bounds. The resolution establishing fund explicitly restricts payments to housing assistance. The reason for this is that reparations are meant to repair a specific harm caused by the entity paying the reparations.
The argument (based on very flimsy evidence) was that Evanston zoning policies were somehow racially discriminatory. There is zero evidence for that (there IS evidence of racially discriminatory housing policies, but those policies were coming from the federal government and private lending institutions which were responsible for redlining--not the city). If someone sued the city, I would be very surprised to see the program be upheld in court.
Nevertheless, the reparations are only going to people (and their ancestors) who can document housing discrimination based on race between 1919-1969. The fund doesn't have enough money as it is to pay the people its supposed to pay. So spending it on a school would likely be a non-starter.
Because of the fund's shortcomings, reckless Devon Reid wanted to divert money from the general budget to the reparations fund, but the city attorney's nixed it saying that it would open them up to lawsuits by increasing the pool of people having standing to sue. Instead, they diverted money from the real estate transfer tax fund. Apparently using a property transaction- based revenue source on a reparations fund tied specifically to housing is supposed to minimize the risk of litigation.
The City has stayed at arms length of the new school and that has been smart. Remember when Horton wanted to get the city to pay for part of it by linking a new Fleetwood Jourdain center to the project? Glad the city rejected that.
The only city involvement that makes sense would be to hash out a deal that invites the District to use part of the Civic Center building for the new school. The Civic Center is a Fifth Ward building that was originally built as a school. The proposed school at Simpson & Ashland is supposed to be 85,000 sq/ft. The City wants to vacate the Civic Center because it is too big and they are set to lease 53,000 sq/ft Downtown Evanston. The Civic Center is 112,000 sq ft.
Divide the building between the district and city, save a historic Fifth Ward school, and have the city do a smaller lease of 26,000 sq/ft.
It makes sense and will help our children in 50 years by being able to avoid calls from the 2075 version of the Equity Army to bring City Hall back to the Fifth Ward.
There is a lot to unpack here but how do you know they dont have enough money? I have been searching all week for the balance in that fund and coming up empty. It is getting most or all of the transfer taxes, and thats a couple mil a year.
Also in another post you made you asked “whats to stop district from using general fund money?” .. Well the same logic applies here then, whats to stop using reparations fund money on a school?
According to the FY 2024 budget, we are expecting a 55% decrease in revenues from last year and a 3% increase in expenditures! $1.5 million coming in and $3.5 million going out.
Also, I think it would be a real problem politically for the city (leaving the legal jeopardy aside). The Melika Gardner/Sebastian Nalls crowd thinks that reparations should be given to everyone who has ever experienced any kind of racial discrimination (regardless of whether or not the city was responsible) and has criticized the city's program as being too limited.
I think there is a subset of these people who are also worried about the potential of the new school as being a gentrification-accelerator.
While I would be quite interested and (probably) amused to see how someone like Melika would balance her inability to criticize the D65 Board/Admin's poor financial management with the City helping to bail out the new school by raiding the reparations fund, I couldn't see the city council wanting to get involved.
The STEM School wasn’t part of any district plan, however. It was private individuals promoting that idea. It’s not too late to raise philanthropic money if they haven’t even broken ground yet. They could consider naming opportunities. The Hayden Learning Center or Hayden Family Gymnasium.
Yep. Long story but my understanding is that the ECF funded the STEM school proposal, which included a legitimate funding model besides just bus savings (donations, state funding, bus savings, revenue generating rec center). Proposal went in front of Dr. Horton in August 2021 and later that month he had completely original idea to build a new school with bus savings only ($2.3m) and he cut out all the other funding sources. Dude was so bad with money.
I am not sure how charter schools work, but I could see one be successful in Evanston if it pitched itself on academic excellence, minimal use of computers in non-programming settings, and pre-college preparation.
I am incredibly disappointed in D65. From the handling of Dr. Horton's late payments to Dr. Turner's professional goals, or lack of them to the abysmal student achievement/growth scores to the 5th ward school funding issues. I am so worried about the brown and black students in our district. Building a new school won't raise those scores, it's going to take some fundamental changes to make a real difference and I don't believe we have the leadership that is brave enough to do it.
The reason they are putting the cart before the horse with naming the school is because they want to keep the public’s interest and media attention positive on this colossal dumpster fire.
Get everyone excited again just in time to run out of money
I completely agree. Horton posted a principal position roughly 9 months before he left for the new 5th Ward School who he said would also name it but from my knowledge the position was never filled. Building this school, in this financial climate, in the deficit D65 is in will be a calamity. I question if a referendum would pass-those of us that voted for one before have learned their lesson and are literally paying the price with no results.
Thanks again for the detailed reporting. You noted the open house on the 7th, but there is also a "Listen & Learn" with Dr. Turner tonight at DeSalvo's Pizza on Central from 6:00 - 7:00. I hope to attend. My spouse went to a "Chat 'n Chew" during the Horton era, and we learned a lot from that experience.
Oh thats good to know. I would attend but I think the District has heard a lot from me lately. Ill give them a break
You say that the board can only use the lease certificates on construction and can't use operating budget funds. Not that the money is going to be there, but what happens if they say "screw it, lets tap into the general budget for the new school?"
They violate the Open Meetings Act all the time. They clearly have nothing but contempt for the public given their failure to hold a referendum and the consistent lies about the school cost. We are on our second superintendent with zero experience running a school district.
I think the working assumption is that they don't know what they are doing in terms of financing and management. I could see them just raiding the operations fund. Who is going to stop them?
Just to be clear, there is no evidence they violate the OMA “all the time”. If there was, I would be challenging it with the AG. I do have one case open with them on this, regarding the residency requirement. If you have evidence of more violations, my email is tom@foiagras.com
Why don’t they raise some philanthropic money to support the project? That’s what ETHS does for lots of capital projects. We have a lot of deep pockets in Evanston committed to our schools.
So this was part of the original plan for the school before Dr. Horton YOLO'ed it, back when it was part of a thing called "Evanston STEM School." I think it might be too late now in the game to do it now, but I did email the District earlier in the week to suggest they reach out to the reparations fund people at the city. They've got funding (via evanston transfer taxes) and a mission that aligns with the fifth ward school. A few million bucks would really limit the downside risk of having an incomplete building and being stuck.
The reparations fund is on shaky legal ground to begin with. Using that money on the school would be way out of bounds. The resolution establishing fund explicitly restricts payments to housing assistance. The reason for this is that reparations are meant to repair a specific harm caused by the entity paying the reparations.
The argument (based on very flimsy evidence) was that Evanston zoning policies were somehow racially discriminatory. There is zero evidence for that (there IS evidence of racially discriminatory housing policies, but those policies were coming from the federal government and private lending institutions which were responsible for redlining--not the city). If someone sued the city, I would be very surprised to see the program be upheld in court.
Nevertheless, the reparations are only going to people (and their ancestors) who can document housing discrimination based on race between 1919-1969. The fund doesn't have enough money as it is to pay the people its supposed to pay. So spending it on a school would likely be a non-starter.
Because of the fund's shortcomings, reckless Devon Reid wanted to divert money from the general budget to the reparations fund, but the city attorney's nixed it saying that it would open them up to lawsuits by increasing the pool of people having standing to sue. Instead, they diverted money from the real estate transfer tax fund. Apparently using a property transaction- based revenue source on a reparations fund tied specifically to housing is supposed to minimize the risk of litigation.
https://evanstonnow.com/attorney-reid-plan-would-raise-legal-risk/
The City has stayed at arms length of the new school and that has been smart. Remember when Horton wanted to get the city to pay for part of it by linking a new Fleetwood Jourdain center to the project? Glad the city rejected that.
The only city involvement that makes sense would be to hash out a deal that invites the District to use part of the Civic Center building for the new school. The Civic Center is a Fifth Ward building that was originally built as a school. The proposed school at Simpson & Ashland is supposed to be 85,000 sq/ft. The City wants to vacate the Civic Center because it is too big and they are set to lease 53,000 sq/ft Downtown Evanston. The Civic Center is 112,000 sq ft.
Divide the building between the district and city, save a historic Fifth Ward school, and have the city do a smaller lease of 26,000 sq/ft.
It makes sense and will help our children in 50 years by being able to avoid calls from the 2075 version of the Equity Army to bring City Hall back to the Fifth Ward.
There is a lot to unpack here but how do you know they dont have enough money? I have been searching all week for the balance in that fund and coming up empty. It is getting most or all of the transfer taxes, and thats a couple mil a year.
Also in another post you made you asked “whats to stop district from using general fund money?” .. Well the same logic applies here then, whats to stop using reparations fund money on a school?
According to the latest monthly financials, the Reparations fund is -100k in the red!
https://www.cityofevanston.org/home/showpublisheddocument/95403
According to the FY 2024 budget, we are expecting a 55% decrease in revenues from last year and a 3% increase in expenditures! $1.5 million coming in and $3.5 million going out.
https://city-evanston-il-budget-book.cleargov.com/9510%60/fund-summaries/reparations-fund
I really can't see the city having any money to throw at D65's White Elephant
And you are right, this is a complete dead end. Thanks for the help
Also, I think it would be a real problem politically for the city (leaving the legal jeopardy aside). The Melika Gardner/Sebastian Nalls crowd thinks that reparations should be given to everyone who has ever experienced any kind of racial discrimination (regardless of whether or not the city was responsible) and has criticized the city's program as being too limited.
I think there is a subset of these people who are also worried about the potential of the new school as being a gentrification-accelerator.
While I would be quite interested and (probably) amused to see how someone like Melika would balance her inability to criticize the D65 Board/Admin's poor financial management with the City helping to bail out the new school by raiding the reparations fund, I couldn't see the city council wanting to get involved.
https://dailynorthwestern.com/2023/05/29/city/community-advocates-celebrate-direct-cash-payment-reparations-option-but-push-for-more-funding/
Hell, wasn't it a couple of years ago when the city gleefully offloaded the crossing guard costs to the District?
Ah thank you for this, that top link is what I was looking for!
The STEM School wasn’t part of any district plan, however. It was private individuals promoting that idea. It’s not too late to raise philanthropic money if they haven’t even broken ground yet. They could consider naming opportunities. The Hayden Learning Center or Hayden Family Gymnasium.
Yep. Long story but my understanding is that the ECF funded the STEM school proposal, which included a legitimate funding model besides just bus savings (donations, state funding, bus savings, revenue generating rec center). Proposal went in front of Dr. Horton in August 2021 and later that month he had completely original idea to build a new school with bus savings only ($2.3m) and he cut out all the other funding sources. Dude was so bad with money.
My recollection is that the STEM school was proposed to be a Charter school, and that wasn’t popular.
Oh that's right - I forgot about that. Thank you for that reminder.
I am not sure how charter schools work, but I could see one be successful in Evanston if it pitched itself on academic excellence, minimal use of computers in non-programming settings, and pre-college preparation.