Interesting that D65 board continues to hold public at bay. Grateful for your sleuthing. There should be a running record of board missteps; maybe that will move voters to remove current board.
D65 board stopped caring about violating the OMA years ago. They have no idea what their job is and never seem to get in trouble when they don't follow the law so why stop violating it? Honestly, at this point, it's so egregious that Evanston voters should be to blame. Look at the recent pic of the board in Evanston Now article - Joey and Omar and wearing hoodies is as Biz with her normal baseball hat. I can't imagine attending a board meeting looking like I just left a high school baseball game. These people could care less about rules, decorum and responsibility. They think Evanston voters gave them carte blanche to do whatever they want, most of which they probably don't have authority to actually do. Nightmare!
I am generally accepting of people's personal style/attire. However, maybe it was how I was raised, but when I served on a city board I always would dress professionally because I thought it was important to show respect, seriousness and reverence to public service.
I think the attire of this crew is similarly emblematic of their lack of respect towards the community, their lack of seriousness, and the casual way they approach public service.
This culture and ethic of insouciance runs deep on the board. You can see it especially in how casually people run for office and then quit mid-term. You even had that person (Weatherspoon?) who lost the election in 2021, then get appointed and subsequently quit after 11 months! If you are running for office, at the very least you should commit to filling out your term! Yet in the past few years you had Weatherspoon, Taynavutti, Mendoza, Omar Brown, Candace Chow, Rykhus all resign mid-term.
I recognize that being a board member takes a lot of time and you are under a lot of scrutiny. But if you are going to go to the trouble of asking your fellow citizens to put you in a place of responsibility and authority, the least you could do is take it seriously.
They know —because Evanston seems to be in a permanent zombie like state —that they have carte blanche to do whatever the heck they want….even accuse us of horrible things, lie and grift off the backs of the very students they claim to care so much about. This town is bizarre-o.
I couldn’t agree more. I’m hearing —from people that would know —that they didn’t have great candidates, for whatever it’s worth. Also, Tom, I’ve heard there were layoffs last week. Great thing to do quietly right before spring break. No details yet who/what….
I know the answer to this but again, don't have hard copies of the documents because they don't include them in the agenda when it's bad news and I have to FOIA it, which takes 10 days. My current understanding is that they terminated the contract for the District's sustainability person, who is a very highly qualified professional engineer (PE) and quote "did things like light bulbs". Instead, they want to create a whole sustainability division that focuses solely on sustainable education instead of .. maintaining buildings and applying for grants. I'm sure they already have the consultant / friend / family member in mind.
You can't maintain buildings with ideas. At some point some kids are going to get physically injured by the state of some of these buildings. My kid last year at Lincoln noted to me some pretty serious issues with things like tiles in the gym falling on the floor, etc. My reporter here is 8 years old, so who knows what is true or not true, but I've heard similar stories from teachers, especially at Walker that the buildings are in some cases literally falling apart. Naturally, during the Horton years, D65 had an equity guy (Tierre Brunson) running facilities and now they're pushing out a PE.
I work in a business where having a person on staff with a PE is a huge boon, so it's bonkers to me they'd kill her position.
All teachers with three or less years of experience were not renewed. I think the Board is in for a huge shock when the vast majority of these teachers do not reapply as this will be the yearly scenario for the foreseeable future.
It was during the rapid-fire votes after the Supt. announcement. Staff that was not being renewed had to be informed (by law) before spring break. There was also a vote for non-renewal of non-tenured admin. While I was not affected by this, I saw this tactic used more than once during my career in 65. This was the list of votes:
•Non-renewal of non-tenured teachers other than final-year probationary teachers
•Notice of dismissal to final year probationary teacher
•Non-renewal of administrative contracts and honorable dismissal of administrators
•Reduction in force of educational support personnel
•Notice of non-renewal to non-tenured administrators
Are you certain it was 'all' teachers with three or less years of experience? The way I've been interpreting those 5 resolutions is that it gave them the authority to terminate people in those positions, but concrete numbers hadn't been decided on. e.g. I don't believe all non-tenured admins are gone either.
…and know that I don’t take any joy in what I feel Evanston has turned into. In the case of education here, it’s tragic because it’s the kids that lose.
The very kids that they purport to help! There are tons of private options here and those with the means have all left to those options, which means they're just taking advantage of the very people they say they want to help. I just don't get it .. I get the sense they don't even want the authority they have.
Right on, Tom. I don’t get it. Haven’t for years. It’s an upside down world in Evanston. I don’t know what happened but it’s like a care (for real care)/pay attention switch has been turned off.
Also another thing for your followers: it’s likely 3 SEATS WILL BE UP FOR GRABS NEXT ELECTION. I’m hearing that 3 current board members will not run again. Sad to think where we might be by then.
I can't imagine any of them would want to stick around and rearrange the deck chairs on the Titanic. Even for people who do a good job I can imagine that serving on the board is a grind.
But when you've so blatantly been asleep at the wheel and the train is coming in at 200mph to hit a brick wall, I can see why you'd want to jump ship. (excuse my ridiculous mixed metaphors)
The "Superintendent Goals and Indicators" in that contract are something else. She is supposed to "consistently apply an equity lens to systems, policies, and practices."
I hear this term "equity lens" all the time. What the hell does it mean in practice? If you are evaluating someone for applying said "lens" how do you know? Check with their optician and make sure they've been wearing their equity glasses?
Interesting that D65 board continues to hold public at bay. Grateful for your sleuthing. There should be a running record of board missteps; maybe that will move voters to remove current board.
D65 board stopped caring about violating the OMA years ago. They have no idea what their job is and never seem to get in trouble when they don't follow the law so why stop violating it? Honestly, at this point, it's so egregious that Evanston voters should be to blame. Look at the recent pic of the board in Evanston Now article - Joey and Omar and wearing hoodies is as Biz with her normal baseball hat. I can't imagine attending a board meeting looking like I just left a high school baseball game. These people could care less about rules, decorum and responsibility. They think Evanston voters gave them carte blanche to do whatever they want, most of which they probably don't have authority to actually do. Nightmare!
I am generally accepting of people's personal style/attire. However, maybe it was how I was raised, but when I served on a city board I always would dress professionally because I thought it was important to show respect, seriousness and reverence to public service.
I think the attire of this crew is similarly emblematic of their lack of respect towards the community, their lack of seriousness, and the casual way they approach public service.
This culture and ethic of insouciance runs deep on the board. You can see it especially in how casually people run for office and then quit mid-term. You even had that person (Weatherspoon?) who lost the election in 2021, then get appointed and subsequently quit after 11 months! If you are running for office, at the very least you should commit to filling out your term! Yet in the past few years you had Weatherspoon, Taynavutti, Mendoza, Omar Brown, Candace Chow, Rykhus all resign mid-term.
I recognize that being a board member takes a lot of time and you are under a lot of scrutiny. But if you are going to go to the trouble of asking your fellow citizens to put you in a place of responsibility and authority, the least you could do is take it seriously.
100%. Well said.
They know —because Evanston seems to be in a permanent zombie like state —that they have carte blanche to do whatever the heck they want….even accuse us of horrible things, lie and grift off the backs of the very students they claim to care so much about. This town is bizarre-o.
I don't think it's unreasonable to request that the superintendent, who is going to have to make some hard decisions, have skin in the game here.
I couldn’t agree more. I’m hearing —from people that would know —that they didn’t have great candidates, for whatever it’s worth. Also, Tom, I’ve heard there were layoffs last week. Great thing to do quietly right before spring break. No details yet who/what….
I know the answer to this but again, don't have hard copies of the documents because they don't include them in the agenda when it's bad news and I have to FOIA it, which takes 10 days. My current understanding is that they terminated the contract for the District's sustainability person, who is a very highly qualified professional engineer (PE) and quote "did things like light bulbs". Instead, they want to create a whole sustainability division that focuses solely on sustainable education instead of .. maintaining buildings and applying for grants. I'm sure they already have the consultant / friend / family member in mind.
O.M.G. 🙄
You can't maintain buildings with ideas. At some point some kids are going to get physically injured by the state of some of these buildings. My kid last year at Lincoln noted to me some pretty serious issues with things like tiles in the gym falling on the floor, etc. My reporter here is 8 years old, so who knows what is true or not true, but I've heard similar stories from teachers, especially at Walker that the buildings are in some cases literally falling apart. Naturally, during the Horton years, D65 had an equity guy (Tierre Brunson) running facilities and now they're pushing out a PE.
I work in a business where having a person on staff with a PE is a huge boon, so it's bonkers to me they'd kill her position.
If you want to see a disaster waiting to happen, look at the Nichols Auditorium.
FYI. Check out staircase at Haven School. It leads to the third floor and does not have a railing or bar to hold onto.
All teachers with three or less years of experience were not renewed. I think the Board is in for a huge shock when the vast majority of these teachers do not reapply as this will be the yearly scenario for the foreseeable future.
I didn't know they voted on renewal - when did they do this?!
It was during the rapid-fire votes after the Supt. announcement. Staff that was not being renewed had to be informed (by law) before spring break. There was also a vote for non-renewal of non-tenured admin. While I was not affected by this, I saw this tactic used more than once during my career in 65. This was the list of votes:
•Non-renewal of non-tenured teachers other than final-year probationary teachers
•Notice of dismissal to final year probationary teacher
•Non-renewal of administrative contracts and honorable dismissal of administrators
•Reduction in force of educational support personnel
•Notice of non-renewal to non-tenured administrators
All were unanimous with no discussion.
I got a hold of the documents and here are the people that were laid off:
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/16RamhNBJdAuTVnPUm7h1VZUXSO52TWs1OZjfYTdk0Gw/edit#gid=0
I have a story coming on the subject next week when people are back in town and will read my newsletter again :)
OK thanks for this, I'm going to get copies of these.
Thanks Omar. Good work for a union guy to fire a bunch of teachers.
Given declining test scores, why would we reduce education support personnel?
Are you certain it was 'all' teachers with three or less years of experience? The way I've been interpreting those 5 resolutions is that it gave them the authority to terminate people in those positions, but concrete numbers hadn't been decided on. e.g. I don't believe all non-tenured admins are gone either.
…and know that I don’t take any joy in what I feel Evanston has turned into. In the case of education here, it’s tragic because it’s the kids that lose.
The very kids that they purport to help! There are tons of private options here and those with the means have all left to those options, which means they're just taking advantage of the very people they say they want to help. I just don't get it .. I get the sense they don't even want the authority they have.
Right on, Tom. I don’t get it. Haven’t for years. It’s an upside down world in Evanston. I don’t know what happened but it’s like a care (for real care)/pay attention switch has been turned off.
Also another thing for your followers: it’s likely 3 SEATS WILL BE UP FOR GRABS NEXT ELECTION. I’m hearing that 3 current board members will not run again. Sad to think where we might be by then.
Where are you hearing the incumbents whose terms are up won't run again?
From a sitting board member
I can't imagine any of them would want to stick around and rearrange the deck chairs on the Titanic. Even for people who do a good job I can imagine that serving on the board is a grind.
But when you've so blatantly been asleep at the wheel and the train is coming in at 200mph to hit a brick wall, I can see why you'd want to jump ship. (excuse my ridiculous mixed metaphors)
The "Superintendent Goals and Indicators" in that contract are something else. She is supposed to "consistently apply an equity lens to systems, policies, and practices."
I hear this term "equity lens" all the time. What the hell does it mean in practice? If you are evaluating someone for applying said "lens" how do you know? Check with their optician and make sure they've been wearing their equity glasses?
It is code for ignoring that darned fiduciary responsibility
It may not affect job performance, but does anyone know the last time a superintendent lived in Evanston?
Horton lived in Skevanston, Goren lives in Evanston