The saddest aspect of this problem is that nobody in Evanston pays any attention to school or city governance. We must have thousands of finance professionals who live here, many with kids in D65, who either have no idea this is happening or simply don’t care. Perhaps because most of them can afford to pull their kids and put them into p…
The saddest aspect of this problem is that nobody in Evanston pays any attention to school or city governance. We must have thousands of finance professionals who live here, many with kids in D65, who either have no idea this is happening or simply don’t care. Perhaps because most of them can afford to pull their kids and put them into privates? Bad news for them - the closest private schools are pretty much full.
Sorry, but I think it’s time to stop construction on the fifth ward school. Unfortunately, it seems that the D65 school board is stretching out the financial planning until it’s too late to stop. They think Foster School is going to be their legacy, but driving D65 into bankruptcy is what people will remember them for.
I do feel badly for Dr. Turner. She inherited this mess and is trying to fix it. I would feel even more sympathetic if she stopped D65 staff from ordering in Grecian Kitchen.
It’s time to consolidate the two districts. Anyone who has/had a kid in our high school knows that ETHS runs like clockwork while District 65 is a dumpster fire. That is why the high school‘s enrollment numbers have not declined while District 65’s have gone down 20%.
Yeah, I think even a referendum in 2025 would probably pass because most Evanston voters are just roughly in favor of schools and don't pay attention to all the drama. Maybe I'm wrong - my subscriber base grows every day.
They have to figure out something with Foster School because if they won't have enough cash to make payroll and need to take loans in Jan 2025, I don't know how they're going to get the money later in the year to finish construction. The lease certificate isn't going to cover 100% of the construction and costs for things inside the school. Maybe they'll finish it but not have money to put anything inside the building. We promised the Fifth Ward a robotics lab and they get a barebones building with no furniture, if they're lucky.
I've been supportive of Turner but I think last night was a demonstration that she doesn't have a clear plan. Jan 2025 is *four months* from now and Grossi was like "you have to do something right now"
The board is so derelict in their governance. The hiring of Turner never made any sense. It has been clear for more than a year that we needed a financial expert with turnaround experience.
Instead they have a non-public search that yields an inexperienced Horton crony who is on the do-not-hire list at CPS?
I don’t think a referendum would pass when you’ve had this much enrollment decline. We wore pins in support, attended town halls, had yard signs last time around. If this group of people is still running the show there is a 0% chance we would vote in favor of giving them any additional funding to waste. I don’t think we would be in the minority with this mindset.
If the 2013 referendum didn't pass, what makes you think one in 2025 will? I don't think it's going to be possible to successfully hide the fifth ward school element of why there's a bail out needed. Other reasons that might drive pushback:
-lower % of Evanston residents with D65 eligible kids using our public schools=less invested in their success
-parents of current high schoolers who had a negative experience around the handling of pandemic reopening
-the most recent tax hike from our triennial reassessment was a doozy based on elevated property values, so people are even more conscious of their taxes
To your point, one of my very first posts on this blog when I started was about enrollment and the crisis of legitimacy it will create when the voters are no longer receiving the services of the public body. Especially in the Horton years, they were outright encouraging families to leave ("If you want your kid to get attention, go the private schools" Horton says)
So maybe you're right that it will be more like the 2012 referendum.
They clearly don't have a plan and are lurching from one disaster to another like Mr. Toad's wild ride. Personal thanks to Duncan Agnew for the great metaphor.
This district is in no financial condition and has no competence to be launching construction of a new school. Board members were already discussing the closure of 4-5 schools even before the latest financial bombshells. Proceeding with the 5th Ward school, under current conditions, would lead to an unfinished school (The Pit), debt service costing the equivalent of 30 educators annually at current run rates, no money to complete even a severely compromised underfunded school with a litany of cut corners leading to, among other things, unhealthy breathing conditions which are downright dangerous in our new post-pandemic world (Loss of LEED certification and indoor EQ), completely unequipped and unfurnished and, given impact to funding, no money for teachers. All while impacting even more children district-wide with reduced teachers, programs and likely the closing of an additional school beyond the aforementioned 4-5. How many children will suffer from the financial dislocations of this incompetence? I agree that the legacy of this board and administration will be one of financial malfeasance and not a victory lap around a new school. It will never be built and every penny spent will be wasted. The prudent thing to do would be to negotiate a return of capital to lease certificate holders under a forbearance agreement. They’re already comically and demonstrably in violation of almost every single one of their debt covenants and certainly all the major ones. Better to negotiate it now while the principal is still intact and available. The disaster scenario is the fall-out of inevitable litigation when the district is unable to make debt service. Which is in 90 days.
I agree with their decision to move forward with an external consultant to handle what would've been the SAP3 process and to figure out the nasty job of "right-sizing" this mess, if only to remove authority from a body that has created a complete crisis of confidence and never ceases to outdo themselves in establishing new standards of financial and educational mismanagement. Why give these people the authority to completely disrupt the lives of 5-6 schools worth of children and teachers and community all for the sake of their vanity project?
Two things are urgently necessary:
1. The guidance and inputs given to the external consultant must be completely public and with absolutely no preconditions. How can a brand-new school be set in stone when the district obviously can’t afford it and it will have a further devastating impact on the finances of the district? All options for closure and cost savings must be on the table and there can be no sacred cows other than the highest standards of academic achievement under current constraints.
2. A complete and thorough external audit. The removal of the existing auditing firm with potential for litigation for malpractice. Given the likelihood taxes will need to go up +20% in an atmosphere of drastically reduced services, the taxpayers and parents have a right to know where the money went. Given the heavy financial burden and impact to children’s lives and education, not having complete accountability would be a miscarriage of justice and an abnegation of responsibility. There must be accountability. The board and administration can be expected to balk at this…for all too obvious reasons. All the more reason to push for it.
4-5 schools would be so extreme...even trying to close 1-2 more than BR, which seems like all but a certainty at this point, is going to be extremely hard for them to do. Even counting BR, I do not know how you close that many schools here AND build a new Foster school.
1. Is that transparency to the public something a consultancy typically provides? I think Foster School is "set in stone" unless actual clear evidence is presented laying out the process and financial implications of pulling the plug, and it's clear that it would have a major impact in the projected financial picture. I don't think Foster School construction cost overruns are factored into the current year budget, or there would be more pushback (scary). The real question is WHY, other than it not being financially beneficial during a time of financial crisis, would there be zero talk whatsoever about what would happen if we halted the project.
2. I think Tom FOIA'ed Baker Tilly audits from recent years, so we should have some idea of what's been looked at pretty soon. Either they flagged things that were missed/ignored (Board's fault) or they missed/ignored red flags (BT's fault for missing, responsibility of Board for hiring them).
3. Would you speak at one of the next board meetings to push for the above? If not, what's the best channel to actually exert this kind of pressure? The IL OIG?
So to finish the project, you need about $8 million buckazoids. Where they getting that from? Maybe Bessie Rhodes building will throw in a couple million. The rest???
They have $4m for contingencies in the budget (see above doc) and if everything goes perfect, maybe they can use that. But it's still not enough and that's the only room for error they really have. If something like HVAC goes way over budget, they're screwed.
I think in order for this to continue, the administration needs to prove to the board that the project can be fully funded. I just don't see how that's possible given the existing circumstances.
Also, it is inarguable that the project is still being funded at the expense of other things we can no longer afford. There's a $2.5M gap between the bus savings the project was approved on and the actual projected savings (which btw, we can still achieve by continuing with new student assignment mapping even if the new school is not built in the near future). This means not only the $8m you referenced, but an ongoing $2.5M of the existing budget that's needing to be pulled in from elsewhere to make our annual $3.3M payment.
We could literally buy Grecian Kitchen with one year of that $2.5M and lock in the D65 Admin free lunches for good.
Ahh, thanks for sharing the link to the audited financials. Seems like it was insufficient then?
re: Bessie sale closing the gap, how does that work? BR is still planned to be open through probably early June 2026. If the Foster School is slated for completion, and we're relying on proceeds from BR sale, we'd need a buyer lined up to close almost immediately after the conclusion of SY25-26 and the funds to clear. Not sure that's something you can bank on.
I also question the projected revenue from selling Bessie Rhodes. We have heard from D65 that the building appraises for: $2 million, $3 million, $4 million, $5 million. We have never been given a source for any of these appraisals. Furthermore, Bessie Rhodes abuts Skokie's Timber Ridge Park. You cannot develop on this parkland. Any potential buyer is working with a very confined footprint. And finally, yes: none of the money from selling Bessie Rhodes will come to D65 BEFORE the new Foster School is completed, so it cannot be used to help PAY for the new Foster School...unless contractors now accept "promises" upon completion of work.
I haven't seen any of them in the most recent Roundtable article yet. Regarding the algorithm changes, are you saying that we aren't able to see their comments at all? I checked and I haven't seen anything from them on FB. I can't imagine how they could continue to spin this, but I am sure they have their angle. Which is insane at this point.
Actually, silence might be a strategy here. Avoid bringing it up, let the early phases of construction crawl along, enough that having to undo contracts, negotiate prepayment, and also budget for replacing everything that's been demoed at the site thus far is prohibitive and keeping the project going is the "best" option.
It is truly sad that the forum treated as the broader place for D65 parents and caregivers to discuss important and relevant issues has been so stifled that NOBODY is willing to discuss the five-alarm fire that's going on right now.
Well we are discussing it here and this is a much more constructive place to do it.
I also thought about how they are just going to keep ignoring emails from the community about canceling the school until it is at a point of no return and then they will say, "Oh, we looked into it (as weeks go by and construction is fully underway) and its too late, sorry." The level of corruption here knows no bounds. They just want to pad their resumes and jump ship just like Horton and the CFO Obefami.
Oh I agree with you on this being a more constructive setting to do so...I do worry about this turning into a bit of an echo chamber, where other people (especially newer to Evanston and D65) haven't come across this substack and are less aware of much of this discussion that's happening, while the unofficial D65 FB group is 80% announcements about upcoming events.
During the upcoming election cycle, I have a feeling that page will heat up, and unfortunately it has reach (4.4k members).
This place becoming an echo chamber is extremely concerning to me and something I've been thinking a lot about lately. I'm going to do some thinking to find a way to reign it in. My early efforts to shitpost in the comments in order to keep the conversation going, at this point, may be too much
I think one way would be to keep bringing visibility to this Substack in the FB page to draw in broader audience and viewpoints. So many of us have found this place very informative on the posts alone, not even accounting for the exchanges of thoughts, ideas, rants in the comments. The FB page is often just a place where people post links to relevant info and events, so might as well use it as a launching pad.
I wish people would stop advocating for combining the districts. I know that is a pet issue of this substack, but the reason ETHS works is because it isn’t saddled with D65.
And if D65 had proper governance it would work better.
As someone who works in public education, I really wish this scary proposal would go away (or not happen until my kids are safely through ETHS).
With all due respect — I couldn’t disagree more. Get rid of all the d65 administration & the d65 BOE, pay 202 Admin more and let them hire extra people sparingly but where needed/targeted —and critically, allow the community to elect a new school board. There are hybrid ways of doing this so as not to impact the unions/teachers pay/etc. and this is done all over the country in communities far larger than Evanston.
Plus, in the end, if we’re honest, 202 is getting pummeled with ill prepared 65 kids —and I think we all know that that is likely only going to get worse. We need to realize that no joint goals exist between districts. Also their perfunctory joint meetings are for show and only highlight how inadequate the d65 BOE & Admin is. Imagine if there were clear metrics and deliverables identified for all Evanston kids preK-12 and we had one set of administrators and one BOE all working to meet those goals—and gasp!, reporting regularly to the community.
I know it’s different and change is hard to get one’s head around. But I really think we could do this & it wouldn’t ruin ETHS. Good grief —do we care about those kids most at risk or don’t we? Come on Evanston —this is doable. Two districts for a town our size is unnecessary, fiscally irresponsible and critically —our current set up is resulting in a massive failure of the very kids it’s supposed to academically nurture.
It crazy we paying 2 sets of administrators our 2 superintendent make almost 600000 dollars this is outrageous.
Turner can’t make a decision without a consultant that’s just a waste of tax dollars that don’t go to actually educating our kids. Let’s not pretend that Evanston high school is great it full of D65 kids
The non-union non-principal administrative apparatus (ie curriculum, superintendents) costs taxpayers around $6.3m per year in salaries alone. I have a comp speadsheet I shared at one point. Thats 2x what it was in 2021.
I have written to school board members about this and recently to Dr Turner. They really do not feel accountable to constituents to justify how they are spending the money. BTW, I love how you phrased it “non-union non-principal administrative apparatus.” That’s perfect.
The saddest aspect of this problem is that nobody in Evanston pays any attention to school or city governance. We must have thousands of finance professionals who live here, many with kids in D65, who either have no idea this is happening or simply don’t care. Perhaps because most of them can afford to pull their kids and put them into privates? Bad news for them - the closest private schools are pretty much full.
Sorry, but I think it’s time to stop construction on the fifth ward school. Unfortunately, it seems that the D65 school board is stretching out the financial planning until it’s too late to stop. They think Foster School is going to be their legacy, but driving D65 into bankruptcy is what people will remember them for.
I do feel badly for Dr. Turner. She inherited this mess and is trying to fix it. I would feel even more sympathetic if she stopped D65 staff from ordering in Grecian Kitchen.
It’s time to consolidate the two districts. Anyone who has/had a kid in our high school knows that ETHS runs like clockwork while District 65 is a dumpster fire. That is why the high school‘s enrollment numbers have not declined while District 65’s have gone down 20%.
Yeah, I think even a referendum in 2025 would probably pass because most Evanston voters are just roughly in favor of schools and don't pay attention to all the drama. Maybe I'm wrong - my subscriber base grows every day.
They have to figure out something with Foster School because if they won't have enough cash to make payroll and need to take loans in Jan 2025, I don't know how they're going to get the money later in the year to finish construction. The lease certificate isn't going to cover 100% of the construction and costs for things inside the school. Maybe they'll finish it but not have money to put anything inside the building. We promised the Fifth Ward a robotics lab and they get a barebones building with no furniture, if they're lucky.
I've been supportive of Turner but I think last night was a demonstration that she doesn't have a clear plan. Jan 2025 is *four months* from now and Grossi was like "you have to do something right now"
The board is so derelict in their governance. The hiring of Turner never made any sense. It has been clear for more than a year that we needed a financial expert with turnaround experience.
Instead they have a non-public search that yields an inexperienced Horton crony who is on the do-not-hire list at CPS?
I don’t think a referendum would pass when you’ve had this much enrollment decline. We wore pins in support, attended town halls, had yard signs last time around. If this group of people is still running the show there is a 0% chance we would vote in favor of giving them any additional funding to waste. I don’t think we would be in the minority with this mindset.
Yeah, maybe the outcome will be more like 2012 referendum. We really only have a sample of N=2
If the 2013 referendum didn't pass, what makes you think one in 2025 will? I don't think it's going to be possible to successfully hide the fifth ward school element of why there's a bail out needed. Other reasons that might drive pushback:
-lower % of Evanston residents with D65 eligible kids using our public schools=less invested in their success
-parents of current high schoolers who had a negative experience around the handling of pandemic reopening
-the most recent tax hike from our triennial reassessment was a doozy based on elevated property values, so people are even more conscious of their taxes
To your point, one of my very first posts on this blog when I started was about enrollment and the crisis of legitimacy it will create when the voters are no longer receiving the services of the public body. Especially in the Horton years, they were outright encouraging families to leave ("If you want your kid to get attention, go the private schools" Horton says)
So maybe you're right that it will be more like the 2012 referendum.
They clearly don't have a plan and are lurching from one disaster to another like Mr. Toad's wild ride. Personal thanks to Duncan Agnew for the great metaphor.
This district is in no financial condition and has no competence to be launching construction of a new school. Board members were already discussing the closure of 4-5 schools even before the latest financial bombshells. Proceeding with the 5th Ward school, under current conditions, would lead to an unfinished school (The Pit), debt service costing the equivalent of 30 educators annually at current run rates, no money to complete even a severely compromised underfunded school with a litany of cut corners leading to, among other things, unhealthy breathing conditions which are downright dangerous in our new post-pandemic world (Loss of LEED certification and indoor EQ), completely unequipped and unfurnished and, given impact to funding, no money for teachers. All while impacting even more children district-wide with reduced teachers, programs and likely the closing of an additional school beyond the aforementioned 4-5. How many children will suffer from the financial dislocations of this incompetence? I agree that the legacy of this board and administration will be one of financial malfeasance and not a victory lap around a new school. It will never be built and every penny spent will be wasted. The prudent thing to do would be to negotiate a return of capital to lease certificate holders under a forbearance agreement. They’re already comically and demonstrably in violation of almost every single one of their debt covenants and certainly all the major ones. Better to negotiate it now while the principal is still intact and available. The disaster scenario is the fall-out of inevitable litigation when the district is unable to make debt service. Which is in 90 days.
I agree with their decision to move forward with an external consultant to handle what would've been the SAP3 process and to figure out the nasty job of "right-sizing" this mess, if only to remove authority from a body that has created a complete crisis of confidence and never ceases to outdo themselves in establishing new standards of financial and educational mismanagement. Why give these people the authority to completely disrupt the lives of 5-6 schools worth of children and teachers and community all for the sake of their vanity project?
Two things are urgently necessary:
1. The guidance and inputs given to the external consultant must be completely public and with absolutely no preconditions. How can a brand-new school be set in stone when the district obviously can’t afford it and it will have a further devastating impact on the finances of the district? All options for closure and cost savings must be on the table and there can be no sacred cows other than the highest standards of academic achievement under current constraints.
2. A complete and thorough external audit. The removal of the existing auditing firm with potential for litigation for malpractice. Given the likelihood taxes will need to go up +20% in an atmosphere of drastically reduced services, the taxpayers and parents have a right to know where the money went. Given the heavy financial burden and impact to children’s lives and education, not having complete accountability would be a miscarriage of justice and an abnegation of responsibility. There must be accountability. The board and administration can be expected to balk at this…for all too obvious reasons. All the more reason to push for it.
"How did you go bankrupt?"
"Two ways. Gradually, then suddenly."
BTW - where did you get the "closure of 4-5 schools" from?
From a discussion with a board member.
4-5 schools would be so extreme...even trying to close 1-2 more than BR, which seems like all but a certainty at this point, is going to be extremely hard for them to do. Even counting BR, I do not know how you close that many schools here AND build a new Foster school.
1. Is that transparency to the public something a consultancy typically provides? I think Foster School is "set in stone" unless actual clear evidence is presented laying out the process and financial implications of pulling the plug, and it's clear that it would have a major impact in the projected financial picture. I don't think Foster School construction cost overruns are factored into the current year budget, or there would be more pushback (scary). The real question is WHY, other than it not being financially beneficial during a time of financial crisis, would there be zero talk whatsoever about what would happen if we halted the project.
2. I think Tom FOIA'ed Baker Tilly audits from recent years, so we should have some idea of what's been looked at pretty soon. Either they flagged things that were missed/ignored (Board's fault) or they missed/ignored red flags (BT's fault for missing, responsibility of Board for hiring them).
3. Would you speak at one of the next board meetings to push for the above? If not, what's the best channel to actually exert this kind of pressure? The IL OIG?
The Baker-Tilly audits are actually public! You can find them here:
https://www.district65.net/about/budget-finance (they're under the Annual Financial Report - AFR section)
As I see it, the challenge with the Foster school is this:
1) They have $40m in lease certificate money to use for construction.
2) They don't appear to have any other money they can contribute to construction now or in future years.
Cordogan Clark's 2024 estimates are here:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1y4Bb7jJgZlvPGquFV9aJmYko_iCsCYMK/view?usp=drive_link
Total Construction Cost: $42,097,914
Total Non Construction Cost: $6,355,827
So to finish the project, you need about $8 million buckazoids. Where they getting that from? Maybe Bessie Rhodes building will throw in a couple million. The rest???
They have $4m for contingencies in the budget (see above doc) and if everything goes perfect, maybe they can use that. But it's still not enough and that's the only room for error they really have. If something like HVAC goes way over budget, they're screwed.
I think in order for this to continue, the administration needs to prove to the board that the project can be fully funded. I just don't see how that's possible given the existing circumstances.
Also, it is inarguable that the project is still being funded at the expense of other things we can no longer afford. There's a $2.5M gap between the bus savings the project was approved on and the actual projected savings (which btw, we can still achieve by continuing with new student assignment mapping even if the new school is not built in the near future). This means not only the $8m you referenced, but an ongoing $2.5M of the existing budget that's needing to be pulled in from elsewhere to make our annual $3.3M payment.
We could literally buy Grecian Kitchen with one year of that $2.5M and lock in the D65 Admin free lunches for good.
OMG I laughed out loud at the idea of buying Grecian Kitchen
Ahh, thanks for sharing the link to the audited financials. Seems like it was insufficient then?
re: Bessie sale closing the gap, how does that work? BR is still planned to be open through probably early June 2026. If the Foster School is slated for completion, and we're relying on proceeds from BR sale, we'd need a buyer lined up to close almost immediately after the conclusion of SY25-26 and the funds to clear. Not sure that's something you can bank on.
Yeah it's cutting it really close, part of the reason why I'm a skeptic now
I also question the projected revenue from selling Bessie Rhodes. We have heard from D65 that the building appraises for: $2 million, $3 million, $4 million, $5 million. We have never been given a source for any of these appraisals. Furthermore, Bessie Rhodes abuts Skokie's Timber Ridge Park. You cannot develop on this parkland. Any potential buyer is working with a very confined footprint. And finally, yes: none of the money from selling Bessie Rhodes will come to D65 BEFORE the new Foster School is completed, so it cannot be used to help PAY for the new Foster School...unless contractors now accept "promises" upon completion of work.
Yeah the $5 million number the District has cited seems quite generous for a building that
1) Could be used as a school but needs a pretty large investment in improvements.
2) Could be used as residential but will require massive zoning change with the City.
3) Doesn't really have any commercial or other value.
Maybe this is where I can finally open the Tom Hayden School of Jazz Studies.
I haven't seen any of them in the most recent Roundtable article yet. Regarding the algorithm changes, are you saying that we aren't able to see their comments at all? I checked and I haven't seen anything from them on FB. I can't imagine how they could continue to spin this, but I am sure they have their angle. Which is insane at this point.
Actually, silence might be a strategy here. Avoid bringing it up, let the early phases of construction crawl along, enough that having to undo contracts, negotiate prepayment, and also budget for replacing everything that's been demoed at the site thus far is prohibitive and keeping the project going is the "best" option.
It is truly sad that the forum treated as the broader place for D65 parents and caregivers to discuss important and relevant issues has been so stifled that NOBODY is willing to discuss the five-alarm fire that's going on right now.
Well we are discussing it here and this is a much more constructive place to do it.
I also thought about how they are just going to keep ignoring emails from the community about canceling the school until it is at a point of no return and then they will say, "Oh, we looked into it (as weeks go by and construction is fully underway) and its too late, sorry." The level of corruption here knows no bounds. They just want to pad their resumes and jump ship just like Horton and the CFO Obefami.
Oh I agree with you on this being a more constructive setting to do so...I do worry about this turning into a bit of an echo chamber, where other people (especially newer to Evanston and D65) haven't come across this substack and are less aware of much of this discussion that's happening, while the unofficial D65 FB group is 80% announcements about upcoming events.
During the upcoming election cycle, I have a feeling that page will heat up, and unfortunately it has reach (4.4k members).
This place becoming an echo chamber is extremely concerning to me and something I've been thinking a lot about lately. I'm going to do some thinking to find a way to reign it in. My early efforts to shitpost in the comments in order to keep the conversation going, at this point, may be too much
I think one way would be to keep bringing visibility to this Substack in the FB page to draw in broader audience and viewpoints. So many of us have found this place very informative on the posts alone, not even accounting for the exchanges of thoughts, ideas, rants in the comments. The FB page is often just a place where people post links to relevant info and events, so might as well use it as a launching pad.
I wish people would stop advocating for combining the districts. I know that is a pet issue of this substack, but the reason ETHS works is because it isn’t saddled with D65.
And if D65 had proper governance it would work better.
As someone who works in public education, I really wish this scary proposal would go away (or not happen until my kids are safely through ETHS).
With all due respect — I couldn’t disagree more. Get rid of all the d65 administration & the d65 BOE, pay 202 Admin more and let them hire extra people sparingly but where needed/targeted —and critically, allow the community to elect a new school board. There are hybrid ways of doing this so as not to impact the unions/teachers pay/etc. and this is done all over the country in communities far larger than Evanston.
Plus, in the end, if we’re honest, 202 is getting pummeled with ill prepared 65 kids —and I think we all know that that is likely only going to get worse. We need to realize that no joint goals exist between districts. Also their perfunctory joint meetings are for show and only highlight how inadequate the d65 BOE & Admin is. Imagine if there were clear metrics and deliverables identified for all Evanston kids preK-12 and we had one set of administrators and one BOE all working to meet those goals—and gasp!, reporting regularly to the community.
I know it’s different and change is hard to get one’s head around. But I really think we could do this & it wouldn’t ruin ETHS. Good grief —do we care about those kids most at risk or don’t we? Come on Evanston —this is doable. Two districts for a town our size is unnecessary, fiscally irresponsible and critically —our current set up is resulting in a massive failure of the very kids it’s supposed to academically nurture.
It crazy we paying 2 sets of administrators our 2 superintendent make almost 600000 dollars this is outrageous.
Turner can’t make a decision without a consultant that’s just a waste of tax dollars that don’t go to actually educating our kids. Let’s not pretend that Evanston high school is great it full of D65 kids
Just so we are clear, D65 has 6 superintendents.
The non-union non-principal administrative apparatus (ie curriculum, superintendents) costs taxpayers around $6.3m per year in salaries alone. I have a comp speadsheet I shared at one point. Thats 2x what it was in 2021.
I have written to school board members about this and recently to Dr Turner. They really do not feel accountable to constituents to justify how they are spending the money. BTW, I love how you phrased it “non-union non-principal administrative apparatus.” That’s perfect.
I will admit that it was a move in the right direction to consolidate the superintendent for elementary schools and superintendent for middle schools.