Interesting point about just how negative bussing is. 60203 kids get bussed, King Arts kids get bussed. Lots of non-black 5th ward kids get bussed. What is the impact on those students? Millions of kids nationwide get on a school bus each day. It’s not about bussing anymore. And I would vote no on a school as I did in 2012. For many reasons and the top one being that this is just fiscally irresponsible and it is a feel-good move that isn’t even supported by many of the residents in the neighborhood. I also have to say that I think you are wrong about the political climate- if there were a referendum (and people actually went and voted), you would not see overwhelming support for this school. What you see today is overwhelming support for not being labeled publicly a racist or white supremecist. But the voting booth is private and d65 knew this. That’s exactly why they didn’t run the referendum as they should. There continues to be an exodus of teachers and students and the Board will install another CPS Horton cronie. I am grateful for the choices we have in Evanston for excellent schooling outside of d65. I worry about what the effects will be at ETHS- given that there are no advanced classes other than AP (which we already know accepts C-level students who have no business in such courses), are your kids going to be stuck in classes where a good portion of students can’t even read at grade level? I want my kid punching above his weight, not getting sucked down. These are the fears many parents in town have. And this is a D65 problem which they ignore or obfuscate, preferring the PR/“equity” win of a behemoth school we cannot afford over spending concerted effort and funds on bringing the students who need it up to par. That’s actual equity- who cares what building you get there in or what vehicle takes you there. Equity is fake af in this town. If you cared, you would make increasing skills and ability the priority over a “walkable” school. What kid is going to say in 20 years, “Sure, I still can’t read good and I didn’t go to college and my current and future income is negatively impacted, but my grade school was ALMOST leed certified! And I only had to walk a half mile (and cross Green Bay/Emerson in rush hour by myself) to get there!”?
Unfortunately the voters didn't seem to care about this clearly reckless funding scheme. (I won't even bring up Horton's own sketchy history with finances and real estate, which should have been a red flag before he was even hired).
One obvious solution that I don't believe has been explored would be to work with the city to rehab the Morton Civic Center and convert at least part of the building back into a school.
it is a historic school building in the Fifth Ward. It is not being used to its capacity and needs some capital upkeep.
A scenario could be one where the city continues to occupy certain parts of the building, move some departments downtown (where there is a surplus of office space available), D 65 could use the lease certificate cash to invest in upkeep in the building (and, hopefully the other buildings they own that are in a state of deferred maintenance).
I hold no hope for this to happen, largely because the D 65 Board obviously doesn't care about fiscal responsibility and I am confident that they will do another behind-closed-doors superintendent search to bring in another candidate with a weak record that fits with their ideological disposition.
When the 5th ward funding was first proposed I wondered that if cutting busing could pay for an entire new school + smaller classrooms across the district, why had no one proposed this before? Yes, the desegregation busing is its own topic and tied to this, but it seems this silver bullet was found the second someone wanted to find it.
How can all these violations of Illinois laws being broken be reported and someone held accountable? This is at least the second laws I’ve seen you point out being brokenare the feds or someone been notified ?
I personally wish a parent or someone would sue to stop it as you mentioned happened in Wheaton. Indirectly related I heard Devon Reid say on a YouTube that the reparations payments switching to cash payments could be stopped if someone in town sued but he didn’t think anyone in the community would do that because it’s such a great community (I’m paraphrasing his words). Likely same here. However, I saw that one property owner did sue about the homeless shelter so hopefully someone sues.
Interesting point about just how negative bussing is. 60203 kids get bussed, King Arts kids get bussed. Lots of non-black 5th ward kids get bussed. What is the impact on those students? Millions of kids nationwide get on a school bus each day. It’s not about bussing anymore. And I would vote no on a school as I did in 2012. For many reasons and the top one being that this is just fiscally irresponsible and it is a feel-good move that isn’t even supported by many of the residents in the neighborhood. I also have to say that I think you are wrong about the political climate- if there were a referendum (and people actually went and voted), you would not see overwhelming support for this school. What you see today is overwhelming support for not being labeled publicly a racist or white supremecist. But the voting booth is private and d65 knew this. That’s exactly why they didn’t run the referendum as they should. There continues to be an exodus of teachers and students and the Board will install another CPS Horton cronie. I am grateful for the choices we have in Evanston for excellent schooling outside of d65. I worry about what the effects will be at ETHS- given that there are no advanced classes other than AP (which we already know accepts C-level students who have no business in such courses), are your kids going to be stuck in classes where a good portion of students can’t even read at grade level? I want my kid punching above his weight, not getting sucked down. These are the fears many parents in town have. And this is a D65 problem which they ignore or obfuscate, preferring the PR/“equity” win of a behemoth school we cannot afford over spending concerted effort and funds on bringing the students who need it up to par. That’s actual equity- who cares what building you get there in or what vehicle takes you there. Equity is fake af in this town. If you cared, you would make increasing skills and ability the priority over a “walkable” school. What kid is going to say in 20 years, “Sure, I still can’t read good and I didn’t go to college and my current and future income is negatively impacted, but my grade school was ALMOST leed certified! And I only had to walk a half mile (and cross Green Bay/Emerson in rush hour by myself) to get there!”?
Unfortunately the voters didn't seem to care about this clearly reckless funding scheme. (I won't even bring up Horton's own sketchy history with finances and real estate, which should have been a red flag before he was even hired).
One obvious solution that I don't believe has been explored would be to work with the city to rehab the Morton Civic Center and convert at least part of the building back into a school.
it is a historic school building in the Fifth Ward. It is not being used to its capacity and needs some capital upkeep.
A scenario could be one where the city continues to occupy certain parts of the building, move some departments downtown (where there is a surplus of office space available), D 65 could use the lease certificate cash to invest in upkeep in the building (and, hopefully the other buildings they own that are in a state of deferred maintenance).
I hold no hope for this to happen, largely because the D 65 Board obviously doesn't care about fiscal responsibility and I am confident that they will do another behind-closed-doors superintendent search to bring in another candidate with a weak record that fits with their ideological disposition.
Great work as always.
When the 5th ward funding was first proposed I wondered that if cutting busing could pay for an entire new school + smaller classrooms across the district, why had no one proposed this before? Yes, the desegregation busing is its own topic and tied to this, but it seems this silver bullet was found the second someone wanted to find it.
How can all these violations of Illinois laws being broken be reported and someone held accountable? This is at least the second laws I’ve seen you point out being brokenare the feds or someone been notified ?
I personally wish a parent or someone would sue to stop it as you mentioned happened in Wheaton. Indirectly related I heard Devon Reid say on a YouTube that the reparations payments switching to cash payments could be stopped if someone in town sued but he didn’t think anyone in the community would do that because it’s such a great community (I’m paraphrasing his words). Likely same here. However, I saw that one property owner did sue about the homeless shelter so hopefully someone sues.
https://www.district65.net/Page/2605#:~:text=Further%2C%20the%20interest%20rate%20for,place%20by%20the%20Federal%20Reserve.
This says the interest rate is 3.4% under the financing tab and first pull down