Evanston Now
District seeks community views on an array of possible ways to raise revenue and cut expenses.
School bus graphic Sergii Tverdokhlibov/Shutterstock.com
Should Evanston/Skokie School District 65 sell ads on school buses to raise revenue? Should each teacher have more students per class, to save money? And in one of the most potentially controversial issues, should any of the District’s schools be closed or consolidated?
Those are among the questions in an 18-point online “Budget Reduction Survey” that District 65 wants parents, students, staff and other community members to fill out.
There’s little doubt that budget cuts are coming. The issue now is how they will be carried out. In a memo to the community explaining the survey, Superintendent Devon Horton says “A year ago, no one could have predicted there would be a pandemic, extended school closures, or the economic fallout that would ensue.”
Evanston Now
D65: Kids might switch schools every three grades
As Evanston/Skokie District 65 looks to redistrict school attendance zones, one option on the table will apparently be changing the mix of grades in buildings.
The District 65 board meeting Monday night.
As Evanston/Skokie District 65 looks to redistrict school attendance zones, one option on the table will apparently be changing the mix of grades in buildings.
Currently, the district’s 10 elementary schools are grades K-5, and the three middle schools are grades 6-8.
During a Board of Education meeting Monday night, Board member Suni Kartha asked Superintendent Devon Horton if the idea of switching schools to perhaps grades K-2 in some buildings, 3-5 in others, and then 6-8 might be on the table.
Chinese international students create a video about the importance and heritage of their names, and Evanston/Skokie School District 65 will reopen soon amid discussions of vaccinations and equity. The Weekly: Week Four Recap breaks down our top headlines with the reporters and editors who covered them.
JACOB FULTON: From The Daily Northwestern, I’m Jacob Fulton.
HALEY FULLER: And I’m Haley Fuller. This is The Weekly, a podcast that breaks down our top headlines each week.
HALEY FULLER: Before we begin, a content warning: this episode has discussions of racist abuse and suicide and mentions of anti-Semitism, Islamaphobia and transphobia. If you would like to skip past that, start at two minutes.
D65 leaders thank teachers for agreeing on in-person school
Deal here contrasts with clashes over reopening in Chicago.
District 65 board members at Monday s online meeting.
While the Chicago Teachers Union and the Chicago Public Schools continue to battle over reopening buildings during the COVID-19 pandemic, the superintendent of Evanston/Skokie District 65 is thanking educators here for their agreement to return to the classroom in mid-February.
In a virtual meeting Monday night, Superintendent Devon Horton told the Board of Education that “we have an agreement with our wonderful union, with DEC,” on going back into school buildings. District 65 students and teachers have been on remote learning since school began in August.
D65 sets another date for in-person schooling
Under new plan schools will stay open unless regional COVID positive rate tops 12%.
Washington Elementary School. (Google Maps)
For the fourth time since school began remotely in the fall, Evanston/Skokie School District 65 has set a date for resuming in-person classes.
The latest target, according to a letter to the community from Superintendent Devon Horton, is Feb. 16.
Previous targets were postponed due to the high coronavirus positivity rate in the area, and other COVID-related metrics such as hospital bed availability.
Horton says the decision to implement the hybrid model, in which some students will be in the building while others learn at home, was “not made hastily, nor as a result of political pressuring.”