Community Conversation - Chute

Thank you to all of the individuals who invested the time to engage in our Community Conversation sessions regarding the Structural Deficit Reduction Plan.

Meeting summaries were created to provide increased transparency across the community and to provide insight as to the perspectives and thoughts across various stakeholders.

The total number of participants does not include district facilitators.

Meeting details:

• Date and time: April 10, 2025 at 6:30 p.m.
• Location: Chute Middle School
• Approximate number of participants: 70

What criteria should be considered when making possible recommendations for a school to be closed or consolidated?

At this point, we are asking for your input on criteria that you believe are most valuable in future decision making around potential school closures or consolidations. To guide stakeholder discussion, criteria have been categorized into four categories. Please note that these are a starting point, not set in stone.

• Excellence (EX): Striving for high-quality education and student outcomes

• Equity (EQ): Ensuring access and opportunities for ALL students

• Effective Use of Resources - Finances (FI): Maximizing financial and operational sustainability

• Effective Use of Resources - Facilities (FA): Optimizing facilities, space, and infrastructure to best support student learning and community needs

• Participants were encouraged to create an additional category if needed to capture criteria that may not fit in our existing categories.

Robust conversation took place across sessions and content from the meetings were summarized based on high level themes that emerged. In community and parent/caregiver advisory sessions, the responses were transcribed directly from the chart paper provided from the various groups. Identifying information has been removed and responses to question 2 are provided in summary form (not verbatim quotes).

Participants were given three stickers to vote for the criteria that they believe are most important on their groups’ chart. Those votes are reflected in the righthand column of the chart below.

Knowing that difficult decisions are required, what creative solutions do you believe should be considered as an alternative or alongside potential school closures and/or consolidations?

• Reuse furniture for Foster School rather than buying new furntiture (leverage current assets)
• Better engage Northwestern as a partner (eg provide purple ecofriendly buses - NU marketing tool and reduces district costs)
• Consolidate afterschool programming and create economies of scale (eg do we need both Right at School and School Age Child Care (SACC)?
• Better align transportation - recommend and coordinate better drop off and pick up between middle and elementary schools; change school hours if needed for efficiency
• Re-examine use of technology post pandemic, especially at younger grade levels (cost, impact, effectiveness) - does it really need to be K-8?
• Generate additional revenue and increase taxes for Northwestern
• Potentially partnering with Evanston Public Library for electronic resources for students; reduce licensing cost for ebooks; get library cards for students to access resources
• Develop revenue generating ideas during the summertime (eg rentals)
• Conduct an audit on technology software and usage across the district (use and cost)
• Rentals for athletic fields and outdoor spaces on weekends, evenings, etc
• Can unused or underutilized rooms in schools be used for rental purposes such as private daycare?
• Increase volunteerism - Engage families and professionals within the community to support needs within buildings (decreased following covid)
• Pursue cost savings of consolidation between District 65 and District 202
• There are a lot of professionals within the district - consider coworking space in the schools
• Better understanding of funding model and whether D65 brings in additional revenue with increased students?
• Increase the number of tuition paying students in D65
• Expand prek; especially among families who have the ability to pay
• Some districts charge for full-day prek among families who can afford it
• For half-day prek programs, offer onsite paid before and after childcare to generate revenue and help families who need a full-day option
• Expanded prek would serve the community well
• Fundraising - Engage in a capital campaign (eg selling bricks at schools; need more robust fundraising
• Leverage Dawes annex space for preK or potentially as special education preschool 
• What can D65 learn by looking at ETHS budget and fundraising?
• Better understand budget if increased costs are coming from special education, transportation, how to ensure that the continued costs won't eat up savings from closing buildings?
• Partner with My65 or Evanston Community Foundation to create a capital campaign; families will support an endowment 
• Expand and strengthen continuum of special education services so we are not outplacing students and even bring students into the district on a tuition paying basis?
• Leverage Northwestern, Oakton, etc for increased tutoring and access to resources
• Partnerships with corporate companies to fund/sponsor 1-2 teachers or necessary positions in schools for longterm (endowed chairs) 
• Explore possibilities and cost savings of D65 having its own bus fleet
• Could schools fundraise for specific building maintenance costs (eg needing an elevator in building to increase accessibility) - could this be an exception to fundraising guidelines?