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Community Conversation - Haven 10/16

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

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: October 16, 2025, at 6 p.m.
  • Location: Haven Middle School
  • Approximate number of participants: 200

Questions generated via QR code:

Participants were asked to scan a QR code and submit questions, which were then answered in order. The questions below were transcribed directly from the QR code data, with the exception where identifying information was provided.

  • Have you tried using AI to optimize the closings and boundaries? 
  • Has there been any conversation with Mayor Biss or any ward representatives regarding the impact that they might see?
  • Why weren’t more of the 3 school closure scenarios modeled out? The 3B closure had a score of 2.8 but there are 4 closure scenarios that had a score of 2.9 that have not been modeled out at all. That’s only a 0.1 point difference. We should allow the board to see those scenarios as well, particularly if they don’t involve the closure of a title I school. 
  • Do you plan to conduct an updated master facilities plan?
  • Is the urgency to close three schools now directly related to the opening of the new school Foster? 
  • How does enrollment impact special ed funding for the district?
  • Is it a foregone conclusion that both Kingsley and Lincolnwood will close Fall 2026?
  • why did we not close a school last year? Or the year before? Why now? 
  • What happened to all the money raised from the 2017 referendum? 
  • Was Foster School put through the same criteria as all the other schools?
  • Hi! How does the deficit in FY2027 compare to FY2028 (and future years)? I am specifically asking as it relates to the one-time ~6M Foster payment discussed at Tuesday’s Board meeting. (PS - Thanks for your work on this!)
  • Do we expect king arts enrollment to decline since a large population there will now have a closer school in foster? 
  • Hi! How is the D65 Administration planning to fund the remaining ~150M in deferred maintenance that will exist following school closures?  (PS - Thanks for your work on this!)
  • How is this plan aligned with overall city priorities and specifically envision Evanston? In terms of data driving the plans and alignment with the priorities? 
  • Is the ongoing thought that both Kingsley and Lincolnwood are set to close? What are the plans to do with the property after their closing? What are the property tax implications related to lost property value of neighboring homes? 
  • Isn’t orrington school in bad shape? Is sending more kids there a safe idea? What’s the plan to fix the building? 
  • Given recent legal developments and the fact people have been aware of these issues for more than two years why are we even here? Why was construction on foster school even started? How do we trust anything coming out of this leadership and board given the last five years? Please let us all know when each of you knew an indictment was coming. 
  • What is the percentage of elementary school kids with new school assignments in the new scenarios?
  • Foster is not being considered to take on additional students as a neighborhood school outside of existing planned boundaries, as evidenced by scenarios 3BR and 3DR where even the neighborhood immediately surrounding Kingsley is being reassigned to Orrington. Why, then, is Foster included at all in the “three nearest schools”, when are not planning on students from Dewey, Kingsley, or Lincolnwood being reassigned there in a closure? The inclusion of Foster as a data point within this criteria is pushing down each of those schools to lower scores in all scenarios, and thus, other schools up to higher scores based on weighting.
  • Why does NW of Greenbay get routed to Orrington, have you considered other scenarios, and have savings have been adjusted based on the transportation of >200 kids 
  • Hi! What are expected transportation costs in the new 3X scenario? (PS - Thanks for all your work on this!)
  • How is it acceptable to have students from West of Central Street cross both Greenbay and Ridge to get to Orrington? Not only can they not get directly to school because of Northwestern + Ryan Field but they are crossing two busy streets. Willard is the closest school for those students. Don’t say you care about walkability for all students if you can’t stand by it.
  • How is it acceptable to have students from West of Central Street cross both Greenbay and Ridge to get to Orrington? Not only can they not get directly to school because of Northwestern + Ryan Field but they are crossing two busy streets. Willard is the closest school for those students. Don’t say you care about walkability for all students if you can’t stand by it.
  • What have we considered for revenue growth?
  • Do you plan to sell Bessie Rhodes? Wouldn’t that impact the fincial need for next year?
  •         2. Other districts that have closed schools have overestimated the savings impacts and underestimated the costs of closing - new or different staffing, re-negotiated contracts and vendor relationships, movers, facilities changes, and more. How can we be sure that these estimates are conservative in net savings and not overstated? For example, if we estimate a school closure saves us $2M but actually saves only $1M, is it *worth* closing that school, given the cost to students, families, and communities? 
  • Can you run a dynamic model that does not impact 2 neighboring schools?
  • When asked during the board meeting, Dr. Beardsley stated that it was not the will of the Board to model school closures sequentially, but rather to model scenarios ranging from zero to four closures. However, these two approaches are not mutually exclusive. “Sequential” does not mean “phased over time,” but rather understanding how closing one school affects the metrics and proximity scores of other schools within the same scenario. For example, if Kingsley were closed, Lincolnwood’s proximity score should change in scenario 2A to reflect that impact. After receiving both community feedback and quantitative analysis highlighting the consequences of omitting sequential modeling, will you be willing to revisit and remodel the scenarios to incorporate these interdependencies? Importantly, if not, can you explain why that approach will not be pursued when it would help the board and community understand the true implications of these scenarios.  If you believe this is a question for the board, why haven’t you asked them?
  • This morning a community member was abducted at drop off time between Dawes and Chute. The community is scared. How can the strategy in the strategic deficit reduction plan be adjusted to adapt to this changed reality? 
  • What do you anticipate the budget being for all of the reassignment of students k-8, school closure work (I.e. moving, cleaning, preparing for lease/sale),  etc to be and if you don’t have that budget number when will you have it and how will it be shared with the community?  When do you anticipate rolling out transition plans to the community once school closure decisions are made? Has a plan for Bessie Rhodes been determined (I.e. sell or lease) since the known closure of this building has been in place for quite some time?  If a plan does not exist why not?
  • What happened to all the money raised from the 2017 referendum? 
  • Can you run a dynamic model that does not impact 2 neighboring schools?
  • What is the benefit of closing King Arts as a K–8 only to reopen it as a K–5, when doing so would eliminate its new national magnet designation, dismantle the K–8 RISE program and displace the Bessie Rhodes population again that was just integrated into King Arts?
  • King arts has a beautiful auditorium that could easily accommodate this meeting and is ADA friendly.  why couldn’t we have this session there? 
  • Given the financial mismanagement that you have overseen and the federal indictments of our recent superintendent, please explain why an independent forensic accounting was not the very first step, instead of balancing your budget on our children’s backs
  • If Foster is 100% ADA compliant and 63% utilization, why not move RISE there? If it wasn’t built for their needs, why didn’t they consider special education when building new schools?
  • Why weren’t more of the 3 school closure scenarios modeled out? The 3B closure had a score of 2.8 but there are 4 closure scenarios that had a score of 2.9 that have not been modeled out at all. That’s only a 0.1 point difference. We should allow the board to see those scenarios as well, particularly if they don’t involve the closure of a title I school. 
  • Tamara Mitchell: Is there a plan to compare district spending across spending metrics, including: (a) Educational and Non-Educational Full-Time Employees (“FTEs”) per 1000 students and per building and (b) annual and hourly costs per student for discretionary programs? D65’s budget is roughly $28,000 per student, which is
  • second only to Winnetka in nearby K-8 districts. Will these scenarios bring us more in line with peer districts?
  • The community is begging for more creative scenarios than 3 school closures. Why has the consensus been 3 school closures and why aren’t you investing in more creative solutions?
  • There is a lot of talk about equity.  Equity was certainly taken Into account in the decision to open up Foster.  How is it equitable to close both of the only elementary schools in this neighborhood (i.e. Kingsley and Lincolnwood)?
  • As a concerned parent i want to know whats the impact on TWI and students who have IEPs. Is transportation directly affecting kids with IEPs. Are the new classrooms fitted for kids with IEPs? 
  • Tamara Mitchell: Is there a plan to compare district spending across spending metrics, including: (a) Educational and Non-Educational Full-Time Employees (“FTEs”) per 1000 students and per building and (b) annual and hourly costs per student for discretionary programs? D65’s budget is roughly $28,000 per student, which is second only to Winnetka in nearby K-8 districts. Will these scenarios bring us more in line with peer districts?
  • How will you determine which staff moves to which school?
  • The definition of walkable used in the model was .75 miles and the threshold for modeling bussing was 1.5 miles.  Can you help us understand the district guidance for those who live in between .75 miles and 1.5 miles to the school they have been assigned to?
  • At board meetings, it sounds like there is a desire to continue looking into more and more proposals.  Are we still looking it in more proposals that weren’t originally presented on 9/29?  Are more models being created?  Or are we moving forward with only what has been presented thus far?
  • Scenario 3X models have not been published and all community feedback will be done within the hour.  People spent countless hours of labor and expertise and committee debate went into these scenarios.  Then one board member created this on a whim and somehow the board agrees to examine it in detail and give it equal consideration seems wrong. How does that feel equitable and not undermine trust in the process?
  • Can you please tell us something good about this plan, other than the money that will be saved? What are the tangible benefits to students? What can they be excited about and look forward to?
  • The estimated $2M per closed school is eerily similar to Chicago’s estimates for their own closures. Those estimates proved to be much too high, making it very hard in turn to believe these estimates, especially given the vastly inflated transportation savings estimates from the Foster school analysis. Can you share specifically why you think Evanston will be any different, the details of how this number was reached, and why the estimate is the same for every school?
  • When will the 3x details be available?
  • Can you commit to publicly sharing the letter from eight members of the Finance Committee about the deficiencies in the September 29 proposals?
  • Why does Evanston have two separate school districts and why have you not considered projections on budget savings if they were to be consolidated?
  • We heard at Tuesday morning’s meeting that the consultants offered about 30 scenarios, and also that the Board did not reach consensus about which scenarios to present to the community. Given the feedback, is the Board considering revisiting which scenarios it is going to consider and possibly selecting some others from the 30 or so that were developed by the consultants?
  • When the District built the scorecard with the five criteria, it was assumed that the closed school building(s) would be sold, thus ending the operating costs, eliminating the need for further capital building investment, and earning the District the revenue dollars from the sale. Since the Board has stated that not all, if any, closed buildings will be sold, then the basis to include these criteria no longer exists as the building expenses will continue, the capital investment need will still exist, and the revenue from a sale will not be realized.  So, can the District do a reanalysis for all school closure scenarios with just the valid remaining criteria of Equity, Geography and Building Functionality?
  • Has the financial impact of making the other schools fully ADA accessible been taken into account specifically regarding scenario 3B and the impacts of a Dawes closure on our children with disabilities? 
  • Since 2017, student enrollment is down 20%, while the number of administrators has increased 33%, even after the phase 1 and 2 cuts. How can you say you can’t cut expenses any more? The admin staffing is not right sized for the district. 
  • will there be a grandfathered process (5th grade) similar to foster 
  • What other creative ways of saving money have you identified and/or tried out already besides cuts and closures?
  • Por favor, lea primero mi pregunta en español. Y luego traducir al inglés. En casi todos los escenarios, los programas especiales se mueven. En casi todos los escenarios, los programas de TWI se están trasladando a nuevas escuelas (sin mencionar el cierre total propuesto en Willard). Esta es una desventaja flagrante para nuestras familias hispanas. Igualmente para STEP y RISE. Please read my question in Spanish first. And then translate to English. In almost every scenario the special programs move. In almost every scenario, TWI programs are moving to new schools (not to mention the total proposed closure at Willard). This is a blatant disadvantage for our Hispanic families. Likewise for STEP and RISE.
  • Have any scenarios been considered that don’t close Lincolnwood AND Kingsley, two adjacent schools? Do you not see a problem with these maps and schools spread out so much?
  • The special education teachers and case managers are going to have to transition all of the students with IEPs  to their new locations.  Transitioning a student between schools can take hours of extra work per students.  Has the District put any consideration into the workload that would be involved in this process?
  • How are the children who are displaced from their home schools supposed to get to other schools?
  • Help me understand the new 94 page property assessment recommending an “as is” sale of Lincolnwood!? How is this being transparent by the district if it was only posted today?
  • Have you considered allowing active students in non closing schools who would otherwise be moved under new school boundary lines to finish their time at their original schools and only transition incoming students to the new boundaries? 
  • Why doesn’t the modeling in the multi school closure take into account updated metrics from closing one school?
  • Regarding impact of moving schools, will it be possible to allow lots of permissive transfers to minimize immediate number of kids impacted? This will be essential especially with 3 closures as so many kids would be affected. 
  • If King doesn’t close can we accept more applicants and stop putting g caps on our enrollment? 
  • Given that next year’s deficit is $372,000 (reduced from $5M), why is this decision still moving forward so hastily?
  • What is the anticipated effect on classroom size and academic performance after these disruptions occur? Is the district prepared for student performance and staff morale to decline? What is the district's plan to focus on academic excellence in the wake of these changes? 
  • Can you explain why the Excel sheets underlying the “scores” used weren’t publicly shared?
  • Why is Willard TWI being eliminated in all scenarios (even in the 0 school closure scenario) which will disenfranchise a Spanish speaking population which is growing in North Evanston? It doesn't seem like there would be significant fiscal relief by eliminating one program.
  • In scenario 3B- what are the utilization relates of each school in the district in that scenario? Not the average but of each individual school? 
  • Is there any way to keep TWI at Willard, or is 100% going to leave?  We love this community.
  • is if there is a 2nd or 3rd opinion regarding the $188m in deferred maintenance?
  • Where is the elected board tonight? How can they ‘engage” with us if they are not here?
  • What alternatives are being explored beyond closing schools next year since we know a referendum is coming too? 
  • In 3B and 3D, either 5 of 8 or 4 or 8 twi strands move -- so something like 50% or more of all twi students are moved. Why are Spanish speaking students disproportionately bearing the burden of school closures?
  • Is data for middle school students included in the scenario scorecards for scenarios 3b and 3d (in equity scorecard data, geography data)
  • Why did administrative positions increase when students and teaching staff decreased? 
  • Can you explain what the benefit of retaining a specific magnet school in the district is? It appears that has been prioritized and is listed as a “strength” in many of the scenarios. The basis for Foster school we were all told was that every child in Evanston deserves a neighborhood school. But yet it’s largely three neighborhood schools that are on the chopping block. Even after the board and district already chose to close another magnet school in Bessie Rhodes last year with the distinct idea of a “school within a school.” Can you help us all square this seemingly contradictory position? 
  • If no schools are closed, what are the programs that would need to be cut? (I think people need to understand that closing schools, but maintaining programs, might be preferable.)
  • Why did NW develop boundary maps 
  • Will any busing be available to students should Lincolnwood and Kingsley close as the board requested scenarios being modeled with students walking up to 0.75 miles? If yes, who will receive busing and that are those projected costs? If no busing will be provided, how are these students expected to get to school each day?
  • Even though ISBE has guidelines around walkability, is it truly equitable in practice to expect 5 year olds to walk 1.5 miles to school in winter? Will the district provide transportation options that are more feasible?
  • Why is average utilization for the district prioritized instead of the range?
  • where are Willard TWI students supposed to go and why can’t the program wind down slowly?
  • Score cards were made for individual  schools. Have you created new score cards for the combined closure of Kingsley and Lincolnwood since it would impact walkability for these students?
  • Can you speak to how the delineation between TWI students who are TWS versus TWX, as it relates to how we are prioritizing program placement for TWI?
  • When will the results of the SpEd audit come out?
  • Dual language programs are in high demand, can the district attract NEW families with an expansion strategy?
  • "-The D65 has said Willard Twi families will be reassigned to Foster. According to 2024/25 School Closure Report, current Twi students from Bessie and Willard schools do not fit in the 2 TWI strands that are planned for Foster, with classes being 20% capacity, how will you address that challenge? How are you planning on consolidating 3 TWI strands into 2 TWI strands?  
  • Splitting the RISE program seems to undercut some of its goals. Can this actually be done in an equitable, low impact fashion?
  • Why weren’t more of the 3 school closure scenarios modeled out? The 3B closure had a score of 2.8 but there are 4 closure scenarios that had a score of 2.9 that have not been modeled out at all. That’s only a 0.1 point difference. We should allow the board to see those scenarios as well, particularly if they don’t involve the closure of a title I school. 
  • Please provide a detailed explanation of title one finding. How much title 1 funding does the district receive and how do they determine how much funding each of the seven schools get?  is it anticipated that the number of schools with title and funding would decrease under any of these plans? Would the % of free and reduced lunch be concentrated to foster and Dewey schools? So that means kids who are used to getting tier and support might not get that under the new plan? If this is going to be happening. It needs to be discussed openly & transparently with the public. The district has said that the funding follows the student, but that is not true. Isn’t it based on the percentage of students in the school? Please provide the percentage that the school needs in order to receive title one funding.
  • Is it feasible to phase the closures for a few years and not admit new lower grade classes into the schools which would close?
  • Under all three scenarios presented tonight, with Kingsley and Lincolnwood both closing, does the Board really think that Orrington and Willard are neighborhood schools?
  • What are the steps towards ensuring this does not happen again?
  • You mentioned permissive transfers in relation to closing King Arts- can you explain further- is this just for the “former” king arts magnet students? Or all d65 kids?
  • Will current middle schoolers get to stay in their school or be reassigned next year?
  • Is there anything at all that can be done (from a community standpoint) to save Lincolnwood? Is it for sure closing?
  •  It’s not clear how the lease revenue numbers are produced. The document that is highlighted on SDRP website is pretty vague and does not indicate any type of leasee that would want the facility or relevant income estimates.
  • Can the survey be kept open longer, giving stakeholders time to process information from tonight’s meeting before weighing in on the various scenarios?
  • Are there any safeguards or mechanisms to account for biases (conscious or unconscious) that the members of the board may hold that could affect their decision (i.e. not closing a school because they have children that go there)?
  • Why isn’t District 65 fundraising and seeking donations like District 202? They’re getting millions of dollars in donations. After gutting our schools and neighborhoods, it’s going to be difficult to get a referendum passed to ask for more money.
  • What are your plans to integrate free help from the community into your data analysis, creative solutioning, and financial data help? 
  • Where in these models is considerations around projected number of parents pulling their kids from d65 due to dissatisfaction with the district?
  • Why is only 50% of our budget spent on instruction and less than a third on regular instruction?
  • Are you telling us the only reason we’re in this financial mess is because of declining enrollment?
  • Can’t we get a better idea of transportation costs? More kids will be crossing hazards or meeting distance requirements. Adding $50k doesn’t seem accurate. “More specific values will be available as we continue to refine the scenarios.”
  • On September 29, the Board voted to get more information on the 3-school closing scenarios. The Board still has the authority to vote to close 0 schools, 1 school, 2 schools, or 4 schools. Yet you’re presenting this information as though the two scenarios are the ONLY possible outcomes. Can you please acknowledge that ALL of the dozens of scenarios that were modeled are still on the table and that the Board can vote for ANY of them? It seems to me that the way you’re presenting this information is misleading, as it presents a binary option when the Board is not limited to these two options. 
  • There was an article in the Roundtable this week about how the number of administrative positions has been going up over the past several years even as enrollment is falling. Was any modeling done BEFORE the SDRP3 process began that looked at savings that could be raised from cutting administrative positions in lieu of closing schools? Were ANY other cost-saving measures considered or modeled—e.g., did anyone look at whether savings could be realized by eliminating iPads?
  • How are you considering closing two adjacent schools when the impact cannot be modeled? You are impacting a neighborhood, not an entire city. 
  • How would increases in busing costs affect our bottom line
  • How will the district ensure students in marginalized groups don't bear the heaviest burden in any school closure scenario? The current 3-school scenarios significantly change the boundaries of Oakton, Lincoln and either Dawes or Washington, depending on the scenario. Those are some of the biggest schools in the district by enrollment, with high percentages of students receiving free/reduced lunch and high numbers of Black and Latino students.
  • What safeguards are being put in place to prove to us that closing schools to free up operating budget can be managed effectively by a board that has clearly mismanaged money for the past decade or two and has been partially responsible for putting us in this condition?
  • How should we trust Sergio Hernandez, Mya Wilkins, and Stacey Beardsley to make decisions when they are the ones who burned through our funds and did not fulfill their fiduciary obligation in overseeing Mr. Horton’s criminal misconduct?
  • Why are virtual meetings not being offered for community engagement?
  • If the D65 student population has been declining, why are we opening a new school? 
  • How will you guarantee that IEPs/504 are fulfilled? 
  • Why did we not model where students who attend King Arts live? This could impact neighborhood enrollment, especially if a large percentage is in the Foster boundary. 
  • In prior board meetings I remember Dr. Horton asking the CFO to move capital money and into other accounts. I am not sure what those accounts are, but has the district done an audit of capital funding money and how it was spent? Is there a separate account for capital funds? Are there rules around how that money is spent? How has the district used capital funds in the last 5 years?
  • Please go over how many students will move from walking to bus in each scenario.
  • Has the district or board had extended conversations with teachers regarding these scenarios to gather input and increase buy in? If not, are these planned?
  • How will teacher assignments at new schools be made? Will there be an attempt to move some teachers along with their students, so that kids have familiar adults in a new building? 
  • You have a former superintendent indicted. You have families who left the district from your handling of Covid curriculum. Closing more than 1 school will cause even more lack of trust and many more families have indicated they will leave the district. How do you justify this course of action if enrollment will drop even further because of your actions, causing less cash flow, less utilization, etc.?
  • Can you give context for what magnitude of staffing cuts would be needed for those target amounts: 8 million, 1.5 million etc? How will schools feel that?
  • Why is 95% utilization out goal simply because the consultants said it’s the national average? What is the median? Standard deviation? Appropriate benchmark for peer districts in financial distress with recently indicted former super intendents?
  • Where on the scorecard are unique resources such as the new Robert Crown Community Center considered? Washington is uniquely positioned next door to a library, gym, meeting rooms, fields, and community space that is not taken into account.
  • Can twi stay at Willard and how can all fit at foster  
  • We’re told by the administration that there are not enough native Spanish speakers in Wards 6 and 7 to warrant a TWI program. In the Kinder class, 11 of the 19 students are bilingual (TWX). We understand only 1 of those students comes from the 5th Ward. What trends does the administration see regarding the increasing number of native Spanish speakers from Wards 6 and 7 in Willard TWI. Have you calculated how that number increases if you add back the Bessie Rhodes students who live in the 6th and 7th Wards (many within walking distance to Willard)?
  • There is only 0.1 difference between 3b and 4 other scenario scorecards scores. Why weren’t more three-closure scenarios publicly modeled along with 3x to not include title 1 schools?
  • Hartrey seems an odd border for Willard/Orrington boundary. Current border for Kingsley and Lincolnwood is just 1 street west, so by using Pioneer, you keep many of the Kingsley kids together in the 3 school closure scenario. 
  • If a closed school is mothballed or leased, won’t there still be costs to fix up these spaces? Are those captured in the scenarios? 
  • What is the District’s response to Larry Gavin’s 10/14 Evanston Roundtable article that there is room for more cuts in D65 before we consider school closures?
  • Do TWI families want to move?
  • Why can’t closures in North Evanston be staggered to confirm declining enrollment and allow the District to continue to evaluate operating/program savings?
  • Why is there a  plan to close a fully ada accessible building (Dawes) but there’s not a plan to make buildings fully Ada accessible? 
  • On 3X:  Why did the board want to add this scenario?  When will the data be available?  From the 10/14 meeting, it sounded like the k-5 King Arts school would be around 50% utilization - is that accurate?
  • Is Central Street considered a Hazard?  
  • Why close two schools on the same street? Kingsley and Lincolnwood are both on Grant St. 
  • You use declining enrollment as a reason we are in this mess but doesn’t the district get the same amount of funds no matter the enrollment? If not please break this number down? If this is true, the numbers suggest we don’t have enough funding even if the buildings were fully utilized. Do in the future we could have overcrowded classrooms and schools? 
  • Where on the score card did you take into account the children in the Rise program (children with severe intellectual and developmental needs) that the data shows benefit from a k-8 school with a 2 way push-in experience with Rise and non-Rise students. Only King Arts School supports this scenario. Have you looked at the data of how these students do emotionally, socially, and intellectually when they have to change schools for 6-8?
  • How do you consider the concentration of where students live who are affected? In particular, closing 2 adjacent schools (Kingsley and Lincolnwood) would leave a large share of NW Evanston without a neighborhood school and many kids would now be more than .75 miles from their assigned school and have to cross a major street who do not currently have to
  • Why was Foster included in the proximity to other school calculation, when its border is seemingly set and / or is at capacity?  For example, in the new borders, the area near Kingsley will go to Orrington when those students are much closer to Foster.  This lowers the score of any school close to Foster when it isn't a real option for those students.
  • What strategies are you implementing to engage with our immigrant communities who may be unable to show up to these meetings in the current climate. As an immigrant, I am considering leaving this country if we lose the community connection of our school. 
  • If you have to bus more people and increase transportation costs, how does that not make closing a school obsolete?
  • Why has the District done nothing to address the disproportionate loss of students in District 65 compared to other North Shore districts?
  • You have a responsibility to create a dynamic model whereby scorecard ratings shift based on what other schools close. IE how does Lincolnwood's score change if you close Kingsley and vice versa. With the gravity of this decision, it is imperative to understand that impact so as not to doubly penalize centrally located schools, for example.
  • If a closed school is mothballed or leased, won’t there still be costs to fix up these spaces? Are those captured in the scenarios? 
  • Please explain how your team took into account reduction(s) of Title 1 money in your scenarios. It seems counterintuitive to close schools that currently receive Title 1 money if you are looking to save .
  • Why was Hartrey chosen as the western boundary for Orrington, and NOT Pioneer, which is the current existing western boundary for Kingsley? Does this split up Kingsley kids unnecessarily? How many kids are impacted by switching these 2 streets? 
  • Why are the majority of STEP programs being moved in each scenario? How might this impact these students?
  • If King closes at K-8, what does that do to the capacities of the other middle schools? What options are there for students who don’t fit in at their zoned middle schools?
  • The school closing scenarios are all based on a FY2027 baseline instead of a FY2026 baseline. This makes it impossible for people to assess how the proposed closures would effect people from THIS year to NEXT year. Has any modeling been done with FY2026 as the baseline? If not, why not? Can you do that modeling to provide people with information that’s more relevant and understandable?
  • One of the points of building the new Foster school was that every child deserved a walkable neighborhood school. Under several of the closing scenarios, particularly the ones that close Lincolnwood and Kingsley, significant areas of the north side are now outside of a 3/4 mile walking radius of an elementary school. Why is this now considered ok?
  • My young children would have to cross 2 major thoroughfares to get to their presumed new school, while they can walk through a neighborhood 5 blocks to their current school. Will we be allowed to transfer to the school closer to our home?
  • Why have we not asked families in the Foster boundary if they plan on enrolling in Foster? Do they have a choice?
  • Have you done any analysis of the harms that this will cause to students?
  • Please provide the data behind the financial model estimations and are you doing this with 90 days in funds even though the district has really operated at this level? You provide these numbers without a 90 day funds requirement? 
  • What is the proposed plan for 2030 if these school closures only give us five years of financial health? Why isn't anyone talking to us about the proposed resale value of these properties and how the land will be used and impact property values? How have you involved the city in these processes? 
  • To whom are the properties sold?
  • How is this a legitimate prcess when large numbers of impacted families have no idea this will impact them?  The info is not out, particularly in the 3 school closure process. 
  • Have we discussed the scenarios with the teachers at the impacted schools? Do we have a sense of the potential impact on our ability to retain and attract teachers going forward? 
  • Will you be sharing all questions asked during these sessions and not just what you deem FAQs?
  • Are contracts being negotiated for lease or sale of facilities? How far along are they? Is it realistic that any income would be received in FY27?
  • Why do the district and city demography predictions differ and how can they be reconciled. 
  • Two 6th ward schools are being closed.  That feels punitive.  What is the re-investment plan, within the broader SDRP, to IMPROVE the one remaining 6th ward school and make it a better experience and a more attractive educational draw for 6th ward families?
  • Why does D65 spend more money per student than any other nearby district other than Winnetka?
  • At the board meeting Tuesday there was some commentary on why the modeling wasn’t dynamic, but I didn’t understand the answer. I have worked in financial and scenario modeling for 20 years so I am not unfamiliar with dynamic modeling. Can you please restate why it’s appropriate to not use dynamic modeling?
  • Why didn’t we model closing king arts completely?  Can we do that?
  • Why is IDOT used as our definition of a hazard when we have a full time traffic engineer at the city who could provide far more ‘rigorous’ counsel as to the actual hazards our students face?
  • Can you explain the increase in administrators at D65 between 2017 and now? How can you justify hiring more and more administrators when the student population was declining. How are we to believe that even with these cuts the school board can actually work within a budget. All trust has been lost as the board continues to push their own agenda without any regard for the financial situation the city is in. In September 2023, the district had 12 more teachers than in September 2017. And it had 31 more administrators. These increases occurred in a period during which K-8 student enrollment decreased from 7,496 to 6,019, about 20%.
  • What about the affect on enrollment caused by parents sending kids to private schools because they have lost faith in D65 management?
  • By presenting these 3 options tonight, are we lead to believe these are the “leading” plans? 
  • Why do the capacity numbers not take into account the size of the school? 
  • I didn’t see Central street as a hazard - is crossing central by Willard considered a hazard? If not, why?
  • Scorecards for walkability are drastically impacted by the closure of the adjacent school. Can we please run new scorecards for a combined closure of Kingsley and Lincolnwood?  
  • What is the expected staffing (student facing/supporting) reductions in the “0” scenario vs the 3b and 3d model? There is a 6.3 million dollar difference between those plans. Why not look closely at a 2 school closure with a big focus on staffing and proper classroom sizing. I’m concerned 3 schools will cause too much to change and the models can’t predict what the final enrollment will actually look like.
  • What data are you using to back up the assumption that Willard TWI are not neighborhood families? 
  • What is the average utilization of Willard and Kingsley/Lincolnwood, if two of the three schools were to stay open?
  • What is the savings for closing King Arts?  Seems to be a luxury for D65 that we can’t afford if our guiding priority is neighborhood schools.
  • You say that the Board is in control of this process. I’ve been to the Board meetings and that simply isn’t true. The Board continually defers to Dr. Beardsley in terms of what next steps are feasible/should be pursued. It looks to me like neither the administration or the Board is taking responsibility for this process. How do you expect the community to trust you in this process when the Board failed miserably to oversee the Horton administration and seems to be deferring to administrators AGAIN during Is process?
  • Why aren't members of the SDRP committees at these meetings to answer questions?  That would build trust over admin presenting alone.
  • Can you please speak to why other ideas shared at the March Feedback meetings by the community were not explored further (options offered to address financial issues that were alternatives to school closure) 
  • Has the district evaluated additional cost cutting measures to help facilitate closing only 1 or 2 schools in addition to Bessie Rhodes? The number of administrators employed by the district has not reduced versus 2017 despite major enrollment declines. This seems like a good place to start.
  • What programming would be cut if no schools are closed? Can the fifth ward school be sold and used for something else? If not, why can’t you just close whatever school is closest geographically to the new school? When will there be a full audit of the financials of the district, since clearly nefarious actions took place with our hard earned taxpayer dollars that were stolen by Devon Horton. What about a one school closure this year and future closures held off? Why does there need to be a 90 day reserve when there hasn’t been during many years? Why do we still have so many administrators? How does moving TWI from Willard save money for the district? Why is this happening so fast? 
  • How do you account for families of rising 5th graders opting to stay at their current school they are established at, (rather than attend Foster for one year then switching again to jr high) if the current school is being projected to be over enrolled?
  • There are some very large differences between school capacities in the dataset vs the source data: for example, Oakton is listed at 464 in the source data while in the baseline scenario the Oakton capacity is listed as 576. This is 132 more students than the actual capacity. Why does this differ?
  • How does the model’s enrollment trends consider “envision Evanston”? If we sell the schools we close (as suggested) what is the plan if we have inclining enrollment in 5-10 years?
  • How do the middle school reassignments happen in the Dawes closure scenario? Are incumbent middle schoolers reassigned? Why? Could this only apply to new students?  
  • Why are we even having this conversation when the community does not even have correct financial modeling before us and the former superintendent is being indicted? 
  • Regardless of which scenario you choose, what will you do to remake and reimagine d65 and ensure it’s an equitable and higher performing institution in 5 years? Another way to put it, the Evanston housing market is skyrocketing, ETHS enrollment is up 18% over the last decade, yet d65 is down 17%! D65 is clearly not an attractive place to be. How will you turn things around? 
  • Why isn’t king arts considered for closure before neighborhood schools?
  • In light of the recent scandal regarding members of the D65 board, is any of that information being used to inform these decisions? Has the board considered postponing this decision until a full investigation has taken place and guardrails put in place to prevent similar actions?
  • If you’ve modeled closing Lincolnwood and Kingsley, why not send Kingsley kids to Orrington and Lincolnwood to Willard? The walnut/Hartrey boundary seems random and essentially cuts off a small portion of Kingsley kids from their friends. 
  • The decision making is not clear and even Dr. Turner cannot answer questions. Please make the data sets available to the public in easy to digest ways. If she is to lead, she should be leading these presentations. 
  • How do you plan to handle closing 4 schools and opening one school? I have not heard a real plan with actual logistics. 
  • Have the current Willard TWI students who are being reassigned been included in the calculation of the overall percentage of District 65 students receiving new school assignments
  • How much would we save if Washington or Dawes closed and the Kingsley students went to Lincolnwood?
  • So far all efforts have been about cost reductions. Has there been any effort to raise funds from private organizations or charitable organizations/individuals with ties to Evanston?  (Ex. The Ryan family is a generous donor to Northwestern University. Was there any effort to reach out to them?)
  • Quality of education is not a part of any of your models. Indeed, quality of education has been absent from the SDRP3 process. Why is that, given that educational quality should be the MOST important consideration for ANY decision the District makes?
  • What is the middle school feeder pattern in the scenario if king arts is converted to k-5?
  • how does the scenario model work: what are the key parameters, what assumptions does it make, specifically what is the model/model family, how do the scenarios get evaluated and using what criteria, at what point is there any manual tuning to outcomes, and who does it?
  • given the colassal costs of closing schools (emotional / community ruptures / transaction costs) why not begin with one school closure to see whether it indeed achieves the stated goal and, if it does, use the lessons learned to apply to a next stage of and when it is necessary to move there. Disrupting 30 percent of the community during an unprecedented time promises enormous transaction costs and missed opportunities to take advantage of a more pilot-based model. 
  • Have you thought of having all of Kingsley that is left after Foster go to Orrington next year, and all of Lincolnwood go to Williard next year? Then you keep the communities together and parents would feel better about closing the schools.
  • Is crossing Ridge considered a hazard?
  • Is each set of scenario scores at each closure level - 1, 2, 3 and 4 - re-normed for that number of school closures such that there was always a least impactful equity combination, least impactful geography combination, and so on and so forth? For example, in scenarios 1A and 1B, equity scores are 1.1 and 1.3, respectively, for individual school closures. In scenario 2F, we see the equity score fall to 1. Does closing an additional school create a lower impact, or should we interpret this as this particular combination being the lowest impact of the two-school closures? 
  • Has the board decided to close 3 schools? Is that why we’re focused on these scenarios?
  • In recent years it seems like the transportation budget expanded significantly. What has been done to analyze what happened, and what can be done to reduce it?
  • Are there updated scorecards by school after each scenarios?
  • Shutting down schools does very little, if anything, to resolve our capital improvement needs. Given its clear there will be a referendum needed, convince me why I should vote for it if you choose to close neighborhood schools based on flawed data while simultaneously not holding Horton-era board members accountable and not taking a more detailed look at costs? The district has more administrative staff than during pre-COVID higher enrollment periods. Explain why that is required?
  • If geography and equity are 2 of the most important criteria, then why is NW Evanston so heavily impacted? Shouldn’t equity involve sharing the pain across Evanston?
  • What happens to the King Arts Magnet status if King Arts becomes a K-5?
  • Have you considered segregation with moving TWI program to Foster? Wasn't this school closed to change thism are we going back then? 
  • How are middle school populations impacted if King Arts closes? 
  • Where are the sensitivity analysis and why has this not been shared?
  • You said that you needed to keep King Arts open as a way to maintain neighborhood schools in neighborhoods. How does that work when we are right now in an area that is losing its two neighborhood schools?
  • Can you repeat the explanation about the board process between nov and dec? 
  • What is the minimum cost of bringing Lincolnwood to ADA compliance?  If this is fixed, we can save a neighborhood school for the Kingsley / Lincolnwood neighborhood that is completely losing both of its walkable schools. 
  • Has an analysis been done looking at the post-Covid fall in enrollment due to parents choosing private schools by neighborhood, to understand which areas have higher vs lower probability of experiencing some enrollment bounce back as new families move to town? In other words, a neighborhood that had greater COVID-related fall-off may have a higher possibility of bounce back, and could follow a different growth curve than the average -2% decline (giving false % capacity projections for some schools over the next few years and potentially leading to overcrowding)
  • Are the models dynamic - meaning are they changing as one school closes do the scores adjust?
  • Considering that many of the cost saving figures are rough estimates, would it be prudent to close one school in the next school year and then reevaluate the model with actual data to determine whether additional school closures are necessary? This would also give decision makers an opportunity to evaluate the effectiveness of the model.
  • You contend that every school scenario was modeled using the same scorecard and presented to the board - but 3X hasn’t been presented to the board and isn’t even fully developed. Why is it being presented tonight?
  • How many classrooms are at Willard to accommodate all the kids in the new boundaries? Will there continue to be space for an art room, music room, and therapy rooms for students that need OT/ST? 
  • Why aren’t we waiting for the k-4 audit and sped audit as those could dramatically change the outcomes?
  • Why have a second facilities plan? This first one is not being used in the calculations. Isn’t this an unnecessary expense?
  • Why haven’t scenarios been modeled where the King Arts program moves into an existing building so it could be used as part magnet program and part neighborhood school 
  • Geography doesn’t seem to be factored in when closing two neighboring schools (Kingsley and Lincolnwood). Due to many children living west of Green Bay now needing to bussed to Orrington, how are the increased transportation costs and lack of walkability factored in?
  • Why wasn’t a 2-school scenario brought into further consideration that had 1 northern and 1 southern school considered, rather than 2 in the same general area?
  • Is there any ability to give choice to the displaced students to where they would go next? Loss of building is less important than loss of community of friends and faculty/staff. This would sting less if we had the ability to look out for one another. 
  • What will happen to the buildings when they close? 
  • What became of the offer to hold  hosted neighborhood meetings.? Our group applied to host a meeting and we have not heard back.
  • If the new facility financial audit is completed in February why are we making decisions first without that information. 
  • who set the school capacity numbers and how does substantially increasing schools over their stated capacity from the 2022 Cordogan Clark report benefit student learning: https://resources.finalsite.net/images/v1698044670/district65net/crlweijcil16jroyjfd8/ESSpaceUtilizationCapacityStudy21422FINAL.pdf
  • Is there a plan to update buildings and use other “closed”buildings to house students while their building is updated?  
  • Where can we find the assumptions of cost savings from closures? For example, does it assume all support staff like social workers go away from a closed building? Or do you increase social worker staffing at a now much fuller building? And where can they even sit if you are maxing out building capacity?
  • Almost ten years ago spent hours going door to door garnering support for the referendum to save our schools. At the time the administration and board assured us this would be enough. How is this time different? 
  • What are the DEC contract provisions regarding layoff, bumping, reassignment etc etc and what will that timeline be, and how can a 3 or 4 school closure be accomplished within a reasonable timeframe 
  • Why did the Board vote on which scenarios would go forward BEFORE the community even saw ANY of the scenarios? The Board voted on the 3-school scenarios within an hour of dozens of scenarios first being made public at the September 29 meeting. This is not transparency. The community had no opportunity to analyze any of the other scenarios and provide feedback to the Board before their vote.  
  • Why should we trust anything brought forth by D65? Also why is 2017 Greenleaf not part of this discussion?
  • If king arts students went to their neighborhood schools what would the utilization be?
  • What are the sources of “revenue” for the district, and how does enrollment count play into that?
  • Have you factored in the cost and financial impact of how many students will leave D 65 by closing their neighborhood schools? 
  • We’ve heard this goal of putting D65 on a sound financial footing for the past 10 years. Why should we trust that you’ll be able to get the job done this time?
  • What is the board doing to build trust with our community in light of the recent indictment of Devon Horton and this change that will impact every child in Evanston? 
  • How does title I status factor in which schools are closed ave how students are assigned?
  • Why are there more total D65 administrative positions (61) after the cuts, versus 2017 (46), when there were more students? (Figures quoted in the Roundtable). 
  • What is the plan for teachers and staff??  Are we shuffling all teachers across all buildings based on seniority?  Who gets to stay at their school?
  • Why is ADA compliance under Functionality, which is weighted lower, rather than under Equity,  which is weighted higher. ADA is a federal law, and some schools not under consideration are 1-50% compliant (and would cost money to become so).
  • In your baseline data, did you assume all kids who live in 5th ward move to Foster next year? Even if they wanted to stay at their existing school, as promised when the decision to build Foster was made? If not, how is it serving 5th ward fams to force them to change schools? 
  • Why do Kingsley families get sent to orrington across a hazard when they could walk to foster?
  • I think this board should consider themselves a failed administration to close so many schools. Regardless what the population says and data record, you’re a board of education closing multiple schools in one year. Failure. Close Lincolnwood and these neighborhood schools and we move to private because this board cannot be trusted to provide quality academics.
  • Dr Beardsley-you say this decision is not based on foster school. If foster school was not being built how would these scenarios look different? 
  • Can we afford to close just Kingsley and open Foster in 2026 and take a little more time to see how utilization rates stabilize before closing any others?
  • Why was foster included in boundaries/walkability score if it is only available to students in the 5th ward?
  • Weren’t we told foster was to built on capital? 
  • Why have Fosters boundaries been unchanged throughout the process?
  • In all of these scenarios walkability is drastically impacted for a huge number of students. This does not align with the district’s stated priority of walkable neighborhood schools. How is administration thinking about this?
  • Has the board considered maintaining the current middle school feeder patterns for all affected elementary students for a few years? That would have minimal financial impact and give kids some stability. 
  • Will king arts still get busing? If so, why is this a priority over neighborhood schools?
  • What has been done to get students back into the district who left?
  • There was an article in Evanston Roundtable two days ago noting that D65 administration employment is up over 30% since 2017 despite enrollment declining 20%. Has the board looked at how much money can be saved from the budget by reducing admin to 2017 levels to match enrollment and what is the downside (if any) in doing so? 
  • If all options are on the table including closing zero schools, why is this being presented that the only options you presented on tonite includes closing 3 schools?     
  • With d65 fiscal mismanagement to this extreme and an indictment, details hidden from residents of d65, why shouldn’t the state take over this district? 
  • What will utilization look like at foster since it seems like a high percentage of students want to stay at their current elementary school?
  • When you surveyed foster families as their intended enrollment for 26, how many said they wanted to stay at Lincolnwood, Kingsley?
  • Why are we using operating revenues to build a new school? Why is there not a capital campaign to fund Foster or other building renovations? Have we asked the Ryan family to donate? Sell bricks people can name?
  • What happens if you wait one more year to close for longer conversations and better messaging to repair trust with the community?
  • We should be closing as few schools as possible. Much has already been cut from the budget. Why aren’t we considering closing just 2 schools?
  • What have you done and what are you doing to improve enrollment and re-capture those that live here but left the district?  What are you doing to keep that from continuing to happen and to prevent closing more schools in 10, 15, 20 years 
  • How will the district meet the remaining cost after the closures
  • Why weren’t the other SDRP committees consulted in these proposals?
  • Many of the scenarios do not include 2 strands of TWI at each school. Was 2!strands per school factored into numbers?
  • Will the district continue to offer buses to TWI students? TWS? TWX? TWE kids? 
  • Why do we have double the number of psychologists and sociologists of the state average?
  • Why do we care about magnet school status?  How much money does that bring in?
  • How can the board make a decision on this when we do not know what you plan to do with the properties?
  • Why haven’t you done dynamic step modeling and instead favoring a process that concentrates school closures in one area?
  • How are the models impacted by current/anticipated  US Dept of Education changes? How have models addressed the potential of more families moving their children to private schools based on dissatisfaction with these solutions? Have any checks and balances been added to prevent future financial mismanagement by the Board or staff? Have any checks and balances been added to prevent future significant decisions (such as building a new school) without a referendum or bigger picture plan? How will change management be implemented for the selected scenario?
  • Have we thought at all about cutting the $2M annually we spend on Apple products?
  • Closing two adjacent schools in the same neighborhood is driven by numbers on paper with no regard to quality of life impact. Quality of life drove the decision to build Foster, not numbers on paper. How is this justified?  
  • Does the financial modeling assume any property would be sold or leased in the first year? If so, seems like wishful thinking. 
  • Are you going to have an online community meeting, especially to allow Latino families to engage (given ICE actions)? 
  • Why haven’t we used Northwestern social scientists to help create the scores?  What experience does Stacey Beardsley have in complex, multistep quantitative data analysis?
  • How is the lease income from school closures realistic?  Who is going to rent a closed school NEXT YEAR?
  • Have you modeled additional staff cuts at all?
  • If the resale value of so many other schools is higher than Lincolnwood and some of which are in major hazard streets (Kingsley), why is Lincolnwood on every closure plan?
  • How is the District ever going to pass a needed referendum if you close our schools?
  • If there are currently no plans for what happens to closed schools, why was building/land value considered in the scorecards/closing criteria?
  • moving towards 90%, is there room for these kids at willard/orrongton? will 4 sections per class warrant trailer classes?   
  • Why is only Willard’s TWI program being cut?
  • What about expanding PreK and having tuition based PreK? Why is closing the first action item? Why not find ways to use space, keep schools open? This type of suggestion has been made in public meetings and on committees for several years. 
  • Why is the administration and board not demanding Sergio step down?
  • How many teachers did D65 employ in 2017, vs. today, when we’ve since lost 2,500+ students?
  • Why did the administration decide to build foster school, before starting the school closure process — especially when the structural budget challenges and the $200 million capital repair costs were known before then? 
  • Were transportation numbers in each scenario modeled at the child level? If not, why?
  • How now at the 11th hour is Lincolnwood a “sell” property rather than a “re-use” property in the prior document used in the subcommittee? 
  • What programs are you considering moving instead of adjusting boundaries west of Green Bag? 
  • Why is there a 3X scenario at this late stage? When will all the data be available for community feedback on that? 
  • Are you concerned about the erosion of trust and school closures impacting enrollment? Have you anticipated the loss of future students due to these decisions?
  • What other program options have been presented that address capacity in scenarios 3/ that don’t include the new boundaries indicated tonight (Walnut /Hartrey)?
  • How can the board vote on this in a month with so much unanswered? These feels grossly unfair. 
  • Have you modeled for the number of kids lost to private schools if we close both Lincolnwood and Kingsley? This will create a large void. 
  • Why are we not moving forward with one school closer and a referendum? The options that have been presented feel too binary and lack innovation.
  • Why do we continue to fund k-4 when it is not an actual obligation of the district to educate that age and it is an obligation for k-8? I understand the value of k-4 but it is expensive and we are having to make huge cuts elsewhere. 
  • Has there been modeling on what happens if enrollment declines even more after the stated closures, due to more families exiting the system? Isn't a spiral possible, resulting in even more future closures? 
  • Can you speak more as to why you are considering closing Willard TWI?
  • If you move forward with these revised scenarios, could you at least look keep to Kingsley together particularly south of Central street.  It will significantly help with the transition to keep neighborhood kids together (ie all of Kingsley south of Central st go to Orrington)
  • After seeing how our schools serve an increasingly vital role as community organizing hubs for protecting our vulnerable neighbors, should we really be closing schools that serve populations that are actively being targeted by ICE?
  • If you move forward with these revised scenarios, could you at least look keep to Kingsley together particularly south of Central street.  It will significantly help with the transition to keep neighborhood kids together (ie all of Kingsley south of Central st go to Orrington)
  • If the additional information that is needed to make a decision isn't available until tomorrow, how can you close the survey the same day? It seems like there will be a lack of information available for well informed responses.
  • Is the district giving any consideration to the impacts on kids? The ways changing schools can impact educational achievement?
  • No question, just thank you for your commitment to this district in the face of hard work, difficult conversations, and intense public feedback.
  • Often the administration (Beardsley) answers questions by saying it’s a board decision, but then the board needs to address questions as well.  This ends up as a loop where certain questions are not answered 
  • 1. Why is King Arts currently under enrolled? Is it due to lack of interest or because the district capped the number is students? 2. What would it look like  if we make sure to ensure the needs of our most marginalized are met? 
  • Is there discussion of how to better market the strong D65 programs and curriculum to families in Evanston to allow families outside of our public schools?  
  • Has the closing of the JEH building been considered seriously?
  • I live in the small part of Skevanston (60203) that’s in the Lincolnwood/Haven feeder pattern, so I have known since 2022 that the boundaries where I live will change to Walker/Chute once Foster openings. My daughters will be rising 6th and 8th graders next year, will they be allowed to attend Haven with their peers or have to switch to Chute? I have yet to hear from the district how these boundary changes will impact my children and my neighbors with kids also in these school. Please provide clarification on this.