After having 3 kids enrolled in 2 separate D65 schools, I am 100% confident there is no such thing as White Glove Service at any D65 school. If by White Glove Service (“WGS”) they mean quickly responding to emails and implementing no meaningful action, they should classify it as something other than WGS.
I not sure what "white glove service" the superintendent is referring to...Any time I email any one at central office...I have lucky to get a response in 2-3 day turn around...Or just no response at all until I have basically stalked the person with email and voicemail messages...
I am also a bit frustrated with all the sympathy the board has for people losing their positions...When Dr. Horton decided to "eliminate" reading specialists...we had to compete against our career long colleagues for the "interventionist" positions...Example: I worked at Washington we had 3.50 FTE Reading Specialists...two were Spanish speakers and 2 English speakers...we were downsized to only 2 Interventionists who now in the new job description would service math AND reading...So you are down two teachers but you are now servicing Math and Reading...I lost my job...No sympathy for me...Thanks Biz and friends...The board went against their own proclamation of maintaining at least 1 reading specialist at every building...and why? So Dr. Horton could build his gilded castle...Basically the district and the board said don't let the door hit you on your way out...Now we have sympathy...go figure
Well I did what most folks in Evanston did and moved to a private school for my employment...A school which values my knowledge and expertise...I left my retirement and blood, sweat, and tears after 14 years of employment...Needless to say I am a bit disgruntled...
It's too late now, but I still wonder if you guys could've sued over that. Dr. Horton got rid of that program but the 2017 referendum resolution passed specifically allocated funds for the reading specialists. Horton's reason for ending the program was to support a:
"collectivist, equitable approach to interventions beyond just reading for students”
But like .. did that ever amount to anything? or did he just use the funds on other stuff?
Yes, I have always wondered if we had grounds to sue, but I am not a lawyer. At the time I was busy looking for new employment, and didn't pursue legal action, but I do often wonder.
We were replaced with the "tutoring centers" basically para-professionals working with the most tangled students. As I stated, Dr. Horton eliminated reading specialists and replaced them with "Math and Reading Interventionists" but basically reduced each building's support by half...Gee I don't understand why we aren't closing the achievement gap???? Why do we have soooo many special education students? I would be interested to know how many students received IEPs after reading specialists were eliminated?
The whole situation is maddening. Thank you for your continued reporting.
So….this is exactly what I have been thinking for several years! Firing all the reading specialists and rehiring fewer people to service more struggling children was supposed to do what now? How is that fair or equitable for our kids? It seems like it was only fair and equitable to Dr. Horton’s pocket. As soon as it came time to show the results of his practices and policies, he split. I am so sorry this happened to so many good teachers. It’s all upside down and frustrating. And the board just pretends that they don’t have a direct hand in putting all this in motion. I found it really offensive the way they talked at the meeting about being respectful and compassionate to the people who are about to be cut, meanwhile they are going to be leaving the actual firings to their mostly incompetent superintendent. Bunch of nonsense.
Horton threw in the word ‘collectivist’ and figured his left flank was now definitely well covered from any hostile questioning in Evanston regarding whether his interventionist restructuring was advisable or not.
Exactly. Teachers were treated horribly under the Horton regime - from cutting reading specialists to egregious payroll issues - and yet Biz was always first in line to blame teachers for anything wrong in the district. There was absolutely zero sympathy when all the reading specialists lost jobs and were forced to leave or go back in the classroom - a completely different kind of job. Glad you found a better home.
Please… “white glove service”? Among the thousands spent on Grecian Kitchen, some admittedly taken home by admins for dinner, the thousands for personal security for the Superintendent who has mischaracterized an armed threat against him that EPD can’t reconcile? Thousand spent on two huge gas guzzling luxury SUV’s for the staff to visit schools? Millions allocated out of the general fund for a brand new school as the others rot.
The reality is that Horton built and staffed a gilded castle for a district four times larger (which he eventually fled to), and now we have virtually nothing to show for it other than “parents should not expect “white glove service” from JEH in the future. God help us.
As a former administrator who had an office at JEH and worked under Murphy and Goren, I can guarantee the work still gets done with a smaller central office staff. As a current teacher, I can say we would love to have less “white glove service” since that means less micro managing, busy work, and emails-make planning and teaching great again!
Thank you for your public comment re; SACC SUMMER PROGRAM and the other parents. The SACC summer program is run efficiently, effectively and most stimulating for the students. Their planned activities show great creative planning to interest the participants. They have a great staff and the kids love them. This "jewel" of an affortable summer programming for working parents is one of the things the school district should hold onto as they make such drastic reductions.
Another thing that’s important about the SACC summer program is that (last summer anyway) because it was held at Lincoln where extended school year was also held, it was the only real child care option for people with kids in ESY who needed full day care. (ESY is for kids who qualify for summer services as part of their IEPs).
I would have expected at least a mention of increasing the fees to provide a "return on investment". I also wonder how ROI is calculated for students. And what that current ROI is on the district right now?
Definition: White glove service is a premium service that provides special care and attention to customers.
The only people in this district that were receiving 'White Glove Service' were Dr. Horton and Dr. Turner being driven around in a fleet of Ford Explorers while eating catered lunches and the specific folks at JEH that were overpaid while also coming into work late and been unaccountable to the students, parents and taxpayers of Evanston.
There are some very hard working staff at JEH and sadly many of those folks will likely be the ones that will be actively looking for roles in new districts to flee this madness.
Props to you and your little one for showing up and making a public comment -- it's not an easy thing to do! You're giving your kid a great lesson in public engagement :)
My son was lucky enough to use the JEH bus prior to COVID, but it should honestly be cut, especially if the savings are in the millions. The JEH pre-K was wonderful and had incredible teachers, but it was only a few hour a day program and not suited to anyone with full time jobs outside the house. For those of us lucky enough to WFH or not be forced into working full time to make ends meet - we could have just taken him to school ourselves. It would have been a worse experience (he loved the bus and had to be told to not make such loud vrooming noises the whole time) but $2m is a huge chunk of the budget for something so few people are able to take advantage of.
Off topic, but it is interesting to see from the campaign disclosure reports that Steve Hagerty has donated $1000 to the campaign of Nichole Pinkard. She also received $1000 from the Rachel Kohler, scion of the late billionaire Herbert Kohler. She is by far the biggest fundraiser at this point.
Apparently Pinkhard is a business partner of Kohler's. They run something called STEAMe.
I must be dumb since I couldn't make heads or tails of what they actually do from their website: https://steame.com/
I would never vote for her as it seems from her research work that she is a real advocate of the dumbing-down with technology in schools. I find it curious that Hagerty is putting money behind her since he has been critical of the Board and it doesn't seem like Pinkard is a reformer in any way. (Remember she gave money to Mya Wilkins' campaign last time around)
Just looked again at the candidate disclosures and Pinkard got another contribution from the billionaire Kohler family--this time for $5,000. She also got $1000 from a Chicago doctor, Stacy Lindau, and $1,000 from a Wilmette executive of a subsidiary of UnitedHealth Group.
She has raised $10,000 over the last month--mostly from rich out-of-towners.
This is a CRAZY amount of money for a school board race. I've been looking at these reports for years and normally a candidate raises and spends a several hundred bucks.
During the last election, for example, Sergio raised about $1000, most of which he spent on signs and promo material. He has about $45.00 in the bank now.
Cool. I do think including info on who is funding their campaigns is pertinent.
If you have the opportunity to interview PInkard, please ask her if she thinks the district could "unifiy workflows and improve efficiency so all partners within a workforce development system can collaborate seamlessly, access actionable data, deepen impact and scale"!
I don’t understand why people thought you were fear-mongering. You literally just described what the administration said they were going to do, which is what they then did.
This is the thing with Trump, he says 8 billion insane things and you have to take all of them seriously, even if he is just bullshitting. Because if you don't, and he does that thing, it's very bad!
A good example is this Guantanamo thing - I don't think they have the capacity or even the inmates to fill up 30,000 beds there. I think he's very clearly bullshitting as a scare tactic so people don't show up at the border - thinking they'll be deported to Guantanamo. But we have to take it seriously because if that's not the case, he's building a concentration camp.
I agree that’s his strategy! I just think when it comes to debating policy, we should place a high probability on his threats being realized. In this case I think it was fair for you to include impoundment as *a* factor in issuing a referendum. It’s more prudent than alarmist in the context of scenario planning, particularly if we want to D65 to start actually being proactive as opposed to waiting for things to spiral out of control.
After having 3 kids enrolled in 2 separate D65 schools, I am 100% confident there is no such thing as White Glove Service at any D65 school. If by White Glove Service (“WGS”) they mean quickly responding to emails and implementing no meaningful action, they should classify it as something other than WGS.
I not sure what "white glove service" the superintendent is referring to...Any time I email any one at central office...I have lucky to get a response in 2-3 day turn around...Or just no response at all until I have basically stalked the person with email and voicemail messages...
I am also a bit frustrated with all the sympathy the board has for people losing their positions...When Dr. Horton decided to "eliminate" reading specialists...we had to compete against our career long colleagues for the "interventionist" positions...Example: I worked at Washington we had 3.50 FTE Reading Specialists...two were Spanish speakers and 2 English speakers...we were downsized to only 2 Interventionists who now in the new job description would service math AND reading...So you are down two teachers but you are now servicing Math and Reading...I lost my job...No sympathy for me...Thanks Biz and friends...The board went against their own proclamation of maintaining at least 1 reading specialist at every building...and why? So Dr. Horton could build his gilded castle...Basically the district and the board said don't let the door hit you on your way out...Now we have sympathy...go figure
Well I did what most folks in Evanston did and moved to a private school for my employment...A school which values my knowledge and expertise...I left my retirement and blood, sweat, and tears after 14 years of employment...Needless to say I am a bit disgruntled...
It's too late now, but I still wonder if you guys could've sued over that. Dr. Horton got rid of that program but the 2017 referendum resolution passed specifically allocated funds for the reading specialists. Horton's reason for ending the program was to support a:
"collectivist, equitable approach to interventions beyond just reading for students”
But like .. did that ever amount to anything? or did he just use the funds on other stuff?
Yes, I have always wondered if we had grounds to sue, but I am not a lawyer. At the time I was busy looking for new employment, and didn't pursue legal action, but I do often wonder.
We were replaced with the "tutoring centers" basically para-professionals working with the most tangled students. As I stated, Dr. Horton eliminated reading specialists and replaced them with "Math and Reading Interventionists" but basically reduced each building's support by half...Gee I don't understand why we aren't closing the achievement gap???? Why do we have soooo many special education students? I would be interested to know how many students received IEPs after reading specialists were eliminated?
The whole situation is maddening. Thank you for your continued reporting.
So….this is exactly what I have been thinking for several years! Firing all the reading specialists and rehiring fewer people to service more struggling children was supposed to do what now? How is that fair or equitable for our kids? It seems like it was only fair and equitable to Dr. Horton’s pocket. As soon as it came time to show the results of his practices and policies, he split. I am so sorry this happened to so many good teachers. It’s all upside down and frustrating. And the board just pretends that they don’t have a direct hand in putting all this in motion. I found it really offensive the way they talked at the meeting about being respectful and compassionate to the people who are about to be cut, meanwhile they are going to be leaving the actual firings to their mostly incompetent superintendent. Bunch of nonsense.
Horton threw in the word ‘collectivist’ and figured his left flank was now definitely well covered from any hostile questioning in Evanston regarding whether his interventionist restructuring was advisable or not.
Exactly. Teachers were treated horribly under the Horton regime - from cutting reading specialists to egregious payroll issues - and yet Biz was always first in line to blame teachers for anything wrong in the district. There was absolutely zero sympathy when all the reading specialists lost jobs and were forced to leave or go back in the classroom - a completely different kind of job. Glad you found a better home.
Sorry to hear, that really sucks!
I’d like to know what the “white glove service” is at JEH? Also I’m curious to see how much the catering spending goes down.
Please… “white glove service”? Among the thousands spent on Grecian Kitchen, some admittedly taken home by admins for dinner, the thousands for personal security for the Superintendent who has mischaracterized an armed threat against him that EPD can’t reconcile? Thousand spent on two huge gas guzzling luxury SUV’s for the staff to visit schools? Millions allocated out of the general fund for a brand new school as the others rot.
The reality is that Horton built and staffed a gilded castle for a district four times larger (which he eventually fled to), and now we have virtually nothing to show for it other than “parents should not expect “white glove service” from JEH in the future. God help us.
EFD rescued dogs from the beach this week. Maybe the frigid conditions on the Lake were a welcome respite after all the heat they have been receiving.
As a former administrator who had an office at JEH and worked under Murphy and Goren, I can guarantee the work still gets done with a smaller central office staff. As a current teacher, I can say we would love to have less “white glove service” since that means less micro managing, busy work, and emails-make planning and teaching great again!
Thank you for your public comment re; SACC SUMMER PROGRAM and the other parents. The SACC summer program is run efficiently, effectively and most stimulating for the students. Their planned activities show great creative planning to interest the participants. They have a great staff and the kids love them. This "jewel" of an affortable summer programming for working parents is one of the things the school district should hold onto as they make such drastic reductions.
Forgive me for being skeptical about millions in transportation savings… but I’ll believe it when I see it.
Another thing that’s important about the SACC summer program is that (last summer anyway) because it was held at Lincoln where extended school year was also held, it was the only real child care option for people with kids in ESY who needed full day care. (ESY is for kids who qualify for summer services as part of their IEPs).
I would have expected at least a mention of increasing the fees to provide a "return on investment". I also wonder how ROI is calculated for students. And what that current ROI is on the district right now?
Definition: White glove service is a premium service that provides special care and attention to customers.
The only people in this district that were receiving 'White Glove Service' were Dr. Horton and Dr. Turner being driven around in a fleet of Ford Explorers while eating catered lunches and the specific folks at JEH that were overpaid while also coming into work late and been unaccountable to the students, parents and taxpayers of Evanston.
There are some very hard working staff at JEH and sadly many of those folks will likely be the ones that will be actively looking for roles in new districts to flee this madness.
Props to you and your little one for showing up and making a public comment -- it's not an easy thing to do! You're giving your kid a great lesson in public engagement :)
My son was lucky enough to use the JEH bus prior to COVID, but it should honestly be cut, especially if the savings are in the millions. The JEH pre-K was wonderful and had incredible teachers, but it was only a few hour a day program and not suited to anyone with full time jobs outside the house. For those of us lucky enough to WFH or not be forced into working full time to make ends meet - we could have just taken him to school ourselves. It would have been a worse experience (he loved the bus and had to be told to not make such loud vrooming noises the whole time) but $2m is a huge chunk of the budget for something so few people are able to take advantage of.
Off topic, but it is interesting to see from the campaign disclosure reports that Steve Hagerty has donated $1000 to the campaign of Nichole Pinkard. She also received $1000 from the Rachel Kohler, scion of the late billionaire Herbert Kohler. She is by far the biggest fundraiser at this point.
Apparently Pinkhard is a business partner of Kohler's. They run something called STEAMe.
I must be dumb since I couldn't make heads or tails of what they actually do from their website: https://steame.com/
I would never vote for her as it seems from her research work that she is a real advocate of the dumbing-down with technology in schools. I find it curious that Hagerty is putting money behind her since he has been critical of the Board and it doesn't seem like Pinkard is a reformer in any way. (Remember she gave money to Mya Wilkins' campaign last time around)
I am going to publish a voter guide - a big ass PDF with answers to my questions and a table of donors to candidates. So stay tuned
Just looked again at the candidate disclosures and Pinkard got another contribution from the billionaire Kohler family--this time for $5,000. She also got $1000 from a Chicago doctor, Stacy Lindau, and $1,000 from a Wilmette executive of a subsidiary of UnitedHealth Group.
She has raised $10,000 over the last month--mostly from rich out-of-towners.
This is a CRAZY amount of money for a school board race. I've been looking at these reports for years and normally a candidate raises and spends a several hundred bucks.
During the last election, for example, Sergio raised about $1000, most of which he spent on signs and promo material. He has about $45.00 in the bank now.
Cool. I do think including info on who is funding their campaigns is pertinent.
If you have the opportunity to interview PInkard, please ask her if she thinks the district could "unifiy workflows and improve efficiency so all partners within a workforce development system can collaborate seamlessly, access actionable data, deepen impact and scale"!
I don’t understand why people thought you were fear-mongering. You literally just described what the administration said they were going to do, which is what they then did.
This is the thing with Trump, he says 8 billion insane things and you have to take all of them seriously, even if he is just bullshitting. Because if you don't, and he does that thing, it's very bad!
A good example is this Guantanamo thing - I don't think they have the capacity or even the inmates to fill up 30,000 beds there. I think he's very clearly bullshitting as a scare tactic so people don't show up at the border - thinking they'll be deported to Guantanamo. But we have to take it seriously because if that's not the case, he's building a concentration camp.
I agree that’s his strategy! I just think when it comes to debating policy, we should place a high probability on his threats being realized. In this case I think it was fair for you to include impoundment as *a* factor in issuing a referendum. It’s more prudent than alarmist in the context of scenario planning, particularly if we want to D65 to start actually being proactive as opposed to waiting for things to spiral out of control.
"Refunding of 2014 and 2015 Bonds - this is essentially refinancing these bond issues and is projected to yield about $2.2 million in savings."
With interest rates quite a bit higher than they were in 2014-2015, I guess I don't understand how refinancing generates savings.
https://www.cbsnews.com/chicago/news/melting-ice-worries-close-dog-beach-evanston-illinois/