Well, it could be hard for her. She has never been a superintendent before and she is literally on the "do not hire" list at CPS.
Why didn't the Board prioritize hiring someone with experience turning around a district in financial straits? Or maybe even someone who had ANY experience as a superintendent?
The board held a secret search so we had no idea what the finalist pool looked like.
This makes Donna's admonishment of the Popcorn Gallery commentators even more insulting. I would have loved to have gone to an open meeting with finalists and offered comments--like was done during all of the pre-Horton searches going back to the last century.
But, no, that was impossible because the Board made the key hiring decision in the dark.
They can’t make a good decision to save their lives. Just a total disaster of a board. Worst fiduciaries ever. How the heck can you be in favor of a school you can no longer afford? Every decision now should be about cutting the deficit. Period. Hopes and dreams don’t matter.
One follow up note: the CC representative who just spoke said they've spent $2m on ground improvements already. But the budget was $1.5m? Maybe he was speaking colloquially.
Wonder why the CC guy was apprehensive about pausing the project. Maybe it’s the millions of dollars they won’t get as a company if it doesn’t happen. Maybe. Can’t be sure.
Never consider sunk costs. But the D65 board is going to cling to sunk cost fallacy until the district is taken over. By then, we’ll have spent several more millions on a school that won’t be built.
I have to agree, this is a prime example of the sunk cost fallacy. Don’t wring hands about money already wasted- think seriously about how to best improve district academics, finances, and democratic processes. If the financial consultant is advising to pause construction, that should be on the table.
Correct. Yes, it is expensive to cancel the school but not to the tune of $48 million expensive. Soo La Kim's argument of we can spend millions to cancel a school or spend millions to have a new school is comparing apples to oranges.
Also, the board saying that the new school isn't the cause of the financial mess but yet failing to acknowledge what is. Ugh.
In what world was that 2 million of ground improvements? I mean I know this is evanston where a couple pickleball courts cost a million but come on! Curious to check the job site tomorrow.
I am not on my computer but I have an old post about the boring data. The site has really difficult saturated soil with a high water table, so they need to mitigate. Because fifth ward was a swamp until 1900 or so
I remember the “boring” story but how long have they been working at it? Hard to believe they could burn though 2 million so quickly when the whole budget for ground prep was 1.5 million or are they saying they are already over budget by 33%? Maybe?
Su wants the comment section to come and talk to a group of expressionless/dead faces at a BOE meeting?To reason with the very people that ripped people to shreds in prior elections; that sided with the bullies on all FB Evanston community pages? To plead and beg our case to the people who love to lecture us on our privilege and tell us how racist we are (remember telling Angela that she prioritizes money over Black kids because she works in finance?)—while clinging to their perceived moral superiority—all while they thoughtlessly destroy our school district? To believe that the very same people who got us into this mess and refuse to take responsibility to this day will be moved into action to save this district?
What a joke. They did this. They’re being told what they need to do & still they blindly push forward —with Foster School being the sword they’re going to die on. Sadly they’ve destroyed the district, screwed over a generation of at risk kids and will end up disappointing the elder Black community when the school they’ve promised doesn’t materialize the way they’ve promised. And don’t even get me started on the gentrification that will come with that school that will look like a diamond compared to the crapola schools left once this disaster board gets done doing its thing.
Sad days for our community. All preventable and yet here we are.
The comment section *DID* come and talk to the Board during the Bessie Rhodes hearings (including me) and at least one Board member played around on her phone during public comment. It accomplished nothing. Whether they like it or not, digital spaces are the public square these days.
I do think perhaps what they meant to say was that during public comment they have yet to have someone come in and oppose the school outright - which is true - I've been in a lot of meetings and haven't heard a single person, in public in person, voice opposition to Foster School.
No one wants to speak out against building the school because they’ll immediately be vilified as a white supremacist, opportunity-hoarding racist, both on social media and probably right there in the meeting. It’s very effective because how do you refute that you’re not racist? Discourse in Evanston is almost impossible. Even Tom, who is evidence/data driven and clearly very progressive, is (unfairly) called names.
To be fair I think only like 2 people have called me names. They are still welcome to email me (tom@foiagras.com) and I will give them space to publish on this blog their anti-Tom arguments. I have nothing against them or anyone in Evanston (besides the lady that yelled at me at Out of Space), even if they disagree. We agree on far more than we disagree.
I am such a fan of Tom!! And grateful for your information gathering and analysis.
That said, behind your back.... the same thirty people and their disciples say that your blog, the Round Table, & Evanston Now are all racist. The only local publication that they endorse is the Daily Northwestern, because, you know, college students are the masters of the truth. Nah, its that they require less Koolaid to get their job done. Ouch.
I think there's a difference between simply saying "I'm against building the school" vs. "if we're making decisions through purely a cost lens, here are areas where we can possibly cut in order to close the deficit and balance the budget. If the school is one of those areas, then a comprehensive analysis of how much pausing for 1 year, 2 years, or entirely canceling the project until a time (3-5 years from now?) where we can actually map out its affordability."
The board is allowed to evaluate non-financial factors within the "menu of options", so if the juice isn't worth the squeeze on stopping the construction (compared to other proposed savings measures) so be it. But time isn't really our friend if expensive work will continue to go on while we work to define the rest of the deficit reduction options.
They can say whatever they want. As if coming there does anything. They are emboldened based on the last two election cycles. They are arrogant and act like they are untouchable. The only thing that will shake them (maybe) would be a state/federal investigation and/or a lawsuit naming them all —every board member, every administrator that facilitated all of this. They’ve stolen our money (anyone know where the Covid millions have gone??!), destroyed our school district, harmed kids (most importantly). So much destruction. So much trashing of their fiduciary duties.
I have an answer to the COVID million thing. D65 took about $10m in ESSER funding. A little under a million of that went to the CREATE65 boondoggle, of which about $330k of that went to a friend of Dr. Horton:
As far as I know, none of it was stolen in the technical sense.
I should add - this is actually a major national problem right now, especially in CPS. All these School Boards are waking up this year, when the ESSER money runs out and asking "hey what happened" - only to learn their administrations burned all the money on headcount and pet projects. This is the main issue why CPS is a mess right now.
This is correct. The ESSER money came in rounds and each round had different spending requirements defined by the ISBE (if you google it you can find their list of permitted expenses). I've seen the list, by ESSER2 it was pretty much most stuff allowed except major capital improvements and teacher salaries.
I have yet to find any school district in America that used it for HVAC upgrades. This is just absolutely mindbogglingly stupid considering that when we had those hot days a month or two ago, even some of the nicer Districts north of us had to close because they .. didn't have air conditioning. None of this makes any sense because all the buildings were closed, so it would've been ideal for HVAC improvements.
Many, including D65 did use it for tutoring. D65 spent more than $2.5m of the ESSER money on tutoring, but that includes a lot of headcount on tutors, administrators, programming, etc that is hard to get rid of after the money is gone. This is the big issue facing a lot of Districts now.
I can verify that nothing was done where I taught in D65. The only HEPA filter you would find would have been purchased by a teacher for their own room. I was told by our custodial staff that the heating system could not handle the enhanced filters without burning out the motors.
Thanks Tom. I’ll check out the links you provided over lunch. I Appreciate the quick reply and am really grateful to see that you’ve found accounting for that $$.
Every school district in America except the most judicious (there are a few in IL that used it purposefully) pissed this money away. It's really quite sad.
By having it started (barely) and then paused, doesn't that set up a need for referendum for the community to pony up on a school they never wanted? Its a different need than asking for a referendum before any ground was disturbed for Foster School.
They better also start talking what they are doing with our school… because in June they were quick in closing BRGS with the promise of a new school. This Board all needs to go !!
Regarding the "come talk to us HERE" portion of the meeting: this whole train of thought is actually, genuinely funny when you think about it in the context of what has happened across both the digital and meatspaces in Evanston over the past two years.
We all remember the virtuous and good LadyDogWhistleDown (or whatever it was). Revolutionary era cosplay and completely 'anonymous' (🙄). Anonymity was Good and Cool at that point.
And who can forget the 'anonymous' Equity and Empowerment Commission ceasefire fiasco? Lots and lots and lots of people showed up in person and put their names and faces out there to discuss that. And in that scenario, there were some ACTUAL Nazis watching to see who showed up, and not just name-callers on facebook.
That draft resolution popped up out of nowhere and the authors were anonymous, then, too. But again, maybe that was an overreaction as that whole thing was just "white people shit" ... yet another comment that was made anonymously.
I never thought I'd see a school board member drop a "come at me, bro" during a meeting.
As others have said -- at this point, what is even the point? People have commented here, commented on Facebook under their real names, written letters and articles in the Roundtable, and people HAVE shown up in person to call out the board. Not everyone has the *privilege* of showing up to non-publicized, last-minute school board meetings. People have jobs and families that come first.
No matter which avenue people choose to express themselves, it is never the right avenue for this board. It must be nice to ignore input when you can dismiss the input due to the medium it is delivered in.
The bona-fide Nazi that showed up during all of this really changed how I think about the way we talk to each other and how we should be more fearless in our disagreement. Because that guy showed we all agree on much much more than we think.
I agree. That was truly a wild moment. Those people flew from Walnut Creek, CA to Evanston specifically to yell slurs.
Unfortunately I don't know what to do or say; if anyone and everyone that has a certain type of opinion is called a Nazi (in various forms - "take off the hood", "KKK", "whyte supremecists"), then how can we, as a community, actually have any sort of fact-based discourse? Seriously??
I feel like the discourse has been "on the one hand, there are people that want to build Foster School; on the other hand, there are Nazis." How does a community forge a path forward if that is the starting point for any discussion? As you have said, Tom, you think moving forward with the school is a good idea (I believe that's where you stand based on what I have read). That is an OK and acceptable point of view. It is informed by facts and figures - not emotion. Other people think that the school should not be built, due to the reasons discussed (finances, enrollment). These are also fact-based points of view. And, unfortunately, there is no splitting the baby here: the school either gets built, or it doesn't.
But if we just run around calling each other Nazis and writing anonymous slanderous newsletters, then what chance do we even have of figuring out a path forward?
At this point this town is so divided the people that are against the Board are so disgusted….and the people that are pro-administration are so loyal that nothing will change their minds. It feels futile to even state facts or data. It’s like screaming into a void. People either care or don’t care but a line has been drawn in the sand and nobody is changing their position. It doesn’t matter what happens. The State could take it over and it would still be someone else’s fault. Aliens from Mars could land saying they heard about this huge Evanston school financial disaster and nobody would blink.
I wish Evanstonians cared about this, but the vast majority don’t. This town is apathetic (voter turnout for the last school board election was a disgrace). I think many with high incomes live here because it makes them feel civically virtuous without having to do anything except pay high property taxes. A thousand dollar a year property tax increase has zero effect on them, and they can cover private school tuition, if needed.
I don’t think it’s just the wealthy people who don’t care. I think it’s pretty universal not to care in this town. Look at aldermanic votes. They are also very low.
I think there's a difference between showing up at the polls and "caring". We need people to care ENOUGH to reflect that in the form of voting, but it's also a matter of having inspiring candidates with a solid blend of vision and responsibility. Many people kind of take it for granted that things will be run well enough until it's right in their face that things are broken. Local journalism can help with that, and Tom's insights are definitely helping to open people's eyes. Hopefully that also leads to people giving more of a shit.
Illinois needs to move our stupid off-cycle municipal elections to November, with everything else. I'm not sure what is gained by having elections in April, besides protecting incumbents.
That's an interesting take, but don't you also think it reduces the influence of November elections on the muni ones? When upwards of billions are being spent on national and state campaigns to drive people to the polls to vote for/against XYZ, don't you feel like the municipal part would be so far down ballot that people would vote more arbitrarily?
for what it is worth, the entire D65 debacle came up at a birthday party I was at. And I wasn't the one to bring it up. This would have never happened two years ago.
I just read the Evanston Now article; did I miss something or was the fact that this pause memo came from Dr. Grossi never mentioned last night? I still believe that the oversight was so lax that as they start digging into the books things are actually far worse. As for “creating unnecessary detours”, that sure sounds like the community being told to shut up and take it.
I am curious what you get back. Factually, it would definitely cost more to pause and restart because of having to do bids, inflation, etc. No one needs a big analysis for that understanding. But Grossi is not a dumb guy. So if he proposed it, one would conclude it is a trade off he thinks is important to consider because of other obligations or requirements the district has/will have. One of the board members referred to “one line” in the memo that she insinuated is causing the majority of issues.
I think the “unnecessary detour” was the meeting, based on how she worded it. The board staged a “special meeting” to highlight 2 community activists in favor of the school and then appear annoyed. I bet her team was asked to drop everything to prepare for it, including stuff that was not said.
When was the agenda/main topic for this announced? Is it just me or did it seem like this magically popped up in such a way as to limit the chances of people coming for public comment? Like how did the guy come from post-surgery know about there was going to be a board conversation about a pause but I did not?
I think Soo La came the closest of anyone to uttering the possibility of actually canceling the project, and it was only in the context of "there's clearly no point to pausing this." I do agree with that,but more along the lines of if we're exhausting all options through a financial lens, CANCELING the project should've been a scenario looked at.
And Mya saying it's wrong to look at suspending the project *first* before other reduction avenues...cmon, there's literally ongoing construction! If we waited till January to evaluate the cost/benefit of pausing the project, we'd have blown through a bunch more money.
If you are watching now, Donna Su is calling out the comment section to come in front of the board and explain why the project should be paused. You should seriously consider.
well , the last time parents & the community came out in defense of BRGS , they refused to hear the facts and complete dismissed our perspective , even through it was rooted in data and facts …
I agree, Aide. As someone who prepared carefully researched comments then appeared to deliver them at a D65 board meeting, I felt completely dismissed. I then sat through some word salad discussions among board members that translated as “We’re going to do what we’re going to do.”
My motivation is to keep commenting. It appears that media comment sections get their attention.
Board president: "as a reminder, it is not customary for the board to respond to public comment. Instead, email us."
Board member: "all the people from the comment section should come here to public comment to have a one-way conversation about why they think we should consider pausing something expensive during a time of financial crisis."
Its discouraging that this board vastly doesn't represent the community and then misleads the community as to how to best communicate with them.
I agree that board president Sergio has clearly given direction that they will not respond to public comment and then last night board member Donna is asking the public to come to the meetings (that are hastily put on the agenda) to comment.
I have been told by another superintendent for another school district that there are bylaws about the amount of time that boards of education must respond to requests in writing. There are legal difference between public comments at a meeting and comments in writing. I like Donna, so not trying to throw her under the bus here, but she's uninformed of the bylaws or the law in this regard.
FWIW, you can only provide public comment online in comments sections in a handful of places without coming under attack. The District 65 FB group is ground zero for being attacked. Even the Round Table grossly edits their comments section. The number of thought silos in this town is staggering.
All told, I wish the board & admin had put Foster School on the ballot, even again for the third time I've lived here. I don't care as much about public comment as I care that the board serves as representatives of the will of the community in regards to education. Democracy, right?
I have friends here in Evanston who moved from former USSR. Its fascinating to hear their points of view about the school's debts, mismanagement, and misdeeds and how authoritarianism of power held by the board and backed up by the same thirty people ready to fight on facebook. Just some lunch time thoughts.
Speaking of, in 2020-22, the Board responded to a lot of emails especially those critical of Foster School or of the financing mechanism, essentially calling them racist and/or incorrect. I have copies of about half a dozen people who emailed the board voicing very serious concerns about Foster School financing, and the board replies were usually very factually incorrect. You can probably FOIA those if you want.
Do you feel it's irrelevant for those receipts to be more widely publicized? For anyone seeking reelection, or currently serving as board president, it's highly relevant.
It actually might make good script for public comment to illustrate just how well-received such inquiries are.
Yeah, I might publish these at some point. I haven't really had time to think carefully about the newsworthiness + relevance of it today. Going to have to ponder that for a bit.
I have, years ago. In what was probably a 2,000 word response to me asking if Biz had visited Haven (she was the board rep for the campus) during the crisis year a few years ago, Sergio managed to simultaneously misunderstand my inquiry, thoroughly lecture me, and not answer my direct question.
When I repeated the simple yes/no question about Biz, I never got a reply. It was like emailing JD Vance.
I have received a few responses and then I have been ignored a few times. All the responses have been either been incorrect--- "we are working on reducing the transportation budget back in 2023" or "Horton is paid in full for breaking his contract" or a total word salad that avoided the real question. It's kinda a total waste of time. The board will do whatever they want in the end.
Yeah I wasn't being critical of Angela, I was being earnest because I think she's one of the smartest people in Evanston and understands some of the financial aspects better than most people here.
She was very clear that they don’t really trust him or his report. They also don’t all understand what got them there (deficit spending vs the reserve, etc.). I did not catch why he is recommending they pause it?
I'm pretty peeved at the talk about the board taking a vote to show where they currently stand, then saying well we won't actually be doing that. Would take 10 seconds to have everyone say Aye.
While the Board spent previous times addressing anyone that opposes their bad decisions , they gave 0 time addressing the families who are directly impacted by their incompetence. Thai afternoon, BRGS revived an email that 7th and 8th grades are being closed effective Nov. 15. The harm they are causing is unforgivable . Our children should not have to pay the price of incompetence.
In defense of Evanstonians who aren’t paying attention, this shit is dense and hard. If you are not willing to pour over reports and numbers, it’s difficult to understand and to have an opinion that isn’t based on what your friends and neighbors think. An increase in RE taxes or, worse, state takeover would concentrate the mind. I am not wishing for it. Just recognizing human (my own) limitations.
TLDR my prior comment: I have been told by another leader for another school district that there are bylaws about the amount of time that boards of education must respond to requests in writing. Some school districts have been successfully sued for not following their own rules over this issue.
There are legal differences in how a board of education must respond to the public as far as comments at a meeting and comments in writing. I like DWS, so not trying to throw her under the bus here, but she's uninformed of the bylaws or the law in this regard. Constituents are better served by putting concerns in writing and keeping those receipts, or lack thereof.
I’m so tired of Turner playing the martyr; “it’s so hard”, “we are working 24/7”. Nobody at that table has earned any trust from this community.
Well, it could be hard for her. She has never been a superintendent before and she is literally on the "do not hire" list at CPS.
Why didn't the Board prioritize hiring someone with experience turning around a district in financial straits? Or maybe even someone who had ANY experience as a superintendent?
The board held a secret search so we had no idea what the finalist pool looked like.
This makes Donna's admonishment of the Popcorn Gallery commentators even more insulting. I would have loved to have gone to an open meeting with finalists and offered comments--like was done during all of the pre-Horton searches going back to the last century.
But, no, that was impossible because the Board made the key hiring decision in the dark.
Please, Donna, save us your indignation.
They can’t make a good decision to save their lives. Just a total disaster of a board. Worst fiduciaries ever. How the heck can you be in favor of a school you can no longer afford? Every decision now should be about cutting the deficit. Period. Hopes and dreams don’t matter.
One follow up note: the CC representative who just spoke said they've spent $2m on ground improvements already. But the budget was $1.5m? Maybe he was speaking colloquially.
https://www.foiagras.com/p/fifth-ward-school-groundbreaking
Wonder why the CC guy was apprehensive about pausing the project. Maybe it’s the millions of dollars they won’t get as a company if it doesn’t happen. Maybe. Can’t be sure.
😂😭
https://i.imgflip.com/96wy45.jpg
Never consider sunk costs. But the D65 board is going to cling to sunk cost fallacy until the district is taken over. By then, we’ll have spent several more millions on a school that won’t be built.
I have to agree, this is a prime example of the sunk cost fallacy. Don’t wring hands about money already wasted- think seriously about how to best improve district academics, finances, and democratic processes. If the financial consultant is advising to pause construction, that should be on the table.
Correct. Yes, it is expensive to cancel the school but not to the tune of $48 million expensive. Soo La Kim's argument of we can spend millions to cancel a school or spend millions to have a new school is comparing apples to oranges.
Also, the board saying that the new school isn't the cause of the financial mess but yet failing to acknowledge what is. Ugh.
I think that's a very fair criticism and I got the sense that is the next step, asking "if not Foster School, where is money going to come from"
I do worry they're going to put so many constraints on the cuts that this consultant can come up with that it will make the job basically impossible.
✔️ keep foster school
✔️ dont cut individual line items related to a,b,or c
✔️dont close schools x,y, or z
✔️ dont lay off staff
Shady
Something to FOIA tomorrow..
In what world was that 2 million of ground improvements? I mean I know this is evanston where a couple pickleball courts cost a million but come on! Curious to check the job site tomorrow.
I am not on my computer but I have an old post about the boring data. The site has really difficult saturated soil with a high water table, so they need to mitigate. Because fifth ward was a swamp until 1900 or so
I remember the “boring” story but how long have they been working at it? Hard to believe they could burn though 2 million so quickly when the whole budget for ground prep was 1.5 million or are they saying they are already over budget by 33%? Maybe?
Thats what I am gonna FOIA tmrw :)
Does this then mean $500k they have to pull out of contingency budget? Is there even enough for that or does this push up a new number for total cost?
Unclear. I just FOIA'ed the records that have those numbers. If they're already over budget, that's a big problem.
Su wants the comment section to come and talk to a group of expressionless/dead faces at a BOE meeting?To reason with the very people that ripped people to shreds in prior elections; that sided with the bullies on all FB Evanston community pages? To plead and beg our case to the people who love to lecture us on our privilege and tell us how racist we are (remember telling Angela that she prioritizes money over Black kids because she works in finance?)—while clinging to their perceived moral superiority—all while they thoughtlessly destroy our school district? To believe that the very same people who got us into this mess and refuse to take responsibility to this day will be moved into action to save this district?
What a joke. They did this. They’re being told what they need to do & still they blindly push forward —with Foster School being the sword they’re going to die on. Sadly they’ve destroyed the district, screwed over a generation of at risk kids and will end up disappointing the elder Black community when the school they’ve promised doesn’t materialize the way they’ve promised. And don’t even get me started on the gentrification that will come with that school that will look like a diamond compared to the crapola schools left once this disaster board gets done doing its thing.
Sad days for our community. All preventable and yet here we are.
The comment section *DID* come and talk to the Board during the Bessie Rhodes hearings (including me) and at least one Board member played around on her phone during public comment. It accomplished nothing. Whether they like it or not, digital spaces are the public square these days.
I do think perhaps what they meant to say was that during public comment they have yet to have someone come in and oppose the school outright - which is true - I've been in a lot of meetings and haven't heard a single person, in public in person, voice opposition to Foster School.
No one wants to speak out against building the school because they’ll immediately be vilified as a white supremacist, opportunity-hoarding racist, both on social media and probably right there in the meeting. It’s very effective because how do you refute that you’re not racist? Discourse in Evanston is almost impossible. Even Tom, who is evidence/data driven and clearly very progressive, is (unfairly) called names.
To be fair I think only like 2 people have called me names. They are still welcome to email me (tom@foiagras.com) and I will give them space to publish on this blog their anti-Tom arguments. I have nothing against them or anyone in Evanston (besides the lady that yelled at me at Out of Space), even if they disagree. We agree on far more than we disagree.
I am such a fan of Tom!! And grateful for your information gathering and analysis.
That said, behind your back.... the same thirty people and their disciples say that your blog, the Round Table, & Evanston Now are all racist. The only local publication that they endorse is the Daily Northwestern, because, you know, college students are the masters of the truth. Nah, its that they require less Koolaid to get their job done. Ouch.
Thats fine, I cant win em all
I think there's a difference between simply saying "I'm against building the school" vs. "if we're making decisions through purely a cost lens, here are areas where we can possibly cut in order to close the deficit and balance the budget. If the school is one of those areas, then a comprehensive analysis of how much pausing for 1 year, 2 years, or entirely canceling the project until a time (3-5 years from now?) where we can actually map out its affordability."
The board is allowed to evaluate non-financial factors within the "menu of options", so if the juice isn't worth the squeeze on stopping the construction (compared to other proposed savings measures) so be it. But time isn't really our friend if expensive work will continue to go on while we work to define the rest of the deficit reduction options.
They can say whatever they want. As if coming there does anything. They are emboldened based on the last two election cycles. They are arrogant and act like they are untouchable. The only thing that will shake them (maybe) would be a state/federal investigation and/or a lawsuit naming them all —every board member, every administrator that facilitated all of this. They’ve stolen our money (anyone know where the Covid millions have gone??!), destroyed our school district, harmed kids (most importantly). So much destruction. So much trashing of their fiduciary duties.
I have an answer to the COVID million thing. D65 took about $10m in ESSER funding. A little under a million of that went to the CREATE65 boondoggle, of which about $330k of that went to a friend of Dr. Horton:
https://www.foiagras.com/p/district-65-teacher-residency-program
The rest was mostly spent on misc programs and headcount, some COVID related, some not. Here is the District's own breakdown:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/10IMDecU2cDKnSV3T3I4mL15UyCqBUMBd/view
As far as I know, none of it was stolen in the technical sense.
I should add - this is actually a major national problem right now, especially in CPS. All these School Boards are waking up this year, when the ESSER money runs out and asking "hey what happened" - only to learn their administrations burned all the money on headcount and pet projects. This is the main issue why CPS is a mess right now.
I thought the ESSER funds were supposed to be used for HVAC upgrades in buildings and tutoring services for learning loss.
This is correct. The ESSER money came in rounds and each round had different spending requirements defined by the ISBE (if you google it you can find their list of permitted expenses). I've seen the list, by ESSER2 it was pretty much most stuff allowed except major capital improvements and teacher salaries.
I have yet to find any school district in America that used it for HVAC upgrades. This is just absolutely mindbogglingly stupid considering that when we had those hot days a month or two ago, even some of the nicer Districts north of us had to close because they .. didn't have air conditioning. None of this makes any sense because all the buildings were closed, so it would've been ideal for HVAC improvements.
Many, including D65 did use it for tutoring. D65 spent more than $2.5m of the ESSER money on tutoring, but that includes a lot of headcount on tutors, administrators, programming, etc that is hard to get rid of after the money is gone. This is the big issue facing a lot of Districts now.
I can verify that nothing was done where I taught in D65. The only HEPA filter you would find would have been purchased by a teacher for their own room. I was told by our custodial staff that the heating system could not handle the enhanced filters without burning out the motors.
Unrelated but maybe related. Remember when Horton gave all the teachers a $500 check in Sept 2022 and cost $700k?
https://evanstonnow.com/district-65-to-give-employees-500-bonuses/
I wonder if that came out of ESSER money they had to discharge before a certain date. Gonna have to do some research on that.
Thanks Tom. I’ll check out the links you provided over lunch. I Appreciate the quick reply and am really grateful to see that you’ve found accounting for that $$.
Every school district in America except the most judicious (there are a few in IL that used it purposefully) pissed this money away. It's really quite sad.
Now that you said that, cue one of the board members or their apologists saying "this is a national problem, not our board's!"
As if it was unknown that ESSER funds had an expiration date we could plan for.
Who would dare?
By having it started (barely) and then paused, doesn't that set up a need for referendum for the community to pony up on a school they never wanted? Its a different need than asking for a referendum before any ground was disturbed for Foster School.
They better also start talking what they are doing with our school… because in June they were quick in closing BRGS with the promise of a new school. This Board all needs to go !!
Regarding the "come talk to us HERE" portion of the meeting: this whole train of thought is actually, genuinely funny when you think about it in the context of what has happened across both the digital and meatspaces in Evanston over the past two years.
We all remember the virtuous and good LadyDogWhistleDown (or whatever it was). Revolutionary era cosplay and completely 'anonymous' (🙄). Anonymity was Good and Cool at that point.
And who can forget the 'anonymous' Equity and Empowerment Commission ceasefire fiasco? Lots and lots and lots of people showed up in person and put their names and faces out there to discuss that. And in that scenario, there were some ACTUAL Nazis watching to see who showed up, and not just name-callers on facebook.
That draft resolution popped up out of nowhere and the authors were anonymous, then, too. But again, maybe that was an overreaction as that whole thing was just "white people shit" ... yet another comment that was made anonymously.
I never thought I'd see a school board member drop a "come at me, bro" during a meeting.
As others have said -- at this point, what is even the point? People have commented here, commented on Facebook under their real names, written letters and articles in the Roundtable, and people HAVE shown up in person to call out the board. Not everyone has the *privilege* of showing up to non-publicized, last-minute school board meetings. People have jobs and families that come first.
No matter which avenue people choose to express themselves, it is never the right avenue for this board. It must be nice to ignore input when you can dismiss the input due to the medium it is delivered in.
The bona-fide Nazi that showed up during all of this really changed how I think about the way we talk to each other and how we should be more fearless in our disagreement. Because that guy showed we all agree on much much more than we think.
I agree. That was truly a wild moment. Those people flew from Walnut Creek, CA to Evanston specifically to yell slurs.
Unfortunately I don't know what to do or say; if anyone and everyone that has a certain type of opinion is called a Nazi (in various forms - "take off the hood", "KKK", "whyte supremecists"), then how can we, as a community, actually have any sort of fact-based discourse? Seriously??
I feel like the discourse has been "on the one hand, there are people that want to build Foster School; on the other hand, there are Nazis." How does a community forge a path forward if that is the starting point for any discussion? As you have said, Tom, you think moving forward with the school is a good idea (I believe that's where you stand based on what I have read). That is an OK and acceptable point of view. It is informed by facts and figures - not emotion. Other people think that the school should not be built, due to the reasons discussed (finances, enrollment). These are also fact-based points of view. And, unfortunately, there is no splitting the baby here: the school either gets built, or it doesn't.
But if we just run around calling each other Nazis and writing anonymous slanderous newsletters, then what chance do we even have of figuring out a path forward?
That was well articulated... For a Nazi.
I kid, I kid.
At this point this town is so divided the people that are against the Board are so disgusted….and the people that are pro-administration are so loyal that nothing will change their minds. It feels futile to even state facts or data. It’s like screaming into a void. People either care or don’t care but a line has been drawn in the sand and nobody is changing their position. It doesn’t matter what happens. The State could take it over and it would still be someone else’s fault. Aliens from Mars could land saying they heard about this huge Evanston school financial disaster and nobody would blink.
I wish Evanstonians cared about this, but the vast majority don’t. This town is apathetic (voter turnout for the last school board election was a disgrace). I think many with high incomes live here because it makes them feel civically virtuous without having to do anything except pay high property taxes. A thousand dollar a year property tax increase has zero effect on them, and they can cover private school tuition, if needed.
I don’t think it’s just the wealthy people who don’t care. I think it’s pretty universal not to care in this town. Look at aldermanic votes. They are also very low.
I think there's a difference between showing up at the polls and "caring". We need people to care ENOUGH to reflect that in the form of voting, but it's also a matter of having inspiring candidates with a solid blend of vision and responsibility. Many people kind of take it for granted that things will be run well enough until it's right in their face that things are broken. Local journalism can help with that, and Tom's insights are definitely helping to open people's eyes. Hopefully that also leads to people giving more of a shit.
Illinois needs to move our stupid off-cycle municipal elections to November, with everything else. I'm not sure what is gained by having elections in April, besides protecting incumbents.
That's an interesting take, but don't you also think it reduces the influence of November elections on the muni ones? When upwards of billions are being spent on national and state campaigns to drive people to the polls to vote for/against XYZ, don't you feel like the municipal part would be so far down ballot that people would vote more arbitrarily?
Yeah, I'm not sure. I guess it's a tradeoff between turnout and voters who go straight ticket like that. Maybe no good answer.
for what it is worth, the entire D65 debacle came up at a birthday party I was at. And I wasn't the one to bring it up. This would have never happened two years ago.
I just read the Evanston Now article; did I miss something or was the fact that this pause memo came from Dr. Grossi never mentioned last night? I still believe that the oversight was so lax that as they start digging into the books things are actually far worse. As for “creating unnecessary detours”, that sure sounds like the community being told to shut up and take it.
Yeah something is fishy - FOIAing stuff now!
Just FOIAed. Here's what I requested in case you are curious:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1m1jRTjbBYDZIe5oU0Twx2JQcoaiHWNQK/view?usp=drive_link
I am curious what you get back. Factually, it would definitely cost more to pause and restart because of having to do bids, inflation, etc. No one needs a big analysis for that understanding. But Grossi is not a dumb guy. So if he proposed it, one would conclude it is a trade off he thinks is important to consider because of other obligations or requirements the district has/will have. One of the board members referred to “one line” in the memo that she insinuated is causing the majority of issues.
I think the “unnecessary detour” was the meeting, based on how she worded it. The board staged a “special meeting” to highlight 2 community activists in favor of the school and then appear annoyed. I bet her team was asked to drop everything to prepare for it, including stuff that was not said.
When was the agenda/main topic for this announced? Is it just me or did it seem like this magically popped up in such a way as to limit the chances of people coming for public comment? Like how did the guy come from post-surgery know about there was going to be a board conversation about a pause but I did not?
I think Soo La came the closest of anyone to uttering the possibility of actually canceling the project, and it was only in the context of "there's clearly no point to pausing this." I do agree with that,but more along the lines of if we're exhausting all options through a financial lens, CANCELING the project should've been a scenario looked at.
And Mya saying it's wrong to look at suspending the project *first* before other reduction avenues...cmon, there's literally ongoing construction! If we waited till January to evaluate the cost/benefit of pausing the project, we'd have blown through a bunch more money.
😬
Better late than never
If you are watching now, Donna Su is calling out the comment section to come in front of the board and explain why the project should be paused. You should seriously consider.
well , the last time parents & the community came out in defense of BRGS , they refused to hear the facts and complete dismissed our perspective , even through it was rooted in data and facts …
I agree, Aide. As someone who prepared carefully researched comments then appeared to deliver them at a D65 board meeting, I felt completely dismissed. I then sat through some word salad discussions among board members that translated as “We’re going to do what we’re going to do.”
My motivation is to keep commenting. It appears that media comment sections get their attention.
Board president: "as a reminder, it is not customary for the board to respond to public comment. Instead, email us."
Board member: "all the people from the comment section should come here to public comment to have a one-way conversation about why they think we should consider pausing something expensive during a time of financial crisis."
Its discouraging that this board vastly doesn't represent the community and then misleads the community as to how to best communicate with them.
I agree that board president Sergio has clearly given direction that they will not respond to public comment and then last night board member Donna is asking the public to come to the meetings (that are hastily put on the agenda) to comment.
I have been told by another superintendent for another school district that there are bylaws about the amount of time that boards of education must respond to requests in writing. There are legal difference between public comments at a meeting and comments in writing. I like Donna, so not trying to throw her under the bus here, but she's uninformed of the bylaws or the law in this regard.
FWIW, you can only provide public comment online in comments sections in a handful of places without coming under attack. The District 65 FB group is ground zero for being attacked. Even the Round Table grossly edits their comments section. The number of thought silos in this town is staggering.
All told, I wish the board & admin had put Foster School on the ballot, even again for the third time I've lived here. I don't care as much about public comment as I care that the board serves as representatives of the will of the community in regards to education. Democracy, right?
I have friends here in Evanston who moved from former USSR. Its fascinating to hear their points of view about the school's debts, mismanagement, and misdeeds and how authoritarianism of power held by the board and backed up by the same thirty people ready to fight on facebook. Just some lunch time thoughts.
Honest question. Has any reader of this blog ever received a response to an email sent to this board?
I've gotten responses but I am me.
I know other people have gotten responses.
Speaking of, in 2020-22, the Board responded to a lot of emails especially those critical of Foster School or of the financing mechanism, essentially calling them racist and/or incorrect. I have copies of about half a dozen people who emailed the board voicing very serious concerns about Foster School financing, and the board replies were usually very factually incorrect. You can probably FOIA those if you want.
Do you feel it's irrelevant for those receipts to be more widely publicized? For anyone seeking reelection, or currently serving as board president, it's highly relevant.
It actually might make good script for public comment to illustrate just how well-received such inquiries are.
Yeah, I might publish these at some point. I haven't really had time to think carefully about the newsworthiness + relevance of it today. Going to have to ponder that for a bit.
I have, years ago. In what was probably a 2,000 word response to me asking if Biz had visited Haven (she was the board rep for the campus) during the crisis year a few years ago, Sergio managed to simultaneously misunderstand my inquiry, thoroughly lecture me, and not answer my direct question.
When I repeated the simple yes/no question about Biz, I never got a reply. It was like emailing JD Vance.
I have received a few responses and then I have been ignored a few times. All the responses have been either been incorrect--- "we are working on reducing the transportation budget back in 2023" or "Horton is paid in full for breaking his contract" or a total word salad that avoided the real question. It's kinda a total waste of time. The board will do whatever they want in the end.
Just a "thank you for your email"
thank you for your comment
Isn’t their paid advisor explaining it enough for her?
Yeah I wasn't being critical of Angela, I was being earnest because I think she's one of the smartest people in Evanston and understands some of the financial aspects better than most people here.
Oh for sure. I didn’t take it as criticism of Angela. I mean “isnt Dr Grossi explaining it to Su enough for Su”
Oh yeah, that poor guy
She was very clear that they don’t really trust him or his report. They also don’t all understand what got them there (deficit spending vs the reserve, etc.). I did not catch why he is recommending they pause it?
1) pay consultant to help you find solutions
2) consultant suggests doing something rational.
3) don’t like the idea bc you are emotionally tied to it
4) keep spiraling into financial abyss
5) pay consultant to h….
I'm pretty peeved at the talk about the board taking a vote to show where they currently stand, then saying well we won't actually be doing that. Would take 10 seconds to have everyone say Aye.
Yeah it is getting a little theatrical
Finally!!! A shred of common sense and semblance of financial responsibility.
I don't think it will make much difference, tbh
While the Board spent previous times addressing anyone that opposes their bad decisions , they gave 0 time addressing the families who are directly impacted by their incompetence. Thai afternoon, BRGS revived an email that 7th and 8th grades are being closed effective Nov. 15. The harm they are causing is unforgivable . Our children should not have to pay the price of incompetence.
In defense of Evanstonians who aren’t paying attention, this shit is dense and hard. If you are not willing to pour over reports and numbers, it’s difficult to understand and to have an opinion that isn’t based on what your friends and neighbors think. An increase in RE taxes or, worse, state takeover would concentrate the mind. I am not wishing for it. Just recognizing human (my own) limitations.
TLDR my prior comment: I have been told by another leader for another school district that there are bylaws about the amount of time that boards of education must respond to requests in writing. Some school districts have been successfully sued for not following their own rules over this issue.
There are legal differences in how a board of education must respond to the public as far as comments at a meeting and comments in writing. I like DWS, so not trying to throw her under the bus here, but she's uninformed of the bylaws or the law in this regard. Constituents are better served by putting concerns in writing and keeping those receipts, or lack thereof.