IANAL (I am not a lawyer), but is that suggestion in hopes of prison or some kind of financial reimbursement? If the latter, I think we'd have to find a way to quantify damages. Would be great to have an attorney actually speak on what's possible there, but given there are plenty of those in the community who likely read FG, it would be really surprising to me if we got this far without one chiming in if there were truly legal recourse.
The District has recouped money from him (like from the P-card expenses after he moved) but it's not clear how much he owed, what he owed for, or what percentage was collected. They haven't really ever given us a full public accounting of this stuff, which is just totally wild to me.
What's the upside for the board to do something that makes them look worse than they already have via FOIA Gras, RT, EN working to shed light on their missteps?
Oof, I wish that were true but every time I think we hit bottom something else comes out. It just seems like they'd be self-owning themselves by doing more of an audit. I could see Joey tossing it out there, based on some of his comments.
Yes, he is the Superintendent in Dekalb County, Georgia. Two weeks ago, he was welcoming Harris, Obama, and Springsteen to one of his High School stadiums.
I've worked for Fortune 500 companies that had their own security detail and they only drove Toyota Prius's. Their security details were slowly driving around all day to patrol company facilities and do safety checks. They didn't need tinted windows or a V8 for high speed pursuits. All of the top executives at those companies also drove their own cars.
Meanwhile, District 65 buys nicer Ford Explorers than the EPD has with tinted windows to 'transport our safety team as first responders' and to use for 'occassional transportation for administrators'. We are talking about unchecked spending in a school district, not a Fortune 500 company. Where were the internal controls and timely financial reports in District 65? Does the District 65 safety team really need top of the line Ford Explorers because they are speeding across Evanston in order to get Dr. Turner and her high paid team to the next elementary school visit on institute days? Unbelievable.
Great points. The people running the Fortune 500 company and using Prius’s were financially literate, eco-conscious and self-secure. On the other hand, in our district we had Horton who was financially illiterate, selfish, and needed an ego-boost so he bought top of the line gas guzzling SUVs so he could feel like he was really somebody. These SUV’s should be sold. The highly paid staff can use their own vehicles. It’s time to stop stealing from our children. Shame on the school board for being complicit in this reckless spending.
The Board should all resign en masse for accepting without question financial reports that were 60 days old. So much malfeasance. And yet these complete bags of ineptitude just kept yes-sir-ing Horton all day long. Imbeciles. Incompetents. And they still sit there, smug as you like, giving us the finger over and over and over. Let’s remember the bullshit they and their sycophantic bulldogs on d65 P+G tossed at everyone who dared voice any concern- and the bullshit they spewed over Angela and John during their campaigns. I heard an administrator’s wife had a meet and greet with John and within 30 seconds told him point blank HE was the problem, he is racist, and there is no place in Evanston for him. I bet all those assholes wish Angela was on the Board, now. To be honest, it’s bullshit like those holier-than-thou crazy women on a massive scale that led to the outcome of the recent election. Those women wrote the playbook for Project 2025: shut down dissent. Instill fear. Go after your “enemies”. Ruin their kids’ lives, cancel them. If I hear one word about the landslide victory that just happened from that segment of our population, I’ll remind them of their own behavior since 2018. Physician, heal thyself. At WHAT POINT are you going to stop finding this shit to report about? It just keeps getting worse and no one bloody cares. They don’t write letters, they don’t vote. We need a whole new Board AND administration. The focus needs to be on two things only: financial turnaround and 3Rs. You know, like what their jobs were supposed to be.
Some of these stories, like this one, I'm just throwing darts using my corruption radar ("what's this big purchase? what's this auto repair?"). I have a hit rate of about 80%.
I think there is much more below the surface I'm not catching. Keep in mind, I've only FOIA'ed *2 months* of P-Card usage. Dr. Horton used that card from June 2020 until apparently even after he left.
Thank you for doing all of this work, Tom. I realize you were waiting a few months to see if he was keeping up with his breach of contract payments, I am curious if he is still paying D65.
1. Part of the set of qualifications for in house security job was having a concealed carry license and being qualified to use a taser. I am no gun nut, but there is something about having District employees whose job included toting around a firearm in the gun-free zones that are our schools doesn't quite sit right with me. Past that, does the District own a taser or were our security people bring one from home?
2. The lease certificates for Foster School were supposed to be "cost-neutral" - the transportation savings were supposed to fund them. What you are describing here was also pitched to be Board as being cost neutral but has proven not be. How many times did the Board fall for this line of BS?
Great article, up there with the Grecian Kitchen one on casual overspending.
This does make me wonder if the board and consultants are aware of detailed asset lists that could be sold for paying for equipping Foster School. If they're going to sell off an entire school building, I'd rather they sell these types of vehicles first since they're fungible; and just pay the employees standard mileage rates like other employers do for on the job travel.
If they do end up needing the vehicles, go get some other ones, which won't be possible in reversing any school sales.
I have heard this rumor but I haven't spoken with anyone who has firsthand knowledge, so it's just a rumor to me. I would honestly be very surprised if there was any actual enforcement or consequences.
Who knows? The feds could be after him for something totally unrelated to D65. The guy has led an "interesting" and "multifaceted" professional life, after all.
I just saw he was selected to serve on the Federal School Safety Clearinghouse External Advisory Board (quite the mouthful of a name!). Maybe any federal inquiry was related to clearance for serving on that board. Though heaven help us if the feds are relying on him for advice!
Part of his safety plan will include buying to two new Ford Explorers! This appointment was under the Biden administration so perhaps he won't be around much longer. I think the new head of Homeland Security is the governor who shot her dog. Eeek.
Thanks Tom so much for this work. Wow! I do have a couple of questions.
1) Are you running for school board? I did see someone in one of the comments allude to that (it would be great to have this level of oversight by the way)
2) As I see developers salivating over the potential school closures and the properties that may become available, I am aware that we still have a large component of children in the district that are seeking education elsewhere outside of district schools. What are your thoughts on potentially offering these locations to be an interest based charter school? Even if we tried it with one school, we could see the interest.
3) I know that there has been some recent reporting about some improvement in test scores in the District, are we sure those numbers are legit? Understanding that our current superintendent is on a do not hire list for CPS because of altered student achievement scores, have we had any independent verification of our achievement.
2) What you're describing was the original plan for the Fifth Ward/Foster School (STEM Schools) and it got shot down, I think in part because of the Charter School idea. I also don't know how valuable some of these properties are - like Bessie Rhodes for instance is buried in the middle of a neighborhood and requires rezoning, demolition, etc. I'd love to actually chat with a developer or real estate person about the properties - if you know any send my way.
3) I'm working on this. I hate analyzing test scores because everything is a moving target - the percentiles are against national or state averages, which are constantly moving and any change in the curriculum can blow up your test scores, even if the kids are doing fine. D65 just did a whole overhaul of their reading curriculum (to the tune of $1.5 million) and that will temporarily break your test scores. And there are also multiple tests, which confounds the analysis further. My gut having reported on this last week and reading the RT's reporting is that that it is improving a little bit and D65 is a little bit ahead of some peers, like CPS, coming out of COVID.
D65 teachers are working without a current employment contract.
The base salary for a D65 educator in 2024 (which was the last year the agreement covered) lost approximately 12 percent to inflation compared to 2019 (the first year of the contract). Regardless of the details, the teachers will have a (reasonable) expectation of a raise over their current contract. Where is that money going to come from?
On a different note, the DEC (Evanston D65 teachers' union) endorsed Hernandez, Wilkins and Salem in the 2023 school board election. As a teachers' union member myself (although not DEC) I find this both unsurprising and extremely frustrating. Perhaps the DEC is regretting that endorsement now?
Negotiations seem to be at an impasse with the board and a strike, I would guess, is not out of the question.
The DEC President who pushed those endorsements was voted out. Based on what they posted on Facebook in the last few days, I think DEC is seriously planning for a strike; this is part of a post from yesterday:
"While DEC understands D65 is in real financial trouble, DEC doesn’t feel the problem should be solved on the backs of the educators. Let us be abundantly clear, ever since we began financial negotiations, D65 has been transparent in that they are hoping to solve their financial woes and mismanagement by balancing the budget on our backs, while refusing to accept or acknowledge their own administrative excess."
In ten years we've almost tripled the size of the non-principal D65 administrative apparatus in salaries alone. If the District in 2015 could run a much smaller administration with more students, why can't we now? What value are they adding? Grossi showed we have almost no financial controls, the reporting to the Board has been wrong and inaccurate, there have been issues with getting subs and guest educators, and teachers complain they rarely get the support resources they request.
What value is this whole administrative organization adding? Does a District of 5,500 students need 4 Assistant Superintendents (average $185k total comp) and a Deputy Superintendent ($213k total comp)? Why do we have two people with titles, "Chief of Academics and School Management" each making $175k/year? They botched the Bessie Rhodes 7/8th grade thing, which they had a full summer to prepare for! Why are we paying these folks so much more than we pay even the most tenured teaching staff ($118,865 for Track V 2024 in the CBA) who are actually in front of our kids?
When I started in the district, there was one administrator at JEH that didn't appear to add any value. It was always a joke about what she actually did (she's still there). Even the administrators we didn't necessarily agree with were hardworking, smart, and had a vision. Now, I seriously cannot think of a single administrator at the higher ranks who deserves any respect from teachers or adds any value to the students of d65. So glad to be out.
Yeah and I'm sorry if my comment above seemed kind of mean, I'm sure there are some hardworking people but in aggregate, this current system seems broken. Like, did the School Board approve two people with the same job of "Chief of Academics and School Management"? I find that hard to believe.
They are so top heavy with admin it is disgusting. The fact that they have not already made major admin cuts just shows they have made no paradigm shift in how they are thinking about fixing this district. And yet with all that administrative staff they are “too busy” to make the necessary plans going forward. So, now are paying about 500K to a consultant to tell them what schools, programs and staff to cut.
It's amazing to see that; my memory is a bit hazy but could the initial rise in admin have been due to the addition of Assistant Principals at the elementaries? Still, 3M increase in seven years and then almost doubling just since 21-22? That's ridiculous.
The additional AP’s were added when the Special Services Supervisor position (5 positions) was eliminated-the idea was that the additional AP positions would take care of Special Ed/IEP’s in their respective buildings. Then that was apparently too hard so they added a SpEd (called IES) coordinator position-they are up to 8 coordinator positions at this point I believe-if they were going to add coordinator positions to take care of SpEd in the schools then they should have taken back the AP positions…
The next Board election is in April, right? When is the candidate filing deadline? Is anyone new running. I am definitely in a throw the bums out mood.
The filing period for School Board Member candidates starts tomorrow (November 12) and goes until November 18. I guess a nested reply in a comment thread under a Substack article is the perfect platform to announce my candidacy. I'm one of three Bessie Rhodes parents who is making a run at the board.
Cautiously optimistic we're about to have double-digit candidates as a strong illustration of the collective disapproval of recent iterations of the Board and the resulting energy towards something better.
I believe that the agency service/temp help is for the school psychologists / social workers/ other special ed. staff that the district contracted rather than hired. The district uses an app for substitute teachers. They go on the app and choose the assignments they want to take. There is also a district 65 person who interviews potential subs.
Not that I don't agree with you, but I would be worried about opening a Pandora's box. Does anyone on this page have knowledge about how it would work?
My understanding (from Grossi's public discussions) is that the pattern is basically this:
1) The ISBE/State puts the District into some kind of status where they have to submit a budget reduction plan (this is currently the situation).
2) District gets low on operating cash and has to take out a "tax anticipation warrant" in order to get funding, which is basically a short term loan on incoming tax revenues, in order to pay for operating costs. (Grossi stated this may be the situation as soon as 2025)
3) If the District fails to reconcile the situation with a budget reduction plan and continues to use tax anticipation warrants, the ISBE/State will notice.
4) ??????
5) The ISBE/State appoints some kind of receiver/supervisor.
It's not clear to me how #4 step works, I assume it is through the ISBE Regional Superintendent, who has the authority to remove the Board and Superintendent but I am not 100% sure on that.
I lived in Detroit when it went bankrupt and a receiver took over the schools. You do not want a state takeover -- you lose all local control, the union contracts get smashed up, and some random guy downstate will make all the decisions.
I feel like at this point some random guy downstate (Mr Smith) is just what is needed to take over because they would probably apply common sense and start from the ground up with a fresh budget funding the basics, like teachers and assistant teachers, etc. I think they really need a ‘fundamentals first’ approach to budgeting at this point, as the special considerations are how we got to where we are today with spending on stuff that is extraneous to educating youth.
I have some bad news for you about the ISBE, the people who would be taking over.. They’re the ones who gave D65 awards for Foster School Funding, CREATE65, and two years of budget awards (while the budgets had -$10 surprises). I think the old boss might be worse than current boss!!
There is little literature about takeovers in Illinois or elsewhere — particularly post-pandemic. But a 2021 Harvard study of school takeovers nationwide indicated that the tradeoff is generally loss of local control for financial help rather than academic improvement. Authors Beth E. Schueler and Joshua F. Bleiberg state in their abstract, “On average we find no evidence that takeover generates academic benefits. Takeover appears to be disruptive in the early years of takeover, particularly to English Language Arts achievement, although the longer-term effects are less clear. … Leaders should be cautious about using state takeover without considering local context and a better understanding of why some takeovers are more effective than others.”
I hear you. I honestly don’t know the answer. But local control isn’t working. Let me say that again —local control isn’t working. Our town doesn’t care. Full stop. And in the meantime our most at risk kids are being failed year in and year out. So what gets us to the clearest reset button the fastest?
Tom, if these are district fleet vehicles isn’t there a detailed record for their use?
I mean don’t employees have to ‘check out’ the vehicle and provide a reason for the trip? Certainly such records (should) exist.
Well in defense of the board who can blame them for hiring a guy with two personal bankruptcies and tens of thousands of debts related to his real estate business and then expect dodgy spending? I mean it’s not like there were any red flags!
Oh that's a good point, I hadn't considered that there might be usage records. Let me see what I can find, although I suspect there will be no records or process in place for vehicle usage (like everything else)
At this point there needs to be a criminal investigation opened into Horton for fraud and mismanagement. This is just crazy.
IANAL (I am not a lawyer), but is that suggestion in hopes of prison or some kind of financial reimbursement? If the latter, I think we'd have to find a way to quantify damages. Would be great to have an attorney actually speak on what's possible there, but given there are plenty of those in the community who likely read FG, it would be really surprising to me if we got this far without one chiming in if there were truly legal recourse.
The District has recouped money from him (like from the P-card expenses after he moved) but it's not clear how much he owed, what he owed for, or what percentage was collected. They haven't really ever given us a full public accounting of this stuff, which is just totally wild to me.
What's the upside for the board to do something that makes them look worse than they already have via FOIA Gras, RT, EN working to shed light on their missteps?
The upside is that there is no downside left!
Oof, I wish that were true but every time I think we hit bottom something else comes out. It just seems like they'd be self-owning themselves by doing more of an audit. I could see Joey tossing it out there, based on some of his comments.
Exactly. Where he skate away to? Georgia?
Yes, he is the Superintendent in Dekalb County, Georgia. Two weeks ago, he was welcoming Harris, Obama, and Springsteen to one of his High School stadiums.
Can we reboot the district to a 2017 save point and try these levels again?
I've worked for Fortune 500 companies that had their own security detail and they only drove Toyota Prius's. Their security details were slowly driving around all day to patrol company facilities and do safety checks. They didn't need tinted windows or a V8 for high speed pursuits. All of the top executives at those companies also drove their own cars.
Meanwhile, District 65 buys nicer Ford Explorers than the EPD has with tinted windows to 'transport our safety team as first responders' and to use for 'occassional transportation for administrators'. We are talking about unchecked spending in a school district, not a Fortune 500 company. Where were the internal controls and timely financial reports in District 65? Does the District 65 safety team really need top of the line Ford Explorers because they are speeding across Evanston in order to get Dr. Turner and her high paid team to the next elementary school visit on institute days? Unbelievable.
Great points. The people running the Fortune 500 company and using Prius’s were financially literate, eco-conscious and self-secure. On the other hand, in our district we had Horton who was financially illiterate, selfish, and needed an ego-boost so he bought top of the line gas guzzling SUVs so he could feel like he was really somebody. These SUV’s should be sold. The highly paid staff can use their own vehicles. It’s time to stop stealing from our children. Shame on the school board for being complicit in this reckless spending.
The Board should all resign en masse for accepting without question financial reports that were 60 days old. So much malfeasance. And yet these complete bags of ineptitude just kept yes-sir-ing Horton all day long. Imbeciles. Incompetents. And they still sit there, smug as you like, giving us the finger over and over and over. Let’s remember the bullshit they and their sycophantic bulldogs on d65 P+G tossed at everyone who dared voice any concern- and the bullshit they spewed over Angela and John during their campaigns. I heard an administrator’s wife had a meet and greet with John and within 30 seconds told him point blank HE was the problem, he is racist, and there is no place in Evanston for him. I bet all those assholes wish Angela was on the Board, now. To be honest, it’s bullshit like those holier-than-thou crazy women on a massive scale that led to the outcome of the recent election. Those women wrote the playbook for Project 2025: shut down dissent. Instill fear. Go after your “enemies”. Ruin their kids’ lives, cancel them. If I hear one word about the landslide victory that just happened from that segment of our population, I’ll remind them of their own behavior since 2018. Physician, heal thyself. At WHAT POINT are you going to stop finding this shit to report about? It just keeps getting worse and no one bloody cares. They don’t write letters, they don’t vote. We need a whole new Board AND administration. The focus needs to be on two things only: financial turnaround and 3Rs. You know, like what their jobs were supposed to be.
Some of these stories, like this one, I'm just throwing darts using my corruption radar ("what's this big purchase? what's this auto repair?"). I have a hit rate of about 80%.
I think there is much more below the surface I'm not catching. Keep in mind, I've only FOIA'ed *2 months* of P-Card usage. Dr. Horton used that card from June 2020 until apparently even after he left.
Thank you for doing all of this work, Tom. I realize you were waiting a few months to see if he was keeping up with his breach of contract payments, I am curious if he is still paying D65.
I'll take a look later this month or early December!
Tom, you are a wonder! Keep going.
Two thoughts:
1. Part of the set of qualifications for in house security job was having a concealed carry license and being qualified to use a taser. I am no gun nut, but there is something about having District employees whose job included toting around a firearm in the gun-free zones that are our schools doesn't quite sit right with me. Past that, does the District own a taser or were our security people bring one from home?
2. The lease certificates for Foster School were supposed to be "cost-neutral" - the transportation savings were supposed to fund them. What you are describing here was also pitched to be Board as being cost neutral but has proven not be. How many times did the Board fall for this line of BS?
It's interesting, if you read those RT stories, the Board at the time seemed pretty lukewarm on the whole scheme .. but they ultimately let him do it.
Very good questions and very disturbing. These would be good questions for district 65
Thank you, Tom, for doing such thorough research!
Great article, up there with the Grecian Kitchen one on casual overspending.
This does make me wonder if the board and consultants are aware of detailed asset lists that could be sold for paying for equipping Foster School. If they're going to sell off an entire school building, I'd rather they sell these types of vehicles first since they're fungible; and just pay the employees standard mileage rates like other employers do for on the job travel.
If they do end up needing the vehicles, go get some other ones, which won't be possible in reversing any school sales.
The City of Evanston needs vehicles for the CARE team. I think I found some :)
Word around the district is- the FBI is after Horton, any word on this?
I have heard this rumor but I haven't spoken with anyone who has firsthand knowledge, so it's just a rumor to me. I would honestly be very surprised if there was any actual enforcement or consequences.
Who knows? The feds could be after him for something totally unrelated to D65. The guy has led an "interesting" and "multifaceted" professional life, after all.
I just saw he was selected to serve on the Federal School Safety Clearinghouse External Advisory Board (quite the mouthful of a name!). Maybe any federal inquiry was related to clearance for serving on that board. Though heaven help us if the feds are relying on him for advice!
https://thechampionnewspaper.com/superintendent-appointed-to-work-with-homeland-security/
How long until he is Secretary of Ed?
Noooooooooooooooo!
Luckily that was back in July, and under Mayorkas who will soon be out of his job with Homeland Security!
Part of his safety plan will include buying to two new Ford Explorers! This appointment was under the Biden administration so perhaps he won't be around much longer. I think the new head of Homeland Security is the governor who shot her dog. Eeek.
Ohhh the Feds. I’ll need to put some M & Ms in my popcorn as I watch this made for TV movie…….
It’s about time!
Thanks Tom so much for this work. Wow! I do have a couple of questions.
1) Are you running for school board? I did see someone in one of the comments allude to that (it would be great to have this level of oversight by the way)
2) As I see developers salivating over the potential school closures and the properties that may become available, I am aware that we still have a large component of children in the district that are seeking education elsewhere outside of district schools. What are your thoughts on potentially offering these locations to be an interest based charter school? Even if we tried it with one school, we could see the interest.
3) I know that there has been some recent reporting about some improvement in test scores in the District, are we sure those numbers are legit? Understanding that our current superintendent is on a do not hire list for CPS because of altered student achievement scores, have we had any independent verification of our achievement.
Thanks again.
1) I am not running for Board or any office!!
2) What you're describing was the original plan for the Fifth Ward/Foster School (STEM Schools) and it got shot down, I think in part because of the Charter School idea. I also don't know how valuable some of these properties are - like Bessie Rhodes for instance is buried in the middle of a neighborhood and requires rezoning, demolition, etc. I'd love to actually chat with a developer or real estate person about the properties - if you know any send my way.
3) I'm working on this. I hate analyzing test scores because everything is a moving target - the percentiles are against national or state averages, which are constantly moving and any change in the curriculum can blow up your test scores, even if the kids are doing fine. D65 just did a whole overhaul of their reading curriculum (to the tune of $1.5 million) and that will temporarily break your test scores. And there are also multiple tests, which confounds the analysis further. My gut having reported on this last week and reading the RT's reporting is that that it is improving a little bit and D65 is a little bit ahead of some peers, like CPS, coming out of COVID.
Old school Chicago corruption.
D65 teachers are working without a current employment contract.
The base salary for a D65 educator in 2024 (which was the last year the agreement covered) lost approximately 12 percent to inflation compared to 2019 (the first year of the contract). Regardless of the details, the teachers will have a (reasonable) expectation of a raise over their current contract. Where is that money going to come from?
On a different note, the DEC (Evanston D65 teachers' union) endorsed Hernandez, Wilkins and Salem in the 2023 school board election. As a teachers' union member myself (although not DEC) I find this both unsurprising and extremely frustrating. Perhaps the DEC is regretting that endorsement now?
Negotiations seem to be at an impasse with the board and a strike, I would guess, is not out of the question.
The DEC President who pushed those endorsements was voted out. Based on what they posted on Facebook in the last few days, I think DEC is seriously planning for a strike; this is part of a post from yesterday:
"While DEC understands D65 is in real financial trouble, DEC doesn’t feel the problem should be solved on the backs of the educators. Let us be abundantly clear, ever since we began financial negotiations, D65 has been transparent in that they are hoping to solve their financial woes and mismanagement by balancing the budget on our backs, while refusing to accept or acknowledge their own administrative excess."
I couldn't agree more with that statement. This District is spending way too much just on salaries for top administrators, see this story:
https://www.foiagras.com/i/150258436/administrative-compensation
In ten years we've almost tripled the size of the non-principal D65 administrative apparatus in salaries alone. If the District in 2015 could run a much smaller administration with more students, why can't we now? What value are they adding? Grossi showed we have almost no financial controls, the reporting to the Board has been wrong and inaccurate, there have been issues with getting subs and guest educators, and teachers complain they rarely get the support resources they request.
What value is this whole administrative organization adding? Does a District of 5,500 students need 4 Assistant Superintendents (average $185k total comp) and a Deputy Superintendent ($213k total comp)? Why do we have two people with titles, "Chief of Academics and School Management" each making $175k/year? They botched the Bessie Rhodes 7/8th grade thing, which they had a full summer to prepare for! Why are we paying these folks so much more than we pay even the most tenured teaching staff ($118,865 for Track V 2024 in the CBA) who are actually in front of our kids?
Current CBA: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1bBZlPZ3PzBSvweiz6YquCVZtvoP_dE31/view
When I started in the district, there was one administrator at JEH that didn't appear to add any value. It was always a joke about what she actually did (she's still there). Even the administrators we didn't necessarily agree with were hardworking, smart, and had a vision. Now, I seriously cannot think of a single administrator at the higher ranks who deserves any respect from teachers or adds any value to the students of d65. So glad to be out.
Yeah and I'm sorry if my comment above seemed kind of mean, I'm sure there are some hardworking people but in aggregate, this current system seems broken. Like, did the School Board approve two people with the same job of "Chief of Academics and School Management"? I find that hard to believe.
They are so top heavy with admin it is disgusting. The fact that they have not already made major admin cuts just shows they have made no paradigm shift in how they are thinking about fixing this district. And yet with all that administrative staff they are “too busy” to make the necessary plans going forward. So, now are paying about 500K to a consultant to tell them what schools, programs and staff to cut.
It's amazing to see that; my memory is a bit hazy but could the initial rise in admin have been due to the addition of Assistant Principals at the elementaries? Still, 3M increase in seven years and then almost doubling just since 21-22? That's ridiculous.
I am excluding anyone with “Principal” in my analysis
That makes it even worse.
I know!!
The additional AP’s were added when the Special Services Supervisor position (5 positions) was eliminated-the idea was that the additional AP positions would take care of Special Ed/IEP’s in their respective buildings. Then that was apparently too hard so they added a SpEd (called IES) coordinator position-they are up to 8 coordinator positions at this point I believe-if they were going to add coordinator positions to take care of SpEd in the schools then they should have taken back the AP positions…
The next Board election is in April, right? When is the candidate filing deadline? Is anyone new running. I am definitely in a throw the bums out mood.
The filing period for School Board Member candidates starts tomorrow (November 12) and goes until November 18. I guess a nested reply in a comment thread under a Substack article is the perfect platform to announce my candidacy. I'm one of three Bessie Rhodes parents who is making a run at the board.
Would love to hear more
Let’s pack the Board with Bessie Rhodes parents!!!
I have only heard about Christian Sorenson and a Bessie Rhodes parent. I can't recall his name. We need more candidates though.
There are some good folks, I will make a post once I get the final data back from the County on who has the signatures
Cautiously optimistic we're about to have double-digit candidates as a strong illustration of the collective disapproval of recent iterations of the Board and the resulting energy towards something better.
Very willing to contribute $$ and host a neighborhood meet the candidate (do they have those anymore or am I showing my age?)
Probably need to be able to clearly show you have absolutely zero ties to dark money or groups like FAIR or you run the risk of canceling candidates.
I believe that the agency service/temp help is for the school psychologists / social workers/ other special ed. staff that the district contracted rather than hired. The district uses an app for substitute teachers. They go on the app and choose the assignments they want to take. There is also a district 65 person who interviews potential subs.
That makes sense, thank you! I may issue a correction on this after I get confirmation
As a former D65 teacher, I’m not aware of temp help to fulfill these positions.
The state needs to come in and take over.
The state needs to come in and take over.
The state needs to come in and take over.
Not that I don't agree with you, but I would be worried about opening a Pandora's box. Does anyone on this page have knowledge about how it would work?
My understanding (from Grossi's public discussions) is that the pattern is basically this:
1) The ISBE/State puts the District into some kind of status where they have to submit a budget reduction plan (this is currently the situation).
2) District gets low on operating cash and has to take out a "tax anticipation warrant" in order to get funding, which is basically a short term loan on incoming tax revenues, in order to pay for operating costs. (Grossi stated this may be the situation as soon as 2025)
3) If the District fails to reconcile the situation with a budget reduction plan and continues to use tax anticipation warrants, the ISBE/State will notice.
4) ??????
5) The ISBE/State appoints some kind of receiver/supervisor.
It's not clear to me how #4 step works, I assume it is through the ISBE Regional Superintendent, who has the authority to remove the Board and Superintendent but I am not 100% sure on that.
I agree that we need to avoid a state takeover, but ISBE isn’t a group of ogres.
Sounds like "be careful what you wish for"
I lived in Detroit when it went bankrupt and a receiver took over the schools. You do not want a state takeover -- you lose all local control, the union contracts get smashed up, and some random guy downstate will make all the decisions.
I feel like at this point some random guy downstate (Mr Smith) is just what is needed to take over because they would probably apply common sense and start from the ground up with a fresh budget funding the basics, like teachers and assistant teachers, etc. I think they really need a ‘fundamentals first’ approach to budgeting at this point, as the special considerations are how we got to where we are today with spending on stuff that is extraneous to educating youth.
I have some bad news for you about the ISBE, the people who would be taking over.. They’re the ones who gave D65 awards for Foster School Funding, CREATE65, and two years of budget awards (while the budgets had -$10 surprises). I think the old boss might be worse than current boss!!
A Round Table article from Nov 9th...
There is little literature about takeovers in Illinois or elsewhere — particularly post-pandemic. But a 2021 Harvard study of school takeovers nationwide indicated that the tradeoff is generally loss of local control for financial help rather than academic improvement. Authors Beth E. Schueler and Joshua F. Bleiberg state in their abstract, “On average we find no evidence that takeover generates academic benefits. Takeover appears to be disruptive in the early years of takeover, particularly to English Language Arts achievement, although the longer-term effects are less clear. … Leaders should be cautious about using state takeover without considering local context and a better understanding of why some takeovers are more effective than others.”
https://evanstonroundtable.com/2024/11/09/here-in-evanston-dont-wait-for-the-state/
I hear you. I honestly don’t know the answer. But local control isn’t working. Let me say that again —local control isn’t working. Our town doesn’t care. Full stop. And in the meantime our most at risk kids are being failed year in and year out. So what gets us to the clearest reset button the fastest?
A new board of reform candidates in April
Thanks
Tom, if these are district fleet vehicles isn’t there a detailed record for their use?
I mean don’t employees have to ‘check out’ the vehicle and provide a reason for the trip? Certainly such records (should) exist.
Well in defense of the board who can blame them for hiring a guy with two personal bankruptcies and tens of thousands of debts related to his real estate business and then expect dodgy spending? I mean it’s not like there were any red flags!
Oh that's a good point, I hadn't considered that there might be usage records. Let me see what I can find, although I suspect there will be no records or process in place for vehicle usage (like everything else)