Fifth Ward School - Finally Hiring a Construction Manager

And an update on a man living the dream

This is a brief post - it’s a very busy two weeks for me at work (I have a day job!). Anyway, there have been a couple updates on the fifth ward school.

• District 65 inches closer to Fifth Ward school groundbreaking (Evanston Roundtable)

• More Cuts to Fifth Ward School (Evanston Now)

The Roundtable story reports that Dr. Turner has prioritized hiring a staff member to oversee the project - something discussed widely in the comment section on this blog. I think this is a great idea and something Dr. Horton should’ve done.

At the same time, the district is working to hire an “owner’s representative” to be its advocate in overseeing design and construction details throughout the project, according to Turner and Kirby Callam, the district’s director of college and career, who has taken a lead role in Fifth Ward school planning.

According to the Roundtable story, bids are scheduled to go out on June 18th. There are currently no bids listed on the Cordogan Clark web portal. Technically, they’re behind their own schedule for public notice, but presumably as long as bids open on 6/27 they’re still on schedule?

The Evanston Now story details that the District has already had to make more sacrifices to the designs in order to stay within budget.

She also said that the “special content rooms,” art, music, and drama will also be smaller than envisioned, although “still equal to or larger” than other such rooms in other K-5 schools in the district.

This is in line with what I wrote about a few weeks ago, regarding whether the District has enough funding to build the school they want. At some point, though, you have to wonder when you cross the threshold for making too many sacrifices, such that it makes sense to pause and hold a referendum. I don’t think we’re there yet but until the bids come in for work, it’s really hard to say.

Bessie Rhodes Closure & SAP

The Board still plans on announcing the name for the new school in the June 10th meeting - the same meeting where they are schedule to vote to permanently close Bessie Rhodes. Sadly, I won’t be at the meeting - I have a commitment that day but I will re-iterate here that I still believe that closing Bessie Rhodes (as a standalone TWI school, not necessarily the building) makes absolutely no sense.

If you missed this before, I filed a complaint with Illinois Attorney General regarding the Student Assignment Process (SAP) and, what I believe, to be a violation of the open meetings act. The complaint has been assigned a number (2024 PAC 81547) and I’m awaiting reply from the Attorney General’s office.

Before the District makes the final decision on Bessie Rhodes, I believe they should begin the SAP process again, in earnest and in compliance with the Open Meetings Act. The entire community should have a say in the future of our schools, not just the selected individuals invited to the non-transparent SAP process.

Update on Dr. Horton

Speaking of selected individuals invited to the SAP committee, over the weekend, a reader sent me a link to a video from DeKalb (cached link). I will say, Dr. Horton does appear to be living his best life down there. I can’t knock the guy for that, but I wish he had demonstrated more competence and less corruption (ie fewer kickback schemes) in his time here.