After hearing presentations from six firms over the last two weeks, the Evanston/Skokie District 65 school board settled on Student-Centered Services — a consulting firm that specializes in superintendent searches and financial guidance for schools — to help create a deficit-reduction plan.
Earlier this fall, the district put out a request for proposals for potential budget cut plans, and five firms presented to the board on Monday, Oct. 28.
Student-Centered Services had originally removed itself from the running because it wasn’t comfortable with the district’s timeline, which called for the chosen firm to present final deficit reduction recommendations in mid-January. But board members last week, particularly Omar Salem, weren’t impressed by any of the other five consulting groups. At the time, Salem noted his preference for an unidentified firm because of its experience with Illinois schools and the fact that it employs several ex-superintendents.
As a result, district officials went back to Student-Centered Services, and the board showed a willingness on Monday to work with the firm to develop a more reasonable timeline.
“Trying to fix this overnight is going to be problematic. You didn’t get here overnight, and it won’t be fixed overnight, and I know that’s frustrating,” said Student-Centered Services’ Susan Harkin, who most recently served as the superintendent for District 300 in Algonquin, Illinois. She’s also been an assistant superintendent in Des Plaines and a chief financial officer in Crystal Lake.
“There is an urgency regarding the financial situation, but not at the expense of staff and students,” she said. “And honestly, all students could be negatively affected by this plan if it isn’t centered on their collective needs.”
Final cost, timeline still to be negotiated
After discussing the proposal from Harkin and her partner, Gregg Fuerstenau — currently a superintendent in downstate Litchfield — the board unanimously voted to negotiate a contract with the firm. The final cost and scope of services, though, still remains to be seen. Their original proposal, which complied with the January deadline, listed a cost of $89,000. But their adjusted presentation on Monday called for a longer timeline with additional services including recommended cuts for the 2025-26 year, the creation of a “stakeholder communication plan” and the adoption of a “long-term educational plan” to be implemented by the 2026-27 year.
Harkin and Fuerstenau both referenced the district’s struggle to maintain the trust of families, and they stressed the importance of helping the community understand the cuts that will soon be made.
“Your stakeholders may not like what they have to hear, but you have to be open and honest with them that these are the numbers, these are the facts, this is what it is,” said Fuerstenau. “Now, we have to decide, what do we want for our kids? I think that’s the No. 1 thing that has to happen.”
$90,000 thought partner
Before taking a final vote, the board members had some discussion about the possibility of scaling down the scope of the consulting contract and bringing some of that work in house in order to save money.
Superintendent Angel Turner mentioned that her team has already started developing a community survey to gather feedback on possible budget cuts, and she said the purpose of the consultant was to “really be a thought partner with us.” Tamara Mitchell, the district’s chief financial officer, added that a consultant would help “make sure nothing falls through the cracks.”
Turner also said the district needed extra help because she and other officials don’t have experience consolidating buildings, aka closing schools. As a result, board members Biz Lindsay-Ryan and Salem asked if the district would be able to split up tasks with the consultants, leaving them to create a consolidation plan while Mitchell and her team develop recommendations for staff cuts.
Salem suggested that board members “can be thought partners, too,” because “$90,000 is a lot for a thought partner.”
In a revealing moment, though, board member Joey Hailpern replied to Salem that “I don’t think people trust us enough for us to do that. I think we have to be real about that. … Due respect, that would be a disaster, for some of us to be in that role.”
Ultimately, the board chose to stick with the plan to hire Student-Centered Services to take on the reduction plan entirely. Now, Mitchell will be tasked with negotiating a final deal with Harkin.
“We’re only going to do this if we do it right,” Harkin said. “We only want to partner if we do this right, because we fail kids if we don’t do this right. They don’t deserve that.”
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