The superintendents and boards of both Evanston/Skokie District 65 and Evanston Township High School on Monday night reiterated their shared commitment to diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives to support their students as President Donald Trump’s administration is actively seeking to dismantle such programs.
The day after his inauguration last month, Trump signed executive order 14173 in an effort to ban school-based programs on diversity and equity and withhold federal funding from public schools and universities that continue the initiatives. A judge temporarily blocked the order last week, and its future status remains uncertain.
“For ETHS, complying with the orders would require us to be a school that we have really tried not to be,” ETHS Superintendent Marcus Campbell said at the joint meeting of the two school boards. “We’ve worked for more than half a century at this institution to be more inclusive, and we still have a lot more work to do.”
District 65 Superintendent Angel Turner shared similar sentiments.
“Our efforts will remain unwavering in fostering an inclusive and uplifting learning environment for our students and our staff of every race, ethnicity, religion, ability level, culture, citizenship status, sexual orientation and gender identity,” Turner said.
‘More questions than answers’
Both superintendents also mentioned how uncertain the future is given the situation playing out in the federal government. Neither directly addressed how their continued commitment to diversity and equity could impact the federal funding the districts receive.
“There are more questions than answers,” Campbell said. “I don’t think that we really know what the consequences will be, and here at ETHS, we are doing the best that we can to evaluate the situation and to be ready to respond.”
Campbell also told the crowd they can’t know yet how the State of Illinois may respond to these recent federal directives.
“You said it best. We have questions,” Turner agreed. “I think everyone is trying to figure it out across the world, and so we will continue to keep doing that for the students in this community as well.”
Gretchen Livingston, an ETHS board member, said that while the court system handles questions around Trump’s executive orders, there are both state and federal laws that preserve and even mandate race-based teaching. Illinois, for example, requires that public schools teach units on Black history, Asian American history, Latino history and LGBTQ history.
But Livingston’s colleague Mirah Anti also acknowledged that “the law might not always be on our side.”
Diversity and inclusion efforts needed
Campbell mentioned the district’s continuing struggle to close disparities between racial groups when it comes to academic performance and belonging as evidence of the need to continue conversations about race.
“How do you comply with an order like that, when your data and your district tells you that you have to do something?” he asked.
The ETHS board supported him in that mindset, with President Pat Savage-Williams saying “I’m proud of the values that we have here and in Evanston, in both districts.”
Leah Piekarz, another ETHS board member, added that “we have no choice but to stand by our work.” She encouraged both districts “to not shy away” from talking about how important diversity, equity and inclusion programs are for providing safe spaces and community to historically marginalized students so they can succeed inside and outside the classroom.
Members of District 65’s board supported this sentiment, too.
“These students exist, and these students deserve our care and commitment,” said District 65 board member Biz Lindsay-Ryan. “They belong to District 65, and they belong to District 202.”
Facing federal orders, Districts 65 and 202 reiterate commitment to inclusion is from Evanston RoundTable, Evanston's most trusted source for unbiased, in-depth journalism.