The number of District 65 K-8 students decreased by more than 1,500 between academic years 2019-20 and 2024-25. The percentage of that decrease is almost double that of school districts to the north and west of Evanston. Maintenance, minimal and deferred, has left most of District 65’s buildings behind. No matter what school, currently enrolled students are taught in buildings where millions of dollars of repairs and upgrades are needed.
With the declining enrollment and capital needs of almost $200 million, the district is looking to downsize.
District 65 board members and administration officials have been saying for many months that they plan to close at least one school in addition to Bessie Rhodes. Rumors and concerns are flying, and it is all but certain that the second school will be a north end school, in part because the new Foster School will draw students from those schools.
Two of the three meetings the district scheduled to discuss criteria for closing a school have already taken place: at Chute Middle School on April 10 and at Fleetwood-Jourdain Community Center on April 11. The third is scheduled for Nichols Middle School on April 15.
So, although the district will likely close a north end school — Lincolnwood, Willard, Kingsley or Orrington — it did not see fit to hold any of its meetings at Haven Middle School, which these K-5 schools feed into. Such a snub might be expected from District 65 officials, whose reactions to sensitive issues have too often been rooted in willful misunderstanding and a troubling lack of transparency.
For these meetings, the district has proposed some general criteria for (it looks like) coming up with more specific criteria for closing a school or schools: equity of opportunity and access; excellence in education and student outcomes; and effective use of facilities and financial resources.
Building age and capital needs
Here in Evanston, we have seven pretty old public school buildings: Haven (1926); Nichols (1928); Dewey (1940); Oakton (1914); Orrington (1911); Washington (1901); and Willard (1922). Schools built in the “post-war to the ’80s” period are Chute (1966); King Arts (1956); Bessie Rhodes (1957); Dawes (1954); Kingsley (1967); Lincoln (1953); Lincolnwood (1949); Park (1959); and Walker (1962).
Cordogan Clark, the firm that is also in charge of building the new Foster School, provided the District 65 a facilities report to the school board in February 2022.
The report showed an estimate of the repairs needed, which it termed “deficiency needs” through the year 2030. That total was $189 million; adjustments for inflation over the years would add approximately $30 million to that total.
The chart below, also part of the Cordogan Clark report, shows the cost of needed repairs to each school building.
The age of the buildings is a curious factor. The chart below, also from the Cordogan Clark 2022 report, shows the total age and the “functional age” of each of the district’s school buildings except the Joseph E. Hill Education Center, which is located in the district’s administration building. The notes refer to “Industry Standards & Recommendations for PK-12 Buildings,” in particular:
- “The Typical Anticipated Life of a PK-12 building is 50 years.
- “The Typical Major Renovation Cycle of PK-12 buildings is 20 to 25 years.
- “Older Buildings built between 1900 and 1940 are typically built to last longer and [are] more easily renovated.
- “Buildings built post-war to the 80s were typically built with cheaper materials and have shorter life spans or need more frequent maintenance/systems replacements.”
Shutter and share
Losing a school can be devastating for a community. District 65 closed seven schools in the 1970s, one of which was Foster School. The sadness and anger about the closing of Foster reverberated through generations, and it is hoped that the new school will help some of that abate. Most recently, the decision to close Bessie Rhodes, and the process of making that decision, tore up that community, too.
The board is calling for the outcomes of equity, excellence and efficiency in these decisions. It’s time to hold onto a concept of equity that levels the playing field by building up, rather than tearing down. Demanding academic rigor and achievement of all students is vitally important. An Evanston Township High School report just weeks ago highlighted that an appalling number of students leave eighth grade unable to read or do math at the high school level.
As for efficiency and effectiveness in the use of money and facilities — there is a lot of intellectual and creative capital in the District 65 community. It is highly likely that the residents who attend one or more of these meetings will offer ideas and criteria with the benefit of the entire community at the forefront.
As we await the results of these meetings, here is something to consider. It’s not an original idea, but it is one that has merit: Do not close or sell a building or property.
Selling a building for a quick infusion of cash would be a mistake. The district should evaluate not just the deficiencies of any one building but also its potential. Hold on to the property. Land is precious and scarce. The decline in enrollment could reverse itself, particularly if the district rights the ship financially and academically.
If the district sells school property, how will it accommodate potential growth in the future? And, since keeping the buildings makes more sense than selling them, it also makes more sense to keep them functioning rather than in mothballs. Unused spaces present opportunities.
Close off a wing; shutter a floor; find a safe and stable community partner to share the space. Entities and organizations affiliated with learning and education would be compatible to a public school — the library jumps immediately to mind, as do Oakton Community College and accredited preschools.
A new board and a chance to repair
Shortly after these lame-duck meetings, a board with four new members will take over. It is hoped that among their many tasks they acknowledge the need for openness, candor, transparency for the community and academic rigor for the sake of our children. They should adopt strong academic goals and establish mechanisms to hold the administration accountable. Such things are vital for the new board to begin to earn back the trust of the community.
Here in Evanston: Closing bells is from Evanston RoundTable, Evanston's most trusted source for unbiased, in-depth journalism.