Neighborhood Schools vs. Choice

District 65 School Board Plans Discussions On Whether to Restructure Its Schools

By Larry Gavin

As one of its goals for the 2006-07 school year, the District 65 School Board will likely decide whether or not to restructure the District's elementary schools. The options mentioned include establishing one or more language magnet schools to house the Two-Way Immersion (TWI) program and establishing a series of choice schools featuring TWI, an African-Centered Curriculum (ACC), or the arts.

"One of the things that came up in our recent discussions on TWI, but also as I was talking to people during my campaign, was this whole idea of looking more broadly at our educational model," said Board member Mary Rita Luecke at the Board's May 15 meeting. "There's a variety of different models that we could look at, and that I think could be very beneficial to us in our thinking about how we organize our schools."

Ms. Luecke added, "The whole question comes up around neighborhood schools versus choice. I think we should have a bigger discussion about that. It may be that we will reaffirm what we have. But I think there's enough interest out there that it's worth having that discussion."

At its meeting on May 15, the School Board had a preliminary discussion on a process to follow in reaching a decision on whether or not to restructure the schools. One initial step on which the Board concurred was to survey the community. Superintendent Hardy Murphy told the Board, "I do not think we're going to be able to convert this District on the scale you're talking about in the year after next. All we can do is the planning next year."

If the Board decides to restructure the District's schools, it is possible that one or more neighborhood school may be closed to make way for language magnets or choice schools, and that some attendance areas would be redrawn.

Factors Behind the Discussion
The discussion is being forced primarily because of the growth of the TWI program and the impact the placement of TWI at some schools has had on the general education (GenEd) programs. "This is what's driving the transformation of the District," said Board member Marianne Kountoures.

Currently there are five kindergarten TWI classes at four schools, two at Washington and one each at Dawes, Dewey and Oakton. On March 20, the School Board approved establishing three additional kindergarten TWI classes, one each at Walker, Willard and Kinsley schools.

State law requires District 65 to provide bilingual education to Hispanic students who are not proficient in English. The District has selected TWI as its sole bilingual program for grades K-5.

Board member Marianne Kountoures has argued that the TWI program has a negative impact on GenEd classrooms and disrupts the structure of the schools at which it is placed. She says the TWI program "siphons" higher-achieving students from the GenEd classrooms, and "it leaves those classrooms disproportionately underachieving." This, she said, makes the remaining general education classrooms "unattractive for parents of achieving students who want their children educated in a more academically balanced classroom."

The biggest impact has been at Washington School, where there are two TWI kindergarten classes, a total of 14 TWI classes at the school, and three times as many TWI classes than at any other school. This year there were 24 students enrolled in GenEd kindergarten classes at Washington; 16 are projected for next year. In an effort to make GenEd classes more attractive at Washington, the District will offer one hour of conversational Spanish each week in the GenEd classes. It is also possible the Board will suspend permissive transfers out of the school for students in the GenEd classes.

TWI's impact on the schools may be magnified by the projected growth of the TWI program to accommodate the projected increase in the number of Hispanic students in the District in the coming years. This year there are five TWI classrooms serving kindergarteners; next year there will be eight. By 2009-10, the District projects it will need 13 classrooms to accommodate TWI at the kindergarten level.

The District has 25 TWI classrooms this year. If its projections prove true, it will need 50 classrooms within five years, and 80 classrooms within 10 years. That is the equivalent of three and one-half schools to accommodate the TWI program.

"The current system is untenable," said Board member Jonathan Baum. "We're now on course to have TWI in every school, or not have TWI at all, or have TWI in a language academy or two language academies. There are a number of possibilities."

Mr. Baum also expressed the view that if the District established language academies for the TWI program, "then as a matter of equity, we need to look at choices for other people in the community." He explained, "If you're going to honor people's choice for language academies, you should honor people's choice for K-8 schools; you should honor people's choice for African-Centered-Curriculum schools. If you decide to take a choice approach, then you should honor it across the Board."

Mr. Baum added, "I'm not wetted to a particular planning process. I'm not wedded to a particular plan at the end of the process. What I do not want is to be back here next spring trying to figure out how to patch things together for another year."

Board member Sharon Sheehan said, "I'm with Jonathan on this fact that we cannot continue to sit here year after year and piece things together." She said she was willing to spend next year making a decision on the big picture and implementing any changes decided by the Board in 2008-09.

Alternatives
Dr. Murphy said, "If we don't do anything else this next year, we have to decide what we're going to do with two-way language immersion." He said there were three options: 1) changing the bilingual education model; 2) capping the TWI program; and 3) letting it continue to expand.

In prior discussions, Ms. Kountoures urged the Board to change the bilingual education model and to cap the TWI program. Because TWI classes are composed one-half of limited English speaking students and one-half of English speaking students, the program takes up twice as much space as other bilingual programs.

The administration is expected to present the Board with a timetable and a process to use in reaching a decision on whether or not to restructure the schools at the Board's June meeting.

New Chairs For D65 Board Committees
District 65 School Board President Mary Erickson announced at the Board's May 15 meeting that she had appointed Jerome Summers as chairman of the Board's Finance Committee and Marianne Kountoures as chair of the Board's Program/Policy Committee.

D202 Proposes $125 Activity Fee

By Jennie Berkson

The District 202 School Board debated a proposal to charge a $125 fee to support extra-curricular and athletic activities cut in the last round of budget reductions.

Repeated pleas by members of the Pomkits team at recent Board meetings to reinstate their fall season encouraged Board members to request school administrators to prepare an estimate of costs to support all the cancelled activities.

School fees were raised last year in an effort to offset some costs – to $200 per student per year, up from $149 for freshmen and $74 for all other students. The proposed activity fee of $125 would be in addition to the $200 school fees.

The administration estimated that an annual fee of $125 per student would raise $263,755 – enough to reinstate the activities that were cut. Most of this would be used to pay the stipends of teachers and coaches for the reinstated activities and teams.

Students whose family income entitles them to receive free lunch would not be required to pay the fee, and those with reduced lunch fees would pay only a portion of the activities fee. In addition, the final proposal will most likely set a limit on the amount paid per family, if there should be multiple children from one household enrolled at Evanston Township High School at the same time.

Activities fees are not an uncommon feature of school budgets. District 65 charges such a fee, as do other schools. Superintendent Allan Alson said that in Massachusetts, where he lived before coming to Evanston 17 years ago, fees for extracurricular and athletic activities were already being required of students. Some schools charge for participation in a sport and some schools charge different fees, depending on the sport being played, he added. He also indicated a preference for charging all students uniformly, rather than only those participating in a given sport or extracurricular activity. "It's hard to know what constitutes involvement," he said. "A student can go to a couple of meetings of the Model U.N. Club and then not go again." He also said instituting the overall fee would ensure "equity and continuity in the administration of athletic and extracurricular activities."

Chief Financial Officer Bill Stafford said some schools have a pay-for-play arrangement for athletic teams, but the administration did not wish to approach the funding problem this way because "we want to encourage everyone to participate. We have to be careful, because different sports tend to have a different economic makeup. Other communities can do it, but they tend not to have the same socioeconomic range" that Evanston does, he said.

Board members urged that parents be informed about the proposal so that they could give input to the Board.

Student board member Daniel Esrig remarked, “It’s a shame we can’t give students the same facilities that they have at other schools.”  He suggested that the administration seek out corporate sponsorship as has been done at other schools. 

Dr. Alson responded that the kinds of expenditures [for facilities and equipment] that Mr. Esrig was talking about come out of the operations and maintenance fund. The new activity fees would go to the education fund to cover fees for teachers, coaches and advisors. 

"We would like to continuously upgrade our facilities," he said, and pointed to the new track, improvements to football practice fields and visiting team bleachers as examples of recent upgrades to the sports facilities.

The Board is scheduled to vote on a final version of the activity fee proposal at its May 22 meeting.

Board Elects New Officers

By Jennie Berkson

Anticipating a year of transition as the first new superintendent in 16 years comes on board, the District 202 School Board elected Vice-President Ross Friedman as president and Jane Colleton as vice-president at its meeting on May 8. That transition, however, was not wholly smooth.

The election had been postponed without explanation from the meeting of April 17. While the vote was unanimous for Mr. Friedman, Ms. Colleton received six of the Board's seven votes. Her candidacy was opposed by Board Member Martha Burns, who stated that she felt she was entitled to the position because she understood it was "based on seniority" and that she "felt she had conveyed her desire to be VP". Ms. Burns protested that it seemed as if one "needs to have homogenous views in order to be considered" and that "rules were being changed because of me." The other Board members gave no response to Ms. Burns' comments and she did not respond to follow-up contact by the RoundTable. School officials told the RoundTable that although the Board usually comes to the election point with a slate of officers that has been pre-determined, there is not necessarily a seniority system in place.

Mr. Friedman thanked the outgoing President Mary Wilkerson for her "focused and devoted leadership for trying times" referring to the recent search for a superintendent to replace Dr. Allan Alson who is retiring in June. "We have a lot on our plate with the transition between Dr. Alson and Dr. Witherspoon. I look forward to my new position and working with Jane."

In a later conversation with the RoundTable, Mr. Friedman reflected on some other priorities for next year's board which he said were discussed at a board retreat held on May 13. He said that Ms. Burns and Rachel Hayman had volunteered to head an effort to make the Board more accessible to the public. Although meetings are open to the public, District 202 Board meetings are typically not well attended. Mr. Friedman also stressed the need to be "proactive with collaboration with District 65" and said that there would definitely be a meeting of the two boards in January, something that has only happened "one or two times in the five years" that Mr. Friedman has been on the Board.

Chasity Cooper was elected the student representative to the Board, having received 92 votes to 76 for Frances Agharese. Board members expressed their concern at the low student vote. Daniel Esrig, the present student representative to the Board, said that there had been two additional candidates, but that the total number of students voting was still less than that of last year. "I think it's a shame that students take this position for granted," he said. "Students don't feel it's important to be on the board." While taking his fellow students to task for their lack of interest, Mr. Esrig also challenged the Board to make some sort of effort to make students feel that their voice is important. Some Board members wondered why their meetings were not a regular beat for the school newspaper, The Evanstonian and suggested that perhaps the future student Board representative be able to write a regular column for the paper, which they felt would increase student interest in the activities of the Board.

Other elections included Bill Stafford as secretary and Gerald Leibforth will serve as treasurer.

PTA Volunteers Honored

Kaquana King and Pat Maunsell received the Phyllis Ganser Outstanding PTA Volunteer of the Year award at the May 15 District 65 School Board meeting. Ms. King is an active member of the PTA at Willard School, where her daughter, Deianira Smith, is a fourth-grader. Ms. Maunsell has two children at Kingsley School, Riley and Kathryn Campbell. In presenting the awards, Sue Levinson, sister of Phyllis Ganser, said both women have shown "as members of their PTAs how one person can unselfishly touch many lives.

The Soul Experience Culminating Ceremony and Performance

The community is invited to the culminating event of The Soul Experience, a program of S.O.U.L. Creations, at 3 p.m. May 21 at Chute Middle School, 1400 Oakton St. The program promotes and develops life skills, creative expression and cultural fluency through history, music, dance, composition, narration and performance. Suggested donation: $10 adults and $5 children (ages 5 - 17). Call 847- 424-9677 or visit www.soul-creations.org.

YEA! Returns This Weekend.

The Young Evanston Artists festival returns to Dempster Street and Chicago Avenue this weekend, with artwork by students from Evanston schools and preschools. From 10:30 a.m. till 4 p.m. there will be live performances of dance, singing and tumbling.

Justin Wynn Memorial Awards Announces "Wynners"

At its 18th annual banquet, the Justin Wynn Memorial Fund announced the 24 "Wynners" from District 65 schools. Created in 1987 upon the accidental death of 9-year-old Justin Wynn, The Justin Wynn Memorial Fund (The Fund) celebrates and honors youth leaders of Evanston.
Justin was a well-rounded, athletic fourth-grade student with a special love for soccer. His high values and strong moral character were the impetus for his family and friends to create The Justin Wynn Memorial Fund.
Each spring, The Fund honors two fourth-grade students from each District 65 elementary school; the "Wynners" are selected by their teachers and administrators for demonstrating outstanding citizenship, sportsmanship and leadership skills. Each Wynner becomes a member of the Justin Wynn Leadership Academy (JWLA), an on-going program that engages the students in community service activities through-out the remainder of their elementary, middle and high school years. Currently, more than 160 students belong to the JWLA. This year's Wynners are...
Dr. Bessie Rhodes Magnet School: Christopher Little and Karl Ortegon
Dawes School:
Kemani Hunter and Xochitl Patino
Dewey School:
Eli Otting and Zari Watts
Martin Luther King Jr. Lab School: Clayton Daniels and Carlos Reyes
Kingsley School:
Mamie Tabet and Khari Whitmore
Lincoln School:
Chris Emrich and John Wylie
Lincolnwood School:
Molly Linder and T. J. Schultz
Oakton School:
Jennifer Gray and Jackson Mihevc
Orrington School:
Lydia Hoopingarner and Glenn Robison
Walker School: Marlon Justin Primous and Carolyn White
Washington School:
Diego Ponce and Valeria Stutz
Willard School:
Patrick Fitzgibbons and Marley Marriott

Chess News

The girls' chess team at Dewey Elementary School took first-place team honors at the Illinois State Girls' Championships on April 29. Becky Honnold won first place in the grade 4-6 section. Kara Roseborough took first place for fourth grade. Also participating were Cecilia Tisserand and
Emma Sonder.

The Kingsley Chess Club has been very active this year in tournaments sponsored by Evanston Scholastic Chess (ESC). At the Feb. 11 ESC tournament held at Saint Athanasius, Kingsley fielded a team of 16 players, the largest turnout ever. The highlights of the Saint A's tournament included fourth-grader Jamie Carthew sharing the first-place overall award for the Knights division.

In addition, several other students won overall awards: Justin Romic,
third place at the Pawns level; and Elena Marcotte, third place in the Knights grouping. In addition, four first-graders, Graham Byrne, Nathan Fishpaugh, Jared Larson, and Ian Seegers, tied for first place at their grade level in the Pawns category. Also winning grade-level honors were Daniel Cyrus and Jacob Reber, who tied for first place in third grade and fourth grade, respectively, in the Knights division, and Nathaniel Bernstein who shared second place among third-grade Bishops.

Painting Flowers for the Garden Fair

Brownie Scouts from St. Athanasius and Dawes Elementary schools painted the windows of several Central Street shops in preparation for this weekend's Garden Fair.

The St. A's girls painted the windows at Great Harvest and the Dawes girls, Harold's Hardware and Hartigan's Ice Cream Shop.

The bright, cheery window flowers contrasted with the cold rainy weekend.