U.S. Supreme Court Decides Racial Balancing Cases District 65's Racial Balancing Methods Will Be Affected

By Larry Gavin

On June 28, the United States Supreme Court struck down plans used by school districts in Seattle, Wash., and Louisville, Ky., that took a student's race into account in order to racially balance their schools. Both cases were decided under Parents Involved in Community Schools v. Seattle School District # 1.

Find out more about the past desegragation efforts in Evanston, HERE .

The Court's decision was split 5-4, with two concurring and two dissenting opinions that together exceed 180 pages.

Justice Anthony Kennedy, who joined in a limited part of the majority opinion, wrote a separate concurring opinion that takes on import because he cast the swing vote. His opinion suggests that school districts may still use race-conscious measures to racially balance their schools in a "general" way, but that their ability to take the race of a student into account in making individual, student-by-student decisions has been substantially narrowed.

The decision
The decision will affect School District 65, which uses a 60-percent guideline in racially balancing its schools. Under the guideline, no racial group may exceed 60 percent of the student body of a school.
In an effort to meet the guideline, District 65 takes the race of students into account in deciding whether to grant students admission into King Lab and Bessie Rhodes magnet schools. The District considers the impact admitting the student will have on the racial balance of both the student's attendance-area school and the magnet school.

District 65 also takes the race of students into account in deciding whether to grant students permission to attend a school other than the student's attendance-area school and whether to admit English-dominant students into the two-way-immersion (TWI) program.

The Seattle and Louisville plans
The cases the Supreme Court decided involved plans voluntarily adopted by school districts in Seattle, Wash., and Louisville, Ky., to racially balance their schools. The plans contain some features similar to the methods used by School District 65.

The Seattle plan applies to the city's 10 high schools and is used to racially balance the schools that would otherwise be segregated due to segregated housing patterns. The high schools are all theme or "choice schools." If a school is oversubscribed by incoming ninth-grade students, the district applies prioritized "tiebreakers," one of which is the race of the applicant. The race-based tiebreaker is triggered if the racial makeup of the student body at a school differs by more than 15 percent from the makeup of the students of the District as a whole. Other tiebreakers are a sibling's attendance at the school and geographic proximity.

In Louisville, the school district created "resides" areas and elementary-school clusters to facilitate integration. Incoming students could apply to two schools in their cluster. Decisions to admit students to a school within their cluster took the students' race into account. Under the plan, each school was required to maintain a black-student enrollment of at least 15 percent and no more than 50 percent. Thirty-four percent of the students in the school district are black.

The Majority opinion
The majority opinion, written by Chief Justice John Roberts and joined in by Justices Antonin Scalia, Clarence Thomas, Samuel Alito and Kennedy, held that the plans were subject to "strict scrutiny" because they made classifications based on race. In order to satisfy the strict scrutiny standard, the Chief Justice said, the school districts must demonstrate that the use of race in student assignment plans must be "narrowly tailored" and achieve a "compelling" governmental interest. This has been the standard test to evaluate the constitutionality of classifications based on race.

The Chief Justice gave two examples where the Court had previously found a "compelling" interest to take a student's race into account in the school context: first, where the plan was to correct the effects of intentional discrimination by the school district; second, in the 2003 Grutter case in which the Court upheld that the University of Michigan's admissions policy which took the race of a student into account as one of many factors in an effort to achieve a compelling interest "in diversity in higher education."

The Chief Justice distinguished the Grutter case from the Seattle and Louisville plans on the basis that the diversity interest in Grutter was not solely in racial diversity, but other types of diversity such as fluency in languages, overcoming personal adversity and family hardship, community service, etc. The Chief Justice said, "The entire gist of the analysis in Grutter was that the admissions program at issue there focused on each applicant as an individual, and not simply as a member of a particular racial group. The classification of applicants by race upheld in Grutter was only as part of a ‘highly individualized, holistic review." He said the Seattle and Louisville plans did not consider race as part of a broader effort to achieve exposure to widely diverse people, cultures, ideas and viewpoints, but for some students, race "is determinative standing alone."

The majority thus held that the Seattle and Louisville assignment plans could not be upheld under Grutter. The Chief Justice, however, could not muster a majority to take the next step and hold that the elementary and high school districts in Seattle and Louisville lacked a compelling interest in a diversified education.

Instead, the majority concluded that the Seattle and Louisville plans were not "narrowly tailored" to achieve their stated ends. The majority concluded that in Seattle, only 52 students were affected by the racial tiebreaker; and in Louisville the racial guidelines accounted for only three percent of the assignments. The majority opinion said, "The minimal impact of the districts' racial classifications on school enrollment casts doubt on the necessity of using racial classifications."

The majority also held the school districts failed to show that they had considered methods other than explicit racial classifications to achieve their stated goals. "Narrow tailoring requires serious, good faith consideration of workable race-neutral alternatives," the Chief Justice said.

Plurality and concurring opinions
While the basis of the majority's opinion was decided on limited grounds, the Chief Justice's opinion contained sweeping comments in two sections that Justice Kennedy did not join in and that were supported by only three other Justices:  Scalia, Thomas and Alito. This "plurality opinion" has no precedential effect, but it provides the views of four justices.

The plurality opinion rejected the school districts' arguments that they had a compelling interest to racially balance the schools because education and broader socialization benefits flow from a racially diverse learning environment. The plurality opinion rejected this argument, stating that the plans were "not tailored to achieving a degree of diversity necessary to realize the asserted educational benefits" but instead were designed to attain "a level of diversity within the schools that approximates the district's overall demographics." The plurality held that the goal of racial balancing in itself was not a compelling interest and that "outright racial balancing" is "patently unconstitutional."

In a separate concurring opinion, Justice Kennedy disagreed with the plurality opinion. He said, "Diversity, depending on its meaning and definition, is a compelling educational goal a school district may pursue." He said, "To the extent the plurality opinion suggests the Constitution mandates that state and local school authorities must accept the status quo of racial isolation in school, it is, in my view, profoundly mistaken."

Justice Kennedy said in his view, school districts "are free to devise race-conscious measures to address the problem in a general way and without treating each student in different fashion solely on the basis of a systematic, individual typing by race." He suggested permissible strategies may include "strategic site selection of new schools, drawing attendance zones with general recognition of the demographics of neighborhoods, allocating resources for special programs, recruiting students and faculty in a targeted fashion, and tracking enrollments, performance, and other statistics by race." He opined that these measures would pass Constitutional muster because they apply generally and did not make decisions with respect to individual students on the basis of their race. He said individual classifications "may be considered legitimate only if they are a last resort to achieve a compelling interest."

 

Analysis
Because Justice Kennedy's was the swing vote, a racial-balancing plan that meets the parameters of his opinion may still pass Constitutional muster. In addition, because the Court did not expressly overrule Grutter, a plan that considered race as one of many factors in order to attain "diversity" may be defensible. It is unclear though whether the factors considered important by the Court in Grutter at the university level could be applied at the elementary school level.

Four justices, Steven Breyer, John Paul Stevens, David Souter and Ruth Bader Ginsberg, dissented. In a 77-page opinion, Justice Breyer concluded the student assignment plans "are supported by compelling state interests and are narrowly tailored to accomplish those goals." He said, "A longstanding and unbroken line of legal authority tells us that the Equal Protection Clause permits local school boards to use race-conscious criteria to achieve positive race-related goals, even when the Constitution does not compel it."

He concluded, "The last half-century has witnessed great strides toward racial equality, but we have not realized the promise of Brown. To invalidate the plans under review is to threaten the promise of Brown. The plurality's position, I fear, would break that promise. This is a decision that the Court and the Nation will come to regret."

Balancing schools by income
During the past ten years, a number of school districts have decided to balance their schools by income, rather than race, including Wake County, North Carolina; Cambridge, Massachusetts; St. Louis, Missouri; and LaCrosse, Wisconsin. Some of these decisions were in response to lower court decisions that school districts could not take race into account in deciding whether to admit a student to a school, even if the goal was to racially balance the school.

Other school districts have made the decision to balance their schools by income for educational reasons. "Divided We Fail: Coming Together Through Public School Choice," a 2002 report from the Century Foundation Task Force, states, "eliminating the harmful effects of concentrated school poverty is the single most important step that can be taken for improving education in the United States."

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School District 65: Racial Balancing of Schools

School District 65 adopted a voluntary desegregation plan in 1967. Since then the District has redrawn school attendance areas from time to time in an effort to racially balance its schools and to relieve overcrowding. The District has also managed admissions to its magnet schools in an effort to racially balance both the attendance area schools and the magnet schools.

In 1985 the School Board adopted the 60-percent guideline. Under the guideline, "no defined racial group shall exceed 60 percent of a school population."

The race of an applicant to a magnet school is considered in evaluating whether the student's leaving the attendance area school will throw the student's attendance area school out compliance with the 60-percent guideline. The race of an applicant is also considered in evaluating whether the student's admission to a magnet school will throw the magnet school out of compliance with the 60-percent guideline.

The Board's policy manual states, "Admission to the magnet schools shall promote racial balance and relief of overcrowding both at the magnet schools and the attendance area schools." The goal is to manage admissions to the magnet schools in such a way that no racial group exceeds 60 percent of the student body at any school.

The District also takes race into account in deciding whether to grant permissive transfers. The Board's policy manual states that "permissive transfers shall be based upon the impact they might have on the space utilization and racial balance of the schools involved."

The District also takes the race of students into account in an effort to racially balance two-way immersion (TWI) classrooms in the District. District officials have said the goal is that "the gender and ethnicity of the English dominant students should reflect the makeup of students in other classrooms at the program sites."

First Downtown Planning Meeting Draws 150

By Bill Smith

More than 150 people crowded into the Parasol Room at the Civic Center on June 21 to share their ideas for a new comprehensive plan for downtown Evanston. They gathered around more than a dozen tables for over an hour to hash out ideas and then reported back to the full group.

Plan Commission member Stuart Opdycke said that at his table, "all agree that something has to be done with Fountain Square, that it's a mess currently." But one solution - "tearing down the Fountain Square building and putting green space in its place" - did not win unanimous support.

Jeff Smith, president of the Central Street Neighbors Association, said people at his table "don't want Evanston to become like a mini-Chicago" and want clear-cut limits on what is allowed under zoning rules. He said people believe previous plans for downtown have been abandoned.

Valerie Kretchmer, a resident and planning consultant, said at her table people thought the low-rise traditional areas identified in draft planning documents should be extended to cover the full length of Davis Street and of Sherman Avenue, and that the mid-rise transitional areas should be expanded as well.

Vicky Jacobson, an Evanston resident for just 10 months, said some people at her table worried that new residential development "favors the ultra-wealthy" and wanted more middle- and low-income housing, while others stressed a need for more units that would appeal to families.

Jeanne Lindwall, who helped prepare the last downtown plan 18 years ago, said that at her table people praised the diversity of downtown residents, from young professionals to empty-nesters and noted that downtown's office market has diversified as well, with more entrepreneurs and small businesses and fewer large office tenants.

Tina Paden, who said her family has lived in Evanston for 160 years, said at her table the big concern was "buildings that are too big." Her group believed that developers should have to pick up the tab for infrastructure improvements needed to service their projects, she said.

Several veterans who attended said they were concerned about what would happen to the war memorials if Fountain Square is renovated.

Participants in the session included residents from many parts of the City, plus a sprinkling of developers, downtown property owners and merchants.

The downtown planning continues with two community meetings at 7 p.m. on July 12 at the Fleetwood-Jourdain Community Center and the Levy Senior Center.

'Lie-In' at Fountain Square DrawsAttention to Easy Access to Guns

By Mary Helt Gavin

Two months to the day after the massacre at Virginia Tech, said to be the largest gun massacre in the history of this country, the Illinois Coalition Against Handgun Violence (ICHV) held a lie-in at Fountain Square. Modeled after the sit-in protests of the 1960s, lie-ins dramatize death, as "victims" lie down in a public space to draw attention to the violence caused by handguns.

Two State representatives - Julie Hamos and Harry Osterman - participated, along with Cook County Commissioner Larry Suffredin and Aldermen Cheryl Wollin, 1st Ward; Steve Bernstein, 4th Ward; Delores Holmes, 5th Ward; and Elizabeth Tisdahl, 7th Ward.

Families of victims of gun violence, and some victims themselves - two with bullets still in their bodies - took part in the protest: Ryann Brown, recovering from brain surgery from a gunshot wound suffered last year as an innocent bystander, and Chicago Police Officer Mike Robbins, with 13 bullets still in his body, shot in the line of duty. Ms. Brown held a sign that read, "15 more people were shot at Virginia Tech that survived, but were injured... Like I have been... Nationally gun violence injures almost twice as many as it kills."

According to the organizers, the protest was meant to "draw attention to the appalling levels of gun violence in America," in particular the 32 victims of the Virginia Tech killings and the 24 Chicago Public School students who died this year from gunfire. For three silent minutes, 32 persons dressed in black lay on the ground in front of the war memorials to symbolize the Virginia Tech victims and to protest the availability of deadly handguns.

Mr. Suffredin read the names of the Virginia Tech victims. "It took longer for me to read the 32 names than it took for them to get killed," he told the RoundTable. "The three-minute silence was longer than it took to perfect the sale of the weapon used in the crime. We need to double our efforts to remind people of the damage these weapons can do," he added.

According to the ICHV, on the average, 32 Americans are murdered with guns every day. Supporters of stricter gun laws in Illinois say they hope to increase public discourse about pending legislation that would ban high-capacity ammunition, require reporting of lost and stolen guns, and mandate background checks on person- to-person handgun sales.

Their website is http://www.protesteasyguns.org.

Chicago and Evanston Police Nab Members of New Gang

By Mary Helt Gavin

On June 13 Chicago police working in conjunction with Evanston police officers arrested several members of a new street gang that had escalated violence along both sides of Howard Street in the previous few weeks. In all, 12 gang members were arrested and seven remain wanted on warrants, police said. One of the gang members, Lindon Watts, 17, of Chicago, was also charged in connection with what police termed a gang-related shooting near the police outpost on Howard Street.

Chicago Police Sergeant Landron Wade said the arrests included "four of the biggest leaders" of the Insane Black Mafia Street Gang, a new faction of the Black P Stones street gang.

Working undercover, police officers made 23 "successful" narcotics purchases and identified 22 narcotic dealers and suppliers, Sgt. Wade said at a press conference in Chicago on June 19. Police said they confiscated 97 grams of crack cocaine and $4,200 in U.S. currency.

Police also said they obtained information "on stopping future [drug] deals and [identities of] dealers who were not even on our radar."

The sting operation, called "Operation Triple Threat," targeted an open-air drug market in Chicago and a second one in Evanston, though Evanston police declined to give specific information about its location. The operation began in March, Chicago police said, in response to neighbor's complaints about increased violence and drug and gang activity.

According to the statement, Evanston Police Department's narcotics unit alerted Chicago's Narcotics and Gang Investigation Section (NAGIS) Team that "crack cocaine that was being distributed on the border of Chicago and Evanston was also being distributed by some of Evanston's most notorious street dealers."

At the press conference Sgt. Wade said, "These [gang members] operated with no regard for others." Some of the sales took place within 1,000 feet of Evanston Township High School, Brummel Park, Warren Park and Clyde/Brummel Park in Evanston as well as parks and schools in Chicago, police said. Convictions for sales of controlled substances within 1,000 feet of schools and parks carry increased sentencing penalties.

The 19 gang members all had Chicago addresses, Sgt. Wade said, and "some had secondary addresses in Evanston." Police said the gang members had ratcheted up the violence so much in the past weeks that the police decided to end the operation and make arrests before school was out for the year.

Evanston Police Chief Richard Eddington thanked the Chicago police and said, "This level of cooperation can be expected in the future." Deputy Police Chief Joseph Bellino said since many gang members do not acknowledge city boundaries, "It's important to build partnerships to address the activity that threatens residents in Chicago and Evanston."

Asssessor Update

Assessor Update

By Joe Linstroth

City officials are bracing for another lawsuit against the Township of Evanston that could potentially result from the termination of the Township's Deputy Assessor Diane Benjamin on June 12. For this and other reasons, the Human Services Committee, which is responsible for overseeing the Township, plans to discuss the Township Assessor's office during their next meeting in early July.

However, the RoundTable has learned that the City's Law Department has requested a meeting with Ms. Benjamin and her former boss, Township Assessor Sharon Eckersall, to resolve the dispute.

Should Ms. Benjamin choose to file a lawsuit, this would mark the third time a former deputy assessor has brought suit against the Township and the City of Evanston, which are co-terminous, under the eight-year tenure of Township Assessor Sharon Eckersall.

The City's aldermen, who also serve as trustees, must approve a balanced budget for the Township by July 1. On June 11 they voted 7-0 to cut the overall budget of the Assessor's office by $54,800. The cut, proposed by 8th Ward Alderman Ann Rainey, equals the amount itemized for the Deputy Assessor's salary, and reduced the Assessor's total budget for 2007-08 to $112,447. The following morning Ms. Benjamin received a fax at the Assessor's office from Ms. Eckersall informing her that there was no longer any funding for her position and that her job had been terminated, effective immediately.
"I was stunned," said Ms. Benjamin, who had served as the Township's Deputy Assessor for five-and-a-half years.

Ms. Benjamin said she was offered a severance check for two-weeks' pay but declined it, citing the employee handbook for the Township's General Assistance office, which states that "employees serving 5 years or more but less than 10 shall be given one month (four weeks) severance pay."

Valerie Wideman, who handles the payroll for the Township, confirmed that Ms. Benjamin refused the check. She also told the RoundTable that Ms. Benjamin
was not offered the four weeks severance because severance pertains only to employees of the Township's General Assistance office. The Assessor's office does not have a handbook of its own, she said.

Ms. Eckersall said, "Whatever the handbook says, that's what she gets."
Complicating matters are funds that were advanced to Ms. Benjamin prior to her taking a five-week leave of absence in May 2007. Ms. Benjamin stated that she suffered from exhaustion due to the number of hours she worked during the 30-day appeal process which ended May 4, and had orders from her doctor to rest.
Ms. Eckersall wrote in the June 12 facsimile: "I will speak to Pat Vance [Township Supervisor] about the funds that have already been advanced to you, and we will get back to you."

When asked about the advance, Ms. Eckersall said, "I'm not going to comment on personnel issues."

Valerie Wideman, who handles the payroll for the Township Ms. Wideman told the RoundTable that "they advanced her sick time, I believe." She also said that such a payment was not unheard of for "an employee that's been around a long time."

Alderman Steven Bernstein, 4th Ward, sits on the Human Services committee which oversees the Township budget and is also a former Township Assessor. When told of
the advancement, he said, "You can't pay people in advance. It's not their money. It's the people's money."

Township Supervisor Patricia Vance, who oversees the funds for the entire Township, was out of town and unavailable for comment.

Past and Current Legal Action
This is the third instance of a dispute between Ms. Eckersall and her deputy assessor. The first deputy fired was Gloria Harris, who held the position when Ms. Eckersall was appointed by Mayor Lorraine Morton in August 1999 and was also the deputy assessor when Ald. Bernstein was appointed township assessor. "Gloria Harris was my deputy when I arrived," he said. "She pretty much taught me."

Ms. Harris's lawsuit was appealed and the Township eventually prevailed, said Ald. Bernstein.

Ms. Eckersall's second deputy, Ignacio Castaneda, filed a lawsuit in 2001 alleging, among other things, wrongful termination and defamation of character. he lawsuit is currently under appeal, and Mr. Castaneda told the RoundTable he is seeking $250,000 in damages.

Ald. Bernstein said the City has already paid $50,000 to Hoover & Associates, the law firm defending Ms. Eckersall in Mr. Castaneda's lawsuit. According to the Evanston Township accounting reports for May 2007, Hoover & Associates has billed the City $33,106.25 in legal fees from the five-month period of December 2006 through April 2007. The City's Law Department reviewed the firm's invoices and placed as an item on the City Council's agenda for June 25 a recommendation that the aldermen approve payment in the amount of $30,000.

Repeated requests made by the RoundTable to the City's Law Department for the total amount of taxpayers' money spent on legal fees defending Ms. Eckersall in these two lawsuits were denied by the City's Law Department. The RoundTable filed a request for the public records under the Freedom of Information Act and will print the information once it is obtained.

Role of Township Trustees
Asked why she thought the City Council made the cut to her budget, Ms. Eckersall stated that "[8th Ward Alderman] Ann Rainey said she doesn't think we need full time help."
Ald. Rainey defended the Council's actions, saying Ms. Benjamin "did not need to be fired because we deleted the budget. She could have cut the budget in other ways."
Indeed Ms. Eckersall is responsible for how her budget is implemented. The only authority the trustees have over the Township Assessor's office is the amount of her overall budget.

Alderman Edmund Moran, 6th Ward, who sits on the Human Services committee, said, "[The Township Assessor has] independent operating authority. [Our] oversight is principally exerted through the adoption of the budget."

City Clerk Mary Morris confirmed that the powers of the trustees are somewhat limited. "The power of the township comes from the state," she said. She added that the "trustees
are to provide the monies needed for the assessor to operate the office."

According to the Assessor's Office budget proposal for the 2007-08 fiscal year, the largest expenditures, prior to the budget cut, were as follows: $54,800 for deputy assessor; $25,000 for legal; $18,960 for administrative assistant; and $16,500 for rent. The total budget proposed was $167, 247. By terminating the Deputy Assessor, Ms. Eckersall cut $53,000 from her proposed expenditures, which was Ms. Benjamin's salary at the time of her termination.

As for the remaining $1800, Ms. Benjamin stated that it was proposed in the budget for 2006-07 as a raise that Ms. Eckersall had promised her but that she never received. When asked about the raise, Ms. Eckersall refused to comment, citing personnel matters, but confirmed that Ms. Benjamin did not receive the $1,800 and that the money was redistributed to cover other expenditures even though it was itemized for the deputy assessor in the budget.

Asked whether the assessor's office has the ability to perform its functions without a deputy, Ms. Eckersall stated, "For the summer I'm fine." Darnell [Jefferson, the part-time administrative assistant] went full time." She also said the office has a high school student interning for the summer and that she has plans to have Mr. Jefferson take some training courses.

Role of Township Assessor's Office
The duties of the Township Assessor's office include maintaining property sales and building permit records; identifying changes to properties as assessable or non-assessable and forwarding the permits to the Cook County Assessor's Permit Department; and providing taxpayer assistance and education regarding the intricacies of the Cook County assessment process and taxation system.

This last function takes on greater importance when the County reassesses property values every three years and Township property owners have a 30-day window in which to file their appeals. The budget cut and Ms. Benjamin's subsequent termination came in the wake of the most recent appeal process, which for Evanston Township residents lasted from March 30 to May 4.

During that time Ms. Benjamin stated that she, Mr. Jefferson, and Bill Boden, a temporary employee hired by Ms. Eckersall specifically for the appeal process, worked full-time to process appeals and assist taxpayers in processing their own appeals. It is a busy month for the Assessor's office.

Ald. Bernstein recalls that "three of us were in there most nights until 3-4am, six nights a week-all the time for the four week process." Though it was back when they had to look up much of the information by hand, he said.

Ms. Benjamin's characterization of her experience was not much different from Ald. Bernstein's, despite the fact that much of the process has been computerized. During the appeals process, Ms. Benjamin stated she often worked 15-hour days even though her salary did not include overtime pay.

"Every taxpayer, every property owner, is entitled to an appeal," Ms. Benjamin said.

"Many people don't realize they have gross errors in the descriptions of
their property - their house is in the wrong class, they're over-assessed - some need to go back three years" she said.

Ms. Benjamin estimated that she and the staff worked on approximately 375 appeals. Ms. Eckersall's estimate is lower, stating her office had "281 folders with appeals."
The extent of the assessor's involvement in the appeal process is in dispute as well. Ms. Eckersall stated she did 40 percent of the 281 appeals. "I did 108 or 110 of them myself," she said. Ms. Benjamin and Mr. Jefferson both told the RoundTable that the bulk of Ms. Eckersall's participation occurred during the last three or four nights before the May 4 deadline.

"When she came in, it was the last three evenings of the appeals process," Ms. Benjamin said. "And she wasn't in for more than a few hours each evening."

The deputy assessor is a full-time position and according to the job description is responsible for managing the operation of all of the services provided by the Township Assessor's office.

By state statute, the Township Assessor is paid $6,000 per year. Characterizing her duties in general, Ms. Eckersall said, "At $100/week, I am not expected to work in that office. My job is to make sure it is staffed."

She also said she takes a one-week class in August to maintain her credentials,
attends monthly board meetings for the Cook County Assessor's Association, and goes to conferences for township officials, usually three times a year. During reassessment years, she and Cook County Commissioner Larry Suffredin also conduct joint workshops informing Township residents of their right to appeal their property assessments.

What Next?
"This community cannot continue to afford $30,000 here and $30,000 there," Ald. Rainey told the RoundTable. "The legal fees are crazy."

Asked if she is going to sue the Township, Ms. Benjamin said, "I'm considering it, but I don't want to have to do it."

In a copy of a June 16 email sent to Ms. Eckersall, however, Ms. Benjamin was more pointed: "There are far too many recorded cellphone [sic] messages, written memos and transcripts, recorded tapes, and witness statements regarding allegations made by you against me for me to address here. Those will be handled by my legal representatives."

Talk among City officials about what to do next ranges from abolishing the office to a recall to a public referendum.

"Abolishing the office has come up in conversation," said Alderman Cheryl Wollin, 1st Ward. "Commissioner Suffredin's office has handled the appeals and there seems to be some redundancy there."

Commissioner Suffredin told the RoundTable that his office handled about 125 appeals for Township residents during the last reassessment period and helped others fill out their own.

Though property owners can file appeals without the help of the Township Assessor's or the Cook County Commissioner's offices, Ms. Benjamin still sees a need for her former office. "These are not just old people and immigrants, but people who are educated and very savvy, and these people just could not get through it," she said. "It is a very complex process, and many people couldn't understand it."

Ms. Morris said there is little the trustees can do, short of cutting the Assessor's budget. For the Township Assessor to be removed from office, the person would have to be found guilty of official misconduct in a court of law, she said.

"The township is basically here to stay," said Ms. Morris. "The state would have to do away with it."

Firth Ward Alderman Delores Holmes, who chairs the Human Services committee, told the RoundTable that her committee has "a plan to discuss what to do at our next meeting" in early July.

Ald. Rainey said the Council is partly to blame for what has been happening at the Township Assessor's office. "We haven't paid close enough attention," she said. She cited the elimination of the Township committee when the Council was reduced from 18 aldermen to its current total of nine in the early 1990s. "I think we haven't attended to it," she said.

"We probably should have screamed, yelled and hollered sooner," said Ald. Bernstein. He added, "I've been screaming for the last three years, but you've got to follow the law. She's an elected official."

Ms. Eckersall has run unopposed in the last two elections. As far as someone else running for Township Assessor, it is not as simple as signing a few forms. "Not any Tom, Dick or Harry can wander in and be the township assessor," said Ald. Moran. "It has to be someone who is credentialed and has taken the required courses-someone familiar with the assessment process."

Asked whether she plans on running for reelection in 2009, Ms. Eckersall said, "I have no idea what I'm doing."

Thinking Out of the Ring

By Ellen Pritsker

Like a boxer who concentrates on an opponent while continuously dancing around the ring, Evanston's Ultimate Fitness (Ultfit) gym is always changing but never varies its focus.

Fitness Jedi Dave Englund founded the bare-bones facility at 823 Emerson St. in 2004, combining his lifelong love of boxing with his deep commitment to esoteric bodywork systems such as yoga and tai chi. He wanted to create a laid-back environment where members could challenge themselves and concentrate on serious training, minus the distractions of a typical health club.

"Our appeal is old-school and colorful, but the workouts are serious," said the 39-year-old ex-Marine and fitness expert. "Over the past three years, we have grown to over 800 members and offer a full range of open classes, plus private sessions with expert trainers. We average one new sign-up almost every day, and I don't advertise," he said.

Hillary Swank of "Million Dollar Baby" would feel comfortable training at Ultfit, perspiring in her tank top and shapeless gray sweats. At Ultfit, there is no pulsating background music to bump up the pace, no television to ease the boredom of treadmill workouts and no posh locker areas. Rest rooms are institutional, air conditioning is iffy and there is no sleek reception desk.

Which suits Ultfit's cadre of regulars just fine: They like the rough edges.

Evanston's Jane Peller, an Ultfit trainer and professor of social work at Northeastern Illinois University, said, "The gym is raw and pure and real - there is nothing plastic about it. If you can handle it, you can blossom there."

Scott Holstein of Wilmette added, "It is sweaty and dirty, and that encourages me to 'get down and work out,' but the quality of the instruction is outstanding, and I always feel I'm getting the best guidance, minus the frills."

Mr. Englund, who lives in Morton Grove with his wife, Terri, and their young son, explained, "The key here is to encourage people to work out independently - I have no desire to hang onto my clients or my students. Trainers should help their clients become self-directed in just a few sessions, by giving them simple, effective routines to do on their own."

A highly regarded boxing coach, Mr. Englund is the force behind the Evanston Boxing Club (15 members, aged 17-35), which he founded in 1997 and which has been headquartered at Ulfit since it opened. Things heat up in early spring, when Golden Gloves candidates are training two hours a day, five days a week to "get the rust out," he said.

Mr. Englund said 2007 was the club's best season ever, with impressive wins in the Chicago-area Golden Gloves competition. Six club members made the final rounds, and four became champions, including one senior and one woman. Mr. Englund will be at the helm when these winning fighters compete in the nationals this summer, vying for a berth in the 2008 Olympics. In February, Mr. Englund coached the Illinois State Boxing Team - which also trains at Ultfit - to wins in the USA boxing league regionals

But all year long, the ring is in constant use, by boxing club or team members and individual gym members, including 100 or more 'white collar boxers' who train at Ultfit.

"White collar boxing attracts rank amateurs," Mr. Englund explained. "It's big in Chicago. There are sold-out matches every three months at Park West. The competitors are lawyers, insurance brokers, business executives. In white collar, boxers wear larger gloves and fight shorter rounds and vie for a winner's belt - the losing boxer gets a trophy. Their coaches try to keep them from getting hurt," he added.

Yet the softer side of fitness receives equal time at Ultfit.

Mr. Englund is qualified to train new instructors of Pilates and Ginastica, as well as Gyrotonics. Graduates of his training courses often stay to teach private clients at the gym.

Pilates is a system of intricate movements done on floor mats or special equipment that strengthens muscles in the abdomen, glutes and lower back. It was developed by a boxer, Joseph Pilates, to help injured fighters and dancers - and has exploded in popularity in the United States recently.

Ginastica is a new Brazilian approach to fitness that blends yoga with various martial arts. (Mr. Englund went to Brazil in 2005 to earn a teaching certification from the system's founder and claims his is the only gym in America officially licensed to teach it.) Gyrotonics is a three-dimensional, core-strengthening system involving movement sequences performed on special stools or intricate apparatus.

Like the flowing Chinese movement system called tai chi and the ancient Indian stretching and balancing system of yoga, Gyrotonics improves strength and flexibility while encouraging meditative relaxation.

To Mr. Englund, there is no disconnect between martial arts and the meditative practices that share equal billing in his gym. He said, "I have my boxers doing tai chi or Pilates regularly, especially before matches. A winning boxer must be limber as well as strong."

Chester & Chester

The work of Evanston kitchen design studio Chester & Chester is featured on the cover of the summer 2007 issue of "Beautiful Kitchens." Designer Todd Atkins said he worked closely with the client to create a kitchen of elegance and practicality for the North Shore family of seven whose kitchen is featured in the article "To Love and Last." Celebrating its 10th anniversary this year, Chester & Chester says it strives to create design that reflects and builds upon the desires and needs of its clients.

New Officers and Board Members At Chamber of Commerce

The Evanston Chamber of Commerce announced its new officers for 2007 and welcomed six new directors to its 28-person board at the 87th annual meeting and gala on April 26. Chamber president is Donald Huff; president-elect is Jim Marsh; and treasurer is Randy Usen. Other directors on the executive committee are Chamber Vice-President for Regional Affairs Eugene Sunshine,; Chamber Vice- president for Membership Randal Sable; Chamber Vice-President for Marketing Corrine Passage; and Chamber Vice-president for Governmental Affairs Jeff Murphy, chief executive officer, St. Francis Hospital. New Chamber board members are Jill Brazel, Ron Fleckman, Dan Mennemeyer, Kristen Murtos, Ayla Phillips and Larry Widmayer.

Trevor Pachis Is Agent of theYear

AgentTrevor Pachis has been named Agent of theYear by American Family Insurance in Chicago Metro. He received the honor for outstanding sales of American Family Insurance products during2006. Mr. Pachis, whose office is located at 2121 Dewey Ave., has been an agent for American Family sinceSeptember 2003.

"This is a very prestigious honor and a fitting tribute toTrevor's expertise in insurance and ability to earn the trust and respect of his customers," saysCesar Pinzon, sales directorfor Chicago Metro division of the company.