Four new school boardmembers were sworn into the Evanston/Skokie School District 65 Board of Education at Monday’s Committee of the Whole meeting and will immediately face a financial crisis.
The new members, Patricia Anderson, Nichole Pinkard, Maria Opdycke and Andrew Wymer, replace more than half of the outgoing board. The previous four members declined to run for re-election after a turbulent pair of years that saw the district plummet into a financial deficit. The new board will be tasked with continuing the district’s deficit reduction plan to cut between $10 million and $15 million in expenses for the next school year, likely continuing cuts in jobs, school closures and district-wide expense cuts.
Outgoing members Joey Hailpern, Biz Lindsay-Ryan, Soo La Kim and Donna Wang Su gave a final testimony about their time on the board, wishing the next board well and encouraging members to take on the work of an unpaid and sometimes thankless job.
“Despite the difficult years: the pandemic, the post-pandemic return to schools, the barrage of angry emails and threats — many with racist rhetoric and coded anti-Blackness— the misrepresented budget numbers and feelings of betrayal… despite all that, I don’t regret having served” on the board, Kim said.
“Because despite all the resistance and heat from the community, we did also manage to do some worthwhile things: Updating the curricula, social studies, literacy, math and science — I think we touched them all — to be more rigorous, inclusive and evidence-based; reducing the racial disproportionality in discipline, expanding social, emotional supports, closing the opportunity gap in our early childhood programs, committing to sustainability goals, supporting translation services throughout the district and expanding dual language to middle schools, and of course, returning a school to the 5th Ward,” she said.
Lindsay-Ryan, who served on the board for 11 years, thanked the district’s staff and her family for their support during her tenure on the board of education.
“We are navigating a world that wants to challenge so much of what we as a community hold dear. The level of external threat to the fundamentals of education is staggering, and the threat has been weaponized to attempt to stop us from caring for our most vulnerable,” Lindsay-Ryan said.
“We see educational institutions abandoning their values and in the process their constituents in an effort to mitigate the financial repercussions of having essential funding, only to have it withdrawn anyway. I urge our community and our next board to remain steadfast in its commitment to all out student success, to maintain an inclusive and safe environment where all students can thrive, and ensure that we prepare them to be global citizens that understand the realities of power, oppression and justice and how to engage in a world around them in ways that make everyone safe, respected, valued and included,” she said.
In the week prior to the new board, the U.S. Department of Education announced it would investigate a complaint of alleged racial discrimination filed on behalf of a white elementary school drama teacher, who alleged the district used educational materials containing social justice advocacy to discriminate against white employees and students, among other things.
Superintendent Angel Turner thanked the outgoing board members for their service to the board.
“Serving on the School Board is no small task. It requires time, thoughtfulness and a deep commitment to public service. Over the past several years this board has grappled with very complex and often difficult issues that have had a real impact on our students, our staff and families,” Turner said. “Through it all, they have shown courage, compassion and a steadfast focus on what they believe is best for our children.”
Board president prevails after challenge
Board members Sergio Hernandez, Omar Salem and Mya Wilkins, who were not up for election this year, remain on the school board. Hernandez, the previous school board president, nominated himself to remain the board’s president.
“I want to directly acknowledge that the past two years have presented some significant challenges, some of which I could have navigated better,” Hernandez said before a vote was called.
“Communication, both within our board and with the broader community, has not always met the standard our constituents deserve. I take full ownership and it is not fair to expect new board members to carry the weight of these complexities without clear leadership and structure.”
“I commit to making communication a top priority moving forward, ” he said.
Salem nominated himself as a the board’s president too.
“I really want to kind of be this bridge here… having been on the board for two years, we have four new folks coming on, and I really just want to kind of balance the way we’ve done things while also making sure we have some opportunity for change. I think the community has made it clear we need some change,” Salem said. “My goal really is just to ensure that every single board member has the opportunity to be heard internally within our board, but also externally within the community.”
In a 4-3 vote, Wilkins, Hernandez, Pinkard and Wymard voted for Hernandez to be the board’s president.
Pinkard was voted unanimously as the board’s vice president, running unopposed.
“As we transition into a new era of leadership, District 65 faces significant challenges and opportunities to rebuild trust across our community. I believe that strong strategic and collaborative board leadership is essential to supporting the superintendent and advancing our mission of opportunity, equity and excellence for all students,” Pinkard said.
