Approaches to narrow the education gap between black students and their counterparts in the classroom are well known and have significant effect sizes.  Some of which the district is implementing, many are not. While I do not think it is the board member’s job to implement them, I think it is the board member’s job to be familiar with them and strive to create the environment in which trained interventionists have the bandwidth to focus on high quality implementation of these strategies with fidelity-- the strategies are only as good as the quality of their implementation. Teachers and interventionists have lacked support in this area in the recent years. We need to strengthen this support to teachers and interventionists so evidence based interventions can be consistently delivered to those that need them the most. Strengthening these practices in our existing classrooms has benefits beyond narrowing the education gap, such as cost savings with transportation if students can receive the support they need at their neighborhood school, rather than being bused to a facility with a more robust support system. The district is top heavy and I fear through their deficit reduction plan, the ability to deliver these services will be further impaired as teachers and support staff are cut at much higher rates than the higher paid administrators. “Ensuring Student and Teacher needs are at the center of all financial decisions” is one of the main guiding pillars of my campaign. I believe strongly in ensuring evidence based supports are available and implemented to narrow the education gap for those who need it the most.

We need to be clear that our solutions to financial challenges can not negatively impact the academic outcomes of the students of district 65. “Ensuring Student and Teacher needs are at the center of all financial decisions” is one of the main guiding pillars of my campaign. Focusing spending at the student/teacher/support interface maximizes impact of the dollar spent. The board member’s job in this case would be to consider many alternative financial options and remain steadfast on the strategic goals of the district. The first strategic goal being “Equity.” Change in federal assistance are not largely causative of the districts’ current financial standing at this point and district finances should be robust enough to withstand small to medium ripples in funding. We need to reduce the use of language that suggests equity and fiscal responsibility are at odds. This is not a zero sum game. It's true the district faces grave financial challenges, but it's also true that we have many resources at our disposal. 

Standards based grading is a change to the A-F system that has been the primary method of grading pupils for at least hundreds of years. The purpose for this change is that traditional grading (A-F) is an assessment “OF” learning, whereas (when properly implemented), SBG is an assessment “FOR” learning. It is an assessment tool that provides much more information than the traditional A-F as it separates academic performance from attitude, social interactions and motivation. 

The system may be well intentioned but the rollout has been poor and communication with families and teachers lacking. It should be very clear what a student has to do in order to get the EX and ME scores and the parents/teachers/students should be better educated. I think a grading system training document for use at parent teacher conferences could be centrally developed by admin and reviewed with parents at the parent teacher conferences, taking 3-5 minutes. These trainings could review basic SBG   information, what the student needs to improve upon, what they can do to get better scores, what they are doing well at, and any other information that may inform high-school readiness. Receiving an EX score should be obtainable and how to do it should not be a mystery. The district needs to be explicit, informed, and intentional about decisions like SBG being made and follow through with strong and informed implementation.

The first strategic goal of the district is Equity, resources should always go where they are needed the most. Access to resources (whether it be interventists, additional programming, etc) is to be determined by necessity. As a society and educational institution, we should continually strive to identify our hidden biases and foster belonging and “being seen” for all of our students, especially if they identify in a minority group. Having socially and culturally relevant curricular materials and teachers/principals with a high degree of cultural competence is important. We also need to learn from the past, both distant and recent, to guide our future to what we want it to be. From my perspective, the main role of the School Board in this process is ensuring the goals for the district stay clear, resources are being appropriately allocated, and that highly qualified administrative staff are hired that understand the big picture as well as the intricacies of implementation.

For this situation, best practices are likely to align with significant cost savings for the district. Currently, many students with special needs are bused to private facilities due to lack of supports in the district. By strengthening the supports in district 65, the need for transportation is reduced as well as the need to pay that facility for services. The students with special needs should be supported at their neighborhood schools. Best practices for students with special needs is to keep them with their peers as much as possible. This results in improvements in academic skills, communication and social skills versus placing students with special needs in a  school for special needs. This helps all students with special needs, and is less likely to do harm, as separating black children with special needs from their peers is likely to do. “Ensuring Student and Teacher needs are at the center of all financial decisions” is one of the main guiding pillars of my campaign. – and in short, I believe in keeping students with special needs in the class as much as possible with appropriate interventions and that it is better for students and the budget.

The overall strength of the School District would be the first step in incentivizing any educators to pursue careers in teaching and hopefully, teaching within District 65. Using a recruiting network focused for black educators and word of mouth goes a long way here. Fostering a sense of inclusion for black educators is important and educating teacher candidates on the demographics of the district as well as their potential peers could also be helpful. Pay/benefits needs to be competitive for any educators to come to the district and the district needs to be in better financial standing to pay teachers a more competitive market wage and benefits. Ensuring any candidates are familiar with the strategic goals should ensure that their personal goals and attributes are aligned with the districts. Equity is the first strategic goal of the district and generally should be a part of every process.

I draw on Bessie Rhodes as a case study …. 

·  Personally I have talked to most board members multiple times in support of Bessie Rhodes as its closing is a social injustice in the district that harmed many black and brown families and immigrant families, which is not in line with strategic goal of Equity

·  Two Way Immersion (TWI) is an evidence based strategy to reduce the achievement gap for Black and brown students and to dismantle the TWI program (while stating the district will be expanding it) is opposing equity principals and weakening evidence based programming

I serve as secretary on the Bessie Rhodes PTA which in part is bridge building and supporting the community, I also help with events that support this sense of community

·        Bessie Rhodes School is comprised of 91% students of color and has been chronically under resourced and weakened by misinformation, administrative turnover, and the false narrative that the 5th ward school cannot exist without its closure

·  I have spoken publicly about this at Board of Education Meetings as well and have been involved in our Bessie Rhodes community as it is a one-of-kind special community

·  The current board believes in equity ‘in name only’ and their folly with the Bessie Rhodes community proves that the Board and District administration cannot be trusted to make reasonable equitable decisions

Historically, prior to 1967, racist housing finance practices and general public sentiment drove Black families into the 5th ward. This created a neighborhood school system segregated by race. With the vast majority of Black families living in the 5th ward and attending Foster school, which was majority white prior to WW2. In the mid-1960s, desegregation movements began to be realized in the area and in 1967, district 65 was to be desegregated. The neighborhood school Foster, was to be turned into a lab school and the Black children of the 5th Ward were to be transported across the district in attempt to desegregate district 65. In the late 1970s, the impact of busing on Black children, the closure of Foster School and the impact on the 5th ward community began to become generally recognized as unfair and harmful. Black children were bearing the burden of desegregation to the benefit of white dominant communities throughout Evanston. The movement to try to right this social injustice began and persisted through enrollment drops, redistricting, and other school closures. The movement’s central focus was to bring back a neighborhood school to the 5th ward and more equitably share racial integration. A referendum failed to pass in 2012 for funding to build a new 5th ward school and most recently, a lease certificate funding strategy was passed by the board and district administration to fund the building of a 5th ward school, which is currently in construction. In short, it is a story of systemic racism and burdening Black families for multiple generations and never.