Reader: ‘District 65’ Group a ‘Bitter Echo Chamber’ of Bullying

I would like to voice my concern and alarm that the District 65 name continues to be used by the Facebook group “District 65 Parents & Guardians.” To anyone new to the District this name would indicate an affiliation with the district. Rather than finding a central information source or a supportive community of users sharing one commonality – a child in a district school – instead the District 65 Parents & Guardians group has devolved into a bitter echo chamber of bullying, naming, and shaming (commonly of people not even in the group) and mockery. Unfortunately, ill behavior online is nothing new, but is this behavior the truth of our District?

To someone more familiar with our District staff and administration, the presumed correlation between this online form of “terrorism lite” and the district would seem even more so, as school social workers, district staff, school board members, and spouses of senior administrators regularly lead these charges and encourage others through their passive aggressive “likes” and other comments, with no accountability.

Enough is enough. Far less egregious behavior from groups whose names are associated with other Evanston institutions have resulted in cease-and-desist letters. I do not expect for the district to take accountability for the behavior of others, but I do expect them to take responsibility for our district’s name and its likeness.

I am asking for District 65 to take a stand in public denouncement of this behavior and the District 65 Parents & Guardians group in particular, and I ask that they take the necessary steps to remove the district’s name from this group that does nothing to raise up our community.

— Sara Crawford