On March 18, 2024, the District 65 School Board entered into a three-year “Performance Based Superintendent’s Contract” with Angel Turner. The contract contains eight goals that the School Board will […]
Author Archives: Larry Gavin
Larry Gavin was a co-founder of the Evanston RoundTable in 1998 and assisted in its conversion to a non-profit in 2021. He has received many journalism awards for his articles on education, housing and other subjects in the past 24 years. He practiced law in Chicago for 36 years.
National study shows D65 students lost almost a full grade level in math since 2019
Although schools across the country saw sharp declines in academic achievement during the pandemic, the struggle to recover from these losses has been uneven, and District 65 students have fared […]
School District 65: The end of an era
School District 65 voluntarily desegregated all of its schools in 1967. For the next 40 years, until the U.S. Supreme Court issued its decision in the Parents Involved case (discussed […]
Guest essay: Northwestern not entitled to property tax exemption on new stadium
Properly construed, Northwestern’s property tax exemption applies only to property that is held for the “sole purpose of education.”
COVID is on the rise, so exercise caution
Many people in the United States have some protection, or immunity, against COVID due to vaccination, previous infection or both. This immunity, combined with the availability of tests and treatments, […]
Analysis: Most District 65 students not ready for next grade level in reading and math
Results on the 2023 Illinois Assessment of Readiness (IAR) show that by one measure, District 65 students may have recovered the learning lost in English Language Arts (ELA) due to […]
Analysis and viewpoint: How much will District 65 save in transportation costs with new school?
School District 65 officials have repeatedly said they will save $3.2 million in transportation expenses each year for 18 years once the new school in the Fifth Ward is opened. […]
Many households in Evanston’s historic Black district are at risk of being displaced by gentrification
Based on income data, half of the households may be at risk.
District 65 projects operating deficits growing to $17.2 million by 2029
School District 65 is projecting that it will operate at a deficit of $2.5 million in fiscal year 2025 (FY’25), and that the deficit will grow to $17.2 million by […]
District 65 committee reviews $171 million tentative budget for 2024
Kathy Zalewski, business manager of Evanston/Skokie School District 65, presented a tentative budget for the district’s fiscal year ending June 30, 2024 (FY’24) at the Aug. 16 meeting of the […]