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Good Tuesday morning, Evanston.
A student at Chute Middle School brought a loaded gun into the building Monday morning, according to Evanston police. An EPD statement said the student, a 13-year-old boy, was showing the weapon to other students, one of whom told school officials, who “recovered the loaded handgun without incident.” The school briefly went into a “soft lockdown,” but EPD and District 65 said there were no indications of ongoing safety concerns. The police investigation is continuing.
Standardized test scores in math for both Evanston eighth graders and juniors at Evanston Township High School have shown some concerning declines since the pandemic hit in 2020, according to a report presented Monday to the ETHS board. The trend will have “a long-term impact on math instruction at the high school,” said Assistant Superintendent Pete Bavis.
Long before the new Advanced Placement African American Studies course erupted into a national controversy, ETHS history teacher Kamasi Hill was helping decide the AP course’s curriculum. Hill, who is teaching the course to eight students in a pilot program, told the school board that recently publicized curriculum changes will not prohibit students writing about “queer history, queer theory, intersectionality, Black Lives Matter, all the things that have been talked about as excluded.”
COVID-19 by the numbers: Five new cases and no new deaths were reported Sunday, Feb. 5, the last day the city updated totals. The seven-day average is 8 cases per day.
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More than 40 people gathered at Second Baptist Church on Monday to discuss police conduct in the wake of the Tyre Nichols case. “It’s unfortunate in 2023 we’re still having these conversations,” said Police Chief Schenita Stewart. “But I’m hoping these conversations help us get better as a community.”
Tag’s Bakery, 2010 Central St., reopened this morning after renovations. Tag’s has been a mainstay on Central since 1937. Don and Jan Vetter bought the bakery from the Gorham family in 1968. Current owner Gretchen Vetter said the redo already got a key thumbs-up: Her 90-year-old mother loved the front room’s new look.
Dear Gabby: From therapist boundaries to chatty friends to assisted suicide, this week advice columnist Gabby’s mailbox is filled with a variety of thorny topics. But she’s always one to focus more on the roses than the thorns.
Attorney Nyika Strickland, the current chair of Evanston’s Citizen Police Review Commission, has served on the panel since it began in 2020. But her term is expiring and the commission will be selecting a new chair in March. Meanwhile, the commission discussed de-escalation policies at its Feb. 1 meeting.
Finding a new executive library director is harder than looking up 020.23, the Dewey Decimal number for “librarian.” Evanston Public Library doesn’t want just the usual off-the-shelf model. A survey helped define what EPL seeks in its next leader.
In a guest essay, Shelley Gates shares college and career readiness thoughts. Post-high school planning can be confusing, so she urges young people to develop short-term “for now” directions rather than definitive, overwhelming life goals.
An open letter: “I’d like to ask that you stand up and demand more from my alma mater than the $5 million each year they’re offering. That is a drop in the bucket to NU,” writes Sixth Ward resident Rob Mark in a message to Seventh Ward City Council Member Eleanor Revell.
Evanston Township High School’s girls bowling team rolled to third place at the Resurrection Regional tournament, easily good enough to qualify for this coming Saturday’s sectional contest.
The Music Institute of Chicago is spotlighting classical music by Latin-American composers with the return of the Reverón Piano Trio on Feb. 17.
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Around the web
Evanston’s E2 is latest large apartment building to hit market. E2, the third large Evanston multifamily property up for sale recently, could fetch $158 million.
A new light on wellness: Students use white light therapy and other methods to alleviate seasonal depression symptoms. NU offers students free white light therapy in the Henry Crown Sports Pavilion’s Wellness Suite.
Jewish and Israel Studies Prof. Scott Abramson aims to represent both sides of Israel-Palestine conflict in new course. “I think anyone who dares to teach this subject treads in a minefield,” said Abramson, who is leaving in August.
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