The District 65 Board of Education informally agreed Monday night to include a multi-purpose room in the yet-to-be-built 5th Ward School, pushing the price tag from what had been $46.3 million to $48.4 million.
While that’s still above the originally promised $40 million cost for a much larger facility, it remains far below the sticker shock of $65 million, where a $25 million cost overrun forced the board to shrink the building from K-8 down to K-5 to save money.
The new school is now supposed to open in the fall of 2026, two years behind the original plan.
While the board was unanimous on adding the 4,000 square-foot multipurpose room, there was debate.
Omar Salem, who was not on the board when it first approved the new school in 2022, said “we need to watch every dollar. We can’t keep having $2 million here and $2 million there.”
However, board member Soo La Kim said the multi-purpose room, which could house a variety of activities and programs from childcare to full-school assemblies, would be worth it in the long run. The room could also be turned into classes if enrollment grows in the future.
“$2 million for that additional flexibility and peace of mind for the community,” Kim said, “I’m willing to do that.”
Interim Superintendent Angela Turner said there is a contingency allowance in the new school’s budget, so it’s at least possible that the total price tag might end up lower.
But Turner added that she’s been telling the architects not to go any higher.
“The price is the price,” she said.
Unless, of course, it’s not.
The school board’s attorney was asked if by adding the multipurpose room, District 65 would then have to go back through the rezoning process with the City of Evanston, which could add more time and therefore more expense.
The answer – probably not. But, said the lawyer, “I’ll reach out” to city administrators to make sure.
The school board’s agreement on the multipurpose room was simply an unofficial consensus. A final vote is scheduled for Jan. 22.
But while there was consensus on adding the new room, the board was divided on what to do about the future of the Bessie Rhodes Global Studies magnet school, with its bilingual English/Spanish Two Way Immersion (TWI) curriculum.
The entire Rhodes K-8 program was originally supposed to move to the 5th Ward, as a “school within a school.”
But that died when the 5th Ward School was downsized to K-5.
Rhodes parents have been lobbying to keep the entire K-8 TWI program intact and in a single building, even if it’s not the current Rhodes facility, which the board plans to close and sell.
One of those parents, Brandon Utter, urged the board to “keep your promise” to the Rhodes community by having their school’s program in one place.
Another parent noted that 80% of surveyed Rhodes families “want a dedicated K-8 TWI school. The location is secondary.”
However, it’s still unclear what will happen when.
The administration presented the board with two options:
Option “A”: K-5 students at Rhodes are assigned to the new 5th Ward School, which would have TWI programming. Rhodes’ 6th-8th graders would attend Haven Middle School (as would other 5th Ward students), which would provide them with TWI. The Rhodes building would close in 2026-27, when the new 5th Ward School opens.
Four board members indicated they’d vote for this when it comes up for an official decision.
Option “B”: Wait and see if Rhodes can be moved intact to another school building, once the upcoming consolidation/downsizing of the district’s 18 school buildings takes place.
Three board members leaned that way.
Board member Biz Lindsay-Ryan, who favored Option “A,” said that as painful as this whole process has been for Rhodes students and families, under option “A,” Rhodes would not close until the start of academic 2026-27. That means nearly all current Rhodes students would still be in their current building until that time and not impacted by their school closing.
It won’t be an issue down the road, she indicated, because “there will be no Bessie Rhodes kids ten years from now.”
But board member Joey Hailpern, who favored Option “B,” said the Rhodes program is still in its infancy — just a few years old.
Hailpern said he favored expanding the bilingual TWI program district-wide, and not just at Haven for the former Bessie Rhodes kids, assuming that’s how this all turns out.
“It seems this will end up like what District 65 always does,” Hailpern said.
“We’re just going to half-ass it.”
Glad they are so eager to spend another 2 million of taxpayer dollars. These people just don’t get it.
Option “c” — don’t construct an incremental, multi-million-dollar school in a district with a declining enrollment.
Aren’t most of these board members the same folks who brought us the Horton situation? Not exactly fiscally savvy or accountable.
Does any of this surprise anyone? It doesn’t seem that there was a strategic thought process in the beginning or at this stage when a thorough assessment needs to be made of what District 65’s direction and capacity should be on a longer term basis. Let’s add educational product to the review.
How does this all add up. D65 facilities dramatically under capacity. Past enrollment down and future enrollment forecasted to decline. ETHS complains a significant number of D65 students aren’t ready for high school work. Expenditures seem to be out of control. Answer: Let’s build a new school. Where are the t-shirts, yard signs and protests?
Shame on Biz Lindsay-Ryan. K-8 Two-Way Immersion is the best thing District 65 has going for it. Why dismantle this successful program that draws families into the school system?
The lack of the boards ability to set a budget or plan for project of this magnitude is not just astounding it’s financially irresponsible. The residents of Evanston can’t afford a School Board and Evanston City Council who engage in uncapped multi million dollar projects which are 1/2 baked.
I am shocked but not surprised that the board didn’t have the foresight to put a multipurpose room in the original plan. The fact that this was not well planned from the beginning keeps becoming more and more evident. Shouldn’t the mission of putting a school back in the 5th ward have made a multi purpose room critical? How are they just thinking of this now??!!