School District 202 board members will discuss possible changes to the evening high school program at Evanston Township High School at tonight’s meeting.
Superintendent Allan Alson will present his proposal for improving the evening school to better meet students’ individual needs. The evening school is designed for students unable to attend classes during the day because of jobs, children or other constraints.
The $500,000 proposal suggests building a teenage parent child-care center at the school, providing funding for additional staff and more resources for bilingual students. It also would change the evening school schedule to give students a chance to take classes during the day. Under the proposal, evening school classes would begin at 1 p.m. instead of 4 p.m., when regular ETHS classes are not in session.
“It’s a very ambitious proposal,” board member Jane Colleton said. “A lot of hard work went into it and there are a lot of good ideas.”
Colleton said administrators wanted to remove stigmas associated with the program.
“The evening school has been considered a dumping ground for students who’ve had severe attendance issues or who need to work during the day, ” Colleton said. “It’s when (students) failed to make the adjustment to day school. With so many issues going on, it’s hard to make (evening school) a real school.”
The school board also will vote on whether to add technology at ETHS that would allow the school to have live cable television broadcasts. The technology would be used to broadcast school board meetings and other ETHS events live instead of taping and replaying them throughout the week.
Colleton said live broadcasts of school board meetings would increase participation from Evanston residents. If people want to respond to something they hear on the broadcast, they can go to the meeting while it is still going on, she said.
Colleton also said ETHS policy should be aligned with that of Evanston/Skokie School District 65, which currently broadcasts its school board meetings live.
The school board meeting will be held tonight at 7:30 p.m. at ETHS, 1600 Dodge Ave.
