By Danny YadronThe Daily Northwestern
Candidates for the District 65 and District 202 school boards discussed their plans for the future of Evanston public schools Wednesday night.
About 100 delegates from 10 attendance areas filled a conference room at Evanston Township High School, 1600 Dodge Ave. District 65 includes 10 elementary schools.
Delegates quizzed two District 65 candidates, two District 202 candidates and one candidate running for both districts. Each candidate was given two minutes for an introduction, followed by a 20 minute question-and-answer session.
Delegates asked candidates how they planned to deal with achievement gaps within racial and economic groups.
Black community members care more about the level of education for their children than racial balance in elementary schools, said Andrew Pigozzi, a candidate for the District 65 school board. Adrian Dortch, who is running for both districts, said students who cannot afford to attend college should be taught entrepreneurial skills, to give low-income students a better chance to succeed after high school.
Delegates also asked candidates how to improve ETHS’s Adequate Yearly Progress in test scores under the federal No Child Left Behind Act. Omar Khuri, a candidate for District 202, said there was no one answer, but working with students before high school would help.
While the discussion of racial issues caused audience members to become animated and interrupt candidates with applause, one candidate made an effort to focus on a much drier subject: the budget. Boris Furman, a candidate for District 202, said the incumbent board members are ignoring the high school’s budgetary concerns.
“I see myself as filling a hole in the board,” Furman said. “You have six women, one man, only one of them has a child in the high school and no one is worrying about numbers.”
Furman was a member of the District 202 school board from 1995 to 1999 but was not reelected. Furman attributed his loss to his stance against what he considered excessive salary increases for teachers. This position cost him an endorsement from the teachers union, he said.
“It would be nice if teachers made more than lawyers but the district can’t afford it,” he said.
District 65 candidate Katie Bailey also discussed financial issues in her forum session with delegates. She discussed what the district could do with projected surpluses for the next two fiscal years. The funds can go toward drama in kindergarten through sixth grade and reinstating sixth-grade language courses, she said.
The night concluded with delegates voting via secret ballot on whether they felt the candidates were fit to run for a school board position.
The Candidate Nomination Committee will make endorsements after its second forum on March 7, also at ETHS. The forum will feature five other candidates.
“I think it’s a strong field. There’s a really deep base of knowledge,” said Jan Ashton, co-president of the Parent-Teacher Association for Willard Elementary School. “There were a lot of Evanston natives. They’ve been through the system and understand the nuances.”
Reach Danny Yadron at [email protected].
