The Evanston Township High School District 202 Board of Education discussed its Year in Review report and new mental health care tools at its meeting Tuesday night.

The board also discussed the district’s School Report Card, and tax levy memorandum — which includes a 6.2% increase and is planned to be adopted at the board’s Dec. 9 meeting. 

Carrie Levy, Evanston Township High School director of research, evaluation and assessment, presented the Opening of School and Year in Review reports, focusing on data collected during this and last school year, respectively. 

Student enrollment for the 2024-25 school year is 3,570 students, a decrease of 23 students compared to last school year.

Sixty-five students are enrolled in the school’s Multilingual Services program courses this year, an increase from 54 students last year. 

Board member Gretchen Livingston said that in her 15 years on the school board, the percentage of Hispanic or Latine students in the district has steadily increased. This school year, 20.8% of the student body identifies as Hispanic or Latine, an increase from 20.2% last year.

However, Livingston pointed out that according to the district’s April student well-being survey, 11% of Hispanic or Latine students said they don’t feel they belong at ETHS, the highest disagreement level out of all racial groups. Fifty-five percent of Hispanic or Latine students agree that they belong at the school and 33% feel neutral. 

Student representative Rachel Durango-Cohen, who identifies as Hispanic, said many district efforts to increase student belonging target the student body as a whole, instead of specific sub-groups.

“There’s fewer opportunities for Hispanic students to have those safe spaces or safe conversations,” Durango-Cohen said. “I know there’s a lot of places for other students of color to find those places, but not necessarily Hispanic-specific spaces. And I know at least I would go to that.” 

Out of the entire student body, 63% percent of students feel like they belong at school, an increase from 56% feeling this way last year. Sixty-seven percent of students feel capable and confident as students at ETHS. 

To expand its mental health support offerings, District 202 will begin using ReferralGPS starting Nov. 18. The organization helps people find tailored mental health care, according to ReferralGPS founder, Amit Thaker. 

District 202 Superintendent Marcus Campbel said the program is a “game changer” and will help provide mental health care to all ETHS students.

ReferalGPS partners with over 90 organizations in the Chicago area to connect people with treatments. It currently serves all Lake County schools. 

At ETHS, Thaker said families can either reach out to Student Services, which will then connect families to ReferralGPS resources, or access the ReferralGPS database on their own. 

If families want help finding appointments, they can use the platform’s Care Navigation tool, where families speak to ReferralGPS staff members who conduct a “deliberate triage into health care,” he said.

Thaker said the organization’s staff speak with parents for 50 to 60 minutes at a time that they pick and conduct a care assessment. He added that staff members then call families back with potential appointments with mental health professionals, based on the family’s availability. 

Thaker emphasized that language is not a barrier to using ReferralGPS services, as it has a multilingual staff and translators available. He said the organization also tries to find mental health care providers who speak the same language as the family. 

If parents begin using Care Navigation on their own, they can choose how often to loop school staff in, Thaker said. He said if the parent goes through the school to access services, however, Student Services will automatically be updated as the family navigates care. 

“What we’re trying to do is meet the parent where they’re at because some of them don’t want to talk right away,” Thaker said. “But once they realize that this is completely separate from the school district, the amount of information that we can gather in a one hour conversation is amazing.”

Campbell said the district has established a fund to support families who need these resources but don’t have the financial means to access them on their own. 

Campbell also emphasized the importance of using the district’s data about its students to improve the resources students have access to. He said the district plans to conduct focus groups based on the results of its student well-being survey this school year. 

“Getting underneath the numbers and really figuring out what’s happening there is something that is definitely on the agenda,” Campbell said. 

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