Editor’s Note: This story is part of a series of exit interviews for District 65 board members.

Five-year Evanston/Skokie District 65 Board of Education member Soo La Kim is not running for reelection. 

Kim was appointed to the board in 2020 when a seat was vacated. She has spent her career working in education and currently serves as an assistant dean of graduate programs at Northwestern. 

Kim advised board candidates to commit to the importance of public education. 

“Public schools are really important, and they are under threat and underfunded,” she said. 

“I hope that the incoming board members are truly committed to public education as a public good and not just as consumers demanding to speak to their managers.”

Kim spoke with The Daily about major decisions she helped make while on the board.  

This interview has been lightly edited and condensed for clarity.

The Daily: What went into your decision not to run for another term?

Kim: I have two teenagers, one of whom is a junior in high school, so, thinking about their college process and stuff, I think that’s gonna be my focus.

And then, five years is a long time to serve on the board, so I would like to get some of my time back and do other things.

The Daily: What are you most proud of accomplishing in your five years on the board?

Kim: I’m proud of the 5th Ward school, the Foster School. Some of my other board colleagues and I ran on the platform of returning a school to the 5th Ward, to right this historical wrong, to return a neighborhood school to the only ward in Evanston that did not have one.

I’m also proud of the changes in our curriculum to make it more responsive to student needs, and that goes for overhauling the literacy and social studies curriculums.

The Daily: Is there anything you wish you had done more of in your time as a board member?

Kim: We should have asked more questions.

People are talking about accountability and transparency. I think we were as transparent as we could be for many of these issues.

We did ask questions about the budget, about administrative positions. We could have been more demanding of some answers.

The Daily: When you ran for the board, you said finding pathways to open a 5th Ward school was a priority. When construction costs were $25 million over what was expected, you helped make the decision to build a K-5 school instead of a K-8 one. Even though you won’t be on the board, what is your vision for the school about a year and a half out from its opening?

Kim: A vibrant neighborhood space for students and families.

There will be Two-Way Immersion strands there, K-5, so not the full K-8 that was originally planned for, and I know that’s been a deep disappointment for some families.

My kids went to a neighborhood school that we lived across the street from. We use their playgrounds. My kids use that space a lot. We can’t overestimate the value of having a school that your kids are connected to in a way that you can’t be if you’re bused across town.

The Daily: You also cited addressing the district’s structural deficit as an important part of your term. The district’s Structural Deficit Reduction Plan aims to center student experiences, something you also deemed a priority. Is there anything you would change about the SDRP or want to see evolve as Phase 3 of the plan begins?

Kim: We’re trying this school-based model of support, removing a lot of centralized positions and returning some agency to the school teams to allocate resources where they’re needed, so not everyone’s going to get the same thing.

We’ve had a lot of turnover among principals, and I hope that there can be some stability among school leadership so that they can implement this faithfully.

The Daily: When voting to begin the process to potentially close Dr. Bessie Rhodes School of Global Studies, you voted in favor. What went into your decision? Is there anything you would do differently?

Kim: There are a couple of different factors that went into our deliberations, (like) the fact that a large percentage of Bessie Rhodes families lived in the 5th Ward. Bessie Rhodes is also very close to Walker Elementary School — one is a magnet school, the other is a neighborhood school. 

We could have engaged the Bessie Rhodes community a little earlier and let them know our thinking process more clearly as we had to make these adjustments. There were communication missteps that we could have handled better.

The Daily: What advice do you have for the candidates running to be District 65’s next board members?

Kim: We’re entering into uncharted political waters on the national level that are highly concerning, and they will have effects at the local level for public institutions of all kinds.

In this time, we have to be very clear about our values. How do we get clear on our values so we can, no matter what we’re forced to change, continue to serve our most vulnerable students and continue to stay an inclusive school system?

Email: anaviprakash2027@u.northwestern.edu 

X: @anavi_52

Related Stories:

— Q&A: D65 board member Biz Lindsay-Ryan reflects on 6-year tenure 

— Q&A: D65 board member Joey Hailpern talks tenure, vision for district 

— Q&A: D202 board member Gretchen Livingston reflects on tenure, future of ETHS