This story is part of a series on the perspectives of parent groups and school communities leading up to Evanston/Skokie School District 65’s school closure decision. Other stories in the series can be read here.  

Jason Orloff, a Nichols Middle School parent and member of the Structural Deficit Reduction Plan’s Finance Committee, said he doesn’t know “what the school closure is about.” 

According to Orloff, there is more room for cost reductions in staffing and administration before buildings need to be closed. The district should reassess how it allocates resources and identify what changed during the pandemic years, he said.

In particular, Orloff said he was disturbed by the “bloat in administration.” Although student enrollment has declined by around 25% since 2018, the total number of full-time employees in the district has risen, according to data from the Illinois State Board of Education.

Orloff said he has not seen a concerted effort to reduce staffing or other expenses he views as unnecessary. He also questioned the motive for pursuing school closures in the first place. 

“It wasn’t ‘what could we do?’” Orloff said. “It was ‘which two are we going to close, and how do we adjust?’” 

Charles Dan, another SDRP Finance Committee member and District 65 parent, said he wants to challenge the board to see whether funding is spent prudently. 

“District 65 has among the highest budget per student out of any other school district in the area,” Dan said. “There are plenty of resources already available to do everything we could possibly want for the students in D65 and have one of the best school districts in the country.”

In an Oct. 10 letter to the District 65 Board of Education, members of the Finance Committee wrote that the school-closure scenarios presented to the board did not reflect their input and were based on incomplete data. 

“Evanston’s brand has been spectacular for education,” Orloff said “Dr. Horton’s administration destroyed that. But all we have to do is turn it back on.” 

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Related Stories:

— Absent Salem and Opdycke, District 65 board narrows to final 2 school closure scenarios

— District 65 flips to two school closures after public pushback, new financial projections

— ‘One shot to get this right’: D65 board mulls over school closure scenarios