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.  

When District 65 asked community members to volunteer for three SDRP subcommittees, Haven Middle School and Lincolnwood Elementary School parent Esteban J. Quiñones thought his work in development economics at the International Initiative for Impact Evaluation was too pressing to participate in local advocacy.

That was until the district administration released its scorecards and scenarios. The more he studied the district’s underlying data, the more questions he had, he said.

His digging pushed him to voice his concerns about the district’s data at the District 65 board meeting on Oct. 14. After his comments, he was approached by Washington parent and epidemiologist Kelly McCabe. 

“I just kind of blindly trusted that the district was making good decisions and using good data for those decisions,” McCabe said. “It wasn’t until it became quite clear that I did not feel that way anymore that (I jumped) in.”

She told Quiñones she shared his concerns, and from then on, she became part of the Legion of Data Nerds. Sporting black shirts to represent neutrality and highlight the “black box” obscuring how the district sourced its data, the group has spoken at the last two board meetings.

The district’s data tables were published as PDFs, and it was clear that work had been done “behind the scenes” to produce the scorecards, data scientist and fellow “Nerd” Lauren McNamara said. McCabe added that the subcommittees did not represent groups like the Two-Way Immersion community, and Quiñones said the data weighted concerns with facilities too heavily while discounting educational outcomes in the classroom.

The group has sent four letters to the board and administration outlining its concerns, and on Nov. 12, it published a memo proposing financial alternatives to closing schools. Although he is “cautiously optimistic” ahead of Monday’s meeting, Quiñones said he plans to continue helping in the long term.

“It’s very energizing to be amongst all of these different groups of people that care really deeply and also have such brilliant ideas,” McCabe said. “I feel like Evanston is rich in so many ways and has so many opportunities to build on what has already begun.”

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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