If the Evanston/Skokie School District 65 Board of Education can fill its vacant seat in December, it will vote to move forward on school closures that could be in effect before the 2026-27 school year, Board President Patricia S. Anderson and Board Vice President Nichole Pinkard wrote in a Wednesday email to families.
If the seventh board member is appointed in January, however, the board will not take action to close schools before next school year, Anderson and Pinkard wrote.
The board has had six members since the resignation of former board member Omar Salem, effective Nov. 4. In a letter published in the Evanston RoundTable, Salem announced he was resigning due to a “unique opportunity” that requires his family to leave the city for several months.
When vacancies occur, boards of education have 60 days from the official resignation date to vote to appoint a new member, per Illinois School Code. For District 65, the deadline to do so is Jan. 3.
If the board fails to reach a consensus, the district’s liaison with the Illinois State Board of Education has the authority to appoint a board member within 30 days — by Feb. 2 for District 65 — according to Illinois School Code. If this happens, the board will go about three months as a six-member body.
Since Salem’s resignation, the board has held two votes on its final four school closure scenarios without reaching a consensus on which schools to close alongside Dr. Bessie Rhodes School of Global Studies before the 2026-27 school year. The closures would be part of the district’s cost-cutting measures to reach financial sustainability through its Structural Deficit Reduction Plan.
Board members must decide on closures to occur before the 2026-27 school year before Dec. 19 — when the district begins Winter Recess — to allow school administrators enough time to implement the closures, Stacy Beardsley, assistant superintendent of performance management and accountability, said at the board’s Nov. 20 special meeting.
Twenty-eight candidates applied for the vacant seat in November, according to reporting by Evanston Now. The board has scheduled closed-door sessions to deliberate over candidates on Dec. 2, 4 and 9.
Anderson and Pinkard did not respond to a request for further comment on the board’s selection process.
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