Last updated Jan. 22 at 9:05 p.m.

The Evanston/Skokie School District 65 Board of Education unanimously voted to close Kingsley Elementary School after the 2025-26 school year at a special meeting Thursday. 

The meeting immediately followed the last of three public hearings the board is required to hold before voting on any closures, per Illinois School Code.

“This has been a heavy lift for all of us,” Board President Patricia S. Anderson said before the vote. “I am looking forward to getting out into the community from behind my laptop and behind my phone and back into the schools.”

The board’s vote also solidifies new attendance boundaries, which will be implemented following the closures of Kingsley and Dr. Bessie Rhodes School of Global Studies and the opening of Foster School.

The new boundaries impact the “vast majority of schools” in the district, according to Assistant Superintendent of Performance Management and Accountability Stacy Beardsley. During a presentation at the second public hearing, Beardsley said the changes will impact over 800 students in the district. 

For the Haven Middle School feeder pattern, which currently includes Kingsley, Beardsley said the district tried to draw the feeder pattern’s boundaries for next school year based on identified walkability hazards. Some of the schools’ boundaries are made up of large roads, including Green Bay Road and Central Street.

Initial school assignments for the 2026-27 school year will be sent out to families the week of Feb. 2, Beardsley said. Then, families will have until March 1 to accept the assignment, file a permissive transfer request to attend a different school or request to attend their home school.

Exceptions are in place for seventh and eighth graders who want to finish middle school at their current school.

Families who do not wish to move to Foster from their 2025-26 school year assignment and Bessie Rhodes families who would prefer their home school over Foster are also exempt from new boundaries as long as permitted by school and grade level capacities, Beardsley said. 

Communication about transfer requests will be sent to families by April 1, and those who are waitlisted can expect to receive updates on their transfer status until August, Beardsley added. 

Assistant Superintendent of Academics Katie Speth said the district is working with FACE liaisons to help students transition to their new schools, among other social-emotional learning supports. The district’s Individual Education Support and Multilingual teams are also creating specific academic transition plans, Speth said. 

She added that once the school year begins, schools receiving new students will have school spirit swag bags and establish buddy systems with current students. 

“We know that this has been a really rough ride the past eight weeks and we don’t take that lightly,” Superintendent Angel Turner said. “Our goal is to make sure that we’re intentional and thoughtful about ensuring this transition in closing Kingsley is done, and is done with a level of fidelity and it’s done with a level of compassion.”

Emily Dissanayake contributed reporting.

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