The Evanston/Skokie School District 65 Board of Education voted 5-1 to terminate Willard Elementary School’s Two-Way Immersion program at the conclusion of the 2025-26 school year during its Monday night meeting.
The district plans to consolidate the TWI strands at Willard and the Dr. Bessie Rhodes School of Global Studies — which will close following this school year — into a double strand at the new Foster School in fall 2026.
The TWI program brings together Spanish-speaking and English-speaking students in classrooms to develop proficiency in both languages.
“It is an incredible opportunity to bring different cultures, different backgrounds, different languages together and learn from one another,” said Willard TWI parent and former Daily staffer Marc Zarefsky (Medill ’07). “It has always been, if not the brightest spot in this district, certainly one of the brightest spots.”
Stacy Beardsley, assistant superintendent of performance management and accountability, said the decision is estimated to save the district between $300,000 to $450,000, as well as roughly $80,000 to $160,000 in transportation costs.
The termination of Willard’s TWI program is part of Phase 3 of District’s 65 Structural Deficit Reduction Plan, which aims to cut $10.9 to $14.85 million from its budget before fiscal year 2030. Throughout the fall, the board narrowed in on four school closure scenarios, and eliminating Willard’s TWI program was included in each option.
Following multiple failed attempts to approve a closure scenario, the district decided to move forward with the Willard TWI closure without a board vote at its Dec. 15 meeting, drawing backlash from some families.
During that meeting, a community member pointed out inconsistencies between board materials and District 65 webpages, prompting a district review “to better understand the TWI program and whether or not the Board ever voted to designate TWI as an approved magnet program,” according to a Jan. 26 memo from Beardsley and Assistant Superintendent of Academics Katie Speth.
The memo outlined “notable gaps in information” in past board memos and minutes, leaving Willard TWI’s status as a magnet program unclear.
Because closing a magnet program legally requires board approval, district administrators ultimately requested the board’s input, resulting in their Monday night vote.
Beardsley cited low building utilization rates and program enrollment numbers as reasons for terminating Willard TWI. Following the closure, seven TWI strands will remain across the district, increasing the average TWI classroom utilization rate to 75% and raising average TWI class sizes to 19, according to a presentation by district administrators.
“We have a foundation to grow on, even when we have seven strands,” Beardsley said.
Board member Maria Opdycke, the lone dissenter, said there wasn’t sufficient information to make an informed decision on the program’s termination. She added the decision could disincentivize people from moving to the district and negatively impact the community’s diversity.
When Opdycke asked administrators for data comparing student outcomes following the closure of one versus two TWI strands, they responded that the district does “not at the moment” have such statistics.
“I think there needed to be more understanding and more forethought before moving a strand like that — that there were other options available to us,” Opdycke said in an interview with The Daily following the board’s vote.
Over 25 community members signed up to speak during public comment on Willard TWI’s closure. Some brought their children to the podium while speaking.
To illustrate TWI’s importance to the Willard community, several parents cited an internal community survey conducted in January.
According to Meg Knapik, a Willard TWI parent and Student Assignment Planning Phase III Committee member, the survey received a 68% response rate from Willard families. It found that 47% of current Willard TWI students would leave the program entirely if Willard’s strand closed, while 97% percent of respondents would stay in the program if TWI remained at Willard.
Zarefsky said his son will be transferring to Foster to continue the TWI program but was elated by the prospect of remaining at Willard.
“His eyes lit up and he said, ‘Wait a minute. You mean there’s a chance that our family could still stay together?’” Zarefsky said.
That chance was eliminated by the board’s decision, which will force Willard TWI parents in the school’s attendance boundaries to choose between sending their children to Foster or completing a return to home school request and forgoing enrollment in the TWI program.
Zarefsky said that he and other parents are not “anti-Foster,” only “pro-TWI.”
Evanston resident Jessica Getch, who is the mother of a 1 year old, said she and her husband recently bought a house in the Willard attendance boundaries because of its TWI program. Getch argued during public comment that the decision would send a message that families like hers “are not welcome in the 6th or 7th wards.”
Getch added that the decision to close the TWI program at Willard and open strands exclusively at Foster “sends an unwelcome message.”
“It implies that Hispanic and Latino families should limit their housing options to the 5th ward,” she said. “This is a life-altering decision for many of us.”
Later in the meeting, the board blitzed through several decisions, unanimously approving a resolution calling on Cook County to pay the district approximately $25 million in undistributed property tax revenue. The board also finalized Crowe LLP as the forensic auditing company that will examine the district’s finances from fiscal years 2021-24.
Additionally, the board unanimously approved the closure of the School Age Child Care Summer Program, a district program where parents pay to send their students to either a half or full day of programming for six weeks during the summer.
By the time the board members concluded their vote on the TWI program, most of the attendees had already left.
“You’re going to regret it,” one attendee said as they stormed out of the room.
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Related Stories:
— ‘This is a tragedy’: Willard TWI families stand at a crossroads after D65 decides to shutter program
— D65 voted to close Kingsley Elementary School. Here’s what parents want moving forward.
