The Evanston/Skokie School District 65 Board of Education voted 5-2 Monday to eliminate two school counselor positions across Haven and Nichols Middle Schools. The decision scales back an earlier plan to cut all nine middle school counselor positions after harsh criticism from dozens of community members.

District 65 currently employs nine counselors across Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Literary and Fine Arts School and Haven, Nichols and Chute Middle Schools. On Thursday, all were informed their positions would be eliminated in an attempt to cut costs, according to Tiffany Taylor, the district’s executive chief of human resources.

The board’s Monday vote partially reversed that decision, leaving seven counselors in place, with one at King Arts and two each at Haven, Nichols and Chute. 

Board members will next consider alternative funding sources to fulfill Phase 3 of the district’s Structural Deficit Reduction Plan, which now aims to cut $16 million to $18 million from the district’s budget by fiscal year 2030.

Chief Financial Officer Tamara Mitchell said the district needs to cut $6.3 million to reach a balanced budget and 90 days cash-on-hand for fiscal year 2027. Simultaneously, the district will transfer $1 million to cover the construction of Foster School and allocate $2.7 million for capital improvements.

Mitchell added that the district plans to sell the property of Dr. Bessie Rhodes School of Global Studies, which will close at the end of this school year. The sale is projected to generate $4 million to fund construction at Foster.

The vote to eliminate just two counselor positions instead of all nine leaves the district about $1 million short of necessary cuts for fiscal year 2027. Tensions flared as board members scrutinized previous decisions and evaluated potential cost-cutting measures.

Community members slam proposed counselor layoffs during public hearing

The board meeting began with a public hearing for community members to share input on the proposed reduction in force, pursuant to Illinois School Code, occurring just days before the District 65 Educators’ Council’s deadline to notify educators of changes to their employment status.

During the hearing, board members heard from counselors, social workers, teachers, parents and District 65 students. 

“School counselors are not an extra presence. They are not a luxury,” Haven counselor Jacob DeLay said. “They are a steady presence in the lives of students navigating mental health and academic challenges, relationships, identity and planning for their future.”

DeLay said counselors bring “humanization to data points” by meeting with students twice annually and learning more about their personalities and goals.

Carla Stone, a teacher who has worked in District 65 for 26 years, began by thanking the “beautiful board” and highlighting past decisions she said have benefited students and teachers.

“One such initiative was hiring these counselors shortly post-COVID,” Stone said. “Thank you. I have been praising you ever since because since you have hired these counselors, I can do my job.” 

Stone recalled a time before counselors were hired in District 65 schools, emphasizing how difficult it was to deliver instruction while neutralizing the “emotional grenades” that commonly arise in middle school classrooms. 

Stone pointed to the number of students who spoke during the hearing as proof that “counselors save lives.” Evanston Township High School freshman Mae Reichel said her counselor at Nichols helped her through some of her life’s “most challenging moments.”

“With all due respect, it has been a long time since you all have had to walk the halls of a middle school and feel misunderstood or alone or uncertain, and when I felt that way, I knew where to go,” Reichel said to the board. “Please make the right decision, and put the students first.”

Haven social worker Mahalia Sobhani said eliminating counselor positions would burden other employees, explaining that social workers are often unavailable to respond to classroom needs because they must attend meetings related to individualized education programs and 504 plans.

Sobhani added that Haven distributes a form for students to request social and emotional learning support each school year. As of April 11, sixth graders at Haven had submitted 432 requests, more than 70% of which specifically requested the school counselor, Sobhani said.

“What is the board’s solution for meeting this manpower gap without counselors?” Sobhani asked board members. “Did anyone consult my administrators or my department leads before deciding to double my workload?” 

Board members clash while searching for alternative funding cuts

According to a presentation from Mitchell and Taylor, the district plans to eliminate about 50 total positions before next fiscal year. Beyond personnel, the district also aims to cut more than $2 million by reducing costs associated with out-of-district transportation and tuition, its crossing guard budget and technology, among other areas.

As the board began its discussion of Phase 3 of the SDRP, board member Andrew Wymer said he “did see this coming,” attributing the need for staffing changes that will directly affect students to the board’s refusal to follow administrative recommendations.

In December, Wymer joined board members Sergio Hernandez and Mya Wilkins in voting to close Lincolnwood Elementary School in addition to Kingsley Elementary School following the conclusion of this school year. The vote failed 3-3.

“I absolutely do not want to get rid of school counselors,” Wymer said. “We wouldn’t have had to if we had followed the formal recommendations of SDRP (Phase) 3.”

But board member Maria Opdycke criticized that characterization, arguing that framing the board’s debate as one between closing Lincolnwood and eliminating counselor positions was a “false choice.” The school’s potential closure is slated to be reconsidered by the board in October, pending evaluations of the district’s financial status and K-5 building utilization rate.

Opdycke also pointed to other controversial district expenditures, including on transportation and iPads.

“Continuing to go back and say, ‘I made the decision, and you guys didn’t, and now we’re in this situation,’ is just a destruction of our ability as a board to come together and have a holistic situation and have a holistic decision,” Opdycke said. 

Board member Chris Van Nostrand, who took office in February, requested the board collectively revisit “all of the cost-cutting ideas that have come up over the last 12 months.” Board member Nichole Pinkard, however, said the board must immediately decide whether to cut counselor positions and find an alternative funding source if necessary. 

Opdycke and Van Nostrand both criticized the proposal to eliminate any counselor positions. Opdycke said she first heard about the budget cuts just days before Monday’s meeting and added that she was still unsure of the counselors’ job descriptions.

Later, the board members zeroed in on student-to-counselor ratios and heard from Jessica Plaza, the district’s director of student supports and services. She spoke to the experience of Chute’s two counselors, explaining that they are each currently forced to serve one grade level and split another, which “makes it difficult to be able to provide real-time intervention and support.”

“They’re not as able to see kids as often and as regularly. They’re more often called into crisis situations and having to be more reactive than proactive,” Plaza said, predicting Nichols and Haven would experience similar challenges if positions are eliminated. 

Still, Board President Patricia S. Anderson informally polled board members about retaining at least two counselors at each middle school and one at King Arts. The resolution garnered support from all members except Opdycke and Van Nostrand. 

While leaving the room, Stone praised board members for scaling back the layoffs.

“This is why I said you were beautiful,” she said.

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