Bessie Rhodes families give final plea to keep school open

After three public hearings where families got to speak their minds, the public finally heard from all members of the Evanston/Skokie School District 65 Board of Education on the possible closure of the Dr. Bessie Rhodes School of Global Studies.

Families of the school have pleaded with the board to keep the district’s lone fully bilingual school open, arguing that Spanish-speaking students and their families won’t get equal support without a bilingual staff to rely on. They also point to the diversity of the kindergarten through eighth-grade magnet school where in 2023 over 90% of students identified as a member of a minority group and nearly two-thirds of students were considered low income.

The May 20 meeting was the final chance for families to speak out with a vote on the closure scheduled for June 10, the last board meeting of the school year.

And for the first time in the process, board members also spoke about the proposed closure.

Board Member Omar Salem suggested keeping the school open an extra year to give the board more time to discuss other necessary school closures.

Bessie Rhodes won’t be the only closure, according to Superintendent Angel Turner, who said the process must happen in phases.

“Despite what it may feel like at the moment, Bessie Rhodes is not being singled out,” Turner said. “This is simply the first of several tough decisions that lies ahead as it relates to school consolidation in District 65.”

The full scale of closures has yet to be released by the district.

The closure of Bessie Rhodes was announced to the public earlier this year but the move was already part of discussions as far back as 2022 . Bessie Rhodes is the district’s only school with a full bilingual curriculum — called Two Way Immersion or TWI — where native Spanish speakers learn English alongside native English speakers and vice versa.

Parent Margaret Nash moved to Evanston from Mexico when her daughter was two years old in part because of the program that she believed would help her daughter retain her cultural heritage.

She pointed to the district mission — Every Child, Every Day, Whatever it Takes — and said closing Bessie Rhodes flies in the face of that promise and others made by the district to focus on equity and inclusion.

Families say having the school is crucial for Spanish-speaking families who would struggle to communicate their children’s needs at other schools and provide their children with skills that wouldn’t be matched even in dual-language programs at other D65 schools.

Board President Sergio Hernandez, the board’s first Latino president, said during the May 6 public hearing that in order to bring the dream of dual language to the whole district, decisions such as the one before them now have to be made.

Conversations around other school closures have yet to happen, with Board Member Joseph Hailpern arguing these plans need to be done as soon as possible so parents and families aren’t kept in the dark.

“We have two years before the building closes. We have to do something over the next two years actively to care for members of our community,” Hailpern said. “If it doesn’t make sense to people, we need to communicate it a different way. Communication is a message received, not just sent.”

Salem’s suggestion to keep the school open for the 2026-27 school year was met with roaring applause from a full room of attending families. He said he is okay with voting for the building closure but argued there needs to be a more comprehensive plan in place before the building is closed.

“Opening a 5th Ward school without closing at least two schools is not wise,” Salem said.

The district currently runs 18 schools across Evanston and Skokie with the new 5th Ward school set to open for the 2026-2027 school year. Turner has stated the district is not equipped to handle that many schools, especially with declining enrollment and a looming $7 million budget deficit.

Plans originally called for Bessie Rhodes students and programs to move to the new 5th Ward school but after budget and spacing constraints, the plan was abandoned.

Parent Zaya DeNardo asked to delay the decision due to the unknowns surrounding the district’s future. Her husband Chris argued the conversation had echoes of those held decades ago surrounding the closure of Foster School in the city’s 5th Ward to desegregate the district. He explained while both boards had good intentions, their actions created consequences far beyond what was expected and led to current attempts to reverse them with the building of the new school.

Others asked the board if the three public hearings held on the issue were simply a formality to a foregone conclusion.

“Please find money elsewhere,” said Bessie Rhodes parent Jen Hyland. “You cannot take money from a proudly diverse school and at the same time say that you’re looking to build diversity, equity and inclusion across the district.”

Despite parent concerns, Board Vice President Soo La Kim said she doesn’t believe the students will be irreparably harmed by the transition but was met with jeers from the crowd. She explained Bessie Rhodes isn’t a lone school but is part of the whole of District 65.

“There is still a lot of work to be done,” Kim said. “We need to build capacity at all of our schools for dual language … I think community is people, not buildings.”

Change might be scary, according to Board Member Mya Wilkins, but it is necessary.

“If I thought that the only way for Bessie Rhodes students to have a place where they feel a sense of belonging, where they will have a multicultural environment, where they would get an education that they deserve, was to keep the building open, I would be making very different decisions today,” Wilkins said. “I won’t even ask you to have faith or have trust in us because I know that is hard. But I will tell you even if you don’t, I will do everything possible to see that happens.”