Evanston/Skokie D65 board votes to close Bessie Rhodes school in 2026

Evanston/Skokie School District 65 board members voted June 10 to close Dr. Bessie Rhodes School of Global Studies to cut costs and minimize the number of schools under its purview. A 5-2 vote sealed the fate of the Dr. Bessie Rhodes School of Global Studies Monday night after the Evanston/Skokie School District 65 Board of Education voted to close the district’s lone fully bilingual school.

The school, a kindergarten through eighth grade magnet school, is operated by a bilingual staff and saw native English- and native Spanish-speaking students taught side by side in both languages. Those looking toargued Spanish-speaking families wouldn’t be served by other schools in the same way they are at Bessie Rhodes. They also argued that closing the only fully bilingual school in the district isn’t the best look for an already struggling school district.

Board Members Donna Wang Su and Omar Salem voted against the closure, stating they wanted to see future plans for Bessie Rhodes students further fleshed out and discussions of possibly including another kindergarten through eighth grade Two Way Immersion school outlined directly in the district’s future planning. Salem argued if a fully-bilingual school is wanted by families as opposed to having programs housed at other schools in the district, it should be considered.

Superintendent Angel Turner stated at previous public hearings on the matter that the district is not financially able to support 19 schools once the new 5th Ward School is completed for the 2026 school year. With the cost of the new school, along with aOriginal plans for the 5th Ward School included moving Bessie Rhodes students and programming to the new building in a school within a school model, but as costs increased and the building needed shrinking, this aspect was dropped.

She couldn’t say whether legal action would be taken in response to the vote but did thank Wang Su and Salem. “‘I couldn’t understand what was happening because I was so sure I was going to go to school with Mona and Guinevere and Wanda,'” Jackson read. “What she has experienced is exactly what the students at Bessie Rhodes are getting ready to experience.”

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