About 200 people attended the forum for District 65 School Board candidates, held on Jan. 12 in the Evanston Township High School auditorium. Black Sonrise, which offers reading and other academic support for Black male students in elementary school, and Kuumba Evanston, whose mission is to “serve families of color that have been marginalized by systemic racism,” sponsored the event.

Kimberley Fair and Christian Sorensen announced over the weekend that they would leave the campaign, and Andrew Wymer was unable to attend the forum, leaving 12 of the field of now 13 candidates on the ETHS auditorium stage.

The purpose of the forum was to allow the candidates to say how they would address the persistent achievement/opportunity gap between white and minority students. The flyer for the forum noted that at District 65, 19% of Black students are reading at grade level, compared to 64% of white students; in math, 12% of Black students, compared to 63% of white students, meet standards on state-mandated tests.

 

Referring to that gap, John Brownlee of Sonrise Evanston said in his introductory remarks, “The house is on fire. …In that spirit, Greg [Taylor, executive director of Kuumba Evanston] and I unapologetically focus on the plight of Black students in District 65.”