Board approves Foster School easement, names founding principal as community presses for ACC program

The Evanston Skokie School District 65 Board of Education voted 7–0 on May 19 to approve an easement with Family Focus to expand Foster School’s play area and to authorize a contract naming Charlize Burkell (spelled in the board motion) as the founding principal of Foster School, effective July 1, 2026.

Superintendent Dr. Turner described the easement as part of a plan to “create a unified campus across the 3 organizations” and said the project includes drainage piping, a field track and field lights to extend the playground area. The board’s motion to approve the easement passed unanimously, and the board subsequently approved the principal’s contract by the same margin.

“The renewed Foster School will bring students from across our community together, empowering a new generation of learners and preparing them to engage with our diverse world,” Charlize Burkell said after the vote, addressing the room as the appointed planning principal. The district said Burkell will serve in a dual role—continuing at Betsy Rhodes while preparing Foster for its fall 2026 opening.

Public comment that followed focused heavily on programing at the reopened school and the ongoing effects of Bessie Rhodes’ planned closure. Multiple speakers urged the board to establish a strong ACC (African-centered Curriculum) program at Foster and to ensure bilingual outreach and supports for families displaced by school consolidations.

Dr. Brandy Otis, an ACC parent-committee founder and Northwestern postdoctoral researcher in Black studies, told the board, “Reopening foster with a strong ACC program is not just a decision. It is a declaration that we love our black children and we're ready to give them what they've always been owed.” Several parents and community members echoed requests for bilingual engagement events, preservation of Bessie Rhodes teacher placements where possible, and assurances that cohort groups and sibling placement options would be honored where feasible.

Bessie Rhodes parents said the closure process has left families uncertain about options for middle-school placement and transfer processes. A PTA survey presented by Melissa Rosenzweig said many families were unaware that Bessie Rhodes is slated to close at the end of the 2025–26 school year and urged the district to continue in-person outreach with translation and childcare supports.

Board members and the superintendent did not take additional votes on ACC or program placement at the May 19 meeting. The board’s approvals on May 19 were limited to the property easement and the appointment of Foster’s planning principal; district staff said messages would be sent to Betsy Rhodes and Foster communities with appointment and planning details and that further program decisions will be made through the district’s Strategic Deficit Reduction Plan (SDRP) facilities and program subcommittees.

The board’s approval of the principal contract included a clause that Burkell will “serve in a dual role as the outgoing principal of Betsy Rhodes School of Global Studies and as the planning principal for Foster School,” the motion said. Messages to affected families, the district added, were scheduled to go out the evening of the meeting.

The board also approved other routine contract and bid items during the meeting; the Foster easement and principal contract were among the most consequential items directly tied to the Foster reopening timeline.