Haven leaders point to test and attendance gains as teacher reassignment stirs union, parent objections

Haven Middle School administrators presented the school’s “State of Haven” update to the Evanston Skokie School District 65 Board of Education on May 19, saying attendance, survey and Illinois Assessment of Readiness results have improved after changes to schedules and supports. At the same meeting, teacher representatives accused building leaders of reassigning a substantial share of teachers into subjects for which they lack an endorsement.

Administrators said the school’s average daily attendance has improved and that Haven moved students out of the bottom quartile on MAP assessments and increased Level 4–5 (meet/exceed) performance on the Illinois Assessment of Readiness. “At this point last year, we’ve improved our average daily attendance rate for all students 0.56%. Black or African American students, 1.12 percent,” Chris Ladting, principal at Haven Middle School, said during the presentation.

Those gains, Ladting and Assistant Principal Thomas Smith said, followed a multi-year effort including cohort scheduling, restorative practices, expanded social-emotional learning supports, after-school partnerships and the AVID elective. “It was very palpable that there were some changes that needed to happen or systems that needed just to be put into place to kind of move the feel of the building,” Ladting said.

But the District Education Council and several Haven teachers and parents used public comment to push back on the staffing changes. Dr. Tricia Baker, speaking as DEC executive and reading a statement she said was from impacted teachers, said at least “30 percent of teachers will be teaching a subject they had not endorsed in, meaning they had no certification to teach the subject they are being assigned to teach.” Teacher and parent commenters gave larger, related figures: Tara Colville, a Haven parent and teacher, said “67% of core educators at Haven are assigned into new content areas and or grade levels,” and that “38% of Haven core educators are assigned to teach subjects in content areas they aren't even endorsed to teach.”

Union representatives and teachers told the board those reassignments were made without a contractually required scheduling committee or a clear training plan. “The schedule was created in a vacuum by building administration,” said Kelly Post of the DEC executive team. “Our students deserve better. They deserve to learn from teachers who have developed their craft.”

Administrators said the staffing changes were driven by enrollment declines that reduced available class sections, and they described a set of supports for staff who will teach new content, including embedded professional development during the school day, voluntary summer work opportunities, new-teacher training and additional LBS1 (special education) allocations for Haven. “The reason for the staffing model change is aligned with students enrollment,” Ladting said. The district added three LBS1 positions to Haven, administrators said, to address increased IEP counts.

Board members pressed for more detail about how the district will monitor outcomes and support teachers. Superintendent Turner and school leaders said they will use regular surveys—at the beginning, middle and end of year—plus monthly town halls and data checks to monitor attendance, climate and achievement, and they promised follow-up reports on teacher assignment numbers and training plans. No board action on staffing was taken at the May 19 meeting.

Board members and administrators also discussed the need to study cohort model impacts versus traditional scheduling more deeply. “To get a really good answer, that’s going to take some deeper dive,” Ladting said when asked whether cohort scheduling drove academic gains.

The meeting included student presentations about AVID and other school activities and testimony from several Haven students describing the AVID program’s impact on leadership and organization. Student speakers and leaders stressed the role of school culture alongside instruction in supporting gains.

Moving forward, administrators said they will provide the board with a clearer breakout of teacher assignment counts and endorsements, a training timeline for teachers reassigned to new content, and interim checks of student outcomes to ensure changes are producing the intended benefits. Parents, DEC and teachers requested the district supply a written plan for training and mentoring for teachers assigned outside their endorsements; administrators said they would follow up with specifics.