Evanston/Skokie District 65 board approves hearings on Kingsley closure, leaves Lincolnwood decision for later

The Board of Education of Evanston/Skokie Community Consolidated School District 65 voted on Jan. 9 to approve a resolution to hold public hearings on the proposed closure of Kingsley Elementary School and to consider a possible closure of Lincolnwood Elementary at a later date. Meeting leadership moved the resolution after staff presented boundary and sequential-closure modeling and utilization projections.

District staff showed a map and described modeling assumptions that keep Oakton boundaries intact, retain Tweed students in their current cohorts for planning purposes, and route portions of the former Kingsley feeder to Willard, Orrington and Lincolnwood. The staff presenter said the map "uses Central as a northern divider for the Lincolnwood boundary" and noted the district can provide an online tool to let families enter their addresses to see impacts.

Board discussion focused on a districtwide kindergarten–through–fifth-grade utilization target of 75% that the resolution uses to trigger further consideration of additional closures. One board member said closing Kingsley and Lincolnwood together under current projections would raise K–5 utilization to "just close to 76%," and another warned, "I'm happy with it intellectually, but practically speaking, I don't want it to become like a gotcha." Board members debated whether the district should be required to calculate capacity using the SDRP3 methodology or allow alternative calculations tied to a future facilities plan, special education audit and multilingual audit.

The chair moved the resolution and it was seconded. The clerk conducted a roll-call vote; the spoken responses recorded seven affirmative votes. The transcript records the clerk announcing "Motion passes 7 6 0," which appears inconsistent with the roll-call responses; the roll-call answers indicate seven "Yes" votes and no recorded "No" votes.

After the vote, board members asked for clarity on the implementation path, including whether a special committee would be formed. The chair said the board will return at the next meeting with clearer roles and a public process and emphasized the need for an "intentional and thoughtful" approach to hearings and to support affected staff and families.

The resolution advances the district toward scheduled public hearings on Kingsley and sets targets and modeling assumptions that will frame those hearings. The board did not take final action to close Lincolnwood; it reserved that consideration for a later meeting tied to whether the district meets the stated utilization and fiscal-sustainability conditions.