The Evanston Township High School/District 202 Board of Education recognized a retiring board member and swore in the new board for the 2021-2022 school year on Monday in their first in-person meeting since the start of the pandemic.
Jude Laude, a member of the board since 2017, is retiring but plans to continue youth advocacy efforts in Evanston as director of programs at Youth Job Center.
Laude thanked the Evanston community and his colleagues and reflected on his time on the board.
“I grew up here as a first generation Haitian,” Laude said. “(My father) would sit at the kitchen table and say, ‘I’m not leaving you any money, but I’m gonna leave you my name,’ and one of the greatest honors for me in my life was when I ran for the board and I saw his name all over this town.”
Community members, aldermen named to Evanston Reparations Committee
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A panel of Evanston Township High School/District 202 administrators explained changes to the 2021-22 academic year during a Thursday webinar, emphasizing a “culture of care” as students plan on returning to full in-person learning this fall.
“We don’t intend for (full in-person instruction) to look and feel exactly like it was felt in the past,” District 202 superintendent Eric Witherspoon said. “We have a great opportunity here to also create that new normal.”
Following the announcement of changes to the 2021-22 academic year, the district distributed a poll to students, staff and families to assess questions and concerns. During the webinar, administrators answered frequently asked questions from the survey.
In the wake of Evanston’s election results getting finalized, organizers, electees and residents said they are looking forward to the potential for positive change under new local officials.
Candidates campaigned in the most crowded election cycle in decades, school board races featured a prominent push for racial equity and long-entrenched alderpeople were unseated. Many residents said it’s important not to throw in the towel after a long election cycle. Instead, the results can be a springboard for a new season of change.
Kristen White, a longtime resident and Evanston/Skokie School District 65 parent, said she believes the election of District 65 board members Soo La Kim, Elisabeth “Biz” Lindsay-Ryan, Joseph “Joey” Hailpern and Donna Wang Su will continue a vision of enacting anti-racist policies. Of the four, Wang Su is the only newcomer to the board.
in rallying against police brutality at a rally Saturday.
The rally, held at Oakton Community Center Park, came less than a week following the conviction of former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin for second-degree unintentional murder, third-degree murder and second-degree manslaughter. The event invited community members to “stand together” in solidarity with those across the country mourning loss and violence against Black, brown and BIPOC people.
The Abolition Coalition of Skokie is a group of five BIPOC mothers with the mission of abolishing “the anti-Blackness and white supremacy” that perpetuate system racism in housing, healthcare, education, economics, policing and government policies. The group began organizing after sharing experiences of discrimination in several districts and in January held a press conference addressing racism in Niles Township High Schools District 219.
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