EVANSTON, Ill. — A decision to close a school in the northern suburbs has left many families wondering what do to next.
Board members from the Evanston/Skokie School District 65 voted Monday night to close the beloved Dr. Bessie Rhodes School of Global Studies in Skokie, the only fully bilingual school in the district.
Parents pushed back at Monday’s meeting, urging the school board not to close the school, but members ultimately voted 5 to 2 to move forward.
Board President Sergio Hernandez said the district is closing the physical building but not necessarily the program, as the district grapples with underutilization of some buildings, and the construction of a brand new school that has some overlap with Rhodes.
But many families see the decision as an end to a program they love, which they say offers a uniquely safe space for them.
Bessie Rhodes is a K-8 magnet school that offers two-way immersion, so in each classroom, half the students are Spanish language learners and half are English language learners, learning from each other.
90% of the students at Bessie Rhodes are students of color, and that’s important to many of the families who attended Monday’s meeting.
“I grew up in a small town with not a lot of diversity, my children and I being the only children of color of Hispanic descent, and my children are allowed to have a space that’s safe for them, they’re seeing a lot of other children that are just like them and that is open to the culture and it’s just so beautiful,” Andrea Zaragoza, whose child attends Bessie Rhodes, said.
“It’s the promise and commitment when you have children of different racial backgrounds, valuing different backgrounds, preparing them to be global citizens,” Aide Acosta, another Bessie Rhodes parent, said.
The board said part of the plan includes expanding dual language programs in all middle schools, but people who attended the meeting pushed back against that idea and said it doesn’t offer the same experience.
Bessie Rhodes is set to close at the end of the 2025-2026 school year