todd bowen niles township high schools district 219 evanston il

She suggested the district hire a new dean to handle these matters. While building relationships to support a restorative approach will take time, Ritter said the district needs to move in this direction now and repair the harm it has inflicted on students of color. Both principals said staff need to address their internal bias and focus on empathy, recognizing the underlying reasons for student behavioral issues. Black and brown parents have said this over-policing puts Black and brown students at risk of entering the school-to-prison pipeline.īefore the COVID-19 pandemic interrupted in-person learning, Ritter said the schools were working to implement restorative practices and lean away from punitive measures. Niles West principal Karen Ritter and Niles North principal James Edwards presented school suspension data, which demonstrated a disproportionate number of Black students facing disciplinary action. In partnership with the Evanston NAACP branch, Black and brown parents held a press conference last week demanding the board address racist practices and remove school resource officers from district schools. Hankes’ comments come amid discussions of racism in the district. “I feel that many administrators are also scared of the task force, and they are very apprehensive to come and speak and present things that the task force need to know, so that’s holding things back.” “Sometimes it takes weeks to get a response,” said Hankes, a non-voting member of the group.

After hearing from administrators, deans and site supervisors, the group will recommend a restructuring of the district’s current safety model to create a system that is safe and supportive of all students and staff.īut Angie Hankes, a task force facilitator and co-chair, said she has had difficulty communicating with administrators. The group was created last September to evaluate the district’s security system, including the use of school resource officers in Niles Township high schools, and comprises staff members, parents, a student and other community members. The Niles Township High Schools District 219 Safety and Security/School Resource Officer task force - which seeks to reform the district’s current security model - has been “set up to fail,” a task force co-chair said at a Tuesday equity committee meeting.

Todd bowen niles township high schools district 219 evanston il