Schools
D. 65 Announces Unofficial Election Results, Welcomes Newcomers
Katie Bailey, Richard A. Rykhus and Eileen Budde are likely to be sworn-in in May.
According to unofficial election results, current District 65 board member Katie Bailey has successfully won re-election, while newcomers Eileen Budde and Richard A. Rykhus will join the board in May. The results are deemed unofficial until finalized by the County Clerk on April 26, said Communications Director Pat Markham.
Board President Keith Terry will be relinquishing his seat along with Board Member Bonnie Lockhart, who did not run for re-election.
“I won’t be coming back, but I just wanted to say congratulations to Ms. Bailey on her re-election and to the new candidates. I am going to trust you guys are going to do well,” said Terry. “And I just wanted to thank the public for giving me this opportunity over these last four years.”
Find out what's happening in Evanstonwith free, real-time updates from Patch.
In the five-candidate race, front-runners Bailey, Budde and Rykhus took 27.9 percent, 25 percent and 27.2 percent of the vote respectively. New and re-elected board members will be sworn in on May 2 during the Reorganization Meeting of the Board.
The board also voted unanimously on Monday to accept a new funding contract for its Head Start Program, which provides full or half-day education for children aged 3 to 5 years old, with preference given to low-income families.
Find out what's happening in Evanstonwith free, real-time updates from Patch.
Echoing similar funding issues in a time of tighter state and federal budgets, the new contract requires that CEDA (Community and Economic Development Association of Cook County) disperse funds for the program in two phases instead of all at once as in previous years. An initial 60 percent of the funds ($424,924 for District 65) will be granted for April through October 2011 operations. The remaining 40 percent ($283,282) will be tentatively granted after October 31, upon receiving additional approval from CEDA.
According to Early Childhood Director Ellen Fogelberg, approval for the remaining 40 percent will be contingent on whether or not enrollment in the program is full, something that she added has not been a problem in District 65.
“I think at the federal level, through accounting procedures, what they’re determining is that there has to be some Head Start programs in some places that are not fully enrolled,” said Superintendent Hardy Murphy. “I don’t think we’ll have that problem here.”
The District’s Head Start Program is expected to provide Pre-K services for 204 children in District 65 this year.
