CARE Opposes Method Behind D-112's Call for Proposals

Members of the political action committee, CARE - which now stands for Citizens Actively Rethinking Education - have drafted a letter criticising North Shore School District 112’s recent call for proposals from the community for re-configuring schools in the district.

The rubric being used to judge the suggestions is a backward one, according to the letter circulated by CARE member Davis Schneiderman.

“The call for proposals indicates that the Board will evaluate all proposals against two decision-making rubrics,” the letter reads. “Unfortunately, the Board’s new rubric, which modifies the community-generated SCFFAC rubric, is a prime example of a document designed to support a pre-determined outcome.”

CARE claims that that pre-determined outcome is in favor of the 7-building model that had been proposed as a part of a $150 million referendum taken off the table just days before the board was scheduled to vote on it earlier this year.

The group also claims the board later modified the rubric to even further support the 7-building model.

“They have retrofitted the new scorecard to privilege the features of their preferred 7-building plan,” according to the statement, “ignoring the SCFFAC’s recommendations and previous community input.”

But Andi Rosen, director of school-community relations for District 112, told the Highland Park News the notion that the rubric was engineered to make the 7-building model look good “is just not true.”

“It’s a mischaracterization of the very careful and deliberate process the board is going through to come up with evaluation tools. They have a complex decision with lots of factors, knowing that none of the models are going to score perfectly,” she said.

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