District 65 board member says regional superintendent will appoint Van Nostrand in 2026

(Editor’s Note: Hope Perry reported this story for the Evanston RoundTable, a neighboring independent newsroom. It was shared with The Record as part of an ongoing collaborative effort.)

A meeting with Evanston/Skokie District 65 families on Wednesday night shed light on previously murky next steps for the district’s board of education.

During the forum on the Willard Elementary two-way immersion program District 65 School Board member Maria Opdycke said that the Cook County regional superintendent will appoint Chris Van Nostrand, the next highest vote-getter in the spring 2025 election, to the vacant board seat.

“Everyone on the board knows that,” Opdycke told the crowd.

District 65 Board President Pat Anderson did not respond to a request for comment prior to publication, and Regional Superintendent April Jordan said no official decision has been made.

Opdycke said in an interview Dec. 18 that multiple board members — whom she declined to name — reached out to Jordan, who told them that she planned to appoint Van Nostrand if and when the decision came to her desk

In a phone call on Thursday, Jordan said that until Anderson submits in writing that the board has been unable to fill the board vacancy, she will not make a decision. She added that until Jan. 3, the deadline for the board to appoint a seventh board member, she could not comment on the situation.

If she is asked to appoint someone, Jordan said she will “fill it in the most unbiased way.”

Jordan said that she could not share information about any contacts she has had with members of the School Board and declined to confirm whether she had spoken to any members about the vacancy.

In a statement provided to the RoundTable Thursday, Van Nostrand indicated that he supported closing Kingsley Elementary in addition to the Dr. Bessie Rhodes School of Global Studies, an opinion that could break the current deadlock on the board.

The timeline of his would-be appointment (by February), however, means that it is unlikely the district will be able to close any additional schools at the end of this year.

Van Nostrand further explained in his statement that, if appointed, he would advocate “for a comprehensive cost reduction plan.”

“I’d favor voting on a complete proposal for saving $16 m[illion] with a line item breakdown based upon the financial levers that CFO [Tamara] Mitchell presented, along closing Kingsley [Elementary] and [the Dr.] Bessie Rhodes [School of Global Studies],” he wrote.

Van Nostrand said that “the move toward financial sustainability is an ongoing process that factors improved cost controls, selling building assets, and raising revenue.”

Who is Van Nostrand?

Van Nostrand is the founder and head coach at Strength Wise Barbell, a strength-focused fitness business. Before starting his coaching practice, Van Nostrand worked as the chief marketing officer at UC Berkeley Extension.

“For almost a decade, my job was to create revenue-generating academic programs to offset a significant budget deficit,” Van Nostrand wrote in response to questions from the RoundTable. “I had to show a positive return for every cent of the multi-million-dollar budget I managed.”

When Van Nostrand ran for school board last spring, he said that he considered school closures “a potential option”; although this was before about $12 million was cut from the expected deficit through a series of budget reductions strategies over the course of the fall.

“However, as a board we must develop a rigorous framework that uses objective criteria, including academic growth, enrollment trends, class size and maintenance costs,” he said at the time. “That criteria should be publicly available as soon as possible so that parents feel the process is fair and transparent.”

Van Nostrand also said that school closures should be approached “with profound empathy.” He criticized the way that the closure discussions for the Dr. Bessie Rhodes School of Global Studies was handled, calling it “a flawed process.”

Vacancy creates weeks of uncertainty

The seventh seat on the board opened when Omar Salem resigned in early November, just two weeks before the board voted — and deadlocked — on school-closure scenarios. 

At the Dec. 15 board meeting, Anderson revealed that the board was also deadlocked on the appointment of the new member and said that it would not be able to meet the 60-day deadline to appoint a member to fill the vacancy.

That would push the decision to the regional superintendent for the North Cook Intermediate Service Center, which governs school districts in northern Cook County. Under state law, the regional superintendent must fill the vacancy no later than Feb. 2.

The RoundTable previously reported that the board has narrowed the field of candidates for the vacancy from an original field of 28 applicants down to just four candidates: Van Nostrand, Brandon Utter, Natika Washington and Jaimie Wallace. 

Van Nostrand and Utter both ran for the School Board in spring 2025. Van Nostrand finished in fifth place in the race for four seats; Utter came in sixth.  

Van Nostrand said in an interview Wednesday that it was, in his view, the “common understanding” that he would be appointed to the board in February, but made it clear that he had received no official communication from the board or the county to that effect. He said he was “ready and willing” to serve if and when that phone call comes.

“We are actively ceding power,” Opdycke said of the School Board.

Willard families express frustration

Opdycke’s comments Wednesday night came during an informal meeting for Willard Two-Way English/Spanish Immersion families, who expressed anger and frustration over district administrators’ decision to close the program.

More than 50 people attended the event at the Fat Shallot, and Opdycke said she had invited her fellow board members and district administrators, none of whom attended the meeting. 

At the Dec. 15 board meeting, when district administrators explained their rationale for closing the TWI program at Willard, Opdycke pushed back, saying that it should be a board decision. But administrators said that district legal counsel advised that it was a district decision. 

Opdycke said Willard families have told her that they have not felt included in the process, a sentiment that was echoed throughout the Wednesday night meeting.

Willard parents said that they have received no answers from district administrators about next year, including questions about bus transportation for Sixth– and Seventh-Ward TWI students who choose to attend the new Foster School. Several Willard TWI parents said that they hadn’t been included in any community-building activities for new Foster School families.

“I feel like I have to show up and just hear,” Opdycke said after the meeting. “These are people I represent and I’m also the liaison to their school, and I’m happy they are here and still engaging.”

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