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player ready...After widespread criticism from district parents and community members for its decision to reject a hiring recommendation at Nichols Middle School, the Evanston/Skokie District 65 Board of Education reversed course this week and chose to officially appoint the educator they initially rejected for the job.
In a letter sent Wednesday morning to Nichols parents, board president Candance Chow and Supt. Paul Goren wrote that “after careful review of our process and deliberations, we have moved forward together with a decision to approve [Josh] Seldess as an interim assistant principal” at Nichols.
The letter did not offer any explanation for the board’s change of heart, and when pressed for additional comment, the district’s communications coordinator, Melissa Messinger, said “it’s a personnel matter; there is no further information that I can share.”
Seldess declined to comment on his reinstatement to the post. His attorney, Lisa Clay, said she’s “thankful to the district and their lawyers for providing us with a just and prompt response to our concerns.”
Nichols Principal Adrian Harries, who initially hired Seldess in early August and recommended the board approve his choice, said he was “excited to have my colleague back and I’m looking forward to doing a lot of the work we have planned to do together.”
Harries confirmed that Seldess was already back working in the building Wednesday morning.
Seldess, who previously served as history division head at Oak Park and River Forest High School, said he began working as assistant principal at the middle school on Aug. 8 after he was selected by Harries from more than a dozen candidates for the job. He said the process involved several interviews with Harries and the district’s assistant superintendent for schools, John Price.
Seldess was forced to stop working at the school after the district’s board voted 3-2 on Aug. 29 to reject Seldess’ hire. Chow, board vice president Richard Rykhus and board member Jennifer Phillips voted against his appointment, and members Claudia Garrison and Suni Kartha voted for it. Tracy Quattrocki and Omar Brown were absent from the meeting.
Nearly 20 parents, community members and former colleagues of Seldess sharply criticized the board’s decision not to appoint the longtime educator at a board meeting held early last month. Those who spoke also chastised the board for failing to share any findings that would validate its decision to overrule the district’s staff in recommending Seldess for the assistant principal position.
Several people said they wondered whether the decision was rooted in Seldess’ work addressing racial disparity in schools and education.
Vicky Mertz, a parent of a sixth-grader at Nichols and one of the parents who spoke at the board’s September meeting, said she was pleased the district’s elected officials ultimately reversed their decision regarding Seldess’ appointment.
“I’m really happy that Mr. Harries’ decision is now supported and affirmed by the school board, as it should have been in the first place,” she said. Mertz added that the robust community feedback likely played a big role in the board’s decision to reverse course.
“Had no one done anything, the decision would have stayed,” she said.
Another Nichols parent, Heather Sweeney, said the board’s change of course is “an important demonstration of what can happen when a community uses its voice as many black and white people did in this case.”
Sweeney, a Nichols graduate, said the district’s equity work is deeply important and she hopes Seldess will use his experience to further racial equity initiatives at Nichols and throughout the district as a whole.
“Black and brown voices have been speaking for years and we must continue to work toward a community that hears black and brown voices in the same way they hear white voices,” she said.
Though Sweeney said she’s pleased with the board’s choice to bring Seldess back, she’s “not feeling very assured that we’re clear of something like this happening again.”
Roger Williams, a board member for Evanston-based civic group Organization for Positive Action and Leadership, said he was pleased with the board’s decision, but said the underlying issue is about equity and the District 65 school board’s opposition to equity. Williams also highlighted the diverse coalition of residents who spoke out to support Seldess in challenging the board.
“The reason why we’ve had this success is because of the involvement of white people,” Williams said. “We have white people from Evanston and white people from New Trier and Oak Park. For the record, the black community in Evanston has been complaining about the achievement gap and lack of equity in District 65 for years and has basically been ignored. We’re gracious many white people participated and we got the job done, but the people most directly affected, meaning the black community and the children suffering from the achievement gap … they have not been heard.”
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Mertz said she hopes the outpouring of enthusiastic support for Seldess at the September board meeting will make him feel like a welcomed member of the Nichols community.
“It was an impressive group of people (who spoke) and a lot of impressive comments were made about him. I hope he feels valued at Nichols and that the parents, community and staff make him feel valued and welcomed,” she said.
Lee V. Gaines is a freelancer.