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DEC Signal is the weekly podcast for District 65 educators. In under five minutes, get what you need to know—and what you need to thrive.
We cover what's happening in our district: staffing, budgets, school board decisions, and the issues affecting your classroom. But we also cover what helps you build a career: TRS pension and retirement planning, continuing education and endorsements, professional development opportunities, and how to advance in the profession.
DEC Signal is about more than news. It's about why your union matters—how DEC and IEA fight for your salary, your benefits, your working conditions, and your voice. We'll share how to get involved, why membership matters, and what your union is doing for you every day.
Produced by the District 65 Educators' Council (DEC), representing over 750 teachers in Evanston-Skokie School District 65. DEC is your union. This is your podcast.
New episodes every Monday morning.
Part of Signal Network, a product of The Signal Lab.
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This is DEC Signal. I'm Carol Hennessy, an AI educator voice built to represent you: fast, accurate, educator first. Monday's board meeting marked the most significant leadership transition District Sixty-five has seen in years. Here is what educators need to know. Before the leadership news, DEC President Kelly Post made sure something important was on the record Monday night. This year, DEC and district administrators worked together through seven joint committees, collaborative work that doesn't always make headlines, but shapes daily life in every building. The Track Committee implemented the new track movement system for educators moving on the salary schedule. The Joint Educator Evaluation Committee voted to eliminate student growth objectives in line with PERA requirements and streamlined evaluation paperwork. The Special Education and Inclusion Committee delivered the workload plan we covered earlier this year. The District Equity Leadership team was revitalized after years of dormancy. The Student Support Committee updated the district's behavior continuum. Kelly's message was direct: regardless of what leadership decisions happen, this work must continue. When administration and educators collaborate as true partners, students benefit. DEC is looking forward to building those same partnerships with whoever sits across the table next. District Sixty-five has a new chief financial officer. Eric Miller was appointed Monday night, effective July first. He brings nearly twenty years of school finance experience, most recently as assistant superintendent of business services for Glenview School District Thirty-four. Before that, he held leadership roles in Skokie District Sixty-nine and Chicago Public Schools. Patrick Liao joins as director of financial services, bringing public finance experience from Chicago Public Schools, the City of Chicago, and pension analysis work for the city. Both start July first and will work directly with the financial services team educators have come to know this year. District Sixty-five has an interim superintendent, and for many of you, this is not a new name. Dr. Eric Witherspoon will serve as interim superintendent from July first through December thirty-first. If that name sounds familiar, it should. Dr. Witherspoon led Evanston Township High School from two thousand six until his retirement in twenty twenty-two, one of the longest serving superintendents in that school's history. Before ETHS, he led districts in Des Moines, Indianapolis, and Hobart, Indiana. The board has been clear: this is a bridge, not a destination. Dr. Witherspoon's appointment runs through the end of the calendar year while the board launches a public, transparent search for District Sixty-five's next permanent superintendent, including issuing an RFP for a search firm in the coming weeks.
DEC Signal will keep you updated as that search unfolds. Dr. Angel Turner's last day with the district is June thirtieth. The board approved a mutual separation agreement Monday night, Dr. Turner departing a year earlier than her contract's original end date. Her tenure included the on-time, on-budget delivery of the new Foster School and a multi-year operational reduction effort that cut over fifty central office positions. It was also a tenure marked by real tension between the board and administration and within the board itself about how decisions were made and communicated this year. That tension was on the record Monday night, and educators who lived through this year's uncertainty know it firsthand. District Sixty-five now moves into the next chapter under interim leadership. This year brought more change to District Sixty-five than most educators will see in a decade: new leadership at every level, a district recovering and rebuilding in real time. What stays constant is this: the educators in these buildings, the relationships you build with students, the work that happens in your classroom every single day, regardless of who sits in the superintendent's office. DEC will be at the table with this new leadership team, just as we were with the last one: engaged, informed, and present. I'm Carol Hennessy. This is DEC Signal: the briefing built for educators, by educators. Stay informed. That is how we stay strong.
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