Nooses Found At Haven Middle School In Evanston After Student Protest

EVANSTON, IL — Evanston/Skokie School District 65 administrators said a hate crime took place Friday during a walkout by middle schoolers protesting a staff reshuffle.

Parents found three nooses hanging from trees between Haven Middle School and Kingsley Elementary School after a group of Haven students staged a sit-in outside the school to support teachers due to be transferred to other buildings in the 16-school district, according to Superintendent Devon Horton.

Horton said the protest was "mostly peaceful" but "did escalate" when a large group of middle schoolers walked out of the building and "several" left campus. Video footage posted to social media shows students crowding in the hallways and chanting, sometimes explicitly. According to a message from the superintendent, notes in support of Haven teachers were discovered along with the nooses.

"It was further reported that Haven students were seen allegedly chanting and carrying ropes to the location where the nooses were found," Horton said.

"This is a hate crime and a deliberate and specific incidence of an outwardly racist act. It resounds with a tone of hate and hurt that will impact members of our entire community, namely Black and African American students, staff, and families who have experienced generations of harm," he said. "What began as a peaceful protest by students is now tainted with hate and is part of a string of racist actions that continue to be directed at district and school administrators."

Horton said administrators were working with staff focused on mental health to assist any students who may need support on Monday.

"Our district, board, administration, and community will continue to fight racism in all forms," he said. "Institutionalized racism has been used in the past to intimidate and discourage minority leaders from disrupting institutionalized racism. It's important that we, as adults, model for our students how to have safe discourse when emotions are high."

Evanston police have an active investigation into the noose incident, according to Cmdr. Ryan Glew.

"The investigation includes searching for and reviewing available surveillance video," Glew said. "Identification of people of interest is pending further investigation."

The protest followed administrators' announcement last month of plans to cut 22 classroom positions and transfer 40 teachers to new buildings heading into the 2022-23 school year, including seven teachers at Haven, the Evanston RoundTable reported. Thirty-seven of the transfers were not voluntary.

Earlier this month, Nicole Jacob Marks, a former president of the Haven Parent Teacher Association, told Evanston Now that she believes the transfers of veteran teachers and a pair of union representatives is meant to "send a message to everyone else to shut up."

Related: Haven Middle School Fight Sends Staff To Hospital, 2nd Time In 8 Days

Last month, after two Haven teachers wound up at the hospital for injuries suffered during fights among groups of students, dozens of students, staff and parents advocated for safety and respect for those who work and attend class at the school.

"It goes without saying the staff members needing to leave a middle school via an ambulance, due to violence, is bad. But the way this matter was handled makes it much worse," said Mike Klotz, a former Haven special education teacher and current parent of a Haven student.

"Leaders in the building used the first incident as a cautionary tale to not get involved in incidences because they don't have the proper training, yet one out of 30 of the people trained in the district work at the 5th Ward middle school," Klotz said. "Fights happen constantly at Haven, it's not a new occurrence. CPI [Crisis Prevention Institute] training alone is not going to solve this problem. It's not Jedi mind tricks. That's not how it works. The lack of support discourages intervention of violence."

Amber Evey-Schmidt, one of the injured teachers, described her experience during public comment at the April 18 school board meeting. Shortly before her remarks, the district's live video feed went down and the superintendent left the room. According to a video recorded by a member of the public in attendance, Evey-Schmidt, a music teacher currently in her third year on staff at Haven, said she had not been trying to break up a fight when she was injured.

"I simply heard a commotion coming just outside my classroom, and made a choice to quickly step out into the hallway to assess the situation and see if there was something I could do to help. I took maybe four or five steps into the hallway to observe what appeared an enormous amount of students, and was blindsided and forcibly knocked down by one of these students before I had a chance to do anything," Evey-Schmidt said. "I do not believe that this student had any intention of hurting me. Unfortunately, I'm not surprised that an incident like this happened, I'm only surprised it didn't happen sooner."

Evey-Schmidt expressed hope that the recent incident could trigger changes leading to a safer school environment, and said she did not wish to blame anyone specifically.

"I will say, however, that I have grown increasingly frustrated by the lack of attention or action to my and my colleagues pleas for support for us and our students somehow rarely seem to be taken seriously. Whenever I have voiced concern, I've been told that I need to document. So I document it, speak about it at meetings, and I seldom hear any follow-up as to if or when any action was taken to address the concern."