D65 Sustainability Update: May 26
Bike, Walk & Roll to School Days at King Arts and Oakton
In honor of Earth Month and National Bike Month, both Oakton and King Arts hosted Bike, Walk & Roll to School Days on May 21 and 22, respectively. It was fun and healthy way for students and families to explore more sustainable modes of transportation, aligned with our D65 Sustainability Plan: Transportation & Mobility goals.
Shout out to Mr Isaac Hart, King Arts 1st Grade educator, and Ms Bournes Thomas, Oakton Assistant Principal, for leading the planning efforts at their schools!
Dewey Roots & Shoots Club restarted with D65, ETHS and NU Collaboration
The club is the result of collaboration between Aviva Feldman (4th grade TWI teacher at Dewey), Tammy Astor (retired Dewey teacher), Izzy Franconeri (ETHS senior) and Northwestern students who are members of the Youth Climate Coalition.
Celebrating New Tree Plantings this Spring
A big thank you Natural Habitat Evanston for partnering with our Schools to plant new trees this Spring on our D65 school grounds!
Together, we've planted over 245 trees since 2018. 💚 🌳 💚
Willard 5th Grade Tree Detectives
This May, Willard Elementary 5th graders celebrated a meaningful milestone with a tree planting ceremony! As part of their science ecosystems unit, students were “Tree Detectives” who researched tree health, explored tree species selection, and created posters before voting on which trees to plant.
The trees, a chinkapin oak and a white oak that can live for more than 100 years, were dedicated to Willard’s Two-Way Immersion (TWI) program and to this year’s graduating monolingual students. Along the way, students demonstrated scientific thinking, collaboration, and a strong sense of stewardship, working intentionally to improve their school grounds and leave a lasting impact. Students also added a personal touch, writing observations and words of encouragement on biodegradable, popsicle sticks placed around the trees.
Special thanks to Willard’s 5th Grade educators and Natural Habitat Evanston for helping bring this meaningful experience to life.
Lincolnwood Memorial Tree Plantings
Lincolnwood School and family members planted a memorial tree (Tulip Tree) for Ms Sadie Ruff who was a paraprofessional and bus aide at Lincolnwood who passed away December 16, 2025.
Friends and neighbors planted a White Oak memorial tree (White Oak) for Maddie Parks.
Oakton 5th Grade Tree Planting
Oakton 5th Graders planted a Tulip Tree, based on the most votes from their classes, on May 7th.
Nichols Climate Club Tree Planting
The Nichols Climate Club, lead by Ms Alexa Sorock, planted 3 new understory trees including Serviceberry and a Redbud.
Fall Tree Planting requests 🌳 due May 31
Interested in planting new trees on our D65 school grounds this Fall? Make sure to use our refreshed D65 collaboration & approval process and submit your request by May 31.
Helpful Resources:
- School maps to identify viable spaces for new tree plantings, in partnership with Natural Habitat Evanston and our D65 Team.
- Approved Tree and Shrubs for D65 School Grounds to use when planning your tree planting requests.
Save the Date: Community Bike Ride & Fundraiser
Climate Cycle & Sustainability School Assemblies
We kicked off our Community Bike Ride and Fundraising efforts the week of May 18th. D65 hosted 6th and 7th Grade assemblies at Chute, Nichols and Haven and a whole school assembly at King Arts. Joey Feinstein led "Be The Change" sustainability assemblies under the name Joey FineRhyme, by integrating hip-hop into a STEAM-focused learning approach.
The school assemblies connect with our fundraising efforts by offering an overview of the program and its origins, how students can get involved, what we'd be raising money for, along with education and empowerment around the cause of climate and sustainability.
2026 End of School Clean Out Kicking Off
We're excited to kick-off our 2026 End of School Clean Out on May 27 with 6 schools participating this year (Dawes, Dewey, JEH ECC, Oakton, Orrington, and Walker). Learn more about our End of School Clean Out and our 2026 process, timeline and resources.
Note: Bessie Rhodes, Kingsley and Willard will participate in a separate, holistic process as part of our school transition work with a priority on reuse, donation and recycling as much as possible we strive to reduce waste to landfill.
In 2025, our D65 schools mobilized to gather leftover school supplies that would typically go to the landfill. We encouraged sharing and reuse within our schools and D65 Families and recovered $2150 of school supplies to offset purchasing new supplies! Remaining items were donated to our D65 Family Wellness Program, Art Makers Outpost, and SCARCE.
Sneak peek! Sustainability at Foster Elementary
When Foster Elementary School opens this fall, one thing will be missing from the cafeteria: disposable dishes. Thanks to collaboration with the district’s sustainability team, PlasticFreeRestaurants, and the Solid Waste Agency of Northern Cook County, Foster School’s lunchroom will feature reusable lunch trays, milk cups, and utensils. If it’s in the cafeteria, it’s getting washed, dried, and reused!
Foster will also become the first D65 school with solar panels on the roof. The solar panels at Foster are expected to produce 199 kWh of electricity!
D65 Sustainability Goals: Annual Progress Report
Climate Action & School Garden Contacts for 26-27 School Year
Please update your school's contact information for the 26-27 school year, including:
- Climate Action Team Chair(s)
- School Garden Team Chair(s)
- Climate Club
- School PTA and Newsletter emails
Support our Evanston Community Fridges
The Evanston Community Fridges are looking for community members to help shop for, clean, and deliver food for the three community fridges in Evanston. Evanston’s three community fridges provide free food and toiletries to any community member, anytime. To read about the donation guidelines and fridge locations, please visit https://www.evanstoncommunityfridges.com. To learn how to get more involved, please email evanstoncommunityfridge@gmail.com.
Support ESCCA
ESCCA, the Evanston School Children’s Clothing Association, is hard at work fulfilling its historic mission - to make sure no Evanston child misses school for lack of warm clothing or shoes. ESCCA opened its doors to District 65 children just before the start of the school year so they could visit our store and choose warm clothing, coats, shoes, boots, socks, undergarments, and more. ESCCA has received over 150 referrals so far this school year.
There are many ways to get involved with ESCCA:
Consider purchasing something from our Amazon Wishlist which we continue to update with the items we need most. Click HERE!
Contribute financially to ESCCA to help us purchase clothing for the shop. Click HERE!
Drop off warm clothing in The Clothing Bin - located at 1500 McDaniel Drive (behind the D65 Building)
Volunteer Opportunity: Harbert Park Nature Play Area
At Harbert Payne Park, a native plant steward has set aside a wooded area in the park as a potential spot for a nature play area. The site could also include a grassy area of the park near the forested area.
Interested in leading and/or volunteering to help make this Nature Play Area a reality? Contact Celia Michener at cemgroupc@gmail.com.
Drop-off Household Batteries - Illinois Stewardship Program
Batteries, especially lithium-ion and rechargeable chemistries, pose fire and environmental risks if tossed in the trash or recycle bin.
Now, through a new stewardship program in Illinois, household batteries, of all chemistries, can be dropped off, FREE of charge, at a local collection site!
Visit batterynetwork.org for more information and to find a drop-off location near you! With any new program, please allow for growth. Call before drop-off to ensure the facility is ready for collection.
Grant Opportunities
- SWANCC Waste Reduction and Litter Clean Up Grants - open year-round
