Kathy Zalewski, Evanston/Skokie District 65 business manager and school business director, will resign at the end of this school year, the district confirmed to the Roundtable.
Zalewski has worked in the district’s business office for 23 years, starting in May 2001. His last day of work will be June 28, according to District 65 spokeswoman Hannah Dillow.
“We will certainly miss her; she has been invaluable to our District 65 business team for the past 23 years,” Dillow said in a statement to the Roundtable. “We wish her the best of luck in all her future endeavors and have plans in place to ensure a smooth transition.”
With Zalewski’s imminent departure, the district is expected to find a new chief financial officer and a new business manager this summer. The CFO position has remained vacant since August 2023, when Raphael Obafemi left to join former human resources chief Andalib Khelghati in Oswego District 308. Khelghati became the superintendent there last fall, and Obafemi is now its CFO.
Zalewski is the latest in a long line of administrators to leave District 65 in the past year. Former Superintendent Devon Horton, Dean of Culture and Climate Elijah Palmer, Chief of Staff Markisha Mitchell, Student Assignments Manager Sarita Smith, Assistant Superintendent of Student Services Romy DeCristofaro, Khelghati, Obafemi and now Zalewski have either resigned or announced their plans to resign.
“Kathy, thank you for two incredible decades and I wish you all the best, and we are sad to see you go,” former board member Rebeca Mendoza said during Monday night’s public hearing on the possible closure from the Dr. Bessie Rhodes School of Global Studies.
Mendoza said she is “concerned” about the district’s financial future, especially considering Zalewski’s upcoming departure and the fact that “most of the architects” of the Fifth District’s new school plan are now gone.
“The district is actively involved in a search process for our next CFO and business manager,” Dillow said. “In the meantime, we continue to work with Dr. Robert Grossi and his company Illuminate Inc.
