A group of real estate sales agents in Evanston is withholding 1999 dues to the National Association of Realtors to protest a “defamatory” ranking of the Evanston schools on the Realtors’ official Web site.
A Tribune review of the site resulted in the disclosure of a computer program glitch that falsely ranked schools all across the country, including giving Evanston schools the lowest rating when, in fact, they should been ranked “best.”
Since the error was disclosed last week, parts of the site, operated for the Realtors by Westlake Village, Calif.-based RealSelect Inc., have been changed to make clear that the “Find a Neighborhood” section in which the errors occurred is in a testing stage and should be checked for accuracy.
Other communities whose school systems had been misranked for at least six weeks included Streamwood, which was corrected from “fair” to “best”; and Oak Park/River Forest and Palos Park, both of which were corrected from “average” to “best.”
Lynne Heidt, a sales agent for the Coldwell Banker office in downtown Evanston, said that 26 of the 48 agents in the office agreed to withhold the $79 portion of their annual dues that goes to the national office of the Realtors, which finances the site.
Other real estate agents in Evanston were upset by the ranking but weren’t going as far as withholding dues.
“It was only six weeks, but if had gone on much longer– particularly in the spring market–it could have had more effect,” said Cornelia Steffes, managing broker of Coldwell Banker in northwest Evanston.
