More D86 Curriculum Equity/Alignment Spin Doctoring Ahead

It was only a few days ago that, when presented by Patch.com with a finding that Hinsdale Central offered 52 more general education courses than Hinsdale South last semester, D86 Communications Director Chris Jasculca sourced the root of the problem to “too many courses at both schools.” (https://patch.com/illinois/hinsdale/too-many-courses-offered-central-south-district).

As had been pointed out in The D86 Squeeze video, (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GUJCZoUajrM), the 71.9 Full Time Equivalent general education teaching staff assigned to South for this year effectively constrained the number of general education courses that it could offer to 161, whereas the 140.8 FTE assigned to Central enabled it to offer 213 courses.

Teachers are employed at virtual full capacity under the union contract (5 classes per day). So, to add more courses at either school, the District would have to hire more teachers. At about $91,000 each, they won’t.

Don’t take your eyes off this ball. No matter what the “aligned” D86 curriculum looks like when the dust settles in 2024, as long as the number of teachers assigned to South remains close to what it currently has, which is driven by its enrollment, you should not expect the number of courses offered there to get any larger. The District simply can’t stretch its faculty any further.

Let’s now take a closer look at Mr. Jasculca’s solution and follow it to its logical conclusion. If “curriculum equity” means offering the same courses at each school, and if South, because of its size, is only able to offer about 161, how could Central offer more? Offering more at Central wouldn’t be equitable.

So, without enrollment balancing or more faculty added to South, the equilibrium point at each school would be about 161 courses. Would we collectively prefer that solution over changing boundaries? Who knows? As I said in the Patch article, I believe the D86 community is yet to be heard on that idea.

What continues to amaze and sadden me is how the School District uses taxpayer dollars to “educate” the public with a one-sided description of what it is doing. Just look at this latest D86 education piece (https://files.constantcontact.com/cf287b73601/a121eaa1-9ae3-4b61-805c-9853231df0b4.pdf). You won’t find any reference to future course cuts at each school. Instead, it’s all about expanded opportunities.

Furthermore, the public has now learned that the School District #86 will blanket 35,000 residences and businesses in the next two weeks with a newsletter addressing “myths and misperceptions” about their curriculum alignment work.

Imagine that. Right before the School Board election in which, at least by my count, seven out of the ten candidates are running in opposition to the School District’s curriculum alignment plans. I suppose they will find out what South residents who follow D86 chicanery know so well—how it feels to be drowned out by D86 political messaging, thinly-veiled as public education.