D-86 Counters South Students' Complaints

DARIEN, IL — A number of Hinsdale South High School students told the school board last week that they experienced scheduling conflicts for next fall that would not have occurred at Hinsdale Central.

But school officials say their statistics show a lower percentage of South students suffered such conflicts than their counterparts at the much larger and wealthier Hinsdale Central.

During public input at Wednesday's board meeting, Hinsdale South student Zeeshan Razzaq said he was among those with scheduling conflicts for his desired classes next fall. He said his teachers have all given the same response: South's dwindling enrollment has resulted in the loss of student opportunities.

"Why hasn't declining enrollment at South been identified as a problem? Why has South's enrollment been allowed to continue to decline?" Razzaq said.

Many South residents have suggested a boundary change between South and Central to balance enrollments, but Central residents fear such a shift would mean a plunge in their property values if they end up in the South zone.

Also at the meeting, Anastasia Galinski, another South student, said she was unable to take a particular type of calculus class and Business Law I because of scheduling conflicts.

"If I had just lived a couple miles north and attended the other public high school, Hinsdale Central, in the district, I would have never had this conflict. Central is scheduled to run five sections of Calculus BC and six sections of Business Law I first semester," Galinski said. "It's clear that not only would my schedule have run if I went to Hinsdale Central, there likely would have been multiple ways my courses could have been fulfilled. But because the district discriminates based on resident address, I'm unable to take the courses."

In response, officials said course conflicts happen everywhere. And they pointed to the results of a resident's recent public records request about scheduling conflicts for the fall 2021 semester.

At South, 25 percent of students did not have all their class requests fulfilled for the fall, according to the district's data. Central's percentage was 44 percent for 10th and 11th graders and 25 percent for ninth and 12th graders. It was unclear why the district did not provide apples-to-apples comparisons.

South Principal Arwen Pokorny Lyp said the 25 percent number was the best in the last four years. But she said the percentage was lower, in part, because the school's pool will be out of commission next year. Historically, the limited number of pool classes has created many scheduling conflicts, she said.

The principal did not say how much the lack of a pool may have contributed to the drop or whether South had higher scheduling conflict rates than Central in previous years.

Overall, she described South's master scheduling experience for the fall semester as "very successful."

Assistant Superintendent Chris Covino said the 25 percent rate was the best he had seen in his time building master schedules in three districts.

"I can tell you from that experience, this was a very seamless process," he said. "There will always be conflicts."