Hinsdale 86 Official Apologizes For Lack Of Explanation

DARIEN, IL — A Hinsdale High School District 86 board member apologized late last month for failing to give an explanation for her vote against a new math curriculum supported by teachers and administrators.

At a board meeting, member Peggy James, who was elected in April, said it was an oversight not to give the public her reasoning in voting with the majority at a meeting in early June. She said she had faith in both administrators and teachers to serve students along the entire educational spectrum.

James praised the administration for being "very generous" with its time and energy in making presentations about the integrated math curriculum, which the old board approved last October.

"My vote was simply an indication against integrated math as the sole path for our district," James said. "In my opinion, integrated math only addresses the needs of a few segments along the educational spectrum. I was very uncomfortable with the proposal in that I didn't feel that it was supporting all 4,000 students' needs, and it presented some new risks that were not addressed."

James joined Debbie Levinthal, Terri Walker and Jeff Waters in reversing the board's previous decision. All were elected in April. The board's holdovers, Kathleen Hirsman, Cynthia Hanson and Erik Held, were in the minority.

The new curriculum was set to start in fall 2022. It called for rearranging the math curriculum so that courses link to each other in terms of knowledge and skills. For instance, students would be able to take two periods of math in their sophomore year, which would allow them to take an advanced level math class their senior year.

The integrated curriculum was created after a long process involving math teachers.