Hinsdale D-86 Defends Pre-Election Mailer

HINSDALE, IL — The winners in Tuesday's election for the Hinsdale High School District 86 board on Wednesday questioned the timing of a district mailer sent days before voters went to the polls.

However, a district spokesman said the mailer was not timed to correspond with the election. The design, printing and mailing of the document cost about $16,000, according to the district.

The mailer in question was called the "D86 Forward" newsletter. The 16-page document stated the district was seeking to dispel "myths" and "rumors."

In part, the newsletter was about changes to the science and math curriculums since 2019. It also discussed equity between Central and South high schools.

These issues were campaign topics. The four winners — Jeff Waters, Peggy James, Debbie Levinthal and Terri Walker — all have indicated they were unhappy with the changes to the curriculum.

In response to Patch's questions, District 86 spokesman Chris Jasculca said the mailer's timing was unrelated to the election. The plan, he said, was to print the newsletter twice a year — one in the fall-winter and the other in the spring.

The first one came out in January 2020, while the second was set to be sent in March or April last year, Jasculca said. Because of the pandemic, he said, the second edition was delayed to Sept. 15.

"The rumors and myths regarding curriculum alignment were not specific to the election. They are ones we have been working to address in a variety of ways over the past year and a half," Jasculca said in an email.

Jasculca sent Patch a number of links to meeting videos and mass emails to the public that showed the district's attempts to dispel rumors and myths about its proposals over the last year and a half.

In phone interviews Wednesday, the four election winners said they had concerns with the timing of the newsletter. But they said they were willing to hear what the district had to say about it.

"I thought it was a little odd that it landed shortly before the election and that it was used as a way to defend (the district's) current work," Levinthal said.

James said the newsletter was suspect not only because of its timing, but that it was "directly responding to campaign conversations."

Walker called it "curious" that it came out days before the election.

"I think it's something that needs more investigation," she said.

Waters said he did not know the basis for the newsletter.

"However, the timing of this particular mailer was concerning," he said.

The four winners are set to make up a majority of the board. They take office May 3.

School board President Kevin Camden and members Marty Turek and Tamakia Edwards lost in their bids for new terms.