South And Central Voters Split Sharply: Analysis

HINSDALE, IL — The big story of the April election for Hinsdale High School District 86 was that a new majority took over the board. But the details of the results tell a tale of two schools.

The four winners — Jeff Waters, Peggy James, Debra Levinthal and Terri Walker — did well in the Central High School part of the district. But they lagged behind in the smaller South High School zone. This is according to an analysis of the voting results by Alan Hruby. He is a Burr Ridge resident who has studied issues between Central and South and argued South gets the short end of the stick.

The election included 10 candidates for four seats. If only the South results counted, none of the overall winners would have joined the board. In South precincts, the winners were incumbent Tamakia Edwards (16 percent), Mark Pinnow (15 percent), Kevin Camden (12 percent) and Justin Baron (12 percent). All four are from the South zone.

The other six candidates live in the Central zone. In that area, the four victors easily prevailed in the election — Waters (19 percent), James (18 percent), Debra Levinthal (17 percent) and Terri Walker (14 percent). The two remaining candidates — incumbent Marty Turek and newcomer Karen Shannon — performed poorly in both zones.

Baron finished last among the candidates in the Central Zone. A 2017 graduate of South, Baron, like many South residents, argued his alma mater offers fewer courses than Central because its enrollment has dwindled to half that of Central's.

Baron favored a boundary change between Central and South to increase South's enrollment. This is considered a no-go for many Central residents, who fear their property values would plunge if they were brought into the South zone. Central is based in Hinsdale, one of the wealthiest towns in the United States.

In a forum, candidates were asked whether they were open to a boundary change. Baron was the only one who raised his hand. Then-board President Camden did not attend. At a board meeting last year, Camden, an attorney, suggested legal barriers stand in the way of some residents' desires to redraw the boundary. He did not give any further explanation and did not return Patch's messages about the issue.

Despite Camden's position, the district's lawyers said at the same meeting that the board could use a number of justifications to shift the boundary. Among them are socioeconomic status, school capacity, the boundaries of feeder elementary districts, geographic closeness of students and number of students in a neighborhood.

South voters have less pull in elections than their Central counterparts because most of the population appears to be in the Central zone. In the April 6 election, 40 percent of votes came from South precincts, according to Hruby's analysis.