Hinsdale D-86 Winners Spent Big Money In Election

HINSDALE, IL — The winners in Tuesday's election for the Hinsdale High School District 86 board spent big money for such a race. One duo of candidates spent more than $25,000.

The winners were newcomers Jeff Waters with 4,198 votes, Peggy James with 4,129, Debbie Levinthal with 3,929 and Terri Walker with 3,243. Following were Tamakia Edwards with 2,820 votes, Mark Pinnow with 2,753, Kevin Camden with 2,182, Karen Shannon with 2,122, Justin Baron with 1,831 and Marty Turek with 1,656.

The top two candidates, Waters and James, combined forces and spent nearly $26,000 in the last quarter, which ended March 31, out of $28,000 raised, according to state Board of Elections records. The expenditures were for mailers, telephone polling and newspaper ads, among other things.

The third and fourth finishers, Levinthal and Walker, also teamed up and spent $13,000 for mailers and newspaper ads.

The donations for the winners mainly came from Hinsdale, as opposed to other parts of the district.

The losing candidates filed no reports with the elections board, indicating they never reached the $5,000 threshold for reporting.

Camden is the school board president, and Edwards and Turek are board members. The other members are Kathleen Hirsman, Cynthia Hanson and Erik Held. Member Keith Chval, whose term is expiring, decided against running again.

Although the incumbents apparently spent little in their campaigns, the district sent a mailer to its residents days before the election promoting the district's decisions in the last few years. District officials have not returned messages for comment about the mailer.

In an email to Patch last week, Burr Ridge resident Alan Hruby, who has been vocal on equity for South High School, questioned the timing of the newsletter.

"If I were a candidate running against the incumbents, I would be displeased with the use of taxpayer funds to reframe and discredit my objections without giving me an opportunity to reach the same audience of 35,000 households and businesses with my side of the story, especially with an election imminent," Hruby said.

The four winners have been critical of changes in the district's science and math curriculums. Given they will form a majority of the new board, it's likely the new president will be among Tuesday's winners. They take office in early May.

Camden and others came onto the board as proponents of a proposed $140 million referendum for school improvements. It passed in April 2019, removing an issue of contention.

Of the 10 candidates in this year's election, eight said they supported the referendum. Baron said he did not, while Shannon would not say in response to a Patch questionnaire.

'It's inappropriate'

On the controversial issues, the board has been united. The battle over changing the sequence of science classes became particularly heated,

In December 2019, the board's then-President Nancy Pollak cut off people during public input who were reading a letter about how a school official took a different position on cutting course offerings in another district but supported doing so in District 86. Pollak said she would bar people from talking about specific personnel during their speeches, although the board had previously allowed singling out employees for praise.

"It's inappropriate. I'm sorry," Pollak told one of the speakers.

"I'm sorry, too. You're violating my First Amendment rights," the speaker replied.

Pollak suggested the speakers file a complaint. They took Pollak's advice and filed a federal lawsuit. Last May, the district settled it, saying it was wrong to silence the speakers. The district picked up both sides' legal bills, amounting to nearly $50,000. A few weeks later, Pollak resigned, effective immediately, saying she was moving to another state. The board unanimously appointed Camden, a lawyer, as the new president.

'Tired' Of Complainers

In the wake of the science curriculum debate a few months earlier, Camden announced he would no longer answer constituents' emails, saying he would refer them to a school spokesman. He said a few of his emails had been "bastardized" and used to support people's personal issues related to the board. Camden later told Patch he had backed away from that policy, answering some emails.

In September, Camden announced he would move public comment to the end of hours-long meetings — after the board had taken action on issues on its agenda. Before, it had been near the beginning.

"I've said this for a number of years. I'm tired of folks coming in and complaining and not listening as we go through the meeting to answer the questions we have," Camden said following public input. "So we'll move audience communications to the end. If we answer the questions, great. If we don't, the board will have the opportunity to address them at the end of the meeting, and that's the way it's going to be moving forward until there's a new chair."

No board member publicly questioned the new policy. In February, Camden, seeking re-election, moved back public comment to its original position on meeting agendas.

'Ineffective job'

As for the science and math changes, much of the opposition is on the Central side of the district. The most controversial adjustment was reversing the traditional sequence of science classes, moving physics to the freshman year.

Of the candidates, Levinthal, Walker and Shannon are the most vocal against the curriculum changes. Waters and James questioned the math changes in particular.

The others made little mention of the changes in their Patch questionnaires.

At a Dec. 12, 2019, meeting, the board approved the revisions to the science curriculum. This was the same meeting where the board cut off dissenters.

A week later, Superintendent Tammy Prentiss conceded in a statement that the district was to blame for problems in presenting the changes.

"I want to apologize for the ineffective job our administrative team did of communicating about this important topic," she said. "By not undertaking these efforts until a few months ago, we created a great deal of unnecessary confusion, concern and angst for our current and future families."

Prentiss, who was hired as superintendent in mid-2019, said the district did a "disservice" to the district's teachers, who spent hundreds of hours on the effort. She pledged to work closely with teachers and be more proactive and thoughtful in communicating changes to programs.

'Underutilized' South

One of the most emotional issues in District 86 is the possibility of changing the boundary between Central and South. South's enrollment has been falling for years. Its enrollment is now only half of Central's. As a result, critics say, South offers fewer courses than Central. They suggest changing the boundary as a solution, so more students would attend South.

The largely unspoken issue involved with a boundary change is property values. Central is in Hinsdale, one of the wealthiest towns in the United States, while South is in Darien. Central is seen as the higher-performing school, so Central residents near the boundary fear their property values would plunge if they are moved into South's zone.

At a meeting last year, Camden, who has three children at South, suggested legal barriers stand in the way of some residents' desire to redraw the boundary between Central and South.

"The reality is comments about redrawing boundary lines and other things ignore the legal requirements that this board has discussed for three years that I have been on the board," he said.

He did not detail the legal requirements, though the district's lawyers at the same meeting said the board could change the boundary for a number of reasons, including socioeconomics.

In a virtual campaign forum in February, District 86 candidates were asked to raise their hands if they supported revisiting the attendance zones. Just one hand went up — Baron's. (Camden did not take part, citing a family obligation.)

Later in the forum, Baron, a 2017 South graduate, expressed the concern of others in the South area.

"There is a reason there is declining enrollment at South. That's because the attendance zone hasn't changed," Baron said. "The attendance zones are set up for Central to be overcrowded and South to be underutilized."

In his Patch questionnaire, Camden indicated an openness to a boundary change.

"As we move forward post-pandemic, the district needs to understand what is happening — and why — regarding attendance and how those trends are impacting the district," he said. "If the continuing work with the strategic plan indicates an in-depth review of attendance boundaries may provide great curriculum alignment and equity, among other factors, it should be considered."