Fairness Pushed For All Hinsdale D86 Students

DARIEN, IL – A longtime watchdog over Hinsdale High School District 86 last week called for "creative solutions" to ensure students at both high schools have access to all courses.

At a school board meeting, Burke recommended the board look at offering remote connections for students on each campus who want to take courses at the other.

Under such a program, Burke said, no school should bear the brunt of remote courses. Rather, such learning should be evenly divided between the campuses, she said.

She called for the district to pilot a program next fall, involving one or a few courses.

"Any minute some kids can't take a course that their parents are paying taxes for is one minute too long," said Burke, who has attended board meetings since the 1990s.

The remote courses would be mainly advanced or electives, she said.

"These courses, by their very nature, enroll students who are motivated to take the class," said Burke, a Hinsdale resident. "Motivated persons have no trouble learning remotely."

She said other solutions could be reserving one period a day for a shuttle bus between the campuses and paying teachers stipends to teach extra classes that would otherwise be too small to offer.

Board members don't respond to public comments. But member Debbie Levinthal has long called for a discussion on creative solutions to eliminate the disparity.

In District 86, Hinsdale Central offers a greater selection of courses than Hinsdale South because Central's enrollment is nearly twice South's.

Some South residents suggest changing the attendance boundary between the two schools to equalize enrollments. But Central residents near the current border fear their home values would fall if the line shifted north.

Board members largely steer away from discussions about boundary changes. However, Cynthia Hanson, the only member from the South zone, occasionally brings up the topic.