Look into Hinsdale Central, South Discrepancies: Official

HINSDALE, IL – An interim superintendent at Hinsdale High School District 86 wants the district to start looking into the course discrepancies between Hinsdale Central and South high schools.

Meanwhile, a resident who has long studied the gap brought forward numbers showing how South is on the short end of the stick.

It's hard to get around the basic fact, although school board members rarely mention it: South, which has a greater percentage of low-income students, has fewer choices in courses than the wealthy Central. That's largely because South has half of Central's enrollment.

At Thursday's board meeting, interim Superintendent Linda Yonke suggested the board send the issue to its committees. She said the school should consider sending buses between the two campuses between periods or rotate low-enrollment courses between the schools, among other things.

"Nothing will be brought forward to you for any kind of action until it is fleshed out," Yonke said.

Earlier this year, the district revealed that 16.4 percent of students at South did not get one of their course choices. The rate is 1.5 percent at Central.

Like most district officials, Yonke did not indicate that the discrepancies hurt South the most. But resident Adolph Galinski did so during public comments.

This school year, 64 courses at Central are not being offered at South, Galinski said. By his numbers, the average Central student is taking one course each semester that is not running at South.

He presented a spreadsheet of the 64 courses offered at Central, but not at South (below).

"When will District 86 provide all students in the district equal opportunities in all education programs?" Galinski asked.

Some South residents have suggested a boundary change to equalize enrollments between the schools.

But that idea is considered politically toxic for a school board with a 5-2 majority of members from the Central zone. Residents on the Central side fear their home values would plunge if their properties shifted to the South zone.