Shifting Alliances On Hinsdale D-86 Board?

DARIEN, IL — Hinsdale High School District 86 board members Debbie Levinthal and Terri Walker ran as a team in the April election. They filed joint reports with the state elections board, meaning they raised money for their campaigns together.

At their first meeting in May, it took the board 10 ballots before it settled on a president. Through all those votes, Levinthal backed Walker.

They were new to the board. And so were members Jeff Waters and Peggy James, who also ran as a team. James voted for Waters for president.

The three board holdovers were Kathleen Hirsman, Erik Held and Cynthia Hanson. Their presidential candidate was Hirsman.

In the end, Walker won when James and Hanson switched their votes to her side.

Lately, though, Levinthal appears to be moving toward James and Waters, while Walker is siding with the holdovers.

That could have significance for Superintendent Tammy Prentiss' job security as well as the changes to the science program, largely enacted by the old board.

In July, all the board members appeared to support a compromise that appeared to keep intact much of what the former board changed. At a meeting the next month, Levinthal, James and Waters wanted to reopen the debate. But Walker rejected that idea.

Levinthal said the board would need a five-minute discussion to clarify its direction to the administration.

"I will not agree to a discussion," Walker said. "I think we have to move to the next agenda item."

And she did.

At the beginning of Thursday's board meeting, Levinthal immediately called for the board to hold a closed session. That was apparently to discuss personnel issues associated with "equity" consulting contracts that the board was poised to terminate.

Walker noted the audience and said it was best to hold such a session at the end of the meeting.

During a discussion of the annual budget, Levinthal brought up the "equity" contracts.

Walker stopped her.

"That's not germane to what we're discussing here," she said.

Near the end of the meeting, the board voted unanimously to terminate the contracts because of a controversial tweet by one of the consultants.

But Waters pushed to get questions answered about how the district chose the consultants in the first place. Levinthal also wanted information.

Then the board voted 4-3 to hold a closed session. Levinthal was in favor, Walker against.

The apparently shifting alliances could be good news for Prentiss. Often, new board majorities like to hire their own superintendents.

In November, a unanimous board gave Prentiss, hired as superintendent in 2019, a three-year contract, lasting through June 2024. Her administration was the one that put together the new science and math curriculums that the new majority disliked.

As for the science curriculum, Walker is the only new member who has yet to publicly express reservations about the board's direction in July to keep the reversed science class sequence, with some adjustments. With that curriculum, the old board's decision would mostly stay in place. This issue was hotly debated in 2019.