Civil Rights Complaint Against District 86 Dismissed

DARIEN, IL — A complaint to the Federal Office for Civil Rights regarding District 86 discriminating against Hinsdale South students has been dismissed. The complaint had been filed by the village of Burr Ridge, and village board member Zach Mottl had voiced his support numerous times for the complaint.

The complaint had stated that students "have experienced and continue to experience unlawful discrimination based upon the fixing of unlawful attendance boundaries...and the curricular disparity between Hinsdale Central and Hinsdale South." According to the complaint, Hinsdale Central has a predominantly white and more affluent population within its boundaries. Hinsdale South has a population of "lower socioeconomic means" and a higher concentration of black and Hispanic students.

According to the response from the OCR, the complaint's allegations failed to state a claim under statues and regulations enforced by OCR.

The complaint also stated, "While there are disproportionately more African-American and Hispanic students living in the South attendance area, the difference is relatively small, and white students predominate in both school zones."

The letter shows a review of the district's enrollment by race which lists that 55.9 percent of students at South are white and 71.4 percent of students at Central are white.

"...OCR is dismissing your allegations that the district is discriminating based on race in its allocation of education resources," the response read.

Board president Bill Carpenter addressed the dismissal of the complaint and spoke out against Burr Ridge board member Mottl at the Oct. 1 board meeting.

Carpenter said the board's legal counsel had to send a FOIA request for the dismissal letter that was sent to Mottl. The letter was sent to Mottl on Aug. 24, and the district received the response on Sept. 19.

"Ask yourselves why Zach Mottl and his supposed committee never came forward to report that their claim was rejected. Could it be that he wanted to continue this false narrative against his alma mater and District 86?" Carpenter said.

"We said from the beginning this was nonsense. We knew as soon as they started with their false accusations that their complaint was meritless because it was not based on fact," Carpenter added. "It just took some time for the Office of Civil Rights to say what we already knew. Zach Mottl’s complaint against District 86 was nonsense."

Carpenter concluded by saying, " For my part, I am proud to stand side by side with the students, our teachers and the vast majority of taxpayers of District 86 who want to see our schools succeed and who understand that strong, successful schools are something the community should cherish and celebrate, not attack using fake facts."

Image via District 86.