D-86 Official’s Spouse Blasts District’s Decisions

HINSDALE, IL – A Hinsdale High School District 86 official’s husband last week denounced the district’s new grading policy and the effort to change its science curriculum.

Dan Levinthal, husband of school board member Debbie Levinthal, spoke at a board meeting for School District 181, which serves elementary and middle school students in Hinsdale and Clarendon Hills. He asked District 181 not to be “complicit” in District 86’s actions.

Dan Levinthal’s views reflected his wife’s, but he presented the situation at District 86 as more dire. He even raised the possibility that parents may want to send their children to private school or move away.

He took aim at District 86’s science curriculum plan that is set to start next school year, if the board approves it. Under the changes, students would take physics as freshman, chemistry as sophomores and biology as juniors, with each class including earth science concepts. This sequence would be new for Hinsdale Central, but one that Hinsdale South has followed for years.

Dan Levinthal said the new curriculum reduces content for the freshman physics course, known as Physics in the Universe, and that the district has no data to back up the changes. District officials have denied those allegations.

“I urge 181 parents to get informed and vocal on this shift because with that vote, our children will needlessly become lab rats in the curriculum experiment,” he told the board. “The established, proven, successful curriculum will no longer be available to this year’s eighth-graders and all the children to follow."

Instead, he said, the children would be subject to a watered-down curriculum. He said at least 40 percent of the content in a junior physics course would be missed by freshmen taking an honors Physics in the Universe course – a figure with which District 86 officials disagree.

Under the new grading system, Dan Levinthal said, 90 percent to 100 percent of grades for certain science classes would be dependent on tests. He called that a “radical departure” from District 181. And he said such an emphasis on tests was not “developmentally appropriate.”

“It doesn’t take the whole student into account,” he said. “And to my knowledge, no compelling or supporting data has been presented to back up the practice.”

He said the changes were the result of “mismanagement.” And he said the “Kool-Aid” at District 86 was being served by one employee, whom he did not name. Since 2019, Tammy Prentiss has been the superintendent.

“Now more than ever, it’s critically important for 181 to stay on top of changes at 86 to best empower families to compensate for 86’s race to mediocrity, using our students as test subjects,” Dan Levinthal said. “I wouldn’t fault parents of middle school students exploring private school options or even interviewing Realtors.”

He asked District 181 staff and families to contact the District 86 board directly with their concerns. He said residents should encourage District 86 board members to act on behalf of those they “purportedly” represent.

When a District 181 official asked who residents should call about District 86 issues, Dan Levinthal suggested his wife, Debbie Levinthal, as a starting point. He said they also should contact those in administration.

Meeta Patel, a former District 181 board member, gave up her time during public input so that Dan Levinthal could speak. She said District 86 “has not been fully forthcoming” with information on the changes.

“You may want to look at other sources,” she said.