Dispute That Caused Hinsdale D86 Walkout Resolved

HINSDALE, IL – After a months-long battle, a majority of the Hinsdale High School District 86 board last week approved the closed session minutes from three meetings in February.

The approval of minutes is typically routine and without debate.

In this case, though, a dispute over the three sets of minutes prompted the walkout of the three-member board minority in late June. They left as the board majority appeared poised to reject the minutes.

The meeting immediately ended because the board lacked the required number of members in person. (A fourth member took part remotely.)

The minutes in question were drafted by the board secretary, Peggy James. She said at the time that board President Erik Held made hundreds of changes to the documents, many of them material.

The sessions in question were held at the height of opposition to Superintendent Tammy Prentiss, who was criticized over the mask mandate and an anti-racist consultant who called Hinsdale dangerous.

In August, the board's minority voted against minutes drafted by the new board secretary, Terri Walker. Member Jeff Waters decried the minutes as "revisionist history," while Held questioned the minority's motives.

At Thursday's meeting, only Walker and member Kathleen Hirsman voted down the closed session minutes. Walker said she did so because there was an "opportunity to refine the information." Hirsman did not comment.

Held said the board received "conflicting and then revised legal advice" on the drafting of closed session meeting minutes. Previous sets of closed session minutes, he said, would come back before the board because of the revised guidance.

James praised the board's vote in favor of the minutes.

"I'm glad the closed session meeting minutes were finally approved," James said. "I would note that they were refined and updated, and there were quite a few modifications made."