The Dispute Over Hinsdale Central’s Homecoming

HINSDALE, IL – Last month, Hinsdale Central High School parents emailed the school board with fears that the school was ending certain homecoming traditions. Officials replied that this was not the case.

“To clarify one thing for sure, we are not eliminating anything from homecoming,” Sally Phillip, Central’s activities director, said in an email to the board.

She said the plan was being updated with the intention of including more of the student body, not just the senior class, in the homecoming celebration.

The issue became public at a school board meeting last month when board member Jeff Waters called for his colleagues to review equity in activities between Central and South high schools. He cited the dispute over homecoming.

In their emails to the board, parents said Hinsdale South was not making such changes to its homecoming festivities. Patch obtained the emails through a public records request.

A resident with a 2021 graduate from Central was under the impression that the school would no longer have a homecoming court. In an email, the parent said students needed a sense of normalcy after a challenging year and a half.

“Many students have not heard about the decision,” the parent said. “Those that do know, do not know how this decision was made, and no explanation has been provided. Were current students included in this decision-making process? Hinsdale South will have a Homecoming Court. Why will Hinsdale South continue this tradition and Hinsdale Central will not?”

A parent with two Central graduates and a current senior also understood that the tradition of the homecoming court was coming to an end.

“The senior class deserves this long-standing tradition to continue just as it has for the past hundreds of years,” the parent said. “Let’s not stymie their enthusiasm or squash their school spirit.”

Another parent suggested a “happy compromise” of some sort.

According to the email exchanges, it appeared as if members of the student council believed they were left out of the loop. Principal Bill Walsh said at the board meeting that the Varsity Club had a big role in homecoming.

In another email to the board, Phillip said a group of students approached her in 2019 with the idea of changing the homecoming court and diversifying the students who are part of the event. The students, she said, were a part of student council and Varsity Club and have since graduated.

She said no plan exists to do away with the court. She said the plan was to make it “fun and inclusive” and honor Central’s traditions in a new light.

The emails happened in the day before the Aug. 26 board meeting.

After Waters spoke out, Principal Walsh pleaded with the board to let the school handle the issue.

"I wish these issues would start in the building, so we can resolve them and ease tensions, instead of raising everyone's anxiety and what feels like mistrust on the matter," Walsh said.

Waters relented and withdrew his proposal for a review of activities.