Ex-Hinsdale D86 Leader Denounces Board

HINSDALE, IL – The former president of the Hinsdale High School District 86 board last week suggested the new board was pursuing a "power grab to make a small group of angry residents happy."

Former President Erik Held, whose term ended May 3, made his first public statement about how he thinks the new board majority is doing – in short, not well.

Patch left a message with board President Catherine Greenspon, who has not returned calls for a month.

In an email to the school board, Held noted its five special closed meetings since taking office.

After the second one, Superintendent Tammy Prentiss was suspended and Assistant Superintendent Chris Covino was named acting superintendent. The board never took an initial public vote on either decision, even though state law requires one.

In his statement to the board, Held said he sees a race to action to undo and reshape the district based on a "limited vision."

"As Board members, you are responsible not to your fundraisers or a Facebook group with less than 400 members, but the wider community, the thousands of kids studying now and who will pass through these halls in the future," Held said. "You need to ask yourselves if the path you are putting the District on is what you most want, or what the District needs."

He continued, "From my perspective and given where I recently sat, I see a power grab to make a small group of angry residents happy, folks who really only started to care about D86 when there were masks to yell about or diversity consultants to bully or one school’s 'traditions' to defend," Held said.

In January, Held and the board majority amended Prentiss' contract to prevent her from being fired based on the investigation of her controversial handling of an anti-racist consultant last year.

The board also extended her contract by a month to July 31, 2024.

Last month, a new board majority hired a special counsel to look into an employee, likely Prentiss. In his statement, Held indicated he believed the counsel was conducting a new inquiry into the same controversy.

"What worries me is the negative perception prospective candidates might have of being an employee in this district, especially given the 'damn the torpedoes' rush to suspend, investigate (again) and fire Tammy," Held said.

Held referred to the decision on Prentiss' suspension without an initial public vote.

"We know proper procedure wasn’t followed, and likely several (Open Meetings Act) violations took place," Held said. "What message does this send to the next leader of D86? I don’t think it’s a good one, and it hardly starts an orderly transition."

Despite repeated requests, the district has not revealed information on the board's authority to suspend Prentiss without a vote. The board did not publicly vote on Prentiss' suspension and Covino's appointment until nine days later.