Hinsdale D86 Officials Differ Over Meeting Videos

HINSDALE, IL – Hinsdale High School District 86 board members differ over whether the district should post videos of all board meetings online.

Board President Catherine Greenspon has continued the policy of the old board to not record special meetings.

However, board member Kay Gallo, who voted against Greenspon as president in May, said all meetings should be recorded for public viewing.

Last week, Gallo posted video that she took of Thursday's special meeting on the "D86Return2Excellence" Facebook page. Patch received screenshots of her post, but does not have access to the video. The Facebook page, which has about 400 members, is private.

In her post, Gallo said she was surprised that Greenspon had not arranged for livestreaming or recording of the July 10 meeting because it included discussion items.

But Gallo said she was not prepared to videotape that session. She said she was ready to record three days later.

While the last two boards have shied away from recording special meetings, their predecessors were known to do so. For instance, in January 2019, the board videotaped a rare Saturday special meeting in which it voted on changes to a bond referendum.

For the July 10 meeting, Gallo gave her account of what happened on Facebook. The discussion was about the selection of an interim superintendent.

"A few members did not support the actions of the board members appointed to collaborate with the administration on this process, namely, that outside an open meeting, they identified and initiated a process not approved by the full board," Gallo said.

Gallo and Greenspon did not return messages for comment.

At last week's meetings, the board held closed sessions, with members saying they would discuss issues about specific personnel.

On July 1, Jason Markey became the acting superintendent when he came aboard as the assistant superintendent for academics. The board, though, wants to hire an interim superintendent through June 30, when a permanent superintendent would likely start work.

The district has been without a superintendent since the board decided behind closed doors in mid-May to suspend Superintendent Tammy Prentiss. In late June, she entered a severance agreement with the board.