Hinsdale D-86 Anti-Racism Work Faces Wrath

DARIEN, IL — Hinsdale High School District 86 officials appear undeterred in their plan to find an anti-racism consultant, despite two failed attempts so far this school year.

Two school board members on Thursday questioned the spending for the consultant. But they have not expressed outright opposition to hiring one.

Meanwhile, a group of residents attending school board meetings oppose the idea of an anti-racist consultant. They say such a person would be divisive.

On Thursday, a consultant under consideration for a contract withdrew her proposal, calling Hinsdale "dangerous." She faced opposition after her tweet against Republicans surfaced. And last September, two consultants terminated their anti-racism contract with the district after a controversy involving a tweet seen as anti-police.

Officials said the Cultural and Equity Leadership Team, or CELT, would hold a meeting in February to review the next steps in hiring a consultant, who would train staff about equity issues.

Board member Peggy James asked how much the district would spend on the consultant. Superintendent Tammy Prentiss said the district had not set a number, saying it would seek the committee's input.

During public comments, a couple of residents said the district planned to spend $174,000 over six months on the consultant.

In an email to Patch, the district's spokesman, Chris Jasculca, said that was not correct.

"The scope of the work had not been determined," he said. "Part of the (request for proposals) process was to request pricing on a variety of services. The final scope and pricing were to be determined when the consultant was selected."

When board President Terri Walker tried to close the discussion, member Jeff Waters objected.

"Terri, I do have a few more questions. I understand that you would like to move on. I'm a board member, and other community members have questions. I'm one of those community members," he said.

The audience applauded Waters.

Waters said he was concerned with the spending on the consultant. He noted the board voted last month to approve $4 million in cost overruns for building projects in the summer. And he said board members debated for months on the science curriculum before agreeing to a compromise that resulted in $200,000 in additional spending.

"We worked that hard for that long just to spend $200,000. I think it's important to spend (time) on what sounds like multiples of that on this particular issue," Waters said. "Fiscal prudence is important."

He encouraged transparency in the discussion. He wondered whether next month's committee meeting on the consultant would be livestreamed, but he got no answer.

Board member Cynthia Hanson said she feared asking whether there was a general understanding what the acronym CRT stands for, saying that was a good place to start in the discussion. The audience responded with mocking laughter.

She said in the context of District 86, CRT stands for "culturally responsive teaching," not "critical race theory." The theory has become a lightning rod among conservatives in the last year.

"Equity work is what we want to be done in this district," Hanson said.

"Yeah, we don't," a man in the audience said.

The audience cheered him.

During public comments, about a dozen residents spoke out against the idea of hiring a consultant. After each speaker ended, the audience applauded and cheered.

Resident Ann Huber said to the board, "Please don't waste funds on social engineering."

Another resident, Fred Boshardt, condemned the equity effort.

"The majority of our district is against this far left Marxist ideology," he said. "People want academic excellence."