Hinsdale D86 Official To Keep Promise

DARIEN, IL – Catherine Greenspon, Hinsdale High School District 86's board president, is keeping her campaign promise to record all board meetings.

It had been questioned whether she would follow through on her stated desire in the campaign to carry through with recordings.

For weeks, board member Kay Gallo pressed the board to do so, something both Gallo and Greenspon pledged to support during a candidate forum earlier this year.

Since a new majority took control of the board in early May, members have held 10 special meetings, an unusually high number. During this time, the board suspended and then ousted the superintendent.

Gallo said she was surprised the district did not record the July 10 special meeting, when members discussed the process to pick an interim superintendent.

So she took matters into her hands three days later and recorded the next special meeting herself. The six-minute recording has since been released in response to a public records request.

The board's policy had been to record meetings that were "predominantly" open discussions, not closed sessions. But Gallo and member Debbie Levinthal questioned that standard.

"Predominantly is somewhat subjective," Levinthal said. "Sometimes you don't know if it's predominant until you have the meeting."

Members generally agreed the board should have an employee audio record special meetings with a laptop.

Greenspon asked interim Superintendent Linda Yonke to reiterate the direction that was given.

"Every special meeting, we'll make sure it's recorded," Yonke said.

In May, the board agreed to start recording its committee meetings in July.

Editor's note: A previous version of this story incorrectly quoted board member Debbie Levinthal as saying, "Predominantly is somewhat objective." She actually used the word "subjective."