Hinsdale D86's 'Vacation' To Caribbean?

HINSDALE, IL – It wasn't all work for the two Hinsdale High School District 86 officials who traveled last year to the Dominican Republic.

They appeared to have fun, too.

At a school board meeting in January, Superintendent Tammy Prentiss showed a professionally made video that had just been released. She went to the Dominican Republic with board member Terri Walker in October.

The footage showed scenes from what officials referred to as a "service-oriented" trip. That included activities with children, painting of murals and construction work.

But another short video was posted to YouTube shortly after the journey. It showed the fun parts. (It was taken down hours after this story was published.)

The trip was organized by the Illinois Association of School Administrators and EF Educational Tours, which makes money by putting together student trips.

The district paid $1,400 for the two officials to go to the Dominican Republic. The rest apparently was picked up by the trip's three sponsors, which all do much business with schools. Among them was the Hodges Loizzi law firm, which District 86 paid more than $400,000 last year.

On Tuesday, Patch published a story about the law firm's role in the trip.

More than 30 Illinois superintendents and board members took part.

In the other video, participants could be seen having dinner on the beach, some of them with what appeared to be mixed drinks. In another scene, a few posed for a photo holding beers and cocktails.

The video showed the participants taking walking tours in Santiago and Jarabacoa, two cities in the Dominican Republic. They also went on an art walk. At one point, some of the men smoked cigars.

On another day, the participants visited the Salto de Baiguate waterfall. Many wore bathing suits.

Some of the participants also went on a paddleboarding excursion. One woman stood on her head on the board.

For weeks, resident Yvonne Mayer has been emailing the school board about the trip. In a message last week, she commented on the footage that the board was not shown.

"You should all watch the video," Mayer said. "It looks more like a vacation tour to the Dominican Republic than a service trip. Sure, the participants spent some time doing service 'work,' but similar to the mere 8 service hours students can earn over an 8-day trip, one must wonder how many hours the (administrators association's) project participants actually had time for, after spending their days on 'cultural' excursions, including swimming in waterfalls, learning to paddle board, walking tours and art walks in various cities, dinners on the beach, in hotels and enjoying dance shows."

She also said she had not been able to get the trip's itinerary in her requests for public records.

District officials are referring to the trip as an "educational mission." In Tuesday's story, the law firm explained what it saw as the journey's value.

At last month's board meeting, Walker said she believed the district's students would benefit from such "service-oriented" experiences. She recommended the district pursue further discussions with EF Tours.

Prentiss sounded a similar note.

"I will certainly be working with some of the building reps to start thinking about what that may look like and some opportunities in the future for our students," she said.