Hinsdale Science Changes Draw Protests

HINSDALE, IL — The Hinsdale Township High School District last week approved changes to its science curriculum that critics say would reduce offerings for students. But district officials said they wanted to align the courses at Central and South high schools. Under the new plan, students would take physics as freshmen, chemistry as sophomores and biology as juniors. Each of those classes would include earth science concepts.

In its plan, the school district says it not only seeks to align offerings, but also to increase student exposure to core sciences and enroll them in more than the required two years of science. Many colleges suggest three years of science.

Opponents said the curriculum's goal of alignment meant removing classes from Central.

"Do you really think Central is given preferential treatment? If so, we should offer what's preferred to everyone," a woman told the board last week during public input.

The district, she said, should add classes, instead of taking them away from Central's nationally recognized science, technology, engineering and mathematics, or STEM, program.

Others said the district rushed the changes and excluded science teachers from the planning.

Even former students weighed in. A mother read a letter by 2017 Central graduates Megan Guenther and Julia Clarke, now juniors at MIT. Both argued against the science changes. In particular, they said the district should not do away with the honors earth science class, which they largely credited for their success at MIT. They took 10 different science classes at Central.

"The strong earth science program makes (the school) unique," the letter said.

However, school board members defended the district's plan. They pointed to a 13-member science program committee that took part in the process. It consists of eight science teachers and five administrators.

Anther school board member, Marty Turek, acknowledged the process moved too quickly under former Superintendent Bruce Law, who resigned after the end of last school year, but his replacement, Tammy Prentiss, slowed it down. Turek said the district has been open with the community about the science changes.

Board member Cynthia Hanson said it was not "audacious or outrageous" to align the schools' curricula. And member Erik Held said the new sequence of classes made sense.

"The way we have ignored physics as a country and pushed it to the end of the high school experience is robbing us of an understanding of foundational knowledge of science," Held said.

The school board unanimously voted for the new curriculum later in its meeting.

Officials said the changes would be phased in, with current students allowed to continue on their science tracks. Starting in the 2021-2022 school year, all freshmen will be required to take physics or honors physics.

According to the Illinois Report Card, Central and South are not far apart in their performance on the Illinois Science Assessment. Last school year, 70 percent of Central students were deemed proficient in science, compared with 61 percent at South. The state average is 49 percent.

The difference may be explained by demographics, rather than curricula. Only 6 percent of Central students come from low-income families, significantly lower than the 27 percent at South, according to state figures.

Central also has nearly twice the enrollment of South — 2,728 to 1,420, according to figures from last school year.

The school district serves students in Hinsdale, Clarendon Hills, Darien, Burr Ridge and Oak Brook.