Hinsdale Superintendent Apologizes For 'Ineffective Job'

HINSDALE, IL — The head of the Hinsdale Township High School District on Thursday apologized for the administrative team's "ineffective job" in communicating changes to the district's science program. Last month, the school board approved the controversial changes, in part, to align the curricula at Central and South high schools.

"I want to apologize for the ineffective job our administrative team did of communicating about this important topic," Superintendent Tammy Prentiss said in a mass email Thursday morning. "By not undertaking these efforts until a few months ago, we created a great deal of unnecessary confusion, concern and angst for our current and future families."

Prentiss, who was hired as superintendent earlier this year, said the district did a "disservice" to the district's teachers, who spent hundreds of hours on the effort. She pledged to work closely with teachers and be more proactive and thoughtful in communicating changes to programs.

Under the plan approved last month, students would take physics as freshmen, chemistry as sophomores and biology as juniors. That is a reverse of the traditional sequence of science classes. Each of the classes, the district said, would include earth science concepts.

The district said that besides aligning curricula, it also wanted to increase student exposure to core sciences and enroll them in more than the required two years of science, noting many colleges suggest three years.

The curriculum changes drew a storm of opposition, with many parents speaking out at recent board meetings. They questioned the wisdom of requiring physics in the first year of high school, rather than in the later years.

The parents also argued the plan was effectively removing classes from Central to bring equity with South. If anything, they said, the district should add classes at South, rather than removing them from Central.

In her statement, Prentiss said the district would extend the rollout of the changed sequence of science classes by a year. This means that ninth-graders in the 2020-21 and 2021-22 school years would have the option of enrolling in either physics or biology.

The new sequence, Prentiss said, would be fully carried out by the 2022-23 school year. "By extending the rollout by a year, we will have additional time to help students and their families make the transition to the new sequence," she said.

Prentiss said the district would add general-level biology classes for freshmen at Central during the 2020-21 and 2021-22 school years.

"This will help ensure that all of our rising ninth-grade students, regardless of their learning needs or backgrounds, have the option of taking biology during the rollout period," Prentiss said.

This change will be presented to the school board during one of its meetings in January, Prentiss said.

The superintendent acknowledged it was unusual to make such an announcement amid final exams in the week before winter break.

One of the reasons was that Central was holding a family night Jan. 8, so the district wanted to give families enough time to discuss options before that event. The other reason, she said, was the district would work on staffing plans soon after the winter break.

Prentiss said she still strongly believed in changing the sequence of science classes, all of which include earth science concepts.

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.