How Hinsdale D-86's 'Antiracist' Pacts Crumbled

HINSDALE, IL — In mid-August, the Hinsdale High School District 86 board voted 5-2 for contracts with two "antiracist" consulting firms, paying them $52,000 for staff training.

Within a couple of weeks, support for the contracts crumbled as residents emailed board members, saying a tweet from one of the consultants outraged them.

Through a public records request with District 86, Patch obtained emails from officials and constituents about the contracts. Residents objected to a retweet from Christine Saxman that read, "Cops quitting because they won't get vaxxed feels like a real two-birds-one-stone situation."

According to district documents, the consultants, Saxman Consulting and Anew Collective Consulting, received $31,000 last school year to provide staff "antiracist" and "equity" training.

On Aug. 31, Held, who voted for the contracts, emailed his colleagues with the tweet in question.

"There is a (F)acebook group (one user in particular) that's sharing screenshots of her and her partner's tweets from over the years," Held wrote.

On Sept. 6, board member Jeff Waters, who voted against the contracts in the first place, emailed his colleagues and asked for a special board meeting before the regular one on Sept. 16. He apparently wanted to discuss the contracts. He said he made another request a week earlier, but the district did not provide that message to Patch.

Waters said members Erik Held and Cynthia Hanson indicated they favored waiting until the regular meeting, while he had not heard from board President Terri Walker or member Kathleen Hirsman. He did not indicate how members Peggy James and Debbie Levinthal had responded, although they have been his allies on a number of issues lately.

Three days before Waters' message, Walker indicated in an email to the board that three members expressed an interest in holding a special meeting on the consultant contracts. But she said it would not be possible to have full participation Sept. 7, which was Waters' first suggested day. She said the issue would be on the Sept. 16 agenda.

The special meeting never happened.

On Sept. 16, the board voted unanimously for terminating the contracts.

Before that, members received numerous complaints about Saxman's retweet. The emails started arriving in the last days of August. Residents called the tweet offensive, saying it was anti-police. And they criticized Superintendent Tammy Prentiss for bringing the contracts to the board in the first place.

They also took aim at the legal review of the contract, noting it contained no termination clause.

The document stated, "Upon full execution of this agreement, the Organization is responsible for the payment of the Consulting Fee, regardless of whether it proceeds with the Consulting Services."

The district was able to terminate the contracts with the consultants because both sides signed an agreement to do so. No services were rendered, and no money changed hands, officials said.

Termination clauses are not unusual. In the last couple of months, Elmhurst School District 205 entered two consultant contracts, both of which included such clauses.

Patch sought the consultants' written communications to the district related to the tweet and the termination. Nothing turned up. Apparently, their communications with district officials were over the phone.