No Intimidation: Hinsdale Teachers

HINSDALE, IL — A group of teachers explaining coming changes to the science curriculum at Hinsdale Central and South high schools last week were asked whether the administration pressured them to go in a certain direction with the plan. The teachers said that did not happen.

School board members have bristled at reports on social media that the school administration intimidated science teachers into going along with a plan that students take physics as freshmen, chemistry as sophomores and biology as juniors. This is the reverse of the traditional sequence of science classes, each of which now would include earth science concepts.

This is the sequence that is already in place at South. Now, Central is going along, in part, to align the two schools' curricula. The process of changing the sequence of classes was further explained to the board last week, which prompted members' questions about pressure and intimidation.

David Bonner, a physics teacher at South, said he believed there was an "incredible amount of misinformation out there" about the curriculum changes.

"Internally, I felt no pressure whatsoever. I feel empowered by the administration and school board to do what we feel as professionals who are arguably the most qualified team you could put together," Bonner said.

Alan McCloud, an earth science teacher at Central, said the allegations of intimidation are "pretty incorrect." He said not all teachers favor the changes, but that's to be expected.

"It's early. It's different. People resist change naturally. It's human nature," McCloud said. "We are listening to people around us."

Another Central earth science teacher, Dylan Canavan, also disagreed there was pressure.

"To say that administrators are dictating what we do is completely false," he said, adding that he believed the new sequence would provide students greater understanding of the sciences.

The board approved the curriculum changes in November. In a statement in mid-December, Superintendent Tammy Prentiss said the administrative team did an "ineffective job" in communicating changes to the district's science program.

"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 at the time. "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 last 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.

In her statement, Prentiss said the district would extend the rollout of the changes.