Pay Raise For Hinsdale D86 Superintendent

HINSDALE, IL – A divided Hinsdale High School District 86 board last week approved a pay raise for Superintendent Tammy Prentiss.

Prentiss' salary was increased to $277,471. It's a 5 percent hike that amounts to more than $13,000.

Members Erik Held, Kathleen Hirsman, Cynthia Hanson and Terri Walker approved the increase. Peggy James and Debbie Levinthal voted against it.

Member Jeff Waters, who was absent, would likely have joined the opponents. Last year, he, Levinthal and James opposed a 1.4 percent increase for Prentiss.

On Thursday, board members did not discuss the issue before voting.

The vote is another indication of the headwinds that Prentiss will face in her final year as superintendent.

The terms for three of the four board members who supported the raise are ending Wednesday.

The incoming members are Kay Gallo, Catherine Greenspon and Asma Akhras. Gallo and Greenspon are critics of the superintendent.

Last year, Gallo launched an online petition calling for Prentiss' ouster that collected more than 2,000 signatures. (Gallo closed the petition April 5, the day after the election, saying it was inappropriate to continue it given she was a board member-elect.)

Despite protests, the board in January extended Prentiss' contract for another month, to July 31, 2024. Nearly all administrator contracts in Illinois end on June 30, the end of the budget year. At the time, board member Waters, who opposed the extension, called it a "bridge to retirement."

The other approved change to Prentiss' contract shields her from getting fired over the investigation into last year's controversy involving anti-racist consultant Valda Valbrun. Prentiss' handling of that matter sparked a movement to fire her.