Problem Much Worse At Hinsdale South High: Stats

HINSDALE, IL – Hinsdale High School District 86 board members talked last week about how scheduling conflicts prevent students from taking the classes they want.

But they avoided the underlying issue – the problem is much worse at one of the two high schools, Hinsdale South.

At Thursday's meeting, board member Debbie Levinthal proposed the formation of a task force to find "creative solutions" to deal with scheduling conflicts.

She has been pushing this idea since 2021. This was after South students complained they were seeing more scheduling conflicts than their counterparts at Hinsdale Central.

At the meeting, Levinthal noted two courses that have been offered at Hinsdale South but not at Hinsdale Central – American Sign Language and Human Anatomy. (Anatomy is set to be offered next year at Central.)

She mentioned no examples of courses that are at Central but not at South.

According to the district's data, 16.4 percent of students at South last year were denied one of their course selections. At Central, 1.5 percent of students experienced the same problem.

Six of the seven board members, including Levinthal, come from the Central zone.

South is about half the size in enrollment as Central. So more classes are canceled because of insufficient enrollment.

South residents have pushed the idea of changing the boundary to equalize enrollments. But Central residents near the border fear their property values would plunge if they become part of the South zone.

This may be why Levinthal and her colleagues appear to follow the unwritten rule of avoiding discussions of boundary changes.

In her comments, Levinthal said the district should search for solutions that could reduce the problem of scheduling conflicts.

"I don't think we're ever going to eliminate the problem," she said. "We know that's not going to happen when we're making schedules for 2,500 kids in one building and 1,300 students in another."

She continued, "We know we have students who want to take classes that are only offered on one campus, and that it doesn't fit in their schedules on the other campus."

She proposed that the task force consider staggered schedules, so students wouldn't lose a whole period if they choose to take a class on the other campus.

She also noted suggestions that the district could offer certain classes remotely, where a teacher alternates in-person delivery between the two campuses.

Board member Terri Walker said the recently negotiated teachers union contract may prevent some of the proposed changes.

Superintendent Tammy Prentiss said such revisions must be negotiated.