Second Thoughts On Hinsdale D-86 Board?

HINSDALE, IL – In July, Hinsdale High School District 86 board members appeared to be heading toward a compromise on the controversial issue of the science curriculum.

Now, three of the seven members seem to be moving away from that middle ground.

In fall 2019, the old school board decided to reverse the traditional sequence of science classes. Under the changes, students would take physics as freshmen, chemistry as sophomores and biology as juniors, with each class including earth science concepts.

That plan drew a determined opposition. In the April election, a new majority swept out school board incumbents. The new members questioned the changes to the math and science curriculums.

Earlier this summer, the new board majority did away with the math adjustments. Then they asked for the district to give the costs of offering students both the traditional sequence for science classes and the reversed version.

In the process, the administration produced what was seen as a compromise, which would largely keep the plan for the reversed sequence but give students a few more options – for instance, AP Physics 1. The cost increase would be negligible, officials said.

Offering both sequences was estimated to cost $1.6 million a year.

During a long July 22 board meeting, three members of the new majority, Debbie Levinthal, Jeff Waters and Peggy James, pushed for offering both options. But at the end of the debate, they agreed to explore the compromise. The administration is expected to report back with more details by October.

The fourth new member, board President Terri Walker, also supported looking at the compromise. During the meeting, she seemed to be looking to get a majority to support that option.

The board’s meeting minutes reflect the members’ positions. Those minutes were unanimously approved at last Thursday’s board meeting.

At that same meeting, though, Levinthal, Waters and James appeared to backtrack from their positions in July.

Levinthal said her position had been misrepresented. She said she did not take part in the straw poll at the end of the debate. That is true, but according to the July meeting minutes that she voted to approve, she said the compromise “seems desirable as it seems to address the concerns.”

At Thursday's meeting, she said she feared that the reversed sequence would reduce the content in classes such as physics. At the very least, she said, the district should delay the rollout of the reversed sequence because the pandemic delayed data collection.

Waters said he could “never get behind” the compromise option, although the approved minutes show that he said he could take a look at the compromise.

At the latest meeting, he said the district was playing “hide-and-seek” with cost estimates on offering both sequences. He acknowledged the $1.6 million estimate, but doubted its veracity.

“That was confusing to the community and myself when, in fact, the (biology-chemistry-physics) sequence is fractions of that. Back of the napkin math told me it was a number less than $500,000, and people in the industry smarter than me tell me it’s half that,” Waters said.

He said he demanded to see the data for offering both sequences, which he said the board asked for several times.

James said that from her perspective of the July meeting, the board was exploring either the traditional or reversed sequence.

“This board member expected to have additional conversations as to the administration’s proposals regarding those difference sequences,” James said. “We had not officially voted in my opinion on a definitive sequence one way or another.”

It is true that the board took no official vote, but the minutes show that James indicated in the straw poll that the administration could take a look at the compromise option but that she preferred the traditional sequence. The minutes include no suggestion that she or other board members wanted further exploration into offering both sequences.

The other three board members – Kathleen Hirsman, Erik Held and Cynthia Hanson – are holdovers from the old board that approved the reversed sequence.

According to the July minutes, Hirsman and Hanson both indicated openness to the compromise. Held said he wanted to stick with the original plan. But if his vote were crucial for a majority to support the compromise, it’s likely he would favor such middle ground because it keeps the reversed sequence.

President Walker’s vote may be the pivotal one. If she supports the compromise, then that idea would likely prevail. It would be a significant departure from her election ally, Levinthal.