Unusually Short Meeting For Hinsdale D86

HINSDALE, IL – The Hinsdale High School District 86 board met for all of 55 minutes Thursday night.

For some public bodies, that would be ordinary. For the seven-member board, though, it was the fourth shortest regular meeting in five years.

The last time the board had a shorter meeting was in April 2021, just before four new board members took office. The meeting lasted 51 minutes.

The other short meetings in recent times were in April 2020 (45 minutes) and February 2019 (36 minutes).

Three of the new board members who took office in 2021 disagreed with the board majority on a number of issues, including the science curriculum. They also expressed unhappiness with the administration.

Debates since then have lasted well into the night, sometimes more than five hours. In late 2021, two board members got into a confrontation after a meeting. It was shortly before midnight.

At Thursday's meeting, board President Erik Held noted the board was adjourning before 7 p.m. Board member Debbie Levinthal joked they could hold off for a few minutes to make it to 7 p.m. Held replied in kind, saying he needed to catch something on TV.

After the board voted to adjourn, Held announced it was 6:56 p.m. The audience clapped.

Held and majority members Kathleen Hirsman and Cynthia Hanson are not running again in the April 4 election.

Three of the five candidates are critics of the administration. The remaining candidate's views are publicly unknown. Three seats are available.

Meetings may be relatively quiet until a new majority takes office in May, with possibly all but one of the members critical of the administration.

The recent quiet is a far cry from a year ago, when many residents expressed opposition to the district's mask mandate and handling of an anti-racism consultant.