Hinsdale D86 Board To Choose Leader

DARIEN, IL – The Hinsdale High School District 86 board on Monday plans to choose its president and other officers during a special meeting.

This has taken on special significance because the teachers union took the rare step last week of urging the ouster of the current president, Catherine Greenspon.

Nonetheless, the board is expected to re-elect Greenspon for another year as president. At a meeting earlier this month, four of the board's other six members praised Greenspon after a board critic called for her to be replaced.

The other officers are Vice President Peggy James and Secretary Asma Akhras.

Last week, Patch published a story on the board's policy requiring the election of officers by the end of April during even-numbered years. At the time, the district did not respond to Patch's inquiry about why the officer election wasn't on last Thursday's meeting agenda.

On Sunday, Hinsdale resident Linda Burke, who has attended board meetings since 1997, urged the public to back the board.

"Let's show up in good numbers to support our board members who have been working with the administration to maximize course opportunities for all of our students and ensure sufficient staffing for all," Burke said in her regular email update on school issues. "We in the pro-schools majority support and respect our teachers. We would like to assure our teachers that by maximizing course access for all of our students, we are also respecting our educators and affirming maximum opportunities for our teachers as well."

On Thursday, about 200 people showed up for the board's meeting, many of them blue shirt-wearing teachers union members.

The board meets at 6 p.m. in Hinsdale South High School's cafeteria. Besides the election, the board plans to meet behind closed doors, but has given no specific legal reason for doing so.