How Much Hinsdale D86 Paid To Fight Legal Battle

HINSDALE, IL – Hinsdale High School District 86 spent thousands of dollars to try to prove it could suspend the superintendent behind closed doors.

But the state's Open Meetings Act requires such decisions to be made in public. Patch filed a complaint with the attorney general's office, which determined last month that the district violated the law.

Through a public records request, Patch found the district spent $7,576 in the legal fight. The money went to its law firm, Chicago-based Robbins Schwartz, which advises many school districts.

Patch hired no lawyer to file a complaint. Rather, a reporter spent a couple of hours filing the complaint and replying to the district's official response.

Robbins Schwartz attorney Joseph Perkoski was on hand during the May 2023 closed meeting in which the board decided to suspend then-Superintendent Tammy Prentiss. The board did not reveal its secret decision publicly until the next day. No vote tally was given.

Another Robbins Schwartz attorney, Matthew Swift, handled the response to Patch's complaint. Swift, who specializes in open government issues, argued the board did not take final action.

Last May, a new board majority brought on Robbins Schwartz as the law firm to help with ousting Prentiss. In January, it became the district's main law firm.

With Robbins Schwartz, the district's legal bills have gone up more than 40 percent in the last year, to nearly $600,000.

That's far more than other districts. For instance, Elmhurst School District 205, which has twice the number of students, spent $174,471 on lawyers last year.

As for the attorney general's recent finding, the district has not publicly commented. It has yet to reveal how the vote came down in the May 2023 closed session.

In late June 2023, the board voted for a severance agreement with Prentiss, who received another year's salary. She is now retired, pulling in a $19,000-a-month pension.