Union, Foes Lock Horns At Hinsdale D86 Meeting

DARIEN, IL – About 200 people showed up at the Hinsdale High School District 86 board meeting on Thursday night.

Many were teachers wearing blue shirts with their union logo. The board's defenders were also on hand.

Earlier in the day, the Hinsdale High School Teachers Association issued a news release denouncing the school board and calling for the ouster of board President Catherine Greenspon. The union vowed to pack the meeting room with teachers and residents.

The meeting was originally set for Hinsdale South High School's library, but was moved to the larger venue of the cafeteria

The board heard more than a half hour of public comments at the meeting.

John Bowman, the union's co-president and a Hinsdale Central math teacher, repeated much of the criticism in the earlier news release.

"The current board's recent actions and attitudes have created a pervasive feeling that our educators are not valued stakeholders in District 86," Bowman said. "This is harming our students, and we need to address it."

John Bowman, co-president of the teachers union at Hinsdale High School District 86, criticizes the school board at its meeting Thursday night. (David Giuliani/Patch)

He accused the board of micromanagement. An example, he said, was the board's creation of an academic committee made up of board members.

He also said the board has made "disrespectful and accusatory statements" that counselors and administrators "steer" students toward particular courses. And he said the level of turnover in the district is unprecedented, referring to recent high-profile resignations, some of them abrupt.

Andrew Catton, a Hinsdale resident who ran for the board last year, laid the district's problems at the feet of former Superintendent Tammy Prentiss, whom the board ousted last June. He praised the work of Greenspon and the board.

"We can celebrate the passing of an ideologue from the D86 payroll. Tammy Prentiss, as a symbol of everything gone wrong here since her appointment, is no longer an employee," Catton said. "As more time passes, more of her handpicked associates are following her out the door. What a thing to celebrate. Amen."

Darien resident Noel Manley, whose wife Claudia Manley is a former board member, said it was important for the board to reverse "woke policies." The union, he said, should stay out of politics.

"The teachers union wants to play kingmaker and openly defy the will of the D86 voter," Manley said. "Cat (Greenspon), keep doing what you're doing. The union pulling this nonsense validates what you're doing."

Hinsdale resident Linda Burke, who has been attending board meetings since the 1990s, said she has a natural affinity with unions, including teachers unions.

But Burke said she parted ways with the union on this issue, referring to the presence of so many members as "an evening of mass intimidation." She said the union opposed the board's decisions to offer students more opportunities, including Biology Honors, at Hinsdale South.

Hinsdale resident Carol Park, a former Hinsdale South teacher, said the board is creating a climate that is leading to the resignations of top officials.

"The word is out. And the best candidates will not be applying to such a dysfunctional district. I'm afraid the students will pay the price," she said.

After the public comments, member Jeff Waters said he wanted to hold a closed-door meeting to discuss the union contract. He said he had concerns with it, but he did not explain. (The board entered a four-year contract with teachers in March 2023, giving them raises. That was two months before the new board majority took control.)

Most of the teachers and other audience members had left by the time board members commented on the situation.

Waters noted only a minority of the union's 361 members attended. He said some of the teachers not present have emailed and called him.

"I wanted to be perfectly clear that the teachers who were here this evening do not represent all teachers," Waters said.

He also said the board was not micromanaging.

Board member Terri Walker, who supported former Superintendent Prentiss, had a different view.

"I do believe that this board has a very unfortunate tendency to micromanage the administration," she said. "We have to find a way to stop doing that. We need to be operating at a high level and not digging into the details as much as we have been."

Member Peggy James said she was disappointed by the union's "ambush." She said she found out about its statement earlier in the day when a Patch reporter contacted her for a response.

For the last several months, she said, district officials have met with union representatives during regular meetings. She said her impression was that the sessions were positive.

"The (union) demanding that this board select a new leader is the same as if this board demanded new (union) leadership," James said. "That is not within our purview."

The board later met in a closed session. No decisions were made afterward.

In Illinois, school board members are unpaid.