When Chris Culen moved into her Willowbrook home 18 years ago, she didn’t give much thought to high school choices.
She knew her subdivision was part of a “buffer zone” created by Hinsdale Township High School District 86, and that meant she could choose whether her children went to Hinsdale Central in Hinsdale or Hinsdale South in Darien.
But what she didn’t anticipate was how the “zone” would come to symbolize some of the deep-seated rivalry between the district’s two schools–part of it natural and some of it springing from the perception that South is the stepchild in a family where Central is the praised and cherished older brother.
“I get frustrated with these comparisons and start tuning people out when they talk about it,” Culen said. “We are one district, even though people forget that. I honestly believe each school has its own problems . . . and its own advantages.”
Culen chose to send her children to Hinsdale South–a daughter who graduated in 1997 and a son who will be a sophomore this fall–based on their desire to attend school with their closest friends. For other families in the buffer zone–a 4-mile strip that runs south of 63rd Street from Cass Avenue on the west to the Tri-State Tollway on the east–the decision may come down to the availability of honors classes or a sports team’s record.
Still, the prestige factor plays a big role in the buffer zone, even for families with no high school-age children and especially for homeowners looking to capitalize on the Hinsdale Central connection. A flier advertising the sale of a $400,000 three-bedroom ranch in Willowbrook mentions three times that the home is in the “Hinsdale Central High School District,” even though the home is really in the buffer zone.
That’s why there was a bit of an uproar three years ago when enrollment surges at Hinsdale Central sparked fears that District 86 officials might convert the optional zone to a mandatory Hinsdale South attendance area. The school board never went that route, choosing instead to spend more than $3.3 million for an addition at Central.
“If I was the superintendent now, I would have never suggested we have a buffer zone,” said John Thorson, who retired in 1994 after 18 years of leading District 86. He proposed the zone in the 1980s as “a neighborly gesture.”
“There’s always a little bit of the perception that South is the hand-me-down school . . . that Central got the best of everything,” Thorson said. “It’s an awfully hard perception to overcome, although the reality is that we funded everything equally.”
A huge part of this perception is linked to test scores. Hinsdale Central consistently ranks among the state’s top schools in standardized tests, usually trailing only Winnetka’s New Trier High School in many academic subjects, and students routinely score in the top 1 percent in the nation on their ACTs.
South is no slouch in the test-score department, also ranking well above state averages on ACTs and state-mandated tests. Officials and parents from both schools believe this disparity is more a reflection of the socioeconomic differences rather than a disparity in the quality of the programs and teachers.
Hinsdale Central draws its students from the wealthy communities of Hinsdale and Oak Brook, along with parts of Clarendon Hills and Westmont. Hinsdale South pulls in families from Darien and parts of Burr Ridge and Willowbrook, which covers anything from million-dollar homes to modest apartments.
But this kind of nuance is often lost in the quest to secure a spot in what is often touted as one of the state’s best public schools, Hinsdale real estate agent Kelley Legner said. She said the school system is a huge selling point in this area, with the Central cachet most important to families who are coming from other Chicago-area communities.
“People have taken this to the extreme . . . they have to have their kids in `the best,'” said Legner, the assistant manager of Coldwell Banker Hinsdale and a mother whose two teenagers attended Hinsdale Central. “I think their kids are going to get a fine education regardless of what school they attend. But the perception has become the reality.”
Minnie Linares waited three years to find an affordable home in an area where her kids could attend Hinsdale Central–even though they were still in grade school and on track to attend a Catholic high school. Her Willowbrook home is in the buffer zone, but she said she never considered sending her kids to South when they decided against Catholic school.
Linares said her kids love the school and she appreciates how involved the parents are and all the academic challenges available. She acknowledged that the school is intensely competitive–her 16-year-old daughter has a 4.3 grade-point average but only ranks in the middle in her 600-student class–but she said this kind of pressure hasn’t discouraged her daughter.
Central Principal Jim Ferguson said he thinks the whole rivalry issue has been blown out of proportion, although he believes the board and district officials take pains to assure parity.
“Central has built a reputation over some 100 years of being a top-notch school, and I’m not going to apologize for that,” Ferguson said. “We’re also very careful to respect the things South has been able to achieve.”
But because South often finds itself in Central’s shadow, every difference can be magnified, school officials say. Why does Central have an honors Latin course? Why does Central get a fancy sign outside with scrolling announcements? Why did Central get its own charitable foundation years before South?
South’s parents even created a citizens advisory group, the focus of which is to ensure that South gets its fair share of District 86 resources. This became an especially sore point in recent years with the completion of the $3 million addition at Central, which some South parents argued would not have been necessary if the school board had redrawn the attendance boundaries and sent more students to South.
Despite the divisions and suspicions, officials say they have made great strides in bringing the school communities together. There was the joint concert last year that brought together musicians and singers from Central and South. As an ongoing project, students from both schools work together on Snowball, an organization that focuses on drug-free lifestyles and building leadership. In the spring, the schools take turns hosting a 24-hour relay event that benefits area charities.
“What I’ve seen since I’ve been on the board are wonderful examples of working together,” said Dorothy Troost, an Oak Brook resident who has been on the District 86 board since 1993. “The cooperation is great and the kids gain a lot from it.”
