Hinsdale High School District 86 Board members started from scratch when they discussed the idea of creating an attendance advisory committee.
Board President Kay Gallo acknowledged the first step is “to define the problem we are trying to solve.”
From looking at boundaries and attendance areas, discussion of the committee’s purpose evolved into, as board member Claudia Manley said, how “to optimize student learning.”
The board also debated whether board members should be on the committee.
Board member Jennifer Planson believes community members would be more honest, open and creative in their discussions if no school board members were present. When the committee presents its suggestions to the board, the board members would see them with fresh, unbiased eyes, Planson said.
But Manley said it’s imperative the committee meetings are transparent, with open, publicized meetings and records of the meeting minutes kept. The board member should not be shut out, because they are the ones who need to know how and why the committee arrived at its recommendations, Manley said.
With 76 people signed up to speak at the Sept. 13 meeting, district residents did not seem reluctant to express their opinions to the board, Gallo said.
Many lived in the buffer zone and said their students who attend Central are not part of the problem, whatever the problem is.
“I would urge you all to come up with a problem that needs solving,” and determine the scope of that problem, said Cherri Kowalchuk. “I would urge you take the buffer zone off the table.”
Fred Stein of Willowbrook said the idea that the students in the buffer zone might not have a choice of attending Hinsdale South or Central has cast a pall over the community. The suggestions of some board members to eliminate the buffer zone or phase it out are “callous,” Stein said.
“The equity in that house is paying for their college,” Stein said.
Realtors tell home buyers that houses in Hinsdale Central’s attendance area sell for more than comparable homes in other school districts, residents said.
Carla Williams, a Hinsdale Central graduate and former teacher at Central, said, she moved into the buffer zone in the past year.
“Realtors will all tell you about the valuable property here,” Williams said.
“We also need to recognize there is a perception that Central is better. I taught here. I love both schools. I know how amazing both schools are, but when that perception exists, it is part of perpetuating the problem,” Williams said.
Susan Hoffman said the question of eliminating the buffer zone came up 15 years ago, when she had two children in high school and one in middle school.
“My family was highly distressed over the topic.”
Central’s record of high ACT scores, graduates going on to prestigious colleges and rankings near the top of many lists make it a top choice for parents, Hoffman said.
“No amount of change in the buffer zone is going to change that,” she said.
“Every senior citizen that is going to sell their house . . . in the Central zone is going to sell . . . to a family with kids who are going to go to what they think is the best school in the state practically,” Hoffman said.
Hoffman and others said the district should address the reasons families want their children to attend Central, as opposed to South.
“We need to create the demand to go to Hinsdale South,” Hoffman said. “We need to invest whatever we need to invest in educational programs, the sports programs there, the coaches. You have to think outside the box.
“I urge you to think about not changing boundaries, but creating those educational opportunities,” Hoffman said.
District 86 administrators and some parents of Hinsdale South students say students receive an excellent education at South. The problem is that fact is not publicized well enough.
G’nee Andrulis of Willowbrook said South, which her children attended, has advantages over Central, such as the AP classes are easier to get into, but the curriculum in the classes is not easier than at Central.
“We need to do a better job of selling South,” Andrulis said.
Twitter @kfdoings
