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Congratulations to Grace Shin, a fellow community member and mother of three children in the district who was elected to the D181 School Board Tuesday. Grace has a background in education with a master’s in education from the University of Michigan as well as seven years of teaching experience. Grace has served on multiple steering committees working with curriculum framework development and was lead writer of the first grade Language Arts curriculum in her previous district. Grace’s involvement with D181 over the past six...
I ride my bicycle to downtown Hinsdale during nice weather (around 80 degrees). More people should take it from me. Have a nice day. — Charles Crawford, Hinsdale...
It started out like an ordinary Thursday. Although now that I think of it, I actually remember feeling like it was a particularly peaceful weekday morning. The boys got up and to school on time, well fed and happy; I remembered to pack my daughter's show-and-tell treasures before dropping her at preschool. The beds were made, teeth brushed, dishes put away. I patted myself on the back for doing such a good job with the morning routine as I stopped for coffee before I headed...
This past year horrific events have created awareness of discrimination and hate crimes perpetuated against African-American, Asian, LGBTQ, Christian, Jewish, Muslim and other communities. In our Hinsdale and Clarendon Hills community and schools, we can combat racism against all groups by practicing and promoting inclusive behavior. While I was on the D181 Board (2007-11), we enacted a policy avoiding scheduling events, including games, meets, concerts, plays and key educational activities, including field trips and labs, on...
The League of Women Voters is a nonpartisan organization that is committed to ensuring that voters have the information they need to successfully vote in every election. One of the local League chapters, the League of Women Voters of Downers Grove, Woodridge and Lisle, is providing information about candidates for village offices and school boards for Hinsdale as well as Downers Grove Township. In lieu of a candidates forum for the April 6 consolidated elections, the LWV invited the candidates for various local offices to...
The arrival of April 1 also brings final college decisions. Let me be the first to say, it has been a wild ride. The Class of 2021 knew that college applications were going to be like nothing ever before. But surges of applications at Top 50 universities have created what colleges are calling the "most competitive applicant pool in history." March Madness took on a whole new term in my household. The Round of 64: If you were like me and applied early to a handful of schools,...
For 20 years I have watched District 86 school boards achieve great things for students by working cohesively with administration and the community, and I have watched utter chaos full of divisive bickering, power grabs and ignoring administrative requests, community input or both. The key factors that seem to lead to one outcome or the other are the board members’ willingness to be totally transparent and inclusive of all relevant parties through the decision-making process, as well as their insistence that proposals and d...
The April 6 election for four D86 school board positions arrives at a critical time for our students and community. I have been most concerned about the current board’s decisions to rush, in my opinion, the “physics first” and “integrated math” curriculum changes, which I believe will leave our students underprepared for college. The board has not identified the needs for these changes, has not explained how the new curricula will improve student learning and preparation and did not think it prudent to implement a pilot and...
I believe that Mark Pinnow would be a valuable asset to the District 86 Board of Education. He would bring collaboration and an evidence based approach to the board and he is a much needed voice of reason. Mark has a strong business background, and he knows that goals need to be measured against benchmarks to make sure that we reach them. The district is facing a lot of change right now, from getting the back in school to major curriculum changes. We need someone who can work with the administration to come up with...
As former D181 BOE members, we are writing to express our strong support for Peggy James and Jeff Waters, who are running for the D86 Board of Education. Since the passage of the D86 facilities referendum in 2019, the current D86 BOE has approved significant curriculum overhauls that we believe are unwarranted. Science curriculum changes were implemented in 2020-21 that reduced students’ options. In our opinion, an Integrated Math program was approved in 2020 without meaningful discussion, data analysis and community e...
I am writing in support of Debbie Levinthal for the D86 Board of Education. I’ve lived in Oak Brook for 14 years and am the mother of two eighth-graders who will attend Hinsdale Central next year. Plus, my husband grew up here and attended Monroe, Hinsdale Junior High and Hinsdale Central. This area and its schools are extremely important to us. I met Debbie when our teenagers were in preschool. From the first time I met her, I was struck by her zealous, thoughtful advocacy. Debbie always has had her children’s best int...
D86 is at a crossroads. The last 18 months have brought changes and challenges to the district that have negatively impacted the educational delivery and experiences of all the students and the ability of the community to have meaningful engagement with the school board on critical issues. Beyond the impact on our kids, these changes likely will have long-term implications on our property values. Many of us moved to this district for its strong academic excellence. Families who once moved here because it was a lighthouse...
Margie Kleber’s leadership, experience and extensive knowledge of D181 merit her continued service on the D181 Board of Education. Board stability is a critical factor in achieving strategic plan objectives, like delivering the HMS project on time and under budget. In 2017-18, during my service as an interim assistant superintendent for curriculum and instruction — technology, we discovered that the architect’s design-build process for the new HMS building did not include plans or budget for the technology infra...
Seventeen candidates are running for nine open seats on the library and school boards in Tuesday’s election. Add in the uncontested candidates — one for village president, three for village board and three for four-year terms on the D181 school board — and you’re up to two dozen candidates on the ballot in just the most local races. Many other individuals are running for seats in township government, on the regional school board and on the College of DuPage Board. Why this tally of open positions? To stress the importa...
The Hinsdalean offered its endorsements for library and school board candidates in the March 11 and 18 issues. The races for Hinsdale village president and village board and the four-year terms on the Community Consolidated District 181 Board are uncontested. Our recommendations, recapped below, and all election coverage is available on our website at https://www.thehinsdalean.com. Click on the Decision 2021 logo. Hinsdale Public Library Board ✔︎ Mary Bock ✔︎ Amy Glynn ✔︎ Kristin McDaniel ✔︎ Richard Munson Ryan Trombly Di...
I support re-electing Margie Kleber for D181 School Board. As past CFO and treasurer, I worked closely with Margie on several initiatives and was impressed with her attention to detail and willingness to learn and understand the complexities of public school management, including school construction, curriculum, governance and long-term financial planning and managing the tax rate. D181 building and district leadership are dedicated and exceptional; Margie has always shown a deep respect and appreciation for the...
There are two cats in my life right now. One's in Ireland and the other is in Hinsdale, and both of them have made this crazy time more bearable. Moomin is my rescue cat. Like so many, lockdown inspired me to add a pet to the household. We found Moomin at the Hinsdale Humane Society after they featured her in The Hinsdalean. She's a white-haired beauty who won't give a cardboard box a second look but can spend hours stalking an elastic hair band. She's not much of a cuddler,...
Peggy James is a friend that we know and trust. As former PTO Executive Board members from The Lane School, we are writing to share our enthusiastic support for her candidacy for the D86 BOE. During our time on the PTO Executive Board, Peggy, as VP of communications, developed and implemented the delivery of The Bulldog Blast — a weekly communication method that is in use to this day. If there ever was a communications need, Peggy came up with a solution and implemented it. She was always open-minded and provided c...
I am writing in support of Debbie Levinthal for the District 86 Board of Education. I’m a 17-year Hinsdale resident and parent of two students at Hinsdale Central High School. I’ve had the opportunity to work with Debbie on several school-related projects, and I believe she would be an incredibly valuable addition to the D86 Board. Debbie is committed to high-quality education and student success. Debbie is curious, actively engaged with district initiatives and eager to participate in advancing student learning and saf...
Unless you’re quarantined, you’re seeing signs around town for the upcoming D86 School Board election. I’d like to draw your attention to one name on the ballot in particular: Terri Walker. I’ve known Terri since her family moved to Hinsdale and her youngest son joined my son’s class at Madison School. I know her as a warm and loving mother as well as a level-headed friend. That’s all fine and good, but why should you vote for her? Her platform. Terri Walker is for transparency, accountability and a return to data-driven...
On April 6, we need to vote for four new members for the D86 school board, and it’s critical that one of your votes is for Dr. Karen Shannon. With Karen’s credentials — a PhD in chemistry from Caltech, a JD from Georgetown law, and currently a VP of a medical diagnostic company — she understands the debilitating effect of the proposed STEM curriculum changes on our student’s future opportunities. Her videos on how the proposed STEM curriculum changes will impact our students are insightful (and if you haven’t seen them,...
I urge the community to re-elect Margie Kleber for the District 181 School Board. I have known Margie for over 30 years. She is a person of tremendous integrity who also possesses a practical, common-sense approach. In addition, she has an unfailing work ethic, which she couples with outstanding organizational and leadership skills to get the job done. My husband and I have lived in Hinsdale since 1992. The exceptional education children receive from District 181 schools was a major driver in our decision to move to...
Board of education members are elected officials responsible for carrying out and executing, through policy, the collective demand of the community they represent. The recent Hinsdalean endorsement of the current District 86 BOE president is not aligned with the mindset and expectations of residents from the seven towns that feed into D86. As a flagrant attempt to stifle engagement with the community, BOE President Camden moved public comments, an agenda item mandated by the Illinois Open Meetings Act, from the beginning to...
How will women be remembered in history? Clearly it depends on whom you ask. Esquire magazine identified the 75 greatest women of all time a couple of years ago. The headline popped up in one of my Google searches Monday afternoon and I was intrigued. I suppose I should not have expected too much after reading the blurb that accompanied the list: “Politicians, pop stars, Native American guides: A definitive list of the women who have shaped the world. Well, inasmuch as definit...
March is National Colorectal Cancer Awareness Month. Excluding skin cancers, colorectal cancer is the third most common cancer diagnosed in both men and women in the U.S., according to the American Cancer Society. The agency’s estimates for the number of colorectal cancer cases in the country this year are 104,270 new cases of colon cancer and 45,230 new cases of rectal cancer. Tragically, there are projected to be nearly 53,000 deaths from this disease, the second leading cause of cancer deaths. Thankfully, the rate of p...
