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On Jan. 6, 2021, a mob stormed the chamber of the United States Congress. They intended to stop the counting of electoral votes, overthrow the election and seat their candidate. Their candidate was the president of the United States. He had asked them to come to Washington DC. “Big protest in D.C. on Jan. 6. Be there, will be wild!”, he tweeted. He set the stage for this by claiming that the election had been stolen but offered no valid evidence to support his claim. He refused to make the concession speech that is the tra...
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...
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...
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...
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...
As the current D181 BOE vice-president and former academic success committee chair, I wholeheartedly endorse Christine Dannhausen-Brun for the D181 BOE two-year seat. D181 is at a watershed moment, navigating the challenges of a safe re-entry to full-time, in-person learning during a global pandemic with the focus on meeting the educational needs of all students. Under Dr. Garcia’s leadership, D181 has seen the first glimmer of stability after over a decade of administrative turnover. His team has reversed the long-lasting i...
We’ve known Christine Dannhausen-Brun for 15 years and wholeheartedly support her campaign for a seat on the D181 school board. She is a dedicated volunteer and a steadfast advocate for issues that impact our children and their education. When Christine accepts a role, she does so with passion and integrity. She’s committed, thoughtful and intelligent. And while she does her research and follows the facts, she’s open to hearing differing points of view and working with others to find solutions. We need that in all level...
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...
It is with pleasure and confidence that I offer an endorsement for Christine Dannhausen-Brun for the School District 181 Board of Education. I have known Christine for more than 15 years and have been impressed with her ability to manage multiple and competing demands on her time and energy. Christine has extensive community involvement and is a very productive and outcome oriented person. Her professional background in public health and policy is very impressive and truly relevant at this time. This type of expertise is...
Mark Pinnow and I were co-chairs for the Gower referendum committee last fall. I believe that Mark should serve on the D86 BOE for the following reasons. Commitment: Mark has regularly attended D86 BOE meetings since 2015. He is research-driven and has consistently reached out to past and current administration to better understand decisions and suggest improvements, actively investing himself in D86 outcomes. Experience: Mark has decades of experience overseeing and implementing policies and pathways. He is data-driven and...
As the son of a long-time District 86 educator, a District 86 alum, current D86 parent and former Illinois state senator, I have a profound respect for the importance of local elections, and perhaps none is more underrated in its impact for an entire community than a school board election. On April 6, District 86 voters have an opportunity to significantly impact our community. A critical issue of this election concerns the current board’s passage of what I believe are radical changes to our historically excellent science, t...
Four the past four years I have had the pleasure of serving on the D181 Board with Margie Kleber. Over those four years, Margie, the rest of the board and I have tackled a variety of issues and events: hiring a new superintendent, fighting a lawsuit against the HMS referendum, negotiating two labor contracts (including the teachers contract), negotiating with the village of Hinsdale on the parking deck, managing through a budget deficit, completing the construction of HMS on time and under budget and, of course, managing the...
