Principal Bill Walsh from Hinsdale Central started the meeting by talking about the passing of Sean Patrick Richards. He expressed his sympathy to Sean's family and friends; thanked the students who demonstrated caring and respect in the wake of the incident; wished a speedy recovery to the other individuals who were injured in the accident; and encouraged the community to keep the driver of the vehicle in their thoughts. He also asked everyone in attendance at the meeting to join him in a moment of silence for those who were impacted by the accident.
Following the moment of silence, Principal Walsh shared some good news from Central. He mentioned that the girls volleyball team earned the Team Academic Award from the United States Marine Corps and the American Volleyball Coaches Association. This award honors high school and college teams from across the country that maintain a year-long grade-point average of 3.3 on a 4.0 scale or 4.1 on a 5.0 scale.
Board Business
During the portion of the meeting dedicated to board business, the board:
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Received an update about the academic committee. As part of this update, member Debbie Levinthal shared that she met with Jason Markey, the district's assistant superintendent for academics, and Dr. Linda Yonke and Dr. Ray Lechner, the district's co-interim superintendents. She also shared that they talked about who would serve on the committee and the potential topics the committee would discuss. Dr. Yonke mentioned that one of the topics the committee will explore is the process for how new courses get introduced. She also suggested the possibility that the committee be transitioned to a superintendent's committee in the future since curriculum is the responsibility of teachers, department chairs and administrators. However, she shared that even if the transition occurs, the committee would continue to have board members serving on it. Member Levinthal concluded the update by mentioning that the committee plans to have its first meeting in August (date is to be determined).
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Discussed the operating procedures for livestreaming and recording open session board and committee meetings. Following its discussion, the board directed the recording secretary or backup recording secretary to record the audio for the open session of special meetings going forward, and to send those recordings to the chief information officer for posting on the district's Vimeo account.
Committee Report
The board also approved the release of the draft minutes from this meeting as part of the consent agenda.
Consent Agenda
The board approved the consent agenda as presented. Please visit
https://bit.ly/3q9LvQj to access the consent agenda items beginning under number eight.
Action Items
The board took the following action during the meeting:
Board President's Report
Board President Catherine Greenspon welcomed Dr. Yonke and Dr. Lechner. She shared that their addition has resulted in a seamless transition in leadership. She said that she appreciated all of the work they have done during their first week on the job, and looks forward to partnering with them to establish and communicate processes and procedures for the district that will, among other things, help build trust among all stakeholders.
President Greenspon also thanked the individuals in attendance for coming to the meeting, and wished everyone a wonderful weekend.
Future Agenda Items
Below are the topics that the board added to its list of future agenda items.
- Discussion about providing board direction on the work of Goal 1 of the strategic plan.
- Discussion about reconvening the Special Committee for Community Engagement with Construction. The conversation about this topic will begin with the Facilities Committee.
- An update on the district's grading practices that were implemented at the start of the 2021-22 school year and revised at the start of the 2022-23 school year. The conversation about this topic will begin with the academic committee.
The board also reviewed and discussed the status of the items that were already on the list.
Superintendent's Report
Dr. Linda Yonke thanked the board members for the opportunity to work with them this year. She said that she came to District 86 because of its exemplary reputation and the fact that this is a place where education is clearly valued. She shared that she had learned a lot during her first week, and was impressed by the district's administrative team. She also said that she is looking forward to working with the district's stakeholders to ensure that there is a smooth and easy transition to the next permanent superintendent.
FOIA Requests
The board received information about the FOIA requests that have been processed since its last regular action meeting. This information included the names or titles of the individuals and departments who helped respond to the requests, a summary of the records that were requested and who asked for them, and trend data about the number of requests that have been processed and the legal fees the district has incurred in responding to them.
Audience Communication
Members of the public spoke about the following topics during the two opportunities they had to give audience communication:
- Science sequencing, more specifically the promotion of the PCB (Physics, Chemistry and Biology) sequence.
- Cell phone use in schools.
- Challenges of course selection and access to the district's master course schedule.
- The request for a public presentation related to the recent Supreme Court ruling.
- The district's academic committee.
- Course selection for students at Hinsdale South.
The meeting adjourned at 8:42 p.m. You can access the video recording of this session by visiting
https://vimeo.com/user9373008/videos. Please note that, due to a technical issue, there is no audio during the first few minutes of the video. We apologize for any inconvenience this may cause.
