A recent FOIA request revealed emails between D86 Superintendent Tammy Prentiss and Valda Valbrun, a consultant based in North Carolina. Ms. Prentiss and Ms. Valbrun were jointly revising language of the Jan. 13 letter in which Valbrun withdrew her firm from potential engagement by D86.
In her email to Ms. Valbrun dated Jan. 13, 2022, Ms. Prentiss added the following to the letter: “I ... really think Hinsdale is a dangerous place and (I) would not be comfortable there.” Ms. Prentiss also wrote “It’s shameful and I feel sorry for the students that have to experience this and don’t have the privilege of walking away.”
Later that day, the superintendent read the Valbrun letter to the public at the D86 board meeting.
On Jan. 14, the letter was inappropriately included in the Board Briefs sent to each student.
Ms. Prentiss has deftly used Ms. Valbrun as a tool. For the casual reader, there was simply a heated BOE meeting on Jan. 13 and a standard email of a “Board Brief” to all students and parents on Jan. 14. Nothing to see here.
But the newly-revealed e-mails show more. By inserting her own language into Valbrun’s letter, Ms. Prentiss displays her true colors. Ms. Prentiss herself apparently believes Hinsdale to be a “dangerous” and “shameful” place. It seems the letter is not sour grapes of a disappointed contractor but the superintendent’s own beliefs.
Why does the D86 BOE continue to employ someone who, in truth, may despise this community? — Anne Marrs Huber, Oak Brook
