Meeting roundup

Hinsdale High School District 86 Board

Among other business March 10, board members:

• discussed the three-minute pitch process that the board has been using to determine future agenda items and potential creation of a new process for determining future agenda items that would replace the pitch. Some board members think they should not need a majority of board members to agree to add an item to the agenda as is now required. Consensus was not reached, and board President Terri Walker recommended that the topic be revisited at a later time.

• discussed the preliminary staffing recommendation for the 2022-23 school year. The recommendation calls for a districtwide increase of 1.8 FTE with a net impact of $165,048 on the financial forecast for fiscal year 2023. The increase is primarily due to the board’s directive to look at staffing through a course parity lens. Among the needs are additional science teachers with the board’s recent decision to offer district students two science tracks, a traditional biology-first sequence and a physics-first track. Hinsdale South has offered only the physics-first model that last three years, while Hinsdale Central has provided mulitple pathways. Central’s FTE will actually drop by 1.7 while South’s will increase 2.9 under the plan.