Split vote on new superintendent goals

Hinsdale High School District 86 Board members voted 4-3 Monday to approve new performance goals and indicators for Superintendent Tammy Prentiss.

The goals cover five different areas — student growth and achievement, learning environment, work environment, family and community connections, and resources — with three to four objectives (some with multiple parts) listed under each.

The first student growth and achievement goal calls for Prentiss to continue the curriculum alignment process across departments and buildings, including continuing work on grading alignment.

Another goal, listed under resources, directs Prentiss to publish a milestone report of the referendum and Future Ready Facilities projects to show how much has been accomplished and what work remains to be done.

Many goals call for Prentiss to continue work she already is doing, such as the Secondary Instructional Schedules task force, coordinating with sender districts, surveying stakeholder and overseeing remaining referendum projects. The full document is available under BoardDocs on the district’s website at https://www.hinsdale86.org.

The goals were discussed in closed session for more than three hours before the board returned to open session to take a vote. Board members Erik Held, Cynthia Hanson, Kathleen Hirsman and Terri Walker voted to approve the goals, while Peggy James, Debbie Levinthal and Jeff Waters voted not to approve them.

“The goals that were presented for approval are as inadequate as they are incomplete,” Levinthal said Wednesday when asked about her vote. “This community deserves higher expectations of both the superintendent as well as the board of education. Therefore, I voted no.”

The 4-3 vote was split the same July 28 when the board agreed to give Prentiss a 1.4 percent salary increase, bringing her salary to $264,258 for the 2022-23 school year.

“The measure’s request does not align with my confidence in the superintendent,” Waters said at that meeting.

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Pamela Lannom is editor of The Hinsdalean