After three months on the job, top admin shares early impressions and casts vision
Mike Lach doesn’t mind resolving disputes between staff members, debating policy decisions, responding to a host of emails or spending lots of time in meetings.
“I want to do this work because I like the work and I believe in the work,” said Lach, who is three months into his first year as Hinsdale High School District 86’s superintendent. “I think public schools are a wonderful institution — this idea that you get together with the people on your street and the next block and the block over, and you put in your taxes to create an organization that then will educate everybody’s kids.
“It’s a pretty profound idea and I believe in it,” he added. “It’s messy, it’s complicated, but it’s also so incredible.”
He said he’s meeting fascinating meeting people and enjoys coming to work every day — especially the rare moments he has been able to spend with students. But Lach has set a goal that will not be easy to achieve.
“I think I have said a couple of times I would like District 86 to be the best high school district in the state, and that’s ambitious,” he said. “I also know some people say it and are like, ‘Wait a minute, Lach. We’re not the best in the state already?’
“I think there’s always a next level of work, and I think the foundation of this place is strong,” he added. “There’s great people, there’s a lot of passion, there’s a lot of resources, so let’s get to it and roll up our sleeves and figure out how we can do even more even better for kids and families.”
Lach believes determining the degree to which students should be pushed is both an art and a science and that parents need to help their teens discern the right approach. He pointed to the fact that first semester of last year at Hinsdale Central, 45 percent of juniors chose to take the standard level of precalculus instead of honors, even though they were successful enough in math to take algebra in eighth grade and met or exceeded standards on SAT suite tests. He wonders if these kids — who have a lot of mathematical power — are reaching their potential.
“I think generally, as adults, we don’t have high enough expectations for kids,” the former high school teacher said. “Kids can do incredible things, and we often don’t believe they can. It doesn’t mean get super stressed out. It doesn’t mean more as in more pages to read, pages to write, problems to solve. Kids ought to see the whole big wide world out there that is so wonderful and be able to dig in and explore and feel all of that, whatever they want.”
Lach said he’s worked to listen and learn as much as possible, and believes the four questions he posed when he first arrived in July still are relevant.
“How do we tap into the passion that so many teachers and parents and community members have here? How do we build trust within the organization, within the community, across all the different divisions and departments and neighborhoods and towns? What are our goals — what should we be aspiring to? And how should we organize ourselves — are we a school system are we a system of schools?” he said. “I think about those every day and try to figure out how to do that.”
At a high level, a critical step is for everyone in the district to work as a team. Lach said he also is spending significant time trying to understand the district’s current strategic plan and determine what the district’s North Star is.
“Where do we need to be headed? What does it mean to be the best district in the state for all kids, for all families? How do we define that?” he posed.
He said his opinion of the district hasn’t changed since he applied for the job.
“I did my best to be eyes wide open when I applied,” he said. “It’s no secret — I was looking at applying to Hinsdale and then we have board members resigning and a new law firm and staff changes and the teachers union publicly upset. I see that.
“But I also saw people who have a lot of passion and people who care and smart people, talented people,” he continued. “I knew it was a place that had tremendous assets, not just material and financial but in the people, in the relationships, in the systems. On that level, it’s gone exactly as I thought it would.”
Lach and his wife, an attorney, and their son, a high school sophomore, live in Hyde Park. He enjoys taking pictures of “decrepit ruins of urban architecture” and said he likes almost all kinds of music, from jazz and blues to Chapel Roan.
“I only can play the stereo,” he quipped.
Lach said even though it sounds corny to say it, it really does take everyone to be a successful district.
“This is a really wonderful community with tons of potential,” he said. “As a community, we’re not going to always agree, but I do think if we want schools that educate our kids well and keep our property values high and can make us all proud and all the other things, we’re going to all need to be doing our part to build things better and stronger, and it’s going to take everyone.
“I’m happy to take the hits. I’m happy to be accountable, but this isn’t a job I can do by myself,” he added. “It’s going to take all of us.”
Lach