No More Manipulating Data: Hinsdale D86 Official

DARIEN, IL – Hinsdale High School District 86's superintendent can deliver a "final gift" to the public before he retires next June – stop the manipulation of data, the school board's president said this week.

At a board meeting, President Catherine Greenspon said a board committee has been fighting with the administration over the accuracy of data about the disparity in course selection between Hinsdale Central and South high schools.

"We have to direct the administration that it can't be a fight back and forth between (the committee) and the administration anymore," Greenspon said.

In June, Patch pointed to the district's widely varying statistics over the last year for course conflicts at Central and South high schools. Earlier that month, the administration contended the district had largely wiped away course disparities between the schools. The smaller South has long gotten the short end of the stick.

After the story, the district largely backed away from its numbers.

At the meeting, Greenspon called for the administration to get a handle on data.

"It simply needs to get done, and it can't be done by administration manually manipulating data," Greenspon said. "We have to have an automated process where nobody's touching it... We've had too many errors."

The district, she said, is a $130 million-a-year operation that needs accurate data to make decisions. She suggested the district consider hiring a consultant to make it happen.

In a discussion about administrative jobs, board member Jeff Waters said the chief information officer was a more important position than assistant superintendent of academics, which is considered second in command. (The information officer is retiring next June, while the other job went vacant in July.)

"We struggle with data in this district more than we struggle with the absence of an assistant superintendent of academics," Waters said.

After Patch's story in June, Greenspon aired her frustrations with the district's data during a board meeting.

"We can have a million details, but if they don't reconcile, it's no good. There cannot be intentionally vague data," Greenspon said at the time.

Such a problem, she said, "completely erodes and degrades the trust in our district."

Superintendent Michael Lach said he would work on solving the problem. Earlier this month, Lach informed the board of his retirement plan. He started in July 2024, working under a three-year contract.