3 Hinsdale D86 Incumbents Not Running

HINSDALE, IL – Nine residents are running for the Hinsdale High School District 86 board in the April 1 election.

Incumbents Peggy James, Heather Kartsounes and Abed Rahman, whose terms are expiring, are not among them.

Monday was the last day for candidates to file.

Incumbent Jeff Waters, who was elected in 2021, is unopposed for the two-year seat. This is the remainder of the term to which Kay Gallo, who resigned in October 2023, was elected. Rahman was appointed to fill the position through April.

Here is the list of the eight candidates running for the four four-year board positions:

• Warren Ali
• Andrew Catton
• Bobby Fischer
• Jenny Gannon
• Liz Mitha
• Mary Satchwell
• Terri Walker (incumbent)
• Baron Leacock

Patch noted the candidacies of all but one of the hopefuls in stories last Tuesday and Thursday.

Leacock, a Hinsdale resident, was the last to submit his paperwork. He ran in the Nov. 5 election as a Republican for the DuPage County Board, losing to Democrat Lucy Chang Evans, who got 52 percent of the vote.

On his campaign website, Leacock said he was the first in his family born in the United States.

"My father grew up without running water or electricity and his son (me!) went to Harvard University," Leacock said. "Anything is possible here."

He received his law degree from Columbia University in New York.

"We cannot allow ourselves to be distracted from the basic common sense governing principles that got us here, like safe streets and schools, and low taxes," he said on his campaign website.

Of the nine candidates, only one lives in the Hinsdale South High School zone: Darien resident Liz Mitha is a member of the Cass School District 63 board. All the others hail from Hinsdale.

On the current seven-member board, only Rahman and Asma Akhras live in the South zone.

The larger and wealthier Hinsdale Central has long had a more extensive course selection than South.

Some residents have suggested changing the boundary between the schools to equalize enrollments. But that idea is considered politically untouchable because Central residents fear their property values would plunge if the line shifted.