Conservative Group Backs 2 Hinsdale D86 Hopefuls

HINSDALE, IL – A conservative group that warns parents about the indoctrination and grooming of children has endorsed two candidates for the Hinsdale High School District 86 board in Tuesday's election.

Awake Illinois supports Catherine Greenspon and Andrew Catton. The other candidates are Asma Akhras, Kay Gallo and Deborah Willoughby. Three seats are available in the election, so Awake passed up backing a third candidate.

In its endorsement, Awake Illinois cited dropping test scores in the district.

Patch left an emailed message Monday morning with the two candidates about whether they accept the group's support.

Greenspon said who endorses her doesn't change who she is and what she stands for.

"That any group or individual would endorse me when I so openly stand for collaboration and unity gives me hope," Greenspon said in an email. "My actions speak louder than words. My whole adult life has been dedicated to serving others. That's who I am today and who I will be after all the votes are counted."

At board meetings, Greenspon said, "I talk to everyone. I want for everyone to feel welcome to conversation, feel seen and feel heard. Throughout this campaign, I have been supported by a diverse group of people, which is representative of our school district."

On Friday, Awake released its endorsements for school board races in the area.

The endorsement of Catton was not a surprise. He has aired views that resemble those of Awake. Last year, he posted a story titled "Assume Public Schools Sexually Abuse Your Kids Til Proven Otherwise." In January, Patch documented some of Catton's social media posts.

On its website, Awake says it is fighting the grooming of children. This is where an adult builds a relationship with a child to exploit and possibly sexually abuse the child.

The website includes links such as "Groomer playbook," "Gays against groomers" and "Pritzker profits from synthetic sexual identities."

Awake is known for opposing all-ages drag shows at the Downers Grove Public Library. The group's website says, "Be the barrier between your child and anyone or any agenda to indoctrinate/groom/data mine your children."

On Sunday, Awake announced that it gave the Rev. Latasha Fields the Advancing Freedom Award for her "commendable advocacy in Education and Parental Rights." The group said Fields advocated against a sex education bill last year.

According to the website, Fields said the bill "encourages and advocates for radical child sexual rights and aggressively promote(s) abortion as a contraception, wanting tampons in our boys bathroom, affirming homosexuality, pornography, transgender; queers, gender identity, sexual identity, and gender expression and teach our children that the nuclear family is a Western-prescribed structure."