Despite Lawsuit, Hinsdale Community Pushes for Increased Funding of New HMS

Hinsdale residents are rallying behind increased funding for a new local middle school despite a group's efforts to stall construction with a January lawsuit.

The highly contested question of whether or not the school board should be permitted to use $53.3 million in bonds to build a new Hinsdale Middle School appeared on the Nov. 8 election ballot. The community approved the measure by a slim margin — 54 percent of around 13,600 voters were in favor of the idea.

Five individuals filed a lawsuit earlier this year claiming that a technical error made the referendum question void. Andrew and Kirsten Schmidt, Karen Weber, Bradford Tocher and Edward Corcoran are arguing that due to election code, which states local newspapers must publish notice of a referendum at least 10 days before, but not more than 30 days before, an election, the referendum isn’t valid.

According to the lawsuit, notice of District 181’s referendum to build a new HMS was first mentioned in papers on Oct. 11 of last year.

In spite of these ongoing disputes and attempts to stall construction, the school board has been pushing forward with plans to design and build the new structure.

On Jan. 17, the Chicago Tribune reported, the board voted to approve a $2 million loan that would help pay for the design phase of the construction. At Monday’s school board meeting, several parents, supporters and board members pushed for an additional $1.1 million loan to keep pre-construction of the building moving forward. According to the Tribune, the new loan would allow efforts to continue into May.

A vote on the additional loan is slated for Feb. 27, and the lawsuit is next expected to be discussed in court March 20.

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