Hinsdale D86 Keeps Academic Choice Under Wraps

HINSDALE, IL – The board for Hinsdale High School District 86 plans to vote Thursday on a new assistant superintendent for academics.

But the board is not revealing who that person is.

That secrecy is prompting a board ally to ask members to hold off on an appointment until the public finds out the person's identity.

"The administration works for the community, not the other way around," Hinsdale resident Linda Burke, who has attended board meetings since the 1990s, said in an email to her followers Thursday. "There has been no interview process, no transparency on the part of the administration, and no indication until the meeting agenda was published that a candidate had even been chosen."

In January, Jason Markey, District 86's assistant superintendent for academics, was appointed to the same position in Lisle School District 202. He starts Tuesday.

District 86 isn't so secretive about the names of frontline employees it is hiring. It includes those names in its regular personnel report, which Thursday night's agenda includes.

Some districts routinely disclose the names of officials they recommend hiring.

For instance, Lisle District 202 included Markey's name in its agenda packet before hiring him. So did Algonquin-based School District 300 when it hired away Hinsdale South Principal Patrick Hardy last year.

Correction: A previous version of this story stated that Hinsdale High School District 86's board agendas only go back a year. Though difficult to find, the agendas actually go back to 2015.