Interviews For Hinsdale D86 Leader Starting Soon

HINSDALE, IL – The board for Hinsdale High School District 86 plans to start interviewing candidates for superintendent Friday.

The sessions will be behind closed doors.

At a board meeting this week, search firm BWP & Associates reported that 34 people applied for the position, which opens July 1.

The majority come from Illinois, with the second-largest group from Indiana, the firm said.

Seven are now superintendents, while eight are assistant superintendents.

In the superintendent search two years ago, the district drew nearly 30 applicants, officials said.

For the latest search, BWP said it interviewed 11 of the 34 applicants.

At this week's meeting, board member Liz Mitha said she was pleased with the number of applicants.

"It really reflects you knew who we were looking for right out of the gate, and you targeted someone who had that level of experience," she said.

In August, the current superintendent, Michael Lach, announced that he would retire next June, a year before his three-year contract was to expire.

The board decided to keep the names of the finalists secret, following the tradition of most Illinois districts.

That's not the case in many other states, where districts regularly release superintendent finalists' names. Those states include Florida, Wisconsin, Iowa, Minnesota, Ohio, Colorado and New Mexico, according to news reports.

In Illinois, the public typically has no way to judge whether a school board chooses the best candidate.

Even in Illinois, districts occasionally depart from tradition and release superintendent finalists' names.

In 2023, Geneva District 304 released the names of two finalists and planned community forums where residents could ask the candidates questions, according to Shaw Media.

In 2020, DeKalb District 428 divulged the names of four finalists and held a public forum with them.

Advocates of secrecy argue that public disclosure reduces the pool of candidates because many fear that their current boards will find out they're looking for jobs.