Letter to the Editor: Better Bells and Whistles Won’t Get Our Kids into Harvard

The present District 86 School board wants to borrow $102 million dollars over the next five years to expand administrative offices, parking lots, driveways, bigger swimming pools, little theater, gymnastics facilities etc.  There will be little if any increase in class room space or academic programs, but the taxes we pay to District 86 will increase 17 percent.
 
These bells and whistles will not help even one of our students gain admission to the college or university of their choosing, nor will it help even one student get an academic scholarship.
 
It's fine to provide our students with facilities for extracurricular activities during their four years in high school, but they have 50 years beyond high school as adults, and that is where their high school education should be focused. 
 
In 2010, this school board borrowed and spent $5 million on artificial grass for our playing fields. During this same period, the percentage of our students meeting standards for overall state test scores fell from 82.4 percent to 78.1 percent. Students’ scores declined in every category between 2009 and 2010. 

In a recent District 86 report, Superintendent Wahl made much of the fact that our test scores were above average for DuPage County. Above average? I would hope so. The parents of this district send a very fine crop of well-prepared young people to our high schools each year, and our parents are very involved in their children's education.  We should strive to be the finest high school system in DuPage County and when we have accomplished that, strive to be the best in the state.          
 
The present members of this school board have lost focus on what is important. If we are going to spend millions more on education it should be spent on improving the curriculum and recruiting the best possible faculty available in the United States. We have some wonderful teachers in our schools.

The mean salary for teachers in District 86 is more than $100,000, which is $36,000 higher than the average salaries for high school teachers in Illinois. Such generous salaries should enable us to scour the country for the finest teachers and build the finest faculty in the state, if not the country. We could improve recruitment of faculty and improve curriculum for only a tiny fraction of what this board plans borrow to "update" ancillary facilities.     
 
On April 5, we will have an opportunity to change the composition of the District 86 School Board and change its direction. Three seats are opening up and can be filled with three people who believe that a better education for our children is the single most important mission of the board.
 
It happens that they are the last three names on the ballot; Davidson, Manley and Skoda.  If they are elected, we can reverse the downward trend cited at the outset of this letter and move from "above average in DuPage County" to "the best two high schools in the state."  

Please do our children and our community a favor. Elect people to the District 86 board who will focus our precious tax dollars on providing the best possible education for our children and not borrow and squander $100 million dollars on parking lots and other bells and whistles that have no long term positive impact on our children's future.  

Karl Weber  

Hinsdale Resident