Report: Judge Orders New Hearing on Objections to Planson's District 86 Candidacy

A DuPage County Circuit Court judge has ordered that District 86 school board members must meet again regarding objections to Jennifer Planson's candidacy for the school board, according to a Clarendon Hills Doings report.

Judge Terence Sheen ruled Tuesday that all three members of the Electoral Board must be present in order to rule on an objection to a candidate, the report said.

Only school board President Dennis Brennan and Board Secretary Dee Dee Gorgol were present on Jan. 6 to rule against the objections two Oak Brook residents filed. The school board's attorney said that board member George Kumis had been delayed at a train station.

Donald O’Neil and Terrence O’Malley objected to Planson's running for the school board on the grounds that she wrote “Hinsdale District 86” on some of the papers, when she applied to run for the school board, rather than the district’s full title, “Hinsdale Township High School District No. 86.”

O'Neil and O'Malley said that several other school districts in the area use the number 86 in their titles, and this might have confused the people who signed Planson's nomination papers as to which board she was seeking nomination.

Planson, a Willowbrook resident and current president of the Gower School Board, is one of six candidates running for three seats on the District 86 school board. District 86 includes Hinsdale Central and Hinsdale South High Schools.

Michael Kuhn and Vinaya Sharma of Hinsdale are seeking re-election. Bruce Davidson and Richard Skoda of Hinsdale and Claudia Manley of Darien also are running.