D86 Digest: Board Waits to Accept Online Streaming Equipment

The Board of Education this week tabled action on a donation to the district of equipment that would enable board meetings to be streamed on the Internet.

The offer came in a letter from the co-presidents of the PTO, Terry Edwards and Maria Pierce, dated Sept. 15. Edwards and Pierce wrote that they had heard “considerable interest” from parents in having the meetings available online.

“It would be a most effective way for our community to see and hear first-hand the dialog of these meetings,” Edwards and Pierce wrote. “Many residents cannot meetings because of schedule conflicts, physical disability or other obligations.”

Edwards and Pierce said streaming the meetings online would allow residents to “make their own judgment about important school issues” and about the positions of board members.

“With so many crucial issues that come before the School Board, the PTO believes an online video of all the meetings would serve our school community in a powerful way,” the letter concluded.

A majority of board members, however, were not ready to accept the donation of a camera and tripod, in part because it could create an additional expense for the district.

“It would be a matter of also paying someone to operate said camera, unless you want it to just sit in a corner and catch whatever it catches,” Superintendent Dr. Nicholas Wahl said. “That’s going to be an expenditure of probably $10 to $12 an hour.”

“How about we table this until we have a policy in place regarding this and figure out what the parameters are going to be on this—how much it’s going to cost, how we’re going to pay for it,” board member Dr. Richard Skoda suggested.

The motion to table the matter passed on a 6-1 vote, with board member Michael Kuhn voting against it.

“I understand that you want to find out how we’re going to do it with the cost, but this gets us where we want to be,” Kuhn said, noting that the board has discussed the desirability of making meetings more accessible to the public.

Board member DeeDee Gorgol said the board is not turning the donation down by tabling its decision.

“We just want time to look into what it’s going to cost and how we’re going to do it and how we’re going to put it online,” Gorgol said

Kuhn said he didn’t object to that.

“I think this is something that we’ve talked about and talked about and talked about and we keep tabling it,” he said.

Message board donation also questioned

A $20,000 donation by the Hinsdale Central Booster Club to renovate the electronic message board in front of the school also drew some opposition. Board member Dianne Barrett expressed concern that the estimated total cost of the renovation was nearly $34,000, meaning the district would have to contribute almost $14,000 to the project from the Hinsdale Central building capital fund.

“I question if that’s the best use of money for the district,” Barrett said. “Is there something else besides a sign where we could use that kind of funding for education purposes?”

Kuhn noted that the booster club donation was specifically earmarked for the sign project.

In a letter to Hinsdale Central Principal Michael McGrory dated Aug. 4, Booster Club President Bruce Carlsen wrote that the organization was “committed to donating $20,000 for the renovation of Hinsdale Central’s existing outdoor sign. We are excited to participate in this project and positive that the improvements to the sign will enable the school and the booster club to improve our communication with the community and our ability to recognize student accomplishments.”

McGrory said the sign will be much more visible.

“It will be an LED sign," the principal said. "People will be able to see it better.”

He added that the sign's messages will be in color.

“Will there be problems with distracting motorists or upsetting residents with colors bouncing around?” Skoda asked.

Skoda said there had been complaints when the current sign was erected, which he said was done without the knowledge of the board.

“We’ve done our due diligence as far as checking zoning and all those things,” McGrory said. “The sign goes off after a certain time at night and it doesn’t come on until early in the morning.”

“Personally, I would love to see the boosters club come up with another idea to spend $20,000 for the district, something revolving around education or the sports programs,” Barrett said.

The board voted 6-1 to accept the donation, with Barrett casting the only negative vote.

Other donations accepted

The board did accept some other donations, including $5,000 from the Toyota Financial Services’ Dollars for Doers Program.

The donation was made possible through the efforts of former parent Erlinda Dimayuga.

“She spent a lot of time volunteering for our post-prom committee and our boys basketball program,” Hinsdale South Principal Dr. Brian Waterman said. “She had to log over 500 hours over several years to qualify for this grant from Toyota.”

At Dimayuga’s request, the donation will be split equally between the post-prom committee and the varsity basketball program.

The board expressed its appreciation for Dimayuga’s efforts.

The board also accepted the donation to Hinsdale Central of a Meade 10-inch LX200-ACF telescope from the Tarvin family of Hinsdale.

Board approves property purchase

The board approved the purchase of the property located at 327 W. 57th St. in Hinsdale. It lies on the northeast corner of the intersection of 57th and Madison streets, south of the Hinsdale Central athletic fields.

The purchase price was not disclosed at the meeting. Zillow.com estimates the value of the property at $438,500.

National Merit Semifinalists recognized

The board recognized 25 Hinsdale Central students and two Hinsdale South students for their achievement in becoming National Merit Semifinalists. The students were among 16,000 students across the country achieving the honor out of the 1.5 million who took the PSAT/NMSQT last fall.

The Hinsdale Central students who achieved the honor were: Jaya Agnihotri, Similolu Akintorin, Luke Chen, Meredith Christian, Robert Chun, Andrea Cladek, Gourisree Dharmavaram, Audrey Glaser, Ravi Gupta, Linda Jiang, Sneha Kasuganti, Rebecca Lewis, Nupur Maheshwari, Aakash Meduri, Alexius Nevling, Theodore Owens, Arjun Reddy, Robert Scales, Joseph Shayani, Riley Strumillo, Claire Walker, Anna Walsh, Sichun Yang, Andy Zhou, Lydia Zoells.

Emily Fung and Kevin Hu were the Hinsdale South students honored.

District receives environmental award

Representatives of Energy Education, Inc., a Dallas company which offers services to churches and educational institutions designed to reduce energy consumption, were on hand to present the district with its Energy Stewardship Award. The award recognizes Energy Education clients for good stewardship resulting in a positive impact on the environment, including decreased carbon emissions and the conservation of natural resources.

Kuhn named Master School Board Member

The board congratulated Kuhn on maintaining his status as a Master School Board Member with the Illinois Association of School Boards (IASB). He will be recognized at the IASB’s Fall Dinner Meeting, which will be held Oct. 4 at Bloomingdale Country Club.

The award (formerly known as the Leadership and Development Award) is presented to school board members for participating in IASB and/or National School Boards Association activities.