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Schools

Planson, Skoda Take Seats on District 86 School Board

Outgoing board members George Kumis and Vinaya Sharma were thanked for their service; current board member Michael Kuhn began his second term.

It was out with the old and in with the new and old at Monday night’s Hinsdale Township High School District 86 School Board meeting at Hinsdale Central High School.

Outgoing board members George Kumis and Vinaya Sharma were commended for their service to the board before their chairs were taken by incoming board members Jennifer Planson and Richard Skoda, who were elected in April along with current board member Michael Kuhn.

Skoda previously served on the District 86 board from 1997 to 2009.

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Kumis, who is retiring, said it had been “a great privilege” to serve on the board for eight years.

“We have two great high schools,” he said. “I will miss a lot of this.”

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Kumis thanked his fellow board members and praised district personnel.

“I think we have great administration and leadership here,” he said.

Sharma, who served on the board for four years, fell just short in his bid for re-election. Noting that “transparency has been a big issue” for the school board, he said he was donating his digital recorder to the district so that audio of board meetings could be posted online.

“If after six months, you have not done that, I want it back,” Sharma said.

He also encouraged board members to use their official district accounts when discussing board business by email.

Kumis and Sharma both served on the board’s Finance Committee and Sharma warned that the district was “potentially looking at [budget] deficits going forward.”

He said there were two ways to handle a deficit: cut expenses—which Sharma said would be to the detriment of students—or raise revenue.

“The first is draconian and crude,” he said. “The second is opportunistic.”

Sharma said board members could not be people who put their heads in the sand and hope problems will go away on their own.

“Do not let fear prevent you from doing the right thing for students,” he said.

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