Saturday, April 6, 2013
The four candidates in attendance at Thursday night's candidate forum gave their answers.
What is the role of a board member? The four Hinsdale Township High School District 86 Board of Education candidates that attended Thursday night's candidate forum at Hinsdale Middle School gave their response in the video above. Edward Corcoran is the first speaker. He is followed, in order, by Kay Gallo, Roseanne Rosenthal and Dennis Brennan. Whose answer is best? Tell us in the comments. If you missed the forum, we live-blogged it. Check out Patch's real-time notes from Thursday night here.
Tuesday, March 26, 2013
The following is a letter to the editor submitted to Patch by Hinsdale resident Sue Pircon.
- OPINION
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Tuesday, March 26
District 86 voters will once again be heading to the polls on April 9 and I strongly ask for your support for candidates Dennis Brennan, DeeDee Gorgol, Kay Gallo and Roseanne Rosenthal. Each brings an individual expertise to the board and will seek to continue balancing financial challenges while maintaining an excellent educational standard. They have a vested interest in the school, each having had children enrolled in District 86, and are committed to providing a curriculum that will challenge the students and provide the foundation for success in the future. They are also committed to ensuring a diverse offering of extracurricular activities while always looking at the district's finances and operating within a balanced budget. They…
Thursday, February 28, 2013
Dennis Brennan is one of eight candidates running for the District 86 Board of Education in the 2013 election.
Name: Dennis A. Brennan Position sought: Hinsdale Township High School District 86 Board of Education Website: www.D86vote.com Email address: Brennan@d86vote.com Hometown: Hinsdale Family: Wife Mary; son Michael, 23 Education: Bachelor's degree in mass communication from St. Xavier University, law degree from The John Marshall Law School. Occupation: Managing Member and General Counsel, Illinois Energy Aggregation LLC Years in District 86: 18 years Previous elected offices: District 86 school board, two terms, six years as president; District 60 school board, one term, two years as board secretary; Merrionette Park village trustee, one term; Alsip-Merrionette Park Library District trustee, one term; DuPage County …
Wednesday, December 12, 2012
The $75 million request represents more than a 4 percent increase over the current levy
Concerns expressed by several district residents and two board members at Monday night’s Hinsdale Township High School District 86 Board of Education did not convince a majority of the board to stop a tax levy increase. By a 5-2 vote, the board gave final approval to a $75.5 million levy request, which includes $73.1 million for capped funds like education and operations, a 4.5 percent increase over the 2011 tax levy of $69.9 million. Two dozen spectators packed the Black and Gold Room at Hinsdale South High School for the meeting, with the majority appearing to be present for the tax levy discussion. Several addressed the board on the topic during the public comments section at the beginning of the meeting. George Logan said the levy …
Friday, September 28, 2012
Board President Dennis Brennan will write and send the letter asking the anonymous operators of the oft-critical website to change its name.
The District 86 Board of Education voted 5-2 Monday to authorize Board President Dennis Brennan to compose and send a letter to the operators of the Hinsdale High Schools website that asks them to cease and desist using the site’s current name. Richard Skoda voted against the motion along with Dianne Barrett. Skoda said the district could be in for a “wild goose chase” depending on how the anonymous operators respond. “I just see this running up a lot of time,” he said. All that was authorized Monday was the sending of the cease-and-desist letter, though Skoda and Barrett both questioned if board members were willing to go to court over the website’s name. “The board would have to have a future discussion about that,” Brennan said. Sign up…
Wednesday, September 12, 2012
Dennis Brennan said his request for authorization to send a cease-and-desist letter to the operators of Hinsdale High Schools is about proprietary rights of the district; board member Richard Skoda said it's about politics.
The District 86 Board of Education will indeed vote later this month on an item that would authorize Board President Dennis Brennan to send a cease-and-desist letter to the operators of Hinsdale High Schools, a website often critical of the district that Brennan and several other board members believe is violating the district’s trademark policy with its name. “We have a right to our name, we have a copyright, and a trademark right,” Brennan said during a Monday night discussion that got heated on a couple of occasions. The president, who wasn't present last month to provide context for his request, said he believes the use of Hinsdale High Schools as the title of the website violates Board Policy 8.22 which, according to its wording, is…
Wednesday, August 22, 2012
The website called Hinsdale High School posts often-critical opinions and was formerly the campaign site of board member Richard Skoda and two other candidates.
District 86 Board President Dennis Brennan’s is requesting board permission to demand that a website critical of the district cease and desist using its current name, but any new reasoning he has won't be explained until next month. Brennan was not present at Monday’s District 86 Board of Education meeting, which featured an action item in the agenda’s president’s report that if passed would have authorized Brennan to present a written cease and desist notification to “individuals historically associated" with the website titled Hinsdale High Schools, according to the item’s wording. Hinsdale High Schools, found at www.hinsdalehighschools.com, publishes anonymously written posts that are often critical of District 86’s administration and …
Wednesday, January 11, 2012
The school board considered making board agreements on official document access policy.
The issue of board members’ access to district documents is once again creating tension on the Hinsdale Township High School District 86 Board of Education less than two months after board member Dianne Barrett's much-publicized records lawsuit was dismissed. The board is considering making board agreements adopted last summer on access to documents official district policy. The agreements call for board members to “make efficient use of time and resources of the district.” Furthermore, “requests for information should not be a nuisance nor burdensome for the administration.” The board agreements define nuisance as “requesting documents within the archives of the district without pending action.” Burdensome is defined as “an inordinately …
Tuesday, January 10, 2012
An incident in the audience at the board's Dec. 12 meeting prompted a review of protocol.
Passions sometimes run high at Hinsdale Township High School District 86 Board of Education meetings and Board President Dennis Brennan sought at Monday night’s meeting at Hinsdale Central to ensure that those passions don’t run amok. Brennan said his push to promote civility at meetings was prompted by an incident that occurred in the audience during the board’s last meeting Dec. 12 at Hinsdale South. “At the last meeting, we had one of the residents stand up and tell us there was apparently some kind of threat in the audience,” Brennan said. “I know our meetings have become exciting to some extent. People want to give their opinion.” Brennan said there are two opportunities for audience members to address the board at every meeting—at …
Tuesday, December 13, 2011
Board members Barrett and Skoda opposed the plan, which would also upgrade electrical infrastructure at both district high schools and address entry circulation problems.
Monday evening was unseasonably warm for mid-December, but the temperature inside Hinsdale South High School for the District 86 School Board meeting was cool. That was probably a good thing, since a discussion about air conditioning generated quite a bit of heat, not only among board members, but also in the audience. The meeting began with audience member George Logan delivering a lengthy analysis of district finances to argue against borrowing $17.96 million to complete the air conditioning of all classroom space at Hinsdale Central and Hinsdale South. Logan said district expenditures are trending up while revenues are trending down. “We’d be taking a risk to borrow anything,” he said. “It just seems like it’s flying against all the …
Keith Skibicki
10:31 pm on Monday, April 8, 2013
Mary will you admit you spread false information. It's seems like Barry is very informative. Thank you Barry for clearing up the details. more ›