Hinsdale High School Teachers Association

The following are the prepared remarks presented at the Regular Action Meeting of the Hinsdale High School District Board Meeting, Monday August 17th, 2009:

On behalf of our members I’d like to take this opportunity to share with you a piece of history I found when going through files in our relocated Association office as we start the new school year.

Our organization has its roots in the Hinsdale Teachers Association, which served both District 181 and District 86 teachers in the early days of Hinsdale schools. However, in fall of 1956 members of the Professional Committee contemplated forming a separate high school organization, resulting in the first official meeting of HHSTA being held the following spring. Today we are proud to begin our 52nd year as the professional Association advocating for the teachers of our two high schools. Such an established history within our tradition of excellence is inspiring to me, as are the many individuals associated with our history.

For example, individuals like Harvey Dickinson often carry multiple connections within this tradition. A legendary coach; a nationally recognized Athletic Director; Harvey Dickinson is a HCHS Foundation Hall of Fame inductee in whose honor Central’s Dickinson Field is named.

In 1957, Harvey Dickinson was also the first president of HHSTA.

Too often individual connections such as this can be overlooked or forgotten if we view each other as separate entities: “the Board” or “the Association”. It’s easy to be wary of a faceless organization, to paint a group with a broad brush, or to tarnish the majority based on the minority. In reality we’re part of the same organization and far greater together than these labels imply separately.

With this in mind, I’d like to put a face to our Association. Certainly we are first and foremost the professional educators in our classrooms, student support networks, nurses’ offices, and our libraries. But our members are also the directors of school plays, variety show organizers, float builders, prom chaperons, and sponsors of a multitude of clubs and activities that take place before and after school.

Every year Association members flip pancakes and serve spaghetti to provide scholarships for our students. Every season, our members are the coaches that continue our highly recognized athletic traditions. And every day our members help students with their homework, their choice of college major or career, and through the ups and downs of high school life.

I’ll close by reiterating what leaders who have stood here before me have said: we look forward to working together to build upon our long tradition of excellence. By building our relationships and working together we will continue to achieve the best environment possible for our students.

Thank you and have a great year!

The HHSTA at Hinsdale South is pleased to announce that we have once again set a record in the number of scholarships awarded to graduating seniors of the Class of 2009.  Four $1000 awards were given, as well as eight $500 awards.  Recipients of these scholarships, based on applications submitted in the spring of 2009 were:

• Angelene Arito
• Meghan D’Andrea
• Eva Davis
• Hilary Fung
• Danielle Jauregui
• John Leganski
• Amanda Lofgren
• Emily Markham
• Meghan McDonnell
• Marina Nir
• Brittany Novy-Mackey
• Allison Ross

Scholarship funds are derived from the HHSTA Spaghetti Dinner, held the Friday evening of Homecoming Week.  Also, for the last four years, a Faculty Variety Show has been held during Homecoming Week.  Proceeds from the first V-Show benefited victims of Hurricane Katrina.  Proceeds from the shows in 2006, 2007 and 2008 went directly to the Scholarship Fund.

We urge community support of these efforts, in order to continue to offer these funds to deserving Hinsdale South graduates.  The date for this year’s Faculty Variety Show is Wednesday, September 30, curtain rises at 7:30 pm.  The Spaghetti Dinner will be held on Friday, October 2 from 4 to 8 pm.  Please join us!!!

Each year HHSTA sponsors a pancake breakfast at Central during our homecoming weekend. All of the net proceeds from this breakfast go directly into a scholarship fund that is used to provide numerous scholarships to seniors who intend to major in education in college. Applications are available in the guidance office in March and interviews for qualified applicants take place usually in May. This year six HHSTA scholarships were awarded at Central for applicants entering teaching training programs.

HHSTA proud to recognize, encourage and support students interested in pursuing degree programs that will help them enter into teaching profession. This year’s recipients are:

HHSTA Teacher Scholarship:

Ryan DeLeon
AnneMarie Madej
Madeja “Maddy” Metcalf
Jacqueline “Jackie” McGinn
Taylor Schroyer
Kelly Yadinak

Congratulations!

Shortly after the last contract negotiations ended in 2006, HHSTA filed a grievance charging that the school board ignored both the language and the intent of the contract clause pertaining to retired teachers’ benefits when it unilaterally increased - in many instances doubling or tripling -  the insurance contributions required of retired teachers.

The following are the prepared remarks presented by Kathy Wynn, Co-President at Hinsdale South, to the Board at the March 16th Board meeting:

On March 6, the binding arbitration between the Board and the Hinsdale High School Teachers Association was sustained in its entirety in favor of the Association.  Due to the decision by the Board that led to this arbitration, the district’s taxpayers will assume the burden of attorney fees, arbitrator’s fee, and interest payments associated with the Board’s action. This expense could have been avoided if the Administration and Board had honored the commitments it made to teachers who devoted their careers to teaching in District 86.

Now that the ruling has been made, HHSTA would like to move quickly to make whole all individuals affected by the Board’s unilateral changes in retiree insurance benefits. We believe that by working together we can move beyond the lack of trust generated by the Board’s actions which led to the arbitration case. With this in mind, HHSTA would like to reiterate the sentiment expressed repeatedly over the past several years: to resolve to work together on behalf of our students.

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In the February 26th edition of the Doings, Hinsdale resident Jim Smith wrote a letter to the editor entitled “Important to invest in our teachers”. The letter responds to a previous letter, and in some parts appears directed at a school district other than District 86. But I believe the sentiment expressed represents the larger education community as a whole in Hinsdale.  It reads in part:

I have no idea who Robert Lennox is. However, I do agree with his comments. We need to bring in revenue to maintain our high standard of Education. The quality of schools is what brings people to a community and thereby creates home and retail sales and the income they generate.

[…]

Hinsdale has always had a top shelf reputation when it comes to its’ schools. It is the main reason my wife wanted to move here 22 years ago. It signified growing property values, great retail operations, top community services such as the library, police and fire departments, hospital and parks.

It meant that people would move in so that their children would have an edge over children from run of the mill towns.

Again, our most precious resource is our children! We have a reputation for having the highest caliber teachers and education system. If someone has to go it should not be the teachers…

I’ve brought this letter to the attention of our Association membership. Too often we hear from those only too happy to demagogue a distorted view of the stereotypical teacher as the root cause of all the ills in the community. Reading letters like this valuing what teachers do for their students and the wider community from community members is uplifting and very appreciated.

Last May, HHSTA-Central looked at what “average” class size meant, and how to best determine just how many students are actually in the “average” class at Hinsdale Central as opposed to a nebulous staffing ratio most often quoted on this subject:

The HHSTA class size study at Central looked at all departments and the over 700 sections offered to Central Students that its members teach. The results showed:

Average All Class Size: 23.1
Average Core Class Size (English, Math, Science, and Social Studies): 22.4
Average Advanced Placement (AP) Class Size: 22.4
Percent of Classes with 13 or fewer students: 6.4%
Percent of Classes with 30 or more students: 9.6%

As was noted at the end of this post, this type of data fluctuates over time. So this year Illinois State Board of Education (ISBE) report card data was examined to see how class sizes in 2008 compared. All data below is via the ISBE website, which has a searchable database of Illinois school report cards going back to 2002.

First, the comparison within district:

District 86 Average Class Size – 2008:
Hinsdale South:  19.4
State Average: 19.6
Hinsdale Central:  21.7

Hinsdale Central average class size, as determined by ISBE in 2008, is larger than both the state average and the average at Hinsdale South. How does this compare with other schools locally? For this comparison, ISBE data was compared with other high schools in our conference:

West Suburban Conference Silver Division Average Class Size 2008:
Lyons Township:  18.8
Proviso West:   19.0
Oak Park & River Forest: 19.2
Downers Grove North: 19.6
York:    21.4
Hinsdale Central:  21.7
Glenbard West:  26.1

Hinsdale Central average class size, as determined by ISBE in 2008, was larger that of all but Glenbard West. The next question asked was how did this data compare to the highest performing schools in Illinois? For this question, the ISBE data for the top 10 public schools from the Chicago Sun Times 2008 “Top 50 High Schools in Illinois” (excluding CPS schools) was compared :

Top 10 Illinois High Schools Average Class Size 2008:
Glenbrook North:  18.2
Deerfield:   18.5
Lyons Township:  18.8
New Trier:   20.0
Maine South:   20.2
Lake Forest:   21.3
Adlai E Stevenson:  21.6
Hinsdale Central:  21.7
Naperville Central:  22.2
William Fremd:  22.7

Hinsdale Central average class size, as determined by ISBE in 2008, was larger than all but two of the top 10 public schools in Illinois.

The Holidays are quickly approaching and I have been very fortunate to have received an early present this year.  As I was standing on top the press box freezing, scouting our potential opponent from the Bartlett vs Main South 8A Semi-Final game, I got the news that our Red Devil football team had advanced to the State Finals.  Suddenly, the cold temperatures disappeared and the feeling in my feet slowly returned. As I drove back from my scouting,  I started to think about how so many had to give of themselves so that I and others could receive this gift. As customary when receiving it is only appropriate to say thank you.  However, my thank you list is very long.

First, I would like to thank the athletes for all of their hard work, time and patience.  It was their self sacrifice which started in June that brought us to this point.  Secondly, without the aid and support of their parents this would have been much more difficult to achieve.  We cannot forget to mention the trainers, grounds crew, the support staff, faculty, administrators, and the enthusiasm of the cheerleaders and fans through out the entire season.

As a coach myself, I would like to give a special thanks to the entire varsity coaching staff and their families.  The coaching staff worked seven days a week for five weeks beyond the regular season to make it to the State Final.  However, the most important thanks need to go out to the coach’s families.  They gave the most precious gift of the season in the form of time away from their loved ones.  The gift of time through caring and giving can never be wrapped as a present, but what a great gift it is.  Teachers and coaches as well as all of those working in any area of education give this gift throughout the whole year.

So thank you from the bottom of my heart for all of you in this world who give of themselves as this is the best gift anyone can receive.