3-Month Contract Approved For Use Of Lincoln-Way North For Lockport Freshmen

LOCKPORT, IL — At an emergency board meeting on Thursday, the Lincoln-Way Community High School District 210 Board of Education approved an intergovernmental agreement with Lockport Township High School District 205 for the use of Lincoln-Way North High School.

Lincoln-Way North High School has been closed since 2016.

The move to Lincoln-Way North comes after a classroom ceiling collapsed at LTHS Central campus last week. District 205 has said that students will not return to Central Campus until it is safe to do so.

The Lockport District 205 Board of Education approved a resolution earlier this week to resume in-person learning at Lincoln-Way North.

According to District 210, the initial agreement allows for occupancy of Lincoln-Way North for three months, with the option to extend the contract monthly. The monthly contract fee is $250,000, the District told Patch.

The amount paid to District 210 will also include the initial cost of readiness to open the building, all costs associated with operating and maintaining the building during their occupancy, and a 15 percent indirect administrative fee.

“This IGA allows the students of Lockport to return to in-person learning, while also avoiding any
negative financial impact on District 210,” said R. Scott Tingley, Superintendent for Lincoln-Way. “We know how important it is to have students in class every day, so Lincoln-Way is happy to be able to help District 205 during this difficult time.”

District 210 said Lockport is scheduled to begin student attendance at Lincoln-Way North sometime during the week of November 13.

District 205 has previously said it hopes to resume in-person learning on Nov. 15 for its freshmen students.

"Over the next few days, we are continuing to work with our Central Campus staff to allow them time to be able to relocate their classroom items to Lincoln-Way North High School, and we will continue to work on a couple of schedule modules for Central Campus," the District said in an update on Wednesday.

Bus transportation to and from Lincoln-Way North High School will be provided for students, the District said. Lincoln-Way North is located off of Harlem Avenue in Frankfort.

At the Lockport meeting on Tuesday, a risk assessment map from the forensic architect firm showed low risk to high risk ceiling construction areas at LTHS Central campus. The District has found that some rooms even have several layers of ceiling, using different techniques of ceiling installation.

On the lower level of the school, the cafeteria was assessed as "low risk," but there was a small area of low to medium risk.

On the first floor, there is a large section that is still low risk, and a smaller low to medium risk in the Smith Foyer area. However, there is a medium to high risk area in two hallways, and one corner classroom.

On the second floor of the school, many areas are again in the low risk, or low to medium risk category. However, business classrooms and foods classrooms on the second floor are medium to high risk, as well as one small office area. There are also a few classrooms that were assessed at medium risk level.

The third floor of the school, which is where the collapse occurred, does have several classrooms in the high risk assessment.

The only section that forensic architects found to be high risk is up in the northwest corner of the school on the third floor, Superintendent Bob McBride said.

"We are taking action right now [on that area], because we know that action needs to be taken on those rooms," McBride said. Adjacent to the high risk area, a hallway and biology classrooms are in the medium to high risk category.

Medium to high risk ceilings should be considered for replacement, officials said. High risk ceilings need to be removed as quickly as possible.