PART 2: Local Watchdog Group Rebuts Recent Interview with Tingley

Part Two of an excerpted interview with Lincoln-Way 210 Superintendent R. Scott Tingley that was published by the New Lenox Patriot on May 2, 2016. This interview is being rebutted by Lincoln-Way Area Taxpayers Unite (LWATU), a local taxpayer watchdog group, which found Tingley's statements to be largely misleading and inaccurate.

Read Part One here.

Excerpts of New Lenox Patriot Story, published on May 2, 2016.

Full interview here.

The comments in BOLD are the LWATU responses to various excerpts from the article, commenting on various inaccuracies and misinformation being disseminated by Tingley.

"Many community members have alleged there is financial mismanagement or a lack of financial oversight in the district… Tingley reiterated that there were expenditures and uses of district funds in the past that he would not have done.” ONCE AGAIN, DRIVER’S ED WAIVER FAILURE, PRIVATE DAY CARE PROVIDER RECEIVING FREE RENT, UNDETECTED WATER LEAKS, INACCURATE AND NON-AMENDED BUDGETS, ABSENCE OF FUNCTIONING AUDIT COMMITTEE.

“ 'Certainly there were areas that things could’ve been handled better than they were,” he said. … those decisions have very little impact on where we sit. We are millions of dollars into borrowing.' ” AS WE ARE EVERY YEAR AT THIS TIME, BEFORE RECEIVING THE FIRST INSTALLMENT OF PROPERTY TAX REVENUE.

“ 'And so it’s my job to continue to monitor what we’re doing, continue to move us forward and to make sure that some of those practices are not repeated.' ” THE MARCH 2016 TREASURER’S REPORT DOES NOT INCLUDE ANY BUDGET NUMBERS, OR PRIOR YEAR ACTUAL NUMBERS. FOR THAT MATTER, IT DOES NOT EVEN INCLUDE YEAR-TO-DATE EXPENDITURES OR YEAR-TO-DATE REVENUES. THE NEWLY FORMED BUILDING AND FINANCE COMMITTEE HAD NO REVIEWED OR PUBLISHED ACTION ITEMS AS A RESULT OF ITS LAST MEETING.

"Regarding the “revised retirement contract with former Assistant Superintendent of Business Ron Sawin, moving his retirement date up to April 30, Tingley said he could not comment on personnel matters." THE TAXPAYERS OF THE DISTRICT ARE ENTITLED TO KNOW THIS INFORMATION. LINCOLN-WAY IS A PUBLIC GOVERNMENTAL ENTITY WHO’S RECORDS ARE REQUIRED TO BE AVAILABLE TO THE PUBLIC.

“ 'Another financial impact of the school closure has been legal fees and man hours involving Freedom of Information Act requests, correspondence, reporter inquiries, and the legal battle with LWATU,' Tingley said.” NONE OF WHICH WOULD HAVE BEEN REQUIRED IF ADMINISTRATION WAS WILLING TO DISCUSS ISSUES WITH THE COMMUNITY, OR ACT IN A TRANSPARENT FASHION.

“ 'The district has also corresponded with its attorneys more frequently this year because of other actions,' ” Tingley stated. THE AUP MOST CERTAINLY INCREASED LEGAL FEES AS WELL, AND SHOULD HAVE BEEN MENTIONED.

“When asked whether the district has had or does have a transparency problem, Tingley said transparency can always be improved, and that is a goal for the district. “ WORDS ARE IN CONFLICT WITH DISTRICT’S ACTIONS. THERE IS EITHER TRANSPARENCY, OR THERE IS NOT. MORE TRANSPARENCY IS AN OXYMORON: THE DISTRICT SHOULD SIMPLY BE TRANSPARENT.

“ ‘It becomes difficult when there’s a lawsuit in place, and you can’t answer some of the questions that are being posed,’ he said.” ADMINISTRATION AND THE BOARD DID NOT ANSWER QUESTIONS PRIOR TO THE LAWSUIT. ADMINISTRATION IS NOT A NAMED PARTY IN THE LAWSUIT. NOTHING CHANGED WHEN THE LAWSUIT WAS FILED, FEEL FREE TO REVIEW VIDEO OF THE MEETINGS PRIOR TO AND AFTER AT WWW.LWWATCH.COM.

“When asked how the district can restore its reputation, Tingley said it is going to take time, and actions will speak louder than words.” SO FAR, THE ONLY LOUDLY SPOKEN ACTION HAS BEEN TO IGNORE THE COMMUNITY AND CLOSE A SCHOOL -- BOTH NEGATIVELY IMPACTING STUDENTS.

“ ‘Mistrust from the middle 2000s should not be carrying over right now,’ Reilly said.” THERE ARE THREE CURRENT BOARD MEMBERS THAT WERE ALSO BOARD MEMBERS DURING THIS TIME. ADDITIONALLY, TWO MORE BOARD MEMBERS FROM THE MIDDLE 2000s HAVE RESIGNED SINCE THE VOTE.

“ ‘There’s things we do need to do better and fix. We’ve got a guy sitting here who, for three years, has been trying to fix it piece by piece,’ “ NEITHER BUDGETING, NOR TRANSPARENCY, NOR COMMUNITY RELATIONS WERE ADDRESSED IN THE YEARS PRIOR TO LANDING ON THE WATCHLIST, AND EASILY COULD HAVE BEEN. DR. TINGEY SHOULD HAVE FILED A MORE REALISTIC BUDGET FOR FY15, REACHED OUT TO THE COMMUNITY IN THE YEAR PRIOR TO THAT, AND FORMED COMMITTEES DEDICATED TO SOLVING THE PROBLEM INSTEAD OF SPRINGING IT ON THE COMMUNITY OVER THE SUMMER.

“… There are going to be people that are hurt and angry and frustrated. It would’ve been far easier to leave things as they were, put our head in the sand, and that’s a disaster in three years. And we had a new administration that wasn’t willing to do this and a board that said, ‘Yeah, we’ve got to address it.’” ADDRESS IT BY FILING BALANCED BUDGETS WHILE DEFICIT SPENDING? ADDRESS IT BY NOT INFORMING THE PUBLIC THE DISTRICT WAS ON THE STATE’S FINANCIAL WATCH LIST UNTIL AFTER THE SCHOOL BOARD ELECTIONS? ADDRESS IT BY DENYING IN MAY 2015 THAT THE DISTRICT WAS EVEN CONSIDERING CLOSING A SCHOOL? OR ADDRESS IT BY VOTING TO CLOSE A SCHOOL IN 99 DAYS WITHOUT ANY INPUT FROM THE COMMUNITY?

“Ninety-four percent of teachers received their first-choice school, Tingley said.” TRANSITION EFFECTIVENESS SHOULD BE BASED ON HOW IT AFFECTS STUDENTS – NOT ON HOW IT AFFECTS THE TEACHER’S DESIRED PLACE OF EMPLOYMENT.

“ ‘We were able to balance experience and expertise, and still achieve movement of North to East, East to Central and Central to West, so there are some familiar faces,’ Tingley said.” THE COMMUNITY WAS PROMISED MANY FAMILIAR FACES – NOT “SOME.”

“That was the primary focus of the transition — to put our best teachers and build very strong teams — and we’ve been able to do that.” ONCE AGAIN, THIS IS NOT ABOUT THE TEACHERS, IT IS ABOUT THE STUDENTS.

“ ‘Those are some of the kids that may have the biggest needs as we go through this,’ Reilly said. ‘So I think in those areas, the transition was as smooth as it could be.’ ” IS THE DISTRICT AWARE OF THE EXTREME REACTIONS THESE VERY STUDENTS ARE HAVING?

“ 'The district has had discussions with outside groups throughout the year about possibly leasing the building,' Tingley said.” MULTIPLE FREEDOM OF INFORMATION REQUESTS RELATING TO ANY INTEREST IN THE BUILDING WERE DENIED. ONCE AGAIN, IT TOOK INVOLVEMENT BY THE OFFICE OF THE ILLINOIS ATTORNEY GENERAL TO HAVE DETAILS OF THESE INQUIRIES RELEASED.

“ ‘Because the building was funded by non-taxable bonds, the uses of the building’s academic and fine arts wings are restricted. For instance, the building could not be turned into office space or a shopping center’ Tingley said.” THIS FACT WAS NEVER DISCUSSED PRIOR TO VOTING TO CLOSE LINCOLN-WAY NORTH. IT WAS BROUGHT TO THE ADMINISTRATION’S ATTENTION BY COMMUNITY MEMBERS. EITHER ADMINISTRATION KNEW OF THIS RESTRICTION, AND DECIDED NOT TO SHARE THE INFORMATION, OR ADMINISTRATION WAS NOT AWARE OF THIS RESTRICTION. EITHER SCENARIO IS NOT ACCEPTABLE.

“ ‘As long as we can do that at a neutral cost and still provide a benefit to our taxpayers, I would recommend the board take action on that because that’s a positive,’ Tingley said.” THIS IS NOT A “NEUTRAL COST.” NO MATTER HOW MUCH RENT COMES IN FROM THE PARK DISTRICT, THE TAXPAYERS WILL PAY $7.5 MILLION NEXT YEAR TOWARDS THE MONEY BORROWED TO BUILD LINCOLN WAY NORTH. THEY WILL CONTINUE TO PAY INCREASING AMOUNTS WELL IN EXCESS OF $7.5 MILLION PER YEAR FOR THIS BUILDING UNTIL 2034. THAT IS A LOT OF MONEY TO PAY FOR THE USE OF “A FEW ATHLETIC FIELDS.” THE AGREEMENT WITH THE FSPD WILL BE SUBSIDIZED BY TAX DOLLARS OBTAINED BY RESIDENTS IN THE FSPD TAX DISTRICT. THESE SAME RESIDENTS WILL ALSO BE PAYING FOR THE OPERATIONS AT THE OTHER THREE BUILDINGS. THIS IS NOT A COST-NEUTRAL OPTION FOR THE WHOLE DISTRICT.

“ ‘The district will undergo an internal controls audit this summer by its new auditing firm … that audit will help the district improve those controls,’ Tingley said.” AT THE CURRENT ADMINISTRATION’S RECOMMENDATION, THE BOARD APPROVED AN ADDITIONAL THREE-YEAR EXTENSION FOR ITS LONG-TIME AUDIT FIRM PRIOR TO COMMUNITY CRITICISM. THERE IS STILL NO PUBLIC PLAN TO FORM THE AUDIT COMMITTEE.

" 'There will also be a new assistant superintendent of business in place beginning July 1,' Tingley said." ADMINISTRATION IS NOT WILLING TO DISCLOSE THE CIRCUMSTANCES SURROUNDING THE PREVIOUS SUPERINTENDENT OF BUSINESS’ TERMINATION.

“ ‘The building closure is expected to give the district the expenditure reduction that it needs to put it at a balanced or surplus budget next year,’ Tingley said, 'which is the goal for the district so that it can begin to pay back the $30 million it owes in tax anticipation warrants while reinvesting in its facilities and programs.’ ” INFORMATION ON CLOSURE SAVINGS HAS BEEN REPEATEDLY REQUESTED THROUGH FOIA – SAME RESPONSE- “NO DOCUMENTATION EXSITS.”) (THE $30 MILLION IN TAX WARRANTS WILL BE REPAID BY THIS JUNE, WHEN THE DISTRICT RECEIVES ITS $30 MILLION IN TAX REVENUE… JUST LIKE JUNE OF LAST YEAR, AND JUNE OF 2014.

“ ‘There are still a lot of people here that have been here a long time that love this place,” Reilly added. “Especially the teaching staff, and they just do what they need to do for kids, and that’s how you get through this.’ ” AGAIN, THIS IS NOT ABOUT THE STAFF. THIS IS ABOUT THE KIDS. MUCH MORE WILL NEED TO GET DONE IN ORDER TO GET THROUGH THIS. MUCH MUCH MORE.

See full interview at: http://www.frankfortstation.com/school/lw-superintendent-talks-past-mistakes-potential-two-school-future-and-more-station-exclusive#sthash.AtfnYHto.dpuf

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