Former LW210 Superintendent Lawrence Wyllie Dies, A Complicated Legacy Left Behind

NEW LENOX, IL — Former Lincoln-Way District 210 Superintendent Lawrence Wyllie has died, leaving a divisive legacy that made him reviled by many and revered by others. He was 88.

Wyllie—who served in the role from 1989 to 2013—led the district in erecting two additional schools amid a predicted population swell, then retired just several years before one of the new schools was abruptly shuttered when those numbers didn't come to fruition.

Wyllie's time including navigating the district's split into Lincoln-Way East and Central high schools. Then, in 2006, Wyllie asked voters to approve a referendum to issue $225 million in bonds to fund the building of both Lincoln-Way North and Lincoln-Way West. North opened in 2008; West in 2009. North was then closed in 2016, amid public outcry.

Wyllie had retired years earlier, and in the years following was investigated for allegations of financial misdeeds. In 2017, he was indicted on federal charges of wire fraud and embezzlement, accused of fraudulently inflating District 210's financial health in 2009, when the district issued $29 million in bonds, $10 million of which was to go toward capital improvements of the district's then-four schools.

Wyllie also was alleged to have spent some of the funds on personal projects, including at least $50,000 toward Superdog, a dog-training school he operated at one of the district's campuses. The indictment claimed Superdog "provided no benefit to the four high schools" in the district.

Wyllie’s fraud scheme caused the district to assume at least $7 million in additional debt from the bond issuance, according to the original indictment. Lincoln-Way District 210 then spent several years on the state's financial watch list, from 2015 through 2019.

A complicated legacy

Wyllie's legacy was muddied by the allegations, and the public watched as the federal case dragged on for years before the charges were eventually dropped in 2024 amid Wyllie's failing health.

His pension grew incrementally from the time of his retirement in 2013 to his death in October 2026. In total, the Chicago Tribute reports he accumulated over $4.3 million in total pension payouts.

Largely viewed with distrust across the region, those who worked closely with Wyllie had a different perspective—though they acknowledge his influence was polarizing.

"You either loved him or you hated him," said former Lincoln-Way District 210 Board President Kevin Molloy. "There wasn’t a middle ground with Dr. Wyllie."

Molloy served on the board from 2005 through 2016 and said he learned essential lessons from Wyllie, often through Wyllie's own actions.

"You can talk to any employee—from kitchen help, to bus drivers, custodial staff, the most minimal position in the school, they’d say the same thing: 'He knew my name, he knew who he was. He knew my family,'" Molloy said.

Wyllie taught Molloy "the integrity part of running a business, the compassion for others—to never think you’re better than the next person. The servant leadership."

Molloy noted that one of the harshest criticisms he endured on the board was the notion that they "rubber-stamped" all of Wyllie's agendas. Truthfully, the board would often "lock horns" over action items, he said. In those instances, the board would

"More times than not, we would be 4-3, 5-2, 6-1," Molloy said. "We were always taught to come to agreement—to live to fight another day, to come out unified. So it looked like everything we did was rubber-stamped."

Molloy recalls when Wyllie once insisted on logos being added to the center of each school's football field—"because each school deserves its own identity," Molloy remembered him saying.

"We didn’t know yet we were in trouble," Molloy said of the district's finances. "We didn’t know we had issues."

One board member initially balked at the $200,000 expenditure but eventually voted in favor, casting a unanimous total. Wyllie then, surprisingly, paid for it out of his own pocket, Molloy said.

"He wrote the check on the spot to that developer for $200,000," Molloy said.

As the board later came under fire while the district floundered financially, talk of closing a school began in early-2015. Parent and alumni groups railed against any potential closing—but especially against closing the newly built Lincoln-Way North.

Ann Jenkins was among the most vocal, leading the group opposing the closing of North. After Wyllie's passing, she took to social media to share her thoughts.

"Wyllie made Lincoln-Way a great school district," Jenkins shared in the Save Lincoln-Way North Group. "I remember the first time I saw the Madrigals performance, and all of the religious songs. I was so impressed that a public school included the birth and history of Jesus Christ."

Wyllie showed great care toward the district's students and staff, she said.

"Many people don’t know that Wyllie would drive around in the middle of the night to make sure roads were safe before calling a snow day," she said.

Though 10 years have since passed since the school's closing, Jenkins said its fate might have been different, had Wyllie stayed in leadership.

"Wyllie would have never closed North," she said.

Molloy ascertained that Wyllie had made decisions based on what he thought to be accurate projections for the district community.

"I do believe he did one thing wrong—and it was a big thing," Molloy said. "He did paint the picture of the district in a manner that he anticipated was going to be the case. And we sold those bonds to that investor with the anticipated growth of Lincoln-Way. ... It was supposed to be the fastest-growing community in Will County."

Molloy said he admired and respected Wyllie for his contributions to the district.

“Was Dr. Wyllie a perfect human being?" Molloy conjectured. "That would be a hard 'no.' Was Dr. Wyllie probably one of the top five most impactful figures that built the Lincoln-Way legacy? Absolutely—might have been the top figure to help build that legacy.

"The kindest man I’ve ever been around. And I loved him like a father."

District 210 did not respond to requests for comment on Wyllie's death.