As Drag Racing Cut, D-219 Board Warned Of Lost Opportunities

SKOKIE, IL — Students in auto clubs at Niles West and Niles North high schools will no longer work to get a car ready to hit the racetrack, as the District 219 Board of Education voted Tuesday to form three new automotive clubs that do not include the controversial racing element.

Administrators decided to halt the program in the spring, saying the district's insurance provider had recommended against letting students participate in the racing element of the Automobile Competition Club.

Instead, the newly-approved clubs at Niles North will be "Hot Rodders of Tomorrow - Engine Teardown" and "Automotive Restoration," while Niles West will offer a "Supermileage / High Mileage Vehicle Competition."

The new engine teardown class will involve teams of students who time themselves dismantling and reassembling engines, the restoration project would fix up a car, sell it and use the proceeds to buy another car to rebuild, while the supermileage competition invites students to build a vehicle that can travel the farthest on the least amount of fuel, according to a description of the classes from district staff.

The board's action effectively eliminates the Auto Racing Club, which many students said was an inspiration to focus academically and invaluable for their future professional development.

Previously, members of the Auto Racing Club at both schools would spend a year working on rebuilding an old car. Then, as the culmination of their work, the vehicle would be taken out to a race track in Wisconsin and put to the test.

Parents and students who attended the Nov. 14 board meeting said the club has been a positive experience for their kids, challenging them to maintain their grades and offering a new perspective.

"My main goal when I started this whole club was to try to make the biggest positive impact on students' lives," the sponsor of the auto clubs at both schools, Tim Richmond, told the board. He said he runs the club as a student-run affair and pointed out racing offers a tangible motivation for at-risk students.

"I don't know if I could draw in those students that sometimes fall through the cracks," without the racing element, he said. "Those are the kids we really need to help." He said he views his role as a mentor and lets the kids do their thing.

"This club has taught me more than most of my high school career has taught me. It's taught me what it means to be part of something bigger and better," Niles North student Emily Herczeg said. She said junior year was especially tough, but the Auto Racing Club was her refuge.

"When I came to this club I was home, and in a much better place," she said. "If I didn't have auto club my grades would have been terrible."

Herczeg, who presented the board with more than 200 signatures in support of keeping the club, said cutting it would do real harm to students.

"It's heartbreaking to see that it's being taken away from people who really need it," she said. "It's giving people opportunities that, if you take this away, they will not have – and that's pretty shameful."

"Joining the club my freshman year was obviously one of the best decisions I ever made," Niles West student Daniel Liston said. He described the club as one of the best learning environments he ever experienced, pushing him to work harder in class and put classroom lessons into practice.

"This club has meant a lot to me over the years and seeing it disbanded, honestly, it kind of broke me a little bit," he told the board.

The district also looked into the cost of insuring the club and determined it would cost $16,109 for $11 million in liability coverage, according to the meeting agenda.

Administrators also suggested the club should purchase a new car if it wants to keep racing, since the current school-owned vehicle is a 1968 Pontiac Catalina.

According to a letter to the board from administrators, parents who support keeping the racing as part of the club did their own research into insurance coverage.

One of them, Bill Danielak, provided a lower quotation, but the district said would not offer enough coverage. During public comment, Danielak told the board he remains in contact with an insurance provider and said he was sure it would be cheaper than the plan quoted.

The district has not responded to a query about the details of its current insurance policies.

"There's a lot of passion in these kids here, the car does bring these kids together. It brings the kids into the club," Danielak said, noting how valuable automotive skills are in today's job market in Illinois. "We've got a great thing going, I'm hoping we can keep it going."

Niles West science teacher Neil Koreman said although he appreciated it is challenging to insure a racing team, he worried that "convenience and fear are driving this decision" to close a program that connects students to their community "primarily because of financial and legal concerns."

"What message do we send when we claim that it is too hard to support a program that engages children?" he asked. "What is the purpose of hoarding our treasure and withholding our talent when those resources were collected in the first place to serve our students?"

John Wheeler, a 2012 graduate of district schools who still works with students in the club, said the race car symbolizes years of combined efforts of who participated in the program since 2007.

"What has changed from then to now that says what we're doing is unsafe?" he asked. "We've had no accidents. There's no reason that we shouldn't be able to continue doing what we're doing."

Niles West grad Mike Zahacky, a police officer who addressed the board in a bulletproof vest, said his participation in the club helped him become a cop by teaching him discipline and perseverance.

"I do credit a lot of where I am right now to that club," Zahacky said. He pointed out the club could help prevent reckless driving and eliminate street racing by providing a needed opportunity to at-risk teens. "Those are the kids that need that club. They need the outlet to go to after school."

The vote Tuesday was 5-2, with board members Joseph Nowik and Mark Sproat the only votes against the club reorganization. According to the Skokie Review, about two dozen students, alumni and families in attendance were in support of the club.

At the same meeting, the board approved several new academic courses, including CNC Programming and Machining Technology, Entrepreneurship & Business Strategies, Social Justice and Equity, Statistics and Probability and Women and Gender Studies in Literature.

Full video of the Nov. 14 District 219 Board of Education meeting :

_{Top photo: Members of the Niles West Auto Club Racing after winning the National Hot Rod Association North Central Division Summit Racing Series Finals in 2012 | Patch archive, courtesy District 219}