Lincoln-Way Board to Weigh Options for District's Future

Lincoln-Way District 210 administrators Thursday will take a hard look at the district’s finances, in an attempt to determine where the district goes from here.

At issue for the district are three critical questions related to the financial predicament:

• Are the four high schools being used to capacity?
  
• Can the district reduce curriculum offerings and still meet state requirements? Can extracurriculars be reduced or eliminated?
  
• Will LW 210 voters support a tax hike?

Related to these questions, the district is conducting a feasibility study into closing one high school. The district also is studying whether a class period and extracurricular activities can be eliminated. PMA Financial Network is expected to present a financial analysis at the June 11 Board of Education meeting at 7 p.m. at Lincoln-Way Central. A financial representative from the Illinois State Board of Education will also be in attendance.

In May, Superintendent Scott Tingley visited each of the four high schools and presented a slideshow to faculty and staff. At each, Tingley told LW 210 employees that the district’s financial problems began when “they turned the key at Lincoln-Way North.” Opened in 2008, North was the first of two new high schools. West opened the following year. The modern schools are the newest to be built in the south suburbs and the envy of many districts. But Tingley said the district immediately began deficit-spending and its cash reserve is now depleted.

Related:

• Could Closing a School be in LW’s Future? Lincoln-Way 210 Faces Tough Financial Questions

When voters approved the building bonds, district officials expected the housing growth in the region to continue. Many new housing developments were begun in Frankfort and New Lenox. But the economy fell into recession, and builders stopped putting up new houses for years. The anticipated student-body growth that made additional high schools a necessity did not happen. Nor did the growth in the tax base.

While district officials choose their words carefully, saying formal discussions have not taken place and decisions have not been made, district employees say there are signs the administration leans toward closing one of the new schools. Much of the focus has been on Lincoln-Way North, which takes in students from Frankfort Square, Tinley Park and parts of Mokena and Frankfort.

At the close of one presentation to employees, Tingley, who lives in New Lenox, offered an anecdote about coming home from the May 14 Board of Education meeting at which the financial problems were discussed. His son shouted to him, “Hey Dad, where am I going to go to school, Central, East or West?” Tingley chuckled, but some in the audience wondered whether there was a message in his story. In a followup call with Patch, he assured North was not mentioned as an option for his son due to their residency in New Lenox and the proximity of other Lincoln-Way schools.

Some faculty members have told students they believe North will be the school to close. In one meeting, an employee asked what impact a school closing would have on staff. The superintendent mentioned that support staff would be eliminated and many faculty positions lost, though some teachers would transfer. A source inside the district said Tinley did not say whether any administrators would be cut, but Tingley told Patch it would most likely be a necessary course of action.

“We have two choices. We have to find a way to increase revenue, or decrease expenditures,” Tingley said. “To increase revenue, we’d have to go to referendum. To decrease expenditures, we’d have to close a school.”