Lincoln-Way parents prepare for changes as North set to close

NEW LENOX – Hundreds of Lincoln-Way Community High School District 210 parents are working together to plan how to help students and families transition now that Board of Education members voted to shutter North’s campus to restore financial stability to the district.

When it became evident in July board members were considering shutting down one of Lincoln-Way’s four high schools – Central, East, North or West – Dawn Rellinger, a West parent, said she and dozens of other parents formed a group to figure out how to ease the transition.

The size of that group has grown to about 250 people in the past week, she said.

“We’re able to do specifics [now] because we know where each of the students would go,” Rellinger said.

She hopes in either September or October the group – with smaller groups focused on sports, music, special education and other programs – will propose ideas to accommodate families changing schools to board members.

After the Illinois State Board of Education required Lincoln-Way to submit a plan by September to reduce budget deficits ranging in the millions over the past several years, the board decided in a 5-2 vote Thursday to shutter North. The school opened in 2008 and the 2015-2016 academic year that starts Wednesday will be the last year students will attend North.

North, along with West, was built within the past decade to accommodate projected massive student growth that didn’t occur. All four district schools are under enrollment capacity.

Board member Christine Glatz and Vice President Dee Molinare were against closing North. They wanted to find other revenue sources and said it was a state-of-the-art facility with low operational costs. Board member Christopher McFadden argued the needed savings from closing a school would not be realized by shutting down Central, where district offices and programs would still run.

He, along with President Kevin Molloy and board member Arvid Johnson, also feared more state aid cuts and a potential property tax freeze.

The decision upsetted many North parents, including Ann Jenkins, an administrator of the Save Lincoln-Way North Facebook page.

Among some of her criticisms was how the decision was political and did not include the possibility of closing West.

“Clearly this was not a financial decision. Clearly the students needs were not taken into consideration,” she wrote to The Herald-News.

Now, with North closing, students from Alex M. Martino Junior High School in New Lenox School District 122 and Mokena School District 159 will attend Central. Students from Frankfort School District 157-C and Summit Hill School District 161 will attend East. Students from Liberty Junior High School within District 122 and Manhattan School District 114 will attend West.

Superintendent Scott Tingley said the focus now is on the beginning of a new school year.

“Our focus and energy needs to be put toward our students as they begin a very important year,” he said. “Once they are back in their school setting and involved in their education and extracurricular activities, that healing process for them will begin.”

He said there will be staff reductions but they will be districtwide and not exclusively at North.

Board members brought up at Thursday’s meeting the possibility of closing another school in the future if state funding for education doesn’t improve and enrollment continues to decline. Tingley said closing North will be enough to bring in estimated savings of $5.2 million annually for Lincoln-Way.

He said the goal will be for Lincoln-Way to not have a deficit in fiscal year 2017 and to have a surplus of $200,000 the following fiscal year. Even with a school closing, district officials and board members may have to explore raising extracurricular activity fees, he said.

Some board members mentioned the idea of leasing North but not selling it. Tingley said there has been no discussion to lease it. He also said there has been no market interest in existing unused property the district owns in Manhattan and Tinley Park.

Some parents have been concerned about how a school closing may affect class rankings, athletic team positions and scholarships.

For athletics, Ronald Sawin, assistant superintendent of business, said he has faith coaches will put the best students on the best teams. He also said extracurricular activities may become richer for students across the district.

Matt McGuire, a Central student, said at Thursday’s meeting he hoped the graduating class of 2017-18 would be able to stay together.

“We love the friends we have here. We all love sticking together … We would love to stick together as a class,” he said.