Lincoln-Way District 210 board sued over North closure by watchdog group

FRANKFORT — A watchdog group has filed a lawsuit against the Lincoln-Way District 210 Board of Education to stop the closure of North high school.

Lincoln-Way Area Taxpayers Unite is seeking a preliminary court order and a final ruling barring District 210 officials from closing any high school. The group filed a complaint in Will County court Tuesday and case management has been scheduled for April 18.

In August, board members decided in a 5-2 vote to close North high school in an effort to reduce multimillion-dollar deficits in the district’s budget.

“We believe the decision from District 210 to close an 8-year-old state-of-the-art high school was arbitrary and capricious,” said Todd Velky, LWATU treasurer.

The decision to close North angered many Lincoln-Way families and residents. Two state lawmakers filed legislation in recent months in response to issues arising from the school district.

Board President Kevin Molloy said early in the afternoon he had not seen anything regarding the lawsuit and it was news to him. He did not respond to further requests for comment.

A call to Superintendent Scott Tingley was not returned.

Since the summer, LWATU members have been filing Freedom of Information Act requests to the district and investigating if closing a school was the right decision and if money had been mismanaged.

Named in the lawsuit as the plaintiffs are three members of LWATU and 25 other people. Lincoln-Way board members are named as the defendants.

LWATU plan to hold a news conference about the lawsuit at 1 p.m. Wednesday at the Frankfort Square Park District administration building, 7540 W. Braemar Lane, Frankfort.

LWATU members have raised money in an online fundraiser to go toward retaining legal counsel and paying for fees.

Velky said the group would answer questions on the money gathered and legal costs at Wednesday’s news conference.

Velky also said LWATU members want to answer questions about their legal action at the news conference to give people time to examine the lawsuit, which is 532 pages.

The lawsuit claims the decision to close a school and North itself was arbitrary, capricious and unreasonable.

The lawsuit also claims board member Christopher Kosel was unqualified to move for a vote on closing a school as he didn’t complete mandatory professional development leadership training until Nov. 30. The lawsuit alleges he was supposed to complete it on or before May 2014.