Lincoln-Way District 210 board loses another member

NEW LENOX — The board for cash-strapped Lincoln-Way District 210 has incurred another resignation.

Longtime board member Arvid Johnson decided to leave, effective Thursday, according to a district news release. His resignation marks the third one so far this year, after former Board President Kevin Molloy and former member Christopher McFadden resigned in January.

Calls to Johnson and an email to board President Dee Molinare on Friday were not immediately returned.

“We are thankful for Arvid’s commitment to the district over the past seven years," Molinare said in the district’s news release. "We wish him the best."

The district provided an email from Johnson stating he is resigning for "family and personal reasons." He wished he board, district, students and community "peace and all good things" now and in the future.

Johnson was first appointed to the board in 2008 to replace former board member James Fagan.

Johnson ran in and won elections for a seat on the board in 2009 and 2013. He led the board from 2011 to 2015 when he was chosen twice as board president.

So far this year, Johnson has missed the most meetings of any board member, having missed four of seven meetings between Jan. 28 and April 20. Recently, some residents have expressed concern about board members’ absences in light of the district’s ongoing financial crisis.

The board is accepting applications for the vacancy, which can be downloaded from the District 210 website at www.lw210.org starting Monday. The deadline for submissions is 4 p.m. May 9.

Those interested should contact board recording secretary Susan Fennell at 815-462-2135 or sfennell@lw210.org to request a paper copy of the application.

Since Lincoln-Way was put on the state financial watch list last year, the board decided to close North high school, one of its newest buildings, in an effort to resolve the crisis. North, along with West, was built to meet projected student growth that never came.

Johnson, Molloy and McFadden were among the five board members who voted to close the school in the fall.

Many residents have criticized the decision, with some forming a watchdog group that is in a legal battle with the board to keep North open.

Last year, Lincoln-Way officials blamed the district’s dire finances on declining state revenue and the housing market crash in the late 2000s but the board acknowledged this April that the condition of the district was “masked by improper accounting.”

The board also acknowledged that a “proper system of checks and balances” was not in place and that previous superintendent Lawrence Wyllie “took unauthorized action.”

Wyllie was also listed as being on the University of St. Francis Board of Trustees as recently as last month but the school’s website no longer lists his name. Johnson is the president at USF.

In March, the retirement of longtime district business official Ronald Sawin, who worked under Wyllie, was accelerated from 2018 to Saturday and an agreement between he and the board stated they are in a dispute over Sawin’s performance.