Feb. 26--Lincoln-Way High School District 210 officials may overhaul the district's contract for day care services, potentially ending its controversial rent-free agreement with a private business that operates at each of its four campuses, the superintendent said Thursday.
Superintendent Scott Tingley told the Daily Southtown that district officials are planning to seek proposals on a new contract for day care services, a move that could kill its long-standing agreement with Frankfort-based Aunt Nancy's child care. Tingley said the district wasn't at the point of terminating its contract with Aunt Nancy's and he wasn't sure whether the district would get other day care contract suitors.
Nevertheless, Tingley acknowledged that the district's school board did not formally approve the particulars included in the existing arrangement, which has allowed the private day care operator to conduct its business on school grounds without paying rent to the financially strapped district.
"I can't speak to communications that took place between (former superintendent Lawrence Wyllie) and the board, but I can tell you it did not go to the board for approval," Tingley said.
Lincoln-Way's board in 1998 agreed to the concept of having a day care on campus but never gave formal approval to the program, Tingley said during an interview about the circumstances of the district's current agreement with Aunt Nancy's.
In 2013, shortly before former Superintendent Lawrence Wyllie retired, Wyllie signed a no bid 10-year contract extension with Aunt Nancy's, records and interviews show. The school district's previous contract with Frankfort-based Aunt Nancy's had been inked in May 2008, also for 10 years, but Wyllie signed the new 10-year contract with Aunt Nancy's in 2013, months before he retired, records show.
In response to a public records request, the district said it could not find any other contracts with Aunt Nancy's, which has been with the district since 1998.
Tingley said he did not know whether Aunt Nancy's approached District 210 about the contract extension in 2013 or if the district approached Aunt Nancy's. The deal can be canceled with 90 days' notice.
Neither Wyllie nor Aunt Nancy's officials returned calls seeking comment.
Government experts contacted by the Daily Southtown said the 2013 contract extension raises transparency concerns. They also questioned the deal's length.
Sarah Brune, executive director of the Illinois Campaign for Political Reform, said, "there was clearly a lack of oversight and attention to detail" by the board but said it's good that the district is responding to public concerns.
"Getting bids is good," Brune said.
Aunt Nancy's uses Lincoln-Way's four high schools rent-free in an unusual arrangement spotlighted earlier this month by the Daily Southtown and panned by some residents as financially irresponsible.
Oak Lawn-based Community High School District 218 has a similar deal with a private day care provider at one of its buildings, records and interviews show. But while District 210 allows Aunt Nancy's to operate rent-free on its campuses, District 218 currently charges its contractor $76,250 a year in "cost-recovery" fees, records show.
District 210 also in recent years spent at least $90,000 on playground equipment for Aunt Nancy's use, the Southtown reported this week.
Under its current agreement, Aunt Nancy's is required to give a 20 percent discount to current and former district employees as well as people connected to certain feeder schools. The "majority" of Aunt Nancy's clients are District 210 educators, according to the day care center's website.
In 2015, District 210 landed on the state's financial watch list and, in response, voted to shut down Lincoln-Way North as a cost-saving measure.
The district has faced intense scrutiny since then. In December, a community group calling itself Lincoln-Way Area Taxpayers Unite filed a lawsuit asking a judge to block North's closure and alleging financial mismanagement.
Some in the community see District 210's deal with Aunt Nancy's as a sign of financial mismanagement.
On Thursday, Tingley said the district's currently developing a request for proposals "to gauge interest to determine if there is a more competitive structure" for the day care contract.
A request for proposals is different from a traditional request for "bids," in that the district is not required to go with the lowest bidder.
He said the district is "working through" the process of developing the request for proposal, which could come up at a future board meeting.
gpratt@tribpub.com
