April 28--A newly released list of potential capital projects shows Lincoln-Way High School District 210 could spend $8,535,000 on needed work at its schools, mostly at Central and East, raising new questions about transparency and the district's decision to shutter North high school at the end of the school year.
The list of unfunded projects shows the district faces $4,650,000 worth of potential work at Central, $3,645,000 at East, $120,000 at North and $120,000 at West. The costs are estimates spread out over five years and are not finalized, the district said.
At Central, the district's potential expenses include parking lot renovations, updated HVAC controls, home grandstands, roof renovation and replacement work, and tuckpointing, records show. East's work includes roof renovation and replacement, sprinkler main replacement, bleacher work and asbestos abatement, among other projects, records show.
North and West's expenses include tuckpointing and HVAC control updates, records show.
The $8.5 million in estimated expenses is not accounted for in future budgets.
"This is an unfunded five year outlook. The district has continued to defer capital projects over the last several years," Taryn Atwell, the district's community relations director, said in an emailed statement. "After several years of deficit spending, the district must be in a position to realize a surplus in order to begin to budget for these types of capital projects."
The "planning document" was shared with school board members last August, Atwell said. Taxpayers previously requested the list from officials, including at least one inquiry dating back to September, but it was not released to the public until recently.
"I can't respond as to why this wasn't provided, because I'm not aware of the nature of the request. However, it has since been provided," Atwell said. "It has not been a secret that the district has deferred capital projects over the last several years in an effort to continue to provide outstanding educational opportunities to our students."
Lincoln-Way officials have cast the board's decision to close Lincoln-Way North as a necessary cash-saving measure after years of deficit spending. The south suburban school district landed on the state's financial watch list in 2015, where it remains. In response, Lincoln-Way's school board voted last summer to close North, which is less than a decade old, at the end of this school year.
Some officials have previously defended closing North by saying that the district needs to keep its two biggest schools open -- Central and East -- in case they are forced to close a second school.
Officials have also cited North's location at 199th and Harlem Avenue, just south of I-80, as being attractive to potential tenants.
Many in the community have questioned Lincoln-Way officials' decision to close North because it's relatively new. To those individuals, the looming capital expenses at Lincoln-Way's older schools is likely to raise further questions about how much money shuttering North will save.
"This document does not equate to usual maintenance; it equates to large-scale capital replacements and renovations," Atwell said. "These potential updates, once performed, will not need to be addressed for several years. Capital projects need to be addressed at all facilities, regardless of whether or not students are in attendance."
Liz Sands, President of Lincoln-Way Area Taxpayers Unite, criticized the district for not releasing the list sooner. LWATU has sued the district to prevent North's closure.
"When you ask for something (and) it is not produced, then you ask again and it suddenly exists... it smacks of cover-up," Sands said. "What else are we supposed to think?"
Sands said the list is proof that school district officials made a rash decision when they voted to close Lincoln-Way North last August. She also said the board didn't have a clear picture of the district's financial condition.
Sands said the district should rescind its decision to close North.
"We have faith that they can change this and rescind their decision and help heal this district," Sands said.
Asked whether officials had or have a clear enough picture of the district's true financial condition, Atwell said, "the district is on the financial watch list, and is borrowing $30 million in tax anticipation warrants. This paints a clear financial picture."
"We cannot continue to provide our students with the education and experiences they deserve while operating four schools and deferring capital projects," Atwell said. "Difficult decisions have been made in an effort to stabilize the finances of our district."
Lincoln-Way is in the midst of a deepening schism between some residents and officials over the district's financial practices in the past decade.
Voters approved a $225 million referendum in 2006 to fund two new schools and make improvements at the district's existing campuses. Accounting firm Crowe Horwath recently reviewed the district's 2006, 2007 and 2009 bond issues and found that the 2006 and 2007 bond issues were "properly directed" by the board and deposited into the capital projects fund.
But $10 million in bond funds from 2009 meant to be deposited into the capital projects account was "incorrectly" deposited into the district's life safety fund, officials said.
Roughly $4.6 million of the "miscategorized proceeds were incorrectly expended for noncapital purposes through journal entries without board knowledge or approval," district officials said in a statement.
Late last week, Lincoln-Way's board released another statement that said the district's "true financial condition" had been "masked by improper accounting."
In recent months, the Daily Southtown has reported extensively on questionable financial practices, private uses of public resources and questionable deals benefiting district insiders at Lincoln-Way.
Those controversies include former Superintendent Lawrence Wyllie's creation, without board approval, of Superdog, a dog training school the district spent nearly $45,000 to host, records and interviews show.
The district's grounds director also ordered employees to do private work benefiting Wyllie, including creating a memorial plaque for Wyllie's father, records show.
This month, the Southtown reported that Lincoln-Way's board approved funding a retirement annuity for Wyllie, into which taxpayers paid more than $368,000. Wyllie also collects the largest teacher pension in the state at $312,000 per year.
Meeting records show no public discussion of Wyllie's annuity, and the district did not write the annuity into Wyllie's contract until 2010.
In 2007, Lincoln-Way also bought $5 million worth of farmland in Manhattan Township, apparently without an appraisal, in a deal that benefited the Lincoln-Way Foundation president's firm, according to records and interviews.
gpratt@tribpub.com
