Feb. 08--Lincoln-Way High School District 210 paid $272,000 in retirement bonuses to 18 departing educators, including the former superintendent, at a time when the school district's finances were rapidly deteriorating, recently-released records show.
The district paid the bonuses in July each year from 2013 through 2015, records show. As part of the teachers contract, 210 officials in 2012 offered educators a "retirement incentive program" with six percent raises each year and a one-time retirement bonus of up to $16,000.
The one-time bonus was designed so that it would not count toward the educators' pension because it wouldn't be paid until after the employee's retirement date, the contract states. But the payouts represent a steep cost to taxpayers.
Current Superintendent Scott Tingley said he renegotiated the teachers' contract in 2014 in an effort to help reduce costs for the district, which was placed on the state's financial watch list last year. The annual raises were lowered from six percent to three percent, Tingley said, and the bonuses were eliminated beginning with the 2015-2016 school year.
Tingley said it was "in the district's best interest to reduce some of those incentives."
"I wanted to be fair to the teachers," Tingley said. "At the same time, I wanted to move a contract forward that was more manageable."
Tingley became superintendent in 2013, replacing former superintendent Lawrence Wyllie, who had led the district since 1989. Tingley has said he didn't realize the extent of the school district's financial woes before becoming superintendent in 2013.
These bonuses are the latest example of what critics say was questionable financial management by the district's leaders in the past decade.
"Why should anybody receive extra increases and special benefits when they're sitting there admitting that they're in financial straits?" said Steve Eberhardt, the attorney representing a citizens group called Lincoln-Way Area Taxpayers Unite.
District 210 announced last summer that it would close Lincoln-Way North to help solve its fiscal crisis -- a move that inflamed many in the community.
Now District 210's finances are under intense public scrutiny by taxpayers and LWATU, which filed a lawsuit aimed at preventing North's closure and alleging financial mismanagement.
Last month, the Daily Southtown reported that District 210 paid $199,113 in excess salary payments -- commonly referred to as penalties -- to the teachers' retirement system of Illinois for giving raises that exceeded a state cap on raises affecting pensions.
The Daily Southtown also reported that Lincoln-Way spent nearly $45,000 on renovations to house a Superdog training program that the current superintendent acknowledges has "no student benefit" and that was run by a dog trainer who has worked with former superintendent Wyllie.
And last week, the Daily Southtown reported that the school district's former building and grounds director resigned in 2013 for doing private work during district hours by the district. That official, Paul Gonzalez, helped Wyllie create Superdog without board knowledge or approval, officials previously said.
Former School Board President Kevin Molloy said Gonzalez had to resign after refurbishing a sign in Wyllie's subdivision. Gonzalez and Tingley declined to comment on Gonzalez' resignation.
Much of the district's financial crisis can be traced to officials' decision in the mid-2000s to expand from two high schools to four.
Officials cited projected population growth in support of constructing two new campuses, but some parents criticized the logic at the time and said the district should wait and see whether a fourth school became necessary.
While the population growth never materialized, two companies involved with funding the campaign pushing for two schools -- Henry Bros. Co. of Hickory Hills and Dahlquist and Lutzow Architects -- made more than $41 million combined as part of the project, the Daily Southtown previously reported.
Some community members believe Lincoln-Way can continue to run four high schools with appropriate cuts and better financial management, though district officials have continued defending their decision to close down a school.
gpratt@tribpub.com
