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the Mokena Messenger | August 24, 2017 | 11
Lincoln-Way D210 Board of Education
Lacrosse receives board approval as
IHSA sport for 2017-2018 school year
Meredith Dobes
Freelance Reporter
The boys and girls lacrosse
teams at Lincoln-Way
Community High School
District 210 will be able to
continue to compete this
school year, following a vote
by the School Board Thursday,
Aug. 17, to approve
lacrosse as an Illinois High
School Association sport.
The approval was unanimous,
with Board Member
Christine Glatz absent.
Until this year, lacrosse
has been deemed an “emerging
sport” by IHSA, meaning
that it was recognized as
a club at schools that participated
in the sport. Because
of its growth, IHSA officially
sanctioned the sport this
year, requiring schools to
also officially adopt the sport
and staff it as a regular sport.
Superintendent R. Scott
Tingley said the timing of
the IHSA’s decision is difficult
for D210 financially,
but the athletes’ families
were willing to take on most
of the costs the first year in
order to continue to have the
sport at the district.
He said transportation
costs for lacrosse were approximately
$8,000 last year,
and that amount may rise
between $1,000-$3,000 this
year, depending on state series
travel. The teams would
be responsible for paying for
coaches, uniforms and equipment.
The cost per player
would be between $266-
$400, and the club would
work with players unable to
pay the fee, Tingley said.
“We’ve not budgeted for
these sports, and the [athletic
directors] don’t have them in
their budgets at this time,”
Tingley said.
For the future, Tingley
Round it up
A brief recap of action and discussion at the Aug.
17 meeting of Lincoln-Way Community High School
District 210 Board
• The School Board unanimously approved its portion
of the Lincoln-Way Area Special Education District 843
budget, in the amount of approximately $3.8 million.
• Board members discussed a requested four-year
property tax abatement for Surface Shield, an Orland
Park business considering relocating to Tinley Park,
within the district’s boundaries. Board members
requested more information, including whether the
business would be interested in supplying internships
to Lincoln-Way students.
said the district will need to
analyze all costs associated
with sports and determine
how the district can move
forward.
The boys lacrosse team is
anticipated to have between
80-100 athletes, and the girls
team is expected to have between
45-50 athletes. The
teams include students from
all three schools.
Financial planning for FY
2018
The School Board unanimously
approved scheduling
a public hearing Sept. 21 for
the fiscal year 2018 tentative
budget.
Assistant Superintendent
of Business Brad Cauffman
said the budget will be
available for review by the
public on BoardDocs beginning
Monday, Aug. 21, and
there will be an in-depth
presentation on the budget
at the Thursday, Aug. 31
meeting.
Cauffman also presented
the tax levy determination
for the district for 2017,
showing how much money
the district is estimated to
need from taxation. The total
estimated 2017 levy is approximately
$81.6 million,
or a 2.2 percent increase for
existing taxpayers.
The School Board unanimously
approved the determination,
and Cauffman said the
levy itself will be up for approval
at the Sept. 21 meeting.
Cauffman said the district
needed to approve its levy
early — most school districts
approve levies in December
— to prepare for requesting
tax anticipation warrants.
He added that the levy
determination is balanced
against the proposed budget.
Later in the meeting, the
School Board also reviewed
an action plan for Policy
4:20 regarding fund balance,
with the goal that the district
increase operating funds by
3 percent annually.
Cauffman said if the district
is able to do this each
year, it may be able to eliminate
the need for TAWs by
fiscal year 2028.
“This shows we’re in a
pretty significant hole that
is going to take a number
of years to get back out of
it,” Board Member Christopher
Lucchetti said. “Three
percent seems reasonable.
It doesn’t jeopardize current
students and what we’re
spending. We have to get off
[TAWs]. This is a good plan.”
Deadly crash on I-294 kills Mokena man
TJ Kremer III, Editor
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LORA HEALY
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Illinois State Police are investigating
a fatal crash involving
a Mokena man that
occurred at approximately
3:30 p.m. on Saturday, Aug.
19, on the southbound lanes
of I-294 between 135th and
the Midlothian Turnpike.
According to a police
report, Eric Ekstrom, 50,
of Mokena, was travelling
southbound in a 1999
Jeep at a high rate of speed
when he sideswiped a 2015
Ford truck, lost control of
his vehicle and traveled
over into the northbound
lanes, where he then struck
a Kenworth wrecker, causing
Ekstrom to flip his Jeep
onto its roof.
Ekstrom was pronounced
dead at the scene. Police
are identifying the other
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Crossley suffered minor
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The cause of the accident
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A wake will be held on
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