MM_062818

4 | June 28, 2018 | The Mokena Messenger news
mokenamessenger.com
Lincoln-Way Community High School D210 Board of Education
Superintendent’s 5-year contract extension approved
Megan Schuller
Freelance Reporter
The D210 Board of Education
voted in favor to extended
Superintendent Dr.
Scott Tingley’s contract,
with a raise, in a 4 to 1 vote
during its Thursday, June
21, meeting. Board member
Christopher Lucchetti cast
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the dissenting vote.
The five-year contract is a
performance based contract,
which is dependant on his
performance as an administrator
and how the students
perform under his leadership.
Tingley’s annual base salary
will be $206,215. According
to his original contract,
signed in December
of 2012, his base salary was
$185,000. Each subsequent
contract year within Tingley’s
new contract, his salary
will be increased by the
consumer price Index, which
could range from 1 percent
to 3 percent.
During public comment,
Lincoln-Way East parent
Elizabeth Burghard spoke
out about updating Tingley’s
contract during times
of financial hardship in the
district.
“I don’t think raises
should be given to administrators
when we’re in such
poor financial shape and
when you continue to ask
for more and more money,”
Burghard said.
On the contract, Tingley
listed two goals each for
his responsibilities of curriculum
and assessments,
community relations, and
finance. The board disagreed
on whether Tingley’s shortterm
annual goals should
aim more toward long term
goals since the contract renewal
is for five more years.
Lucchetti said that he was
in favor of extending the
contract, but questioned the
length of time and how far
out Tingley’s goals should
aim.
“My concern is that the
term of this contract is five
years,” Lucchetti said during
discussion. “Given where
we are at the District, we’re
in the very early stages of
recovery. The goals aren’t
really over a five-year term.
Round it up
A brief look at other
items discussed at the
June 21 D210 board
meeting
• Brad Cauffman
was appointed as the
Treasurer for the 2018-
2019 school year.
• The Board voted in
favor of putting the Will
County One Cent Sales
Tax resolution on the
November ballot.
• National Investigation,
Inc was contracted
to cross reference
addresses on file to
ensure correct residency
within district borders.
The estimated cost is $2
per family, which adds
up to $11,052 for the
cost of the service.
We really have a lot of financial
things coming up here
that [Tingley needs] to be on
top of. We have transition in
our education and administration.
I’m more in favor of
basing this on performance:
[Tingley sets] goals and then
extend it over a period of
time.”
A five-year term is the
max extension allowed by
the state of Illinois.
“As far as other superintendents
in the area and the
state of Illinois, it’s lower on
the pay scale and it’s a modest
increase,” Board Vice
President Joseph Kosteck
said. “Financially it makes
since, as well if we have
enough money.”
For comparison, William
K. Kendall, superintendent
of Bremen High School
District 228, earned a base
salary of $247,894 for the
2017-2018 school year,
while Todd P. Wernet, superintendent
of Lockport Township
High School District
205, earned a base salary of
$218,736 for FY 2016-2017,
the latest year available on
D205’s website.
Student fees reworked
Parents vocalized how upset
they were about the $50
school fee that appeared as
an activity fee during registration
for the 2018-2019
school year. The fee was assessed
regardless of whether
or not a student would participate
in sports or extracurriculars.
Parents also were
concerned that only people
who had already paid their
fees received an email from
Tingley about the district
changing their mind on the
fee because, according to the
email, the fee “can be challenged”
legally.
Parents that already paid
the fee have the option to
keep the paid fee on the account
in case their child participates
in an activity during
the year, have it credited to
their child’s lunch account or
get a refund.
“The people who had already
paid received emails;
people who haven’t are going
to be included since I
knew we were going to have
a discussion tonight,” Tingley
said after the meeting
regarding why only some
parents received emails.
During discussion of the
fees, audience members
spoke out correcting board
members after they kept using
the phrase “flat activity
fee.” Several parents pointed
out that it is not a flat fee for
all activities if activities still
required additional fees for
uniforms or other expenses
that parents would have to
pay on top of the $50 activity
fee.
“The $50 is an overhead
cost,” Board President Joseph
Kirkeeng said. “We have to
pay for coaches, we pay for
transportation, we pay for the
operations of these facilities.
We want consistency among
the fees in schools.”
According to board documents,
the estimated revenue
from the fee would be
reduced from $310,000 to
$248,000 after eliminating
the fee from all students and
only charging participating
students.
“Fifty dollars is a tiny bit
of money to most people,
but for other people it’s not,”
parent Rebecca Dalseth said
during the meeting.
Pension debt restructured
The Board also decided
on a financial matter that
has been dragged out since
2010. The Illinois Municipal
Retirement Fund and Early
Retirement Incentive balance
is $576,188.84 due to interest
on the balance of the IMRF
for employees that retired
under the ERI plan back in
2010. Since the IMRF charges
the District 7.5 percent
interest expense on the outstanding
balance, the Board
voted to pay off the balance
to save the District approximately
$39,000 annually.
“We built in to this amended
budget to pay this off,”
Assistant Superintendent of
Business Bradley Cauffman
said. “I think it’s financially
prudent to go ahead and
make this payoff to save an
additional interest expense.
It will of course have an
impact on our tax anticipation
awards. We’ll be needing
to borrow and additional
$576,000 more, but it’s for a
shorter time period.”
According to Cauffman,
the amount borrowed should
be covered by the tax income
the district receives. He said
that money will be tight for
some time after paying off
the ERI but that it will be
worth it to avoid the 7.5 percent
interest.