High School Board Releases Strike Plan

Lake Forest High School will remain open but busses will not run and attendance will not be required until Sept. 17, according to a letter sent to parents today by the Board of Education.

The building will be open from 7:50 a.m. to 3:10 p.m. Wednesday, Thursday and Friday and lunch will be available, according to the letter. “The building will remain open as a safe, supervised, and supportive environment for all students,” the Board said in the letter.

The letter was silent about bus service after the first three days. There will be no impact on the college application process. The letter also indicated the strike plan will focus on negating the impact of a work stoppage on learning.

“The school calendar will be reconfigured to reduce the total number of teacher work days without losing student instruction days,” the Board said in the letter. “The strike plan is … designed to keep students engaged in meaningful educational opportunities.”

Attendance will be required on the fourth day of a strike, most likely Sept. 17, according to the letter. In addition to the college application process, the resource center will be staffed for students needing academic support and extra-curricular activities will continue.

“Most athletic participation (including contests and games) and many extra-curricular activities will continue,” the Board said in the letter.

which makes provisions for practice, as long as experienced coaches are present, but not games. The City of Chicago, which could experience a teachers’ strike as early as Monday, has asked the IHSA for an exemption so contests can take place.

The IHSA is scheduled to make its ruling at a board meeting Monday, according to IHSA Communications Director Matt Troha. “The board has never granted an exception,” he said. He also told Patch Lake Forest has not made an application.

Representatives of the Board the the Lake Forest Education Association met Thursday for two hours and did not reach an agreement. The Board suggested meeting Monday while the union proposed Tuesday.

"We're still waiting to hear," Board President Sharon Golan told Patch today.

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