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• On the article School Board Considers Spending $5 Million

  

  Steve Hill

  4:15 pm on Monday, January 14, 2013

  Yes.

• On the article School Board Considers Spending $5 Million

  Steve Hill

  3:21 pm on Friday, January 11, 2013

  Mr. Billings has raised some reasonable questions. The following is factual as it comes from sources directly involved in the process.
  1. The School Superintendent and the School Board were aware of and supportive of the Diamond Campaign (DC) from its earliest stages.
  2. The DC plan was to replace the current track, add a turf field, and replace/upgrade the surrounding facilities.
  3. The DC received about $1.7 Million in written pledges from credible Lake Forest residents, over $300,000 was cash with the balance pledged in equal amounts over four years.
  4. The School Board had planned to support the DC plan with an additional $1.2 Million to complete the project.
  5. After the DC fundraising was complete, the School Board changed its position and turned down the gift. This was in the summer of 2012.
  6. The recently voiced School Board plan to replace the track will cost $1.6 Million (a portion of the $5 Million referred to in the article). This is substantially more than the District would have spent had it accepted the DC gift - and we won’t get the new turf field with the new School Board plan.

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• On the article School Board Considers Spending $5 Million

  Steve Hill

  3:21 pm on Friday, January 11, 2013

  Mr. Billings has raised some reasonable questions. The facts as I understand them are:
  1. With the full support of the Superintendent and School Board, The Diamond Campaign effort was initiated in 2011.
  2. Lake Forest community members pledged about $1.7 Million of which over $300,000 was today's cash and the balance was pledged in equal amounts over the following four years. These pledges were in writing from credible Lake Forest residents.
  3. Diamond Campaign funds were directed to a specific project which included a new track and a new turf field along with upgraded surrounding facilities.
  4. As part of the Diamond Campaign initiative, District 115 had planned to contribute an additional $1.2 Million to complete the project. Classic Public/Private partnership that has worked so well in Lake Forest over the years.
  5. The School Superintendent and School Board were aware of and supportive of the Diamond Campaign plan from its earliest stages and were kept appraised along the way.
  6. After the funds had been largely raised, the School Board changed its position and turned down the gift. This was in the summer of 2012.
  7. Less than one year later, the School Board is contemplating a plan to borrow $1.6 Million to build a new track identical to the one the Diamond Campaign Initiative would have funded - and we won't get the new turf field.

  I have not been directly involved in the Diamond Campaign however my information is factual.

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• On the article School Board Considers Spending $5 Million

  Steve Hill

  8:49 am on Friday, January 11, 2013

  This would appear to be a case of clear fiscal mismanagement. Less than a year ago, the District 115 School Board turned down over $1.5 Million that had been raised by this community to fix the track and surrounding facilities at LFHS East Campus. This would have been one of the largest gifts in the history of Illinois public schools. A few months later, we're going to borrow money to fund the same project? As a taxpayer and an admirer of the community spirit that drove the recent Diamond Campaign, I believe a thorough and public explanation is owed.

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