School Board Resistant to Private Funds for WWS Athletic Complex

Concerns expressed by some Community Unit School District 200 Board of Education members may have spelled the end to a athletics.

Representatives from the Red Grange Athletic Complex Fund met with Board of Education members Jim Vroman and Joann Coghill to discuss undertaking a $15,000 feasibility study to see if the District 200 community would support the proposed projects at the school. In November Paul Molino, spokesman for the Red Grange organization, shared the plan to raise money to enhance the football field, build a storage facility, build a new soccer and lacrosse field, renovate the track and create a practice area for the school’s marching band. Molino said his group has the support of the WWS booster clubs as well as the school’s athletic department and administration.

On Wednesday Vroman encouraged the board to work with the Red Grange Fund to craft questions for a community survey to see if there was support for the undertaking. Regardless of the results, Vroman said no construction could begin unless the board gave approval because the district owns the property.

Board member Ken Knicker said he could not support the fundraising efforts unless the money was evenly spread with Wheaton North.

“Both sides of town need to benefit,” he said.

Board member Joann Coghill said she liked the idea of a group of private citizens showing passion for their school. Coghill said if the board told the Red Grange organization they must raise money for the entire district as opposed to WWS, they would likely withdraw any fundraising efforts.

Board member Jim Vroman agreed. He said attaching such a caveat to the organization would effectively “kill their plans.”

Superintendent Brian Harris said the district has a capital improvement plan that addresses some of the concerns of the Red Grange organization, including new turf on the athletic fields and increasing storage capacity. Still in an early stage, Harris said the plan also includes other needs across the district. 

A majority of the board members said the WWS organization was free to conduct the feasibility study; however the board members could not see supporting the plan beyond that phase for multiple reasons. Board members expressed concern that improvements at one school would have negative rather than a positive impact on the district as a whole. Board member Jim Gambaiani said he worried that residents would take privately funded improvements as a message that the district provides inferior services to its schools. Barb Intihar agreed. She said district residents will not realize that improvements made at South were privately funded and demand the district make similar enhancements at the other schools.

Both Gambaiani and Intihar cited the capital projects outlined by Harris as more pressing need as well. With looming teacher contract negotiations, changes in curriculum and the budget concerns facing the district, Intihar said district staff has “enough meat on its plate.”

“The timing is just wrong,” Intihar said.

Rosemary Swanson was concerned that constructing a large athletic complex at Wheaton Warrenville South would shift the focus of the athletic department from the students to the program itself.