Lincoln Hall Graduation Set
by JASON MEREL
The Class of 2020 at Lincoln Hall School in the Lincolnwood School District 74 is on track to have an unusual graduation ceremony after the Lincolnwood Village Board of Trustees voted to approve tentative plans at its May 5 virtual meeting.
District superintendent Dr. Kimberly Nasshan said that middle school graduates would be asked to arrive at the Lincoln Hall campus with family members in their vehicle to line up for a procession to the Lincolnwood Town Center, 3333 W. Touhy Ave., where cars will park to view a pre-recorded graduation ceremony video. Each family vehicle will receive a nameplate before the procession, she said. A final date for the graduation has not been announced yet.
"The students will stay in their cars with their gowns on," Nasshan said. "This is a constantly moving target. We’re constantly paying attention to CDC guidelines, the governor’s orders and of course the state board of education," she said.
Lincolnwood police chief Jay Parrott said in an interview that several road closures along the procession route would be temporarily closed and that residents would be informed ahead of time. Parrott said that he was told to expect about 180 cars which he estimates would take about 30 minutes to pass.
The village board also authorized the execution of a contract with the Arrow Road Construction Company of Elk Grove for roadway resurfacing for $2,396,960.50. The project includes roadways that do not have water mains underneath them that require replacement therefore not all of the following street are in poor condition.
The project will include resurfacing 4.16 miles of village streets including Keating Avenue south from Devon Avenue to Pratt Avenue, Lawndale Avenue from Lincoln Avenue to Pratt, Morse Avenue from Kenneth Avenue to Lincoln, North Shore Avenue from Cicero Avenue to Kilbourn Avenue, Tower Circle Drive and Tripp Avenue from Lincoln to Touhy Avenue.
Also, Kostner Avenue ending at Pratt, Keating north from Farwell Avenue to Lunt Avenue, Laporte Avenue from Tower Circle to Pratt, Kenneth from Kostner to Pratt and Minnehaha Avenue from Ionia Avenue to Sauganash Avenue.
Also, Nokomis from Ionia to Sauganash, LeMai from Ionia to Sauganash, Keeler Avenue from Pratt to Morse, Kedvale from Pratt to Lincoln, Wallen Avenue ending at Lawndale, Jarlath Street ending at Cicero, Farwell from Keating to Kilpatrick and Ionia from Central to LeRoy Avenue.
Also at the meeting, trustees voted 5-1 to extend Mayor Barry Bass’ emergency declaration to the next scheduled board meeting on May 19. Trustee Georjean Hlepas-Nickell voted against the extension, voicing concern that Bass was not communicating with the board in a satisfactory manner and that the declaration allows too many decisions to be made unilaterally by the mayor.
Also, the board approved a motion directing the village manager to execute a letter notifying the City of Chicago of Lincolnwood’s intent to terminate the existing water supply agreement in order to get water from the City of Evanston.
Staff reported that Lincolnwood is on schedule to begin drawing water from Evanston beginning July 1. The letter will terminate service from Chicago as of July 5. The overlap will allow Lincolnwood to ensure that no major water issues exist with the connection to Evanston’s water, staff said.
