Lincoln-Way Supt. Lawrence Wyllie Announces Retirement

Lincoln-Way High School District 210 Superintendent Larry Wyllie, who announced his retirement at the Thursday Board of Education meeting, has helped shape a generation of students in the 105-square miles of the district. His retirement is effective June 28, 2013.

A man well respected by his professional colleagues—administrators, teachers and staff—he relinquishes the reins over a district that grew exponentially since his arrival. The district has grown from one building in New Lenox to four. Each of the Lincoln-Way High Schools—LW Central in New Lenox, LW East in Frankfort, LW North in Frankfort and LW West in New Lenox—will forever benefit from the mark he's left on the community as a whole.

Wyllie's replacement, . Tingley's replacement is Sharon Michalak, who currently serves as assistant superintendent of curriculum.

Related Story: Read more about the new superintendent 

Working hard to hold back emotion, Wyllie said, "It has been a great run and I am most appreciative of having been given the opportunity to be your superintendent for the past 24 years."

The man who came to Lincoln-Way from York Township High School in 1989 has earned the respect of the municipalities as well as the business community. Mostly though, he's attracted the support of the parents and students in the communities.

“It is impossible to overstate the positive impact that Dr. Wyllie has had on our students, our faculty and staff, our schools, and the communities and citizens that Lincoln-Way serves,” said Dr. Arvid C. Johnson, board president. “The Board of Education wishes Larry and his wife, Marilyn, all the best in this next phase of their lives together.”

Tonight the school board also accepted the resignation of Tom Eddy, deputy superintendent, who has served the district for 37 years.  

Wyllie has been an educator for the past 54 years. 

Wyllie is the fourth and longest serving superintendent in the history of District 210. Previous superintendents serving Lincoln-Way High School District 210 were: Hunter Chapman from 1952-1969; Joseph Kruzich from 1969-1977; and Lee F. Rosenquist from 1977-1988. 

Wyllie arrived at Lincoln-Way District 210 when the district had an enrollment of 2,807 students, a total of 97 square miles and one high school with two campuses. At the time, the Lincoln-Way Central campus in New Lenox housed freshmen and sophomores from New Lenox and Manhattan and all juniors and seniors from the three townships of Manhattan, New Lenox and Frankfort. The Lincoln-Way East campus in Frankfort housed freshmen and sophomores from Frankfort, Mokena, and unincorporated Frankfort Township.

The school district has grown over the last 24 years into a high school district with 7,400 students, 105 square miles and four, four-year high schools.

Lincoln-Way Community High School District 210's four high schools are ranked in the top 9.8 percent in the state of Illinois based on the Prairie State Achievement Exam. Students district-wide have earned an ACT composite score of 23, and the district has one of the five lowest per pupil expenditures in the six-county Chicago metro area, according to a school district press release.

In the past two years, District 210 was recognized with a National Advanced Placement Award and by Newsweek magazine as a “Top 500 School” in the nation.