Lake Forest strike halts play

The Illinois High School Association has pulled the plug on Lake Forest’s plan to compete in athletics if the teachers in the school district are out on strike.

The teachers in School District 115 were scheduled to strike at 12:01 a.m. on Wednesday. If that occurred, the first events postponed would be Wednesday’s boys golf match between the Scouts and Stevenson, and a girls field hockey game between Lake Forest and New Trier.

All postponed games can be rescheduled when school is back in session.

The one problem area is football. Lake Forest is 3-0 and is scheduled to play Lake Zurich on Friday in the Scouts’ North Suburban Lake opener.

That game won’t be played Friday if the teachers are still on strike. If it’s not rescheduled then, the game would be a forfeit loss for Lake Forest and a forfeit win for Lake Zurich.

A school board meeting was set for Tuesday night, and the teachers have indicated that they are willing to meet with the board after that meeting in an attempt to reach agreement on a contract.

The official wording by Lake Forest school officials regarding athletics is as follows:

“We were recently informed that the IHSA will strictly enforce the rules regarding interscholastic contests. This ruling prohibits us from participating in athletic competition if the teachers go on strike. Every attempt will be made to reschedule any contests missed due to a work stoppage. We are very disappointed with this decision, as we believe it is in the best interest of our students to continue scheduled activities.”

If Lake Forest teachers do go on strike, they would be the second group in Lake County to do so in the last nine months.

Last January, teachers went on strike at Zion-Benton School, forcing postponement of many athletic contests. However, when school reopened, the games were rescheduled and played.