Luther North's future still uncertain

Two weeks into its campaign, Luther High School North has raised only a fraction of the funds needed to keep its doors open next year.

Still, supporters of Chicago's oldest Lutheran school insist the fight isn't over.

"There is serious hope we'll be around next year," school board Chairman Dave Zielke of Mount Prospect said. "How we're going to maneuver it, I don't know."

Dwindling enrollment and mounting debt has forced the school, once billed as the largest Lutheran high school in the world, to try to raise $1.8 million in just a month.

The school in the 1980s had the chance to buy the old Arlington Heights High School for a bargain price, but declined to move on the deal. Christian Liberty Academy now owns the school.

"I wish we would have bought it," Zielke said Tuesday.

Zielke said another "major regret" is Luther not putting more of a focus on marketing in the Northwest suburbs earlier. If the school survives, he said, "we plan to do some heavy recruiting out there."

Zielke's daughter, Rebecca, is one of only a handful of suburban students who makes the trek to the Portage Park campus these days.

The family is thrilled with her experience, of the small class sizes and personal attention she receives. Rebecca, now a junior, stands at No. 3 in her class, and participates in an abundance of sports and extracurricular activities.

Still, she may not have the chance to end her high school career there. Parents learned at a town-hall meeting Tuesday night that the Portage Park school has raised a little over $70,000 of the $1.8 million needed. School Principal Tom Wiemann said the school is hoping for some bigger donors to come out of the woodwork.

The fundraising Web site, luthernorth.core-13.org, keeps a running tab, along with a list of donors and upcoming fundraisers.

From Wednesday to Thursday, members of Luther's highly ranked track teams will take turns running for 24 hours, collecting pledges for each lap. The school's baseball and softball teams have organized a similar event, playing catch for 20 hours straight.

The school board voted to commit to try to raise the money after the Lutheran Church Extension Fund, which provided the school with $1.3 million in loans, informed officials March 18 that it would execute its deed in May if Luther North could not pay up. Another $500,000 is needed to "keep the plant running," Wiemann said.

Luther North, formerly the Luther Institute, boasted 1,400 students in the early 1970s. Enrollment now stands at just 210, a majority unable to pay the full $7,350 in tuition. School officials say if they can't raise all the money they would be open to selling the school building and paying rent back to the new owner or letting another group use a portion of the building's space.