The Examiner U-46 News FeedList of varied expenses approved by U-46 board By Seth Hancock
The Board of Education in School District U-46 unanimously approved, $168,970 in expenditure items at its meeting on Monday, Nov. 16 which was held electronically due to COVID-19 regulations.
Included was an item presented and voted on the same evening for technology tools with a total cost of $113,170, which will come from the education fund.
The tools include Pear Deck ($67,000) which is “an interactive presentation tool used to actively engage students in learning,” according to the proposal, and Edpuzzle ($46,170), a “web-based interactive video and formative assessment tool.”
The proposal states that the tools were first used in March when the district went to distance learning and they were initially offered for free.
“Some services were no longer going to be offered for free and teachers who have been using them were going to lose their work,” the proposal states. “Additionally, many schools and even individual teachers were submitting requests to purchase individually at a higher cost as they didn’t want to wait to access the full range of services or risk losing work.”
Also approved was a contract, costing $55,800 (education fund), with Illinois State University for so-called “school culture improvement” at Elgin High School and Streamwood’s Sunnydale Elementary School.
“School District U-46 has a commitment to ensuring inclusive school cultures for all staff and students in our district,” the proposal states. “Illinois State University Professors, Dr. Pamela Hoff and Dr. Beth Hatt, will collaborate with the leadership of School District U-46 to incorporate a needs assessment and subsequent professional development grounded in identifying and mitigating equity traps.”
The materials that will be used state that the government schools have a “moral imperative” to shape public opinion regarding issues like race and gender.
Also unanimously approved was $6.4 million in itemized bills.
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