The Examiner U-46 News Feed

Presence of ACMs forces U-46 to replace ‘bubblers’

By Seth Hancock
  Asbestos-containing materials (ACMs) have been found on sinks at six School District U-46 schools.
  The district plans to address the issue with one of two expenditure proposals, totaling $245,761, set for a vote by the Board of Education at its Monday, Oct. 4 meeting. The items were presented on Sept. 27.
  The ACMs were found on sinks, which include drinking fountains called bubblers, at Bartlett, Elgin’s Channing, Streamwood’s Glenbrook, Hanover Park’s Ontarioville and Wayne elementary schools as well as the Independence Preschool in Bartlett.
  The district is asking for $27,345, from the operations and maintenance fund if approved, with EHC Industries for removal of the ACMs.
  The district is replacing drinking fountains at 14 schools. The ACMs were found during an inspection at those 14 schools.
  “Plant Operations would like to convert sinks within all classrooms to handwashing only and remove the bubblers in the process,” the proposal states. “District administration will have water fountains with bottle filling stations installed in the hallways to ensure students and staff have access to filtered drinking water.”
  The proposal adds: “The district maintains asbestos in place per the applicable regulations and only removes the materials when repair and/or replacement is necessary. Thus, this project will result in the removal of the ACMs present on the sinks.”
  The district is also asking for $218,416 (education fund) for replacement of VMware servers through Dell Technologies. The district has about 100 virtual servers, according to the proposal, and this will replace “the servers that run much of the district’s computing infrastructure. These new servers will have a life expectancy of five years.”