The Examiner U-46 News Feed

U-46 lighting plan among items pending approval

By Seth Hancock
  The Board of Education in School District U-46 is set to vote on $19 million in expenditure proposals at its upcoming Monday, Sept. 23 meeting. The items were presented on Sept. 9.
  The largest item is a $13.5 million (operations and maintenance fund) proposal from Twin Supplies for a lighting and controls project to install light-emitting diode (LED) fixtures district-wide.
  “During 2023, every light fixture in the district was physically inspected,” the proposal states. “As a safety precaution, any LED bulbs in non-LED fixtures were replaced. Over 60,000 LED bulbs were replaced with fluorescent bulbs, which use up to 80 [percent] more energy to operate. The districtwide energy-efficient lighting and controls upgrade will replace all of these fixtures with LEDs.”
  The proposal added: “District administration, in partnership with Nania Energy Advisors, requested qualifications for a district-wide, turn-key LED lighting and controls project. This project will include a comprehensive analysis of the lighting district-wide, the creation of a design, the sourcing of fixtures and associated materials, scheduling, installation, and energy savings data for each building to determine the return on investment timeline.”
  Costing $3.2 million, to be paid for through grant funds if approved, the district is seeking to procure new classroom and office furniture from Frank Cooney and Warehouse Direct.
  “The classroom furniture package includes new student desks and chairs, bookcases, teacher tables, and a teacher desk and chair,” the proposal states. “The individual items encompass preschool furniture, filing cabinets, lunch tables, storage cabinets, and office chairs.”
  The district is seeking $794,300 (education fund) to replace 25 percent, or 1,300 total, of their staff laptops from Pace Systems and $727,545 (education fund) to purchase 700 desktop computers from Dell Technologies. Related to the desktops, the district is asking for $127,806 (education fund) to purchase monitors from CDW-G.
  Costing $304,308 (federal grant funds), the district is seeking to renewal its Learning Genie software which provides data collection and documentation related to assessments.
  The district is asking for $175,000 with Warehouse Direct for lockable storage and dedicated workspace office furniture at the Educational Services Center and 1555 Larkin Ave.
  Two consultancy contracts, both education fund items, were presented including $90,500 with MQDI4Kids LLC for elementary literacy curriculum development and $76,200 with TaJu Educational Solutions for secondary English as a Second Language curriculum development.
  The district is seeking a contract renewal with Electude USA costing $62,800 (federal grant) automotive mechanics simulations for automotive technologies students and $54,300 (federal grant) for a proposal from Flippen Group for school climate and culture training at Parkwood Elementary School.