The Examiner U-46 News Feed
U-46 Board poised for curriculum vote in 2017
By Seth Hancock
The Board of Education in School District U-46 will vote on a PreK-12 curriculum proposal concerning digital literacy among four total proposals at its meeting on Monday, Jan. 9. The proposal were presented on Monday, Dec. 12, 2016.
Between online resources and resources for learning commons at schools there’s a $312,087 total initial cost and a $241,337 annual cost.
Jackie Johnson, coordinator of secondary literacy and libraries, said the proposal is “to support our students in using both information and digital resource credibly and appropriately,” and the last time the district has updated these resources was 2003.
Learning goals, according to Johnson, include students being good digital citizens, reading on personal interests, inquiry skills and how to use technology and the objectives include collaboration, critical thinking, information and digital literacy, self direction, creation, invention and technology.
Among the digital resources are Encyclopedia Britannica ($25,868 initial and recurring), Cengage Learning Database ($69,575 initial and recurring), Proquest SIRS Knowledge Source ($15,580 initial and recurring), Dewey Decimal System Resources ($8,000 non-recurring), Internet Safety Chart ($8,000 non-recurring), Trails (free) and Noodle Tools ($2,864 initial and recurring).
The learning commons resources will cost $182,200 initially, $127,450 recurring.
Board member Jeanette Ward asked about the Cengage resource, a resource the board had already approved last May, a renewal that cost $38,376.
Johnson said previously the district only had the opposing viewpoints, research in context and student resources in context portions of Cengage and now will have US history in context, science in context, biography in context, literature resource center and Kids InfoBits.
“When we buy all of them, the price comes down” per unit Johnson said.
Board member Traci Ellis asked if the recurring price is set or can that change, to which Suzanne Johnson, assistant superintendent, said “it’s approximately what we would budget for on an annual basis.”
Board member Sue Kerr asked about the learning commons resources which the administration said included print and other materials. Ward asked what books or other materials will be purchased which Jackie Johnson said librarians will put together the lists.
Suzanne Johnson said the district will measure the usage of the resources.
“We know one of the marks for success is that when students access things, books get damaged, books get lost, things need to be replaced,” Johnson said. “That’s one of our very real challenges in this type of system, but for us that means kids are accessing things.”
Both Cengage and Britannica were approved last May and Ward voted for Cengage but against Britannica. Ward said the Cengage resources presented differing viewpoints at the time of the last vote, but with the additional units she has found one-sided portions surrounding climate change, the Israel-Palestine conflict and political/economic systems which she has posted on social media.
On political/economic systems, the resource divides citizens into categories of property owners versus workers and claims “workers have little or no income-earning assets other than their capacity to labor” in capitalist systems while workers can hold ownership in communist systems through “collective ownership.”
Previously Ward cited instances of bias in Britannica including glowing information about Margaret Sanger, the founder of the nation’s largest abortion provider Planned Parenthood.
Ward has found further one-sided information on Sanger from Britannica which paints her as a victim of an unfair justice system in America as well as claiming abortion allows women to avoid unwanted pregnancies by saying Sanger “believed in every woman’s right to avoid unwanted pregnancies.”
When Ward voted against Britannica in May, The Examiner researched Sanger and found that Sanger attended Ku Klux Klan rallies, sympathized with Adolf Hitler, wrote in a 1939 letter to Clarence Gable that “we do not want word to go out that we want to exterminate the Negro population” and wrote in “Pivot of Civilization” that black people are “human beings who never should have been born.” None of that information is included in Britannica.
The board was also presented with a renewal of an intergovernmental agreement with the Carol Stream Park District.
Jeff King, chief operations officer, said the agreement allows for an exchange in usage of facilities between Carol Stream and Spring Trail Elementary School. U-46 is allowed to use athletic facilities next to the school and Carol Stream can use the school’s gymnasium, and Carol Stream maintains the schools grounds.
Board member Cody Holt asked if the district has similar agreements with other park districts which King said it does.
The board was also presented with electric service contracts with four companies (Constellation Energy, Direct Energy, Dynegy Energy, MC Squared Energy) to provide electricity.
King said “basically you’re approving the process” and “the pricing on electricity is good for only one day.” This proposal will allow the district to receive bids from those companies, and King said the district spends around $2.8 million a year on electricity.
Also to be voted on will be an expenditure of $99,815, which if approved will come out of the education fund, with School Health Corp. to replace 72 Automated External Defibrillators (AED).
The proposal states AED’s have a five-year lifespan and Kerr asked if that was a normal lifespan. Jeffrey Judge, health services supervisor, said the lifespan is based on warranties and best practice is to purchase new AED’s after the warranty is up.
Judge said AED’s have been used to save two students this year. He said the district has 100 total, a majority of which are past warranty.
Holt asked what the district will do with the AED’s once the new ones are purchased, and Judge said School Health Corp. provides a “$200 buyback even for our oldest models.”
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