The Examiner U-46 News Feed

District U-46 approves multiple proposals, bills

By Seth Hancock
  The Board of Education in School District U-46 unanimously approved of over $4.1 million in expenditures over eight proposals at its meeting on Monday, March 2.
  The largest item was $1.1 million, from the education fund, for textbooks for students in the dual credit program with Elgin Community College (ECC) with the proposal running through the 2023-2024 year.
  The proposal expands the taxpayer burden for the dual credit program as previously taxpayers were only on the hook for tuition costs, not textbooks.
  The proposal state the district wants “to decrease the barriers for students seeking dual credit… by purchasing the books that will be used for the part-time (in high school) dual credit students and providing an Elgin Community College bookstore credit for our full-time (at ECC) dual credit students for the next four school years.”
  The board approved of a $968,484 (education fund) proposal to purchase 1,700 iPads from Apple Inc., 1,700 iPad covers from Bump Armor and 1,100 Chromebooks from Heartland. Also, concerning technology, the board approved $426,915 (education fund) with Instructure, Inc. for a Learning Management System (LMS) and a proposal to purchase 20 interactive boards from Dell ($45,000) and accompanying stands from Pace ($26,000) which will be paid for by the nation’s taxpayers through Title I funds.
  The LMS proposal from Instructure was significantly higher than a $248,260 bid from Blackboard, Inc. The proposal states: “While Blackboard was less expensive than our selected provider, all members of Instructional Council felt they were not well aligned with our needs.”
  A two-year contract renewal with Tyler Technologies was approved costing $335,763 (transportation, operations and education funds) to renew Versatrans Routing and Planning Software which helps the transportation department create routes and to track vehicles.
  The board approved two projects at Streamwood High School, both from the operations and maintenance fund.
  Included is $881,595 with Abbey Paving and Sealcoating Company, Inc. for a “full removal and replacement of the tennis courts and fencing,” the proposal states. Chicagoland Paving Contractors, Inc. came in under at $815,000 but U-46 is in “an ongoing dispute with Chicagoland Paving over liquidated damages” from another project.
  Also at Streamwood will be a painting project for the second floor of the school costing $87,972 with Go Painters, Inc.
  At Elgin’s Larkin High School, the board approved a $215,364 expenditure (operations and maintenance fund) with Peters Electric and Technology, Inc. to make building modifications to prepare for the career pathways programs.
  Also unanimously approved was $4.6 million in itemized bills.

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