The Examiner U-46 News Feed

Multiple expense items reviewed by U-46 board

By Seth Hancock
  The Board of Education in School District U-46 is set to vote on $2 million in expenditure proposals along with a curriculum item with an estimated cost of $1.7 million at its upcoming meeting on Monday, May 11.
  The items were presented at the Monday, May 4 meeting which was held electronically due to the COVID-19 shutdown. Board member Veronica Noland was absent.
  The curriculum proposal is for secondary arts resources regarding an curriculum update that was approved last year. Jaimie Giraldo, coordinator of fine arts, said the majority of the resources are “tools and materials needed to create art.”
  The largest portion of the $1.7 million estimate is $815,236 for technology while there is an estimated $500,000 for capital improvements including classroom remodels. Annual costs are $120,000 for consumable items.
  Board member Melissa Owens asked if the resources were included in this year’s budget to which Superintendent Tony Sanders said they’ll be in next year’s budget. Sanders said “we may have to hold off” on some purchases as there is state funding uncertainty due to the COVID-19 response.
  From Midwest Transit Equipment, the board will be asked to approve $1.4 million, from the transportation fund if approved, to purchase 20 used large buses as replacements. The used buses will come from Round Lake School District 116.
  “All buses will have less than 20,000 miles and would have a 3 year warranty on the engine and a 5 year warranty on the transmission,” the proposal states. “Purchasing 20 pre-owned school buses versus new buses will save the district approximately $500,000 on this single purchase. These 20 school buses will replace 20 large school buses as identified in the Age and Obsolescence plan for school bus replacement.”
  The district is seeking $170,400 (operations and maintenance fund) to purchase four sets of portable bleachers from Bleachers International. The proposal states that Bartlett and South Elgin high schools have consistently been renting portable bleachers in recent years with rental costs as high as $10,000 for a single event.
  Sheila Downs, director of plant operations, said all high schools will have access to the bleachers when asked by Sue Kerr, the board’s president, and added that four sets are being requested so multiple schools request usage at the same time when asked by board member Eva Porter. Downs did not have the lifespan information on the bleachers when asked by board member Melissa Owens but said she would get that data before the vote.
  The district is asking to purchase reading comprehension cross cat resources from Crossland Literacy-Okapi Educational Publishing costing $135,344 to be paid for by the nation’s taxpayers through grant funds.
  With SolarWinds, the district is seeking a three-year contract renewal costing $86,421 (education fund).
  “This 3-year agreement propagates global changes to all of our network devices such as configuration changes, security deployments, network structure and standards,” the proposal states. “SolarWinds applied a cost increase of $7,716.00 from the last 3-year agreement.”
  For Catalogic Software maintenance and backups, the district is asking for $83,991 (education fund) for a three-year contract renewal “to support the protection of the district’s data,” the proposal states. The annual cost of $27,997 is up from $25,711 a year over the last two years.
  The district is asking for $35,584 (education fund), up from $33,938, with Frontline Education for software renewal which the proposal states “interfaces with our Human Resources Information System (HRIS), MUNIS, for substitute assignments and absence management.”