The Examiner U-46 News Feed
U-46 Board primed for vote on varied proposals
By Seth Hancock
A pair of curriculum proposals are among four work session items along with expenditure proposals totaling $1.7 million that will be voted on by the Board of Education in School District U-46 at its upcoming meeting on Monday, June 15.
A revision to the district’s welding curriculum was presented with an estimated cost of $34,359 for resources and professional development. It will revise the welding technology pathway with resources identified for three courses: Welding Fundamentals (sophomore), Welding Technology I (junior) and Welding Technology II (senior).
“The welding pathway started in the 2017-2018 school year and has seen rapid growth since then,” said Tracy Stewart, coordinator of career and technical education. She said by the end of the three-year pathway, students will be certified by the American Welding Society.
The welding program is offered at Elgin High School, and board member Melissa Owens clarified that all students in the district can enter the program as can some outside students. Stewart said all U-46 students have access and some students from Burlington Central School District 301 also attend.
A Project Lead the Way (PLTW) curriculum proposal was presented with a total estimated cost of $183,500, a cost of $91,750 each for the STEM-Design and Modeling and STEM-Automation and Design courses.
The proposal pertains to the middle school PLTW program, and Owens asked if this will lead to adjustments to the high school level which Neal Ford, a PLTW teacher at Bartlett’s Eastview Middle School, said it “directly feeds into the high school system” and no adjustments need to be made.
The board will also vote on changes to the Student Code of Conduct which Robin Barraza, coordinator of student discipline, said are “primarily limited to reorganizing sections, removing duplicate extraneous information and update language to better align to Illinois school code and board policy language.”
Barraza said the code continues “restorative” disciplinary practices over “exclusionary.”
The code has sparked controversy in the past as the district openly states it will use discriminatory practices giving preferential treatment to students based on their group status.
Under the Statement on Student Behavior and Equity section, the code states: “We are committed to applying school discipline policies and practices in a fair and equitable manner so as not to disproportionately impact students of color, students with disabilities, LGBTQIA+ students, students with limited English proficiency, or other at-risk students that have been historically marginalized in schools.”
U-46 has defined equity as “supporting each student according to their need” and equality as “giving all students the same support.”
Expenditure proposals include a four-year pact renewal with K-12 Insight for its Let’s Talk! Customer service tool at a cost of $320,000, to be paid for via the education fund if approved. The annual cost, $80,000, will remain the same as the previous three years.
With AmeriPak, the district is asking to spend $291,066 (food and nutrition fund) to purchase two food packaging machines.
“Replacement of the current two manufacturing production tray lines (purchased in 2010) in the Central Commissary,” the proposal states. “New machines will allow staff to implement processes for higher resolution heat sealing film using stainless steel rollers, printing tracking production codes, ingredient/product code tracking, and allergen identifiers.”
Costing $274,652 (operations and maintenance fund), U-46 is asking to purchase playground equipment for four elementary schools from Game Time. The cost includes $83,083 for a primary playground and $29,473 for a preschool playground at Elgin’s Huff, $54,345 for a primary playground at Bartlett’s Prairieview and $53,876 each for primary playgrounds at Streamwood’s Oakhill and Elgin’s Garfield.
“The playsets that have been identified are in extremely poor condition due to age and require replacement to mitigate safety issues,” the proposal states.
The board will vote on a purchase of five pickup trucks from Roesch Ford costing $184,890 (operations and maintenance fund) to replace plant operation’s vehicles that were purchased between 1996 and 1998.
For renewal of Microsoft licenses from CDW-G, the board will vote on a $144,503 (education fund) expenditure, down from $146,426.
The district is asking for a five-term contract with Northern Illinois University in a not to exceed amount of $144,000 for teachers to receive bilingual or English language learners (ELL) endorsements.
“In School District U-46, English Learners comprise of 34 [percent] of the student population, the proposal states. “The ELL Program currently serves over 12,000 students with over 9,000 identified as active English Learners. As the Dual Language program continues to expand, our demand for appropriately licensed and endorsed bilingual and/or ESL staff continues to rise.”
With Illinois Communication Sales, Inc., the board will vote on $132,067 (transportation fund) to replace the transportation department’s two-way radio system which currently is nearly four decades old, according to the proposal.
For a contract renewal with Mindsight, the district is asking for $115,998 (education fund), up from $114,314, for Cisco SMARTnet license renewal which “enables the operation of the district’s phone system, including voicemail, emergency responder, and contact center express (call center management),” the proposal states.
The district is asking for $61,750 (education fund) for a contract renewal with CDW-G for AirWatch mobile device management software.
The proposal states: “Mobile Device Management software, AirWatch, allows U-46 to deploy and manage tablet devices (iPads) in an efficient manner from a central administrative console.” This is an increase over the licenses managed last year at $38,200.00.”
To pay annual dues to the lobbyist group Illinois Association of School Boards, the district is asking for $33,240 (education fund) which is down from $40,000.
The board will also vote on a list of authorized depositories which will be PMA Securities, LLC, the Illinois School District Liquid Asset Fund and JP Morgan Chase and Company.
“We present this list once a year,” said Dale Burnidge, director of financial services. “These are the same companies that we’ve used in the past.”
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