The Examiner U-46 News Feed

Multiple expense items pending approval in U-46

By Seth Hancock
  The Board of Education in School District U-46 is set to vote on $8.6 million in expenditure items at its meeting on Monday, April 22. The items were presented on April 8.
  Included is a $3.4 million bid, paid by the operations and maintenance fund, if approved, with Abbey Paving Company for reconstruction of the transportation department’s parking lot on Shales Parkway.
  The lot “is in a state of disrepair with numerous potholes, cracks, and heaving concrete requiring replacement,” the proposal states, and the proposal is for a “full-depth removal” of the current lot and “replaced with a new stone base and a concrete top layer.”
  Costing $2.4 million (education fund), the district is seeking to purchase land at 850 North Grove Ave., in Elgin to replace McKinley Elementary School.
  The proposal states: “The property is 9.16 acres and is approximately four blocks west of McKinley Elementary School in the northeast neighborhood of Elgin. The site provides adequate space to construct a safe and modern elementary school building and would serve many of the students currently assigned to McKinley Elementary School as that building is scheduled to be retired.”
  McKinley was built in 1887 on a 2.39-acre lot.
  Other operations and maintenance fund items include chiller replacements at five elementary schools costing $2.1 million with Trane Commercial HVAC and a water main replacement at Coleman Elementary School costing $261,800 with Abitua Sewer, Water and Plumbing.
  Education fund proposals include a $144,000 contract renewal with Northern Illinois University for up to 30 teachers to obtain a bilingual endorsement, $134,947 with CDW Amplified for Microsoft license renewals and $49,999 with Second Step, Committee for Children for a bullying prevention curriculum.
  Two summer school resource proposals were presented that would be paid for by the nation’s taxpayers through Title I grant funds.
  They include LitCamp from Scholastic for “standards-based, engaging literacy instruction,” the proposal states, costing $62,590 and Vista Higher Learning costing $46,240. Vista is similar to LitCamp but for “newcomer” students who are from immigrant families.