The District 205 Board of Education approved the bid for modular classrooms that’ll be utilized when Galesburg High School gets renovated at Monday night’s meeting.
The board approved 12-month lease bid from Innovative Modular Solutions for just under $1,276,448 for four modular classrooms to be delivered and installed, along with their foundations and Jennifer Hamm, the district’s Assistant Superintendent for Finance and Operation, said that the price also includes the “pod” classroom’s dismantling.
“That is inclusive of a dismantling fee that is not to exceed $275,000 but it could be less. The rest are fixed costs that would be approved as part of the lease,” she told board members.
These classrooms would be used for a full year, regardless of which renovation schedule the school board goes with for the high school, which Superintendent Dr. John Asplund reiterated last night.
“I think another important thing to point out and I know we pointed it out next month was whether we get super aggressive and get it done in a year or takes two years, we’re still going to need these units. Because we have to get people out of the buildings.”
The expectation is for the board to decide next month on the high school renovation schedule to get steel and concrete bids in at the start of next year so work can begin the first day school is out.
School board members also heard a presentation over the curriculum for fifth and sixth graders for when Lombard’s renovation and expansion are finished.
Nick Young, Principal at Lombard presented to the board and said that through several heated but friendly debates the committee settled on a major change in the schedule, one that provides uniformity to all subjects a student learns.
“We went through seven different schedules. This was the one we ended up with. It’s an eight-nine period day if you count lunch. All periods, core and electives, are 50 minutes long.”
The schedule breaks down into four core classes — which include Math, English Language Arts, Social Studies, and Science — Physical Education or Health, and two electives — such as Band, Choir, Art, and Keyboarding, Technology, and more.
Electives were discussed at length with administrators saying that, due to truancy issues, electives were believed to help keep students showing up to classes and even utilizing knowledge across different subjects.
“I think one of the things to keep in mind too is that connected piece to school where ‘I need to feel connected, I need to find something I’m passionate about,'” Curriculum Director Tiffany Springer said to the board. “If I want to take a band or choir class, I’m actually integrating my mathematical knowledge and they’re reinforcing it through quarter notes, sixteenth notes, things like that.”
No action was taken by the board on the curriculum change.
