The Summit Hill District 161 Board of Education is looking to promote safety and communication at its facilities.
At a Feb. 14 regular meeting, officials approved the purchase and installation of exterior cameras at Arbury Hills, Frankfort Square, Indian Trail and Dr. Julian Rogus schools.
District 161 has identified a need for additional security monitoring, in part, because these locations are to be used as voting locations. The project involves configuration to the school network and setup at predefined entrances that voters and non-personnel use to enter the buildings.
Costs for each facility is $4,000, or $16,000 in total, and it includes the infrastructure needed to allow District 161 to add additional cameras at other areas of the buildings at a later date.
A motion was also passed to replace the existing Voice Over IP phone system at Summit Hill Junior High School.
It is the District’s desire to purchase a replacement that will be more reliable and promote a common platform across school facilities.
The existing VOIP phone system has reached the end of its life. Over time, the District has noted frequent power outages with the service line due to AT&T issues and that multiple systems do not work together.
In a related development, the District’s contract with First Communication for technology infrastructure services is nearing its end. District 161 obtained several quotes from local vendors and current providers and went on to award a three-year contract to Comcast.
Installation of the new VOIP phone system is anticipated to begin during spring break and allow the District to review and make adjustments to the system as needed.
Bid for pre-purchase of chiller equipment OK’d
Also at the meeting, D161 officials awarded a $139,300 bid to Temperature Equipment Corporation for the pre-purchase of chiller equipment.
The measure, as approved in a 5-1 vote, will support a replacement project at Dr. Julian Rogus School. Board Member Joy Murphy was the lone dissenting vote.
The Board of Education is required to follow a two-part process involving pre-purchase and installation of equipment.
The bid is packaged with technology to reduce concerns for noise. Recently, the District replaced some chiller equipment at Hilda Walker School only to be met with complaints. As such, Tria Architecture has been enlisted to provide vibration isolators underneath the units and some sound testing and notification of the existing unit.
If sound becomes a concern, additional allowances are included in the project cost to abate it post-installation.
The vendor has been notified that those units are to be delivered no later than June 15.
District 161 intends to get the air conditioning up and running before school starts in the fall.
Round it up
A brief recap of action and discussion Feb. 14 at a regular meeting of the Summit Hill District 161 Board of Education:
The Regional Office of Education recently notified the superintendent in writing of minor violations at some of the schools that need to be corrected. As such, the District’s buildings and grounds manager is developing a plan to get in compliance.
Officials reviewed the results of a staff interest survey for academic summer camps, and the District is currently working with interested sponsors to collect proposals, which will require approval based on grade level span and following this year’s science, technology, reading, engineering, art and math (STREAM) focus. Programming is designed for incoming first- through fifth-grade students, and information and registration forms will be sent to students and their families at a later date regarding the camps, which will run for two hours and last for six days in August.