The Park Ridge-Niles District 64 Board of Education approved plans Monday to spend $131,500 to install a new radio system to connect its eight schools.
Elmhurst-based Bearcom would install the system and provide 175 radios to be used by teachers, administrators and staff members to communicate both within schools and between schools.
The radio system will “provide a practical communication system for day-to-day usage as well as a dependable system during times of emergency,” according to a report prepared for the board.
The new system is slated to be in place by the time school starts in August, Chief School Business Official Luann Kolstad said.
The district will explore connecting its system to those used by the Park Ridge and Niles police and fire departments in an effort to allow school, police and fire officials to communicate on a dedicated channel, Kolstad said.
In April, the board asked district officials to obtain two more estimates for the system after it declined to approve a proposal from Bearcom for the radio system that would have cost the district $140,000.
After that request, Bearcom submitted a new proposal to District 64 officials that included a $8,500 “one-time-only discount,” according to documents presented to the board.
School board member Rick Biagi voted against the contract, calling it “obnoxious” and “ridiculous” that Bearcom reduced the amount it planned to charge District 64 only after he raised questions about the cost of the project and suggested more companies be invited to submit proposals for the work.
“That makes me mad,” Biagi said.
Board Secretary Tom Sotos said rejecting Bearcom’s bid because they gave the district a discount after the board asked for two more bids would be like “biting off its nose to spite its face.”
Munster, Ind.-based Miner Electronics Corp. offered to install the system and provide the district with the necessary equipment for $140,381, documents show. However, the fact that Miner is based in Indiana “could pose a problem if the district requires emergency service,” according to a report prepared by Kolstad and Director of Facility Management Ron DeGeorge.
Chicago Communications offered to install the system for $108,000, but the firm would not provide all of the equipment is needed to establish the system envisioned by district officials that would allow faculty and staff in the same building to communicate as well as permit administrators in different buildings to speak, according to the report.
In addition, the Bearcom proposal includes a three-year warranty, while the Chicago Communications offer would guarantee its work and equipment for two years, according to the report.
The district’s staff recommended selecting Bearcom.
In August 2013, a risk assessment conducted by RETA Security recommended that the district install a radio communication system after it found faculty and staff members using their personal cellphones to communicate.
That assessment prompted the district to purchase two-way walkie-talkies, according to the report prepared for the board in April.
Bearcom, which also served as a consultant to the district, recommended the district install a communication system that will operate via radio networks within each school and throughout the district. A test in September 2017 established that the system would serve the district’s needs, according to a report prepared for the April 23 board meeting.
In other action, board members endorsed a plan to give district employees who are not represented by a union raises ranging from 3.09 percent to 3.47 percent.
Superintendent Laurie Heinz told the board that the pay raises were needed to help her achieve her goal of attracting a retaining “high-quality leaders” to District 64.
“Our goal is to make District 64 a destination district, where teachers and administrators come to stay, leaving only for career advancement versus a more comprehensive and competitive financial package,” Heinz wrote in a report prepared for the board.
Board President Anthony Borrelli called the proposed system fair, and said it would make it easier for the district to “live within its means.”
In all, the pay raises for 62 employees will cost the district approximately $62,000, starting in the 2018-19 school year.
Board members Sotos, Biagi and Larry Ryles urged district administrators to establish a rating system to evaluate employees to determine who should be eligible for the maximum raises, rather than offering all employees automatic raises.
In the future, pay raises for district technologists, nurses and occupational and physical therapists, as well as staff members who support or provide administrative services in District 64, will be based on the average raises negotiated by the Park Ridge Teacher Assistants’ Association or the Park Ridge Education Association employees, Kolstad said.
The district’s four full-time and one part-time occupational therapist and one full-time and one part-time physical therapist would get 3.47 percent raises, according to the proposal. The district has struggled for two years to hire therapists because of the low salary offered, Kolstad said.
Technologists — which are assigned to each school to provide technical support to teachers and students — would get raises of 3.09 percent, according to the report.
Staff members who serve in an administrative role would get 3.28 percent raises, according to the report.