DPS61 held a special board meeting on July 24th, 2023 to approve a General Contractor bid for the new K-8 Magnet School, to provide updates about The Dennis Situation, and approve staffing changes.
Staff changes included hiring, transfers, and resignations, as well as compensation for things like "participating in Middle School Agenda Meeting" and "Book Study". See the Board Packet for details.
Board members present: President Bill Clevenger, Will Wetzel, Al Scheider, Dr. Kevin Collins-Brown
Board members absent: Vice President Jason Dion, Alana Banks, Mark Reynolds
The next Board Meeting is August 8th, 2023.
Public Comments
Mark Glause discussed a a letter he sent to the Board of Education.
Mark Glause said it was difficult to find pre-schools, and he found Decatur's schools less than ideal, after having lived in Nebraska and Michigan. He added that income levels are less than ideal in Decatur. He asked what the District can do to attract kids to DPS rather than Mt. Zion, Forsyth, or private schools.
Dr. Kaitlyn Glause advocated for Dennis students to be exempt from standardized testing this year, in order to recover some of the days lost, and out of concern that students won't perform as well after starting the school year late. She said the District needs to give more frequent and substantive updates, since the District hadn't posted an update since July 13th. She shared other concerns about the District's communication with Dennis families and the public.
Amy Dobrinick, a former DPS parent and mother of a DPS Teacher, says she has witnessed unbecoming behaviors from the Board and central administration during the last 10 years, and shared concern about an individual from the Keil building allegedly saying it was not their job to help pack boxes at Dennis. She also expressed concern about the short notice teachers received to collect their belongings from the Dennis buildings.
Nick Crim, a DPS parent, advocated to bring a second assistant principal back to Dennis, and to demolish or find a new building, and to not "dump more money into repairing old buildings."
Dennnis Update
Not much had changed with Dennis. The Plan is still to move Dennis students to Garfield and Garfield students to Stephen Decatur, though Superintendent Dr. Rochelle Clark is awaiting approval from the Illinois State Board for a plan that would allow Dennis to start late.
After an OSHA Complaint and letter from the Illlinois Department of Labor, some items are still stuck in the unsafe Dennis buildings.
Board Member Will Wetzel asked how long it will take to clear the OSHA complaint, and Dr. Clark said "I have legal working on that right now."
Board Member Al Scheider asked why all items in the "safe" rooms weren't moved, and Dr. Clark said they had focused on priorities, such as student's cumulative folders which contain their student records, and "we still didn't even get all of those out," and the OSHA complaint came in before everything was completed.
Dr. Clark said one of three modular units had been delivered to Garfield, and another is expected in 7-10 days. They've also broken ground for a playground. The Parking lot will also be expanded from 50 spots to cover about 75 that are needed.
Dr. Clark discussed how students will be impacted, other Buildings & Grounds projects that are on hold, and why a district-wide Master Facility Analysis is needed. See the slides for more information.
Board Member Dr. Kevin Collins-Brown asked if there is a plan for school supplies. Dr. Clark said she has a meeting with "DLT" scheduled for July 27th, to address concerns regarding items such as electronics for students, tables, desks, and chairs.
Dr. Collins-Brown asked if there is a plan for belongings that teachers are unable to recover, and if there will be any reimbursements. Dr. Clark is in communications with the state, hopes the state will see that there is a safe plan in place, and believes they will be allowed back into the buildings.
Master Facility Analysis
Dr. Clark said plans will be presented for Board approval at the August 8th meeting, and a committee will need to be formed after the facility analysis, to make recommendations to the full board, and she advised the Board to be thinking about this for the next meeting.
Dr. Collins-Brown asked if the same firms (BFW & Klingner) would be used, and Chief Operations Officer Dr. Mike Curry says they'll have to do a "procurement for professional services," reach out to engineering firms, interview at least 3 candidates, and then select one.
Will Wetzel asked if the Facility Analysis will also cover the HLS Surveys, which are required every 10 years and due this year.
Dr. Mike Curry said those are a separate matter, that HLS will be completed by BLDD Architects, and that will be on the August 8th Agenda.
Why wasn't action taken after August comments?
Dr. Collins-Brown asked why action wasn't taken after a parent spoke to the Board of Education on August 23rd, 2022 about the stairs separating from the Dennis/Mosaic building.
Dr. Clark said "I truly don't remember any parent coming in any board meeting stating these structural concerns" and that she does "try to be diligent in writing down" concerns. She says "The minute I heard of this, I started acting."
The district timeline says this process started on February 7th, 2023, when staff brought forward concerns, though during a June 13th press conference, Dr. Clark claimed "it was around late April, mid April, around that time frame."
The District FAQ states "A proposal was requested from BFW via a telephone conversation between Kent Metzger, DPS61 Director of Buildings and Grounds, and Phillip Holthaus of BFW" on February 22nd, 2023.
On July 11th, I asked Dr. Clark why no action was taken after the August comments, and she said "I have no idea, because I wasn't the Superintendent then." Dr. Clark was appointed Superintendent on February 8, 2022, 6 months before the August comments.
Dr. Clark and current board members Dr. Kevin Collins-Brown, Alana Banks, Jason Dion, and Al Scheider were present at the August 23rd BOE meeting.
In a June 28th Interview, Dr. Collins-Brown said:
I'll be honest, I heard [the parent] say it. I didn't think a whole lot of it.
Um, because they write stuff down.
You know, the board president and the superintendent and secretary, they all write this stuff down and they follow up with these people who, umm, do public participation.
They follow up with some of them.
So, I just took it to mean that they were just going to follow up.
But again, I'm not, I'm not blaming anyone. I don't know. I'm not privy to a lot of information.
K-8 Magnet School Contract
A $25 million dollar contract was awarded to Champaign firm Broeren-Russo Builders to build a new K-8 Magnet School at the former Oak Grove site, using ESSERS 3 Grant Funds. The bids had a "Base Bid" and several alternate bids, like using concrete instead of asphalt for a parking lot.
BLDD is the design architect and Broeren-Russo is a consulting engineer. Steve Oliver from BLDD was present to answer Board questions. Christy-Foltz is a Decatur company, but their bid was about $1 million above Broeren-Russo.
Three other firms also provided bids. The base bids for all four were:
- Broeren-Russo Builders, Inc. @ $24,990,000
- Christy-Foltz, Inc @ $25,971,000
- Williams Brothers Construction, Inc, @ $28,980,000
- Grunloh Construction Inc. @ $30,328,000
Dr. Collins-Brown asked Steve Oliver "So we're required to go with the lowest bid, even if it's not a local company?" and Oliver said "You are correct."
Collins-Brown continued "we can't make an exception for anything ever?" He says, "I'm a little disappointed that it wasn't a Decatur firm because that would be more community involvement".
Oliver says "With public funds like this, you're really forced, unless there is something wrong with their bid, to go with the low bidder."
Collins-Brown voted no, and the other 3 Board Members present voted yes, to grant the contract to Broeren-Russo.
Oliver says some construction items, which have long lead times to procure, had already been ordered, so the project can be completed by January 2025, in order to comply with ESSERS grant funding requirements.
The District has "Minority Business Enterprise" goals (not requirements) that 15% of all contract dollars should go toward minority-owned businesses, and 20% of work-hours should be performed by minority workers. See DPS Policy 4:61 for more details.
Fred Coleman of Coleman and Associates, Inc., an "MBE Consultant to DPS #61", wrote that Broeren-Russo "achieved 19.21% MBE utilization on the base bid," exceeding DPS's goal by about 4%.
Additional bidding and contract details are available in the board packet.