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Thursday, October 30, 2014
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BV School Board hires firm for a facilities study By Goldie Currie gcurrie@bcrnews.com
MANLIUS — Bureau Valley School Board has hired Farnsworth Group of Peoria at a cost of $24,800 to conduct a district-wide facilities study. The architectural firm will give the board a clearer direction when it comes to figuring ways to maintain each facility. At Tuesday’s board meeting, superintendent Steve Endress explained some of the buildings in the district are beyond 80 years old and are beginning to present challenges. With that thought, the Building and Grounds Committee, which is made up of board members Don DeWaele and Bill Gebeck, decided to reach out to an architectural firm for a professional opinion on the status of each building.
“Every so often we get nailed with all this work that has to be done and you can’t let it go,” DeWaele explained. “Life safety says it has to be done, and pretty soon you’re at a point where your life safety expenses are getting out of hand.” DeWaele said the board could have sat down and reviewed their own study, but decided it would be more efficient to hire a firm to provide a professional take on each facility. “It’s a very unbiased way to get it done and something that should be done,” he said. DeWaele said the committee picked Farnsworth Group because the representatives seemed to clearly understand the type of study the board was seeking and were already familiar with the buildings
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BCR photo/Amelia Bystry
Pumpkin Races heat up the track The Princeton Optimist’s annual pumpkin races provided good, clean family fun for participants Sunday in Princeton. As an entry fee, participants under 18 years old were asked to bring and donate a minimum of three cans of nonperishable items for the local food pantry. Participants 18 years and older were charged a set amount of money per racer pumpkin. See more photos from area Halloween activities on Page 10.
What do you think? PES wants to know
By Zita Henneberry zhenneberry@bcrnews.com
PRINCETON — The Princeton Elementary School Board wants your opinion. “I think the community needs to express their feelings toward the school, about if they are happy or satisfied and so forth. We need to hear that; teachers need to hear that; administrators need to hear that; board members need to hear that,” said Princeton Elementary School Board President Judson Lusher at Monday’s PES board meeting. The PES board is currently looking into social media as a communication tool within the district. The school currently uses the “phone tree” or phone calls for commuYear 168 No. 130 Three Sections - 36 Pages
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nication purposes. Superintendent Tim Smith expressed concern the calling system may no longer be warranted for the money it costs — about $1.50 per child. “We have 2,300 users signed up for the Bureau County Republican’s Text Alert system,” continued Smith, adding the majority of people like the instantaneous response. “We have a free service that parents are grabbing at,” said Smith, referring to Facebook. Smith said the Public Relations Committee has been studying other districts’ use of Facebook as a promotional or communication tool. The work is ongoing, but Smith has promised to keep the board updated. Other tools of communication include a universal survey that will be available this year, issued to the district by the state. The state currently selects
the survey, however, Smith believes the schools should have the ability to choose their own surveys in order to ensure their relevance to the local area. Smith said the district is waiting to see that survey. In other business at Monday’s meeting, the Illinois State Report Card for schools will be distributed in a new format this year. These changes will be reflective of the first fully Common Core standardized state assessment, although, the district is still in transition. “Our students haven’t had all the training or obviously the instruction,” explained Smith. As an example, Smith said the eighth-graders who have had approximately two years of Common Core training will be tested as though they have had eight years of training. Smith said he does not
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SV refers sign ordinance to planning commission By Goldie Currie gcurrie@bcrnews.com
SPRING VALLEY — A sign ordinance regulating the new LED signs within the city of Spring Valley has yet to be adopted. However, the council on Monday referred the planning commission to consider amending the city’s zoning ordinance to incorporate a proposed LED sign ordinance in the land development code. These are plans city attorney Jim Andreoni has brought forth before the council in the midst of figuring an ordinance to regulate the LED signs. On Monday, he explained because all sign ordinances are in the land development code, he figured it would make sense to add the LED sign
ordinance to the code as well. “Any time you amend the city’s zoning ordinance, it has to be referred to the planning commission,” he explained. The planning commission is set to meet at 7 p.m. Nov. 12. In new business, alderwoman Deb Baltikauski brought forth a request from a fellow resident to have a traffic study conducted near the intersection of Janie Avenue and Sandy Drive. She said the resident would like to see if there is a need for a stop sign at the intersection. Also, the resident would like the speed limit to be reduced to 20 miles per hour in the area and would like to see if no parking could be an option on the south side
of Janie Avenue. The council approved Spring Valley Police Chief Kevin Sangston conducting a traffic study in the area to see if the options would best fit the location. In other news: • Sangston reminded no burning will be enforced on Saturday due to the Hall High School football game. • Mayor Walt Marini also talked with council members about the need to hire extra hands to assist with the leaf program. The program is taking more time than anticipated, and Marini said he would like city employees to begin working on the west interceptor sewer project before winter approaches. Comment on this story at www.bcrnews.com.