District 218 OKs $300K for new exercise equipment in high schools

CommunityHigh School District 218 officials approved the purchase of just over $300,000 worth of new exercise equipment for physical education programs.

The School Board voted 6-0, with board member Robert Stokas absent, to make the purchase from Direct Fitness Solution, a Mundelein- based company that is part of a national purchasing alliance with Sourcewell.

As a result, officials said the district is able to “piggyback” its purchase to obtain the lowest bidder pricing without having to submit the project for separate bids.

The district will wind up paying $301,622.50 for the purchase, just slightly higher than the $300,000 cost estimate that the school board was presented with last month.

Officials said they expect the new equipment to be received this summer, with installation in late July, in time for the upcoming academic year.

The equipment purchased include treadmills, stair climbers, recumbent and upright cycles, and indoor rowers.

It will be distributed among Richards, Shepard and Eisenhower high schools — along with the district’s Delta Summit campus in Crestwood.

In other business, district officials are investigating the theft of several spare tablets the district owns.

Students at the three high schools are issued the tablets for use in their classwork. The missing tablets are among some spares that the district owns in case of emergencies.

Mike Ryan, assistant superintendent, said officials were unable to learn anything after interviewing people, and that security cameras provided no information of use in figuring out who might have taken the devices.

Ryan said the problem is believed to be in part because the devices were not in a secure room where theywere supposed to have been stored. Officials would not say exactly how many of the devices were stolen and how many remain — although Ryan said the remaining devices have been relocated.

“They weren’t properly secured” he said. “They have been now.”

Also, the school board recognized Jenna Bader and Gia Swanson — both students at Shepard High School in Palos Heights. The students are members of the synchronized skating club Teams Elite, which qualified to be members of TeamUSA.

That led to the two students competing in the Spring Cup, an international Skating Union-sanctioned competition earlier this year in Milan, Italy.

Teams Elite, including Bader and Swanson, won first place in both short and long skating programs to take a gold medal.

GregoryTejeda is a freelance reporter for the Daily Southtown.