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Waukegan board approves travel, consultant and architect agreements amid questions on PD spending and property sale
Summary
The board approved several consent and contract items — including student trips, a Child Nutrition Consultant Agreement (Walker Quality Services LLC), and an architect agreement for Lewis Middle School's kitchen — while members pressed for clearer professional development and travel spending reports; the Greenwood Avenue sale was also discussed.
At its Nov. 18 meeting the Waukegan CUSD 60 Board of Education approved a set of consent-agenda items and multiple contract motions after brief discussion about professional development costs and procurement procedures.
The board voted to approve academic consent items including an Infinite Campus add-on, renewals, conference attendance, a new AP Research course, and AVID/Institute items, while separating items for individual consideration when requested by board members. The board approved Lewis Middle School student trips to Italy, Germany and Belize (small groups reported: roughly seven students per trip and one staff chaperone with parent chaperones), after members asked about chaperone ratios, tour-company vetting and family notification of risks.
On contracts, the board approved a Child Nutrition Consultant Agreement with Walker Quality Services LLC (motion by Mr. Riddle; second by Miss Fabian; roll call carried). The board also approved an architect services agreement with Crimson Design and Construction for the Lewis Middle School kitchen project (approximately $50,430). Board member Miss Hannah raised concerns that the architect selection could bypass competitive bidding; the district's general counsel explained that under the Local Government Professional Services Selection Act an RFP/selection process exists but that the statute allows a waiver for professional services below the procurement threshold and that the construction work itself will be publicly bid. "The construction component of this project will go out to bid under the standard bid rules," counsel said, noting the architect contract value falls under the waiver threshold and does not constitute a backdoor to avoid construction bidding.
Ray Vukovich, a community member, questioned the proposed terms for selling the property at 742 Greenwood Avenue (the former Welcome Center), asking whether the board could reject unsuitable offers and urging a full inventory of district properties; President Rodriguez clarified the board retains the right to reject offers.
On finance, the administration asked the board to ratify board bills and payments for Nov. 5–11, 2025. The transcript includes an apparent typographical error in the total accounts-payable figure as read aloud during the meeting (listed as "$1,000,202,100,241.22"); finance staff said they would provide the reconciled numbers and noted manual checks and insurance payments were as presented. Board members approved the ratification motions by roll call.
Board members requested clearer reporting for professional development/travel spending. Finance staff said producing a reconciled, account-level report with grant vs. local breakdown would be labor intensive (estimated 3–4 weeks) but provided a report of approved travel for FY25 and FY26 to date and agreed to add account identifiers to future spreadsheets.
