Kaneland board says 'no' to STEM school

Kaneland students will not participate in the John C. Dunham STEM Partnership School at Aurora University, the school board decided in a 7-0 vote Monday.

"It is difficult for us to commit the money for next year, let alone longer," interim Superintendent Renee Goier told the board as she made her recommendation. "We are really making a five- to six-year commitment to the children."

Under the proposal, Kaneland could have sent as many as 50 students to the school, at an approximate cost of $375,000 a year.

"I know it would be great for those 50 students, but it is 50 students out of how many?" board member Gale Pavlak said, explaining her vote. "To me it stands more to reason that if we can start to incorporate more of these things into our curriculum so every student has an opportunity, that is the way to do it.

"It doesn't sound like it is giving everybody the opportunity they deserve."

The science, technology, engineering and mathematics academy is for students in third through eighth grades. Students from the Indian Prairie and West Aurora and East Aurora school districts participate.

Kaneland would have been expected to have a teacher participate for every 25 students it sent. The district would still pay the teachers' salaries, and the costs of transportation for students, but those costs would have offset the approximate $7,500-per-student bill. The teachers would have served for a year, and done graduate coursework at Aurora University. They would then return to the Kaneland district to train other teachers.

The Dunham STEM Partnership School opened in the fall of 2014. It was paid for in part by a $2.35 million grant from the Dunham Fund, an Aurora-based charity. The fund was established by John Dunham, the former chairman and president of the Aurora-based Equipto manufacturing company. It focuses on education and community development.