CHAMPAIGN, IL (CHAMBANA TODAY) — Summer may bring a new aircraft and flight-training equipment upgrades for Parkland College’s Aviation program and a refreshed look to the main access road around its campus.
Members of the Parkland College Board of Trustees toured the college’s Institute of Aviation in Savoy on Wednesday prior to their regular monthly meeting in Champaign. The board later approved the purchase of an Xtreme Decathlon aircraft from American Champion Aircraft of Rochester, Wisc., for $440,750. This new aircraft will allow the institute to expand its training offerings for tailwheel and high-performance endorsements and provide FAA-required spin training for its certified flight instructor trainees. Additionally, trustees approved upgrades and improvements the institute requires for its current fleet, including:
- materials and labor to rebuild the seating on six Piper Archers and four Piper Arrows aircraft, from Flightstar of Savoy, Ill., $142,805
- new GPS and radio systems for four Piper Arrows and two Piper Seminoles from Flightstar, $215,043
- avionic systems for six Piper Archers from Flightstar, $326,045
- three reconfigurable training devices (RTDs) from FRASCA International, Urbana, $274,270.
Also at the meeting, board members approved a bid from Cross Construction of Urbana to seal and restripe the campus’s perimeter drive (William Froom Way), at a cost of $459,738. Funding for the: project was approved at the September 2023 trustee meeting, with bid notices placed in the News-Gazette and on Clark Dietz’s Quest website.
In other business, trustees approved:
- the following purchases:
- Aviation fuel from AvFuel Corporation of Ann Arbor, Mich., $382,720
- Aviation maintenance services from FlightStar, $307,923
- Aviation line services from FlightStar, $81,900
- Aviation repair services from Poplar Grove Airmotive, Inc. of Poplar Grove, Ill., $140,000
- Instructional and office computer hardware from various vendors, $2,920,000
- Annual software renewals from various vendors, $1,703,500
- Lincoln Electric VRTEX 360 from Depke Gases and Welding Supplies of Urbana, Ill., $59,897
- AGCO Training Center equipment from Grainger of Lake Forest, Ill., $87,602.37
- Digital media purchasing consultant services from Central States Marketing of Peoria, Ill., $190,000
- Local media purchasing consultant services from Central States Marketing, $120,000
- the filing of the following grant applications:
- Senator Duckworth Congressionally Directed Spending: Aviation, $1,050,000
- Representative Budzinski Congressionally Directed Spending: Public Safety, $530,000
- Illinois Community College Board: Taking Back the Trades Grant, $400,000
- U.S. Department of Labor Employment and Training Administration: Apprenticeship Building America, Round 2–– Community Colleges Bringing Apprenticeships to Scale, $351,600
- the acceptance of funds for:
- Illinois Community College Board: Noncredit Workforce Training Initiative, $100,000
- Local Workforce Development Board 17 – LWIA 17 Youth Committee (via CCRPC): 2024 Youth Providers Grant (WIOA), $91,624
- the following personnel appointments and modifications:
- Jennifer Somers, Director, Child Development Center
- Paige Spangler, Counselor, Counseling Support Center
- John Dunlap, AGCO Technician Instructor, Agricultural Technologies
- Chase Rashid, Veterinary Technology Instructor, Allied Health
- Jennifer Joesting, Biology/Anatomy & Physiology Instructor, Natural Sciences
- Jaz Routon, Sociology Instructor, Arts, Media, & Social Sciences
- Sarah Calvert, Multimedia Support Specialist, Technical Support Services
- HeatherAnn Hicks-Layman, Staff Development Coordinator, Center for Excellence in Teaching and Learning