001Good evening everyone. Buenosicho. All right, we're going to get the 700 p.m. March 16th uh regular board meeting to order. Secretary, call the role, please. >> Valencia >> here. >> Suentes here. >> Reyes here. >> L here. >> Olivas here. >> Moreno >> here. >> Johnson >> here. >> All right. Please rise for the pledge of allegiance. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands. One nation under God, indivisible with liberty and justice for all. >> It was a nice echo. All right. Um, no public comment. So, we are going to move right into communications from the superintendent, Dr. Hverson. >> Thank you, board president. First, we have our student board member report this evening. So, if Elizabeth could come up for us,
002thank you, Elizabeth. Let's give her a big round of applause and welcome to the stage. >> Uh, good evening board. I hope everyone has been doing well with this crazy weather. Um, first I'd like to highlight our winter sports banquet which was held on the 10th. We had around 400 student athletes and their families join us in a special dinner to commemor to commemorate the efforts made by our students during the winter season. Uh the night consisted of delicious food and multiple awards for our amazing athletes. Our FCCLA group is statebound. Um we had 13 gold winners, 15 silver, and seven bronze. Um two weekends ago, our DECA group attended a state competition and we had two students become nationals qualifiers. Uh congratulations to all our students for all they've accomplished whether part of our
003athletics program or another student organization. Um and our spring sports are officially up and running. So look out for those games and achievements. Um freshman class council held a distress fest open to all 9th graders. U they had various activities for our students to participate in from coloring pages to work word searches to kinetic sand. Um, this is a fun event to take a load off the freshmen as we approach the end of the third quarter. Um, NHS juniors and seniors also volunteered at the event to help monitor the stations and get to know their underclass. Um, this Wednesday is a half day and also the day of senior class council's Portillo's fundraiser in Oiggo. Um from 11 am to 7 pm, Portillos is giving um senior class council 20% of all sales and and
004they are currently in the middle of uh planning for prom. Um whether using the code uh or an online or a flyer, the senior class council uh will greatly appreciate everyone's participation. Uh spring parent teacher conferences occurred on the 5th and it was very well attended especially compared to the fall ones. Um we've had we had a survey go out for to students asking how they feel in the school. Uh students reported feeling highly connected and respected by their peers. They noticed an increase in student participation in events with in events which has affected their connectedness to each other. Uh students also reported feeling more supported by teachers and staff and have gained further trust in our school resource officers. There's also been a reported increase in feeling safe within the school, specifically in bathrooms,
005which were previously rated low, and an overall sense of the school community is growing, and we hope it continues. Thank you. >> Thank you, Elizabeth. Next, we have Miss Britney Walker with our community relations report. >> Good evening, everyone. As I'm sure you've seen and heard, we have a lot of extra visitors with us today. So, I'm actually going to invite our elementary sports coordinators to come up and show you our first presentation. >> Good evening everyone. Um my name is Wilson Morales. Um this is Derek Smith and both of us we run basically the elementary sports. Um we have basically five events. Uh we do soccer in the fall and winter. We just finished doing basketball and cheer and then right now we're getting ready to start our softball and volleyball season. So we
006do have many people that as you can tell a lot of parents and kids are in the back and so on. Um, we're going to first celebrate our basketball team that came out. The first one is coached by Sean Feto and Jimmy White. They're from Allen School and they actually had the probably the hardest way to make it to the championship. They took on a very strong Hermes team. They went on and played Bopri and then finals went against Gates and they did um win of course. Coach, you want to bring your team up? Both of the coaches do all the sports for Allen and they split it. Um, so they're always the two of them. They take on their Allen team and Allen usually comes up with a very strong team. Coaches, anything else
007about your team? Is all your team members here? >> Uh, no. We're missing about half them. >> Half of them. So you can see it's a pretty big team. Okay, >> your first picture. >> Yes. Oh, and they have a they have a trophy. They put it back here. Every team has this is the traveling trophy, but this one I'm going to have to renew because it's beat up and their name is on it many times. And then they get a regular trophy that stays and then one that travels that has all the school's names on it, but I'm going to have to replace that. I want to hold that for sure. >> All right, we're going to have the team actually come >> come back a little further. Don't raise your trophy too high.
008We won't be able to see President Squentes. Thank you. >> Our second teams that are here is Rollins back there. and Rollins. We, by the way, in basketball, we had all 12 schools represented. Um, in cheer, we had nine. Um, some it's very, very hard to find coaches for cheers with, uh, the skills they need and so on. Um, we also want to acknowledge, I know I saw four board members. Thank you for coming and supporting us on that busy day. I know we had the pancake breakfast at East and then we came here. Um, as you can tell, they look great. This is the Rollins team and Rollins had a coach. Is your whole team here? >> Almost. Almost. Um, they are coached by Tiffany Martinez and Jamie Darbark. Where are you? Oh, there
009you are. Um, as you can tell and stuff, so they're here with the coach, um, the principal. Um, as you can tell, it's a pretty big team and they they're scoring and they compete and there's so many rules besides the time limits, the song, the dance, the routine, um the skills they do. Um, it's very hard, but it's a great event that took all um probably around four hours and they had a great time. Um, coach, did you want to have them do a cheer real quick? Should we Should we do a cheer so everyone can hear you? You're not ready for that, are you? All right, you guys want to spread out real quick? I I put them on the spot. Sorry. Okay, they can do it. They're always ready. Come on, girl. Danger
010of beauty. We will go ahead and get the picture. We're gonna Miss Walker, real quick, while we're waiting for our uh girls wrestling team, I just have to say once again uh thank you to Mr. Morales and to Mr. Smith for their leadership and running the youth programming. I know that Mr. Morales and Mr. Dr. De Los Santos started this program years ago. I can remember back to when I was teaching at Bardwell. That was probably some of the best moments I had was coaching after school soccer, after school uh softball and after school basketball. If you want, you can ask Mr. Morales whose team won quite a bit because he had to change the rules for me. So, but that's beside the point. But awesome. But awesome job. Thank you guys again and congratulations
011to both those teams and all of our participants. Let's give them a warm round of applause. >> Thank you. I promise we will not have the wrestlers do any demonstration unless they'd like. All right. Next, we have from East Aurora High School, our girls wrestling team. They are being recognized tonight because they have achieved for the fourth time in a row uh the title of Upstate 8 conference champions and an undefeated season. So, please welcome our girls wrestling team. We should have had a walkout music or something. Sorry. See everybody. >> Yep. Come on. Did any of our coaches have any additional words that they'd like to add? There were 45 athletes on this roster. That is a huge team. My understanding is that when it started about five years ago, there were only 17
012athletes. So, the program has continued to grow. Absolutely. And in the last four years, you guys are killing it in the conference. So again, one more round of applause for our entire girls wrestling team. And I love that we're celebrating here for we're doing winter sports, but we're celebrating basketball, cheer, wrestling, but all of these students, these kids are seeing you all, right? At some point you were that little and probably did anybody do cheer or basketball when you were in elementary? All right, so keep that going. Stay in your athletic programs. Try different athletic programs. Um, but we're so proud of all of you, including the little ones in the back. Um, and those who are not even here today. We're so proud of all of you all for working so hard and in
013your craft in your sport and doing a very good job to make us all proud here at EA. All right. And one last picture for our board. I'm going to have you all probably come to two or three rows here. So, those of you on this side and on this side, I'm going to have you or maybe actually you all come Straight forward. And then those of you that way, move in on your toes. Little bit. >> Ready. On the count of three. One, two, three. No one blink. Everyone blinked when I said that. All right. >> Thank you and congratulations to all of our athletes. >> Once again, congratulations to all of our winner athletes. Um, coaches, thank you for your awesome job you do with them and students, thanks so much for participating
014and making EA so proud. >> What was that? >> Yes, great question. Um, let's take a twominut intermission because I know we've got students who have to get up early for school tomorrow. So, you're welcome to stay students, but you don't have to. We'll pause for two minutes. So, parents, you're welcome to take your children with, but you're also welcome to stay, but we'll take a quick pause. So, if you want to take off for the evening, you have time to do that as well. Okay. All right, we'll continue with our board meeting this evening. Uh, next from communications from the superintendent, we have the uh 4C, which is our audit presentation. So, I'm going to turn it over to Dr. Angel so he can introduce our guest this evening from Crow, so he can
015go through our audit presentation for this evening. >> Okay, good evening everybody. I've got Christine Torres and Hollis Hansen here from Crow. They're both partners and Hollishist actually became a partner or is becoming a partner. Was it today? April 1st. So soon. So really happy for them. So uh they're going to go through the FY25 audit and the results. So this was everything that took place last year, not for this year. Okay. See, is this on? There we go. All right. So, we're going to go through an overview of the audit um some highle financial results, the results of the audit procedures, and then we'll talk through our required communications. So, first on this slide, we have an overview of the audit just to give you kind of a highle understanding of um how much
016effort your team puts in um to make it through this process. So, we start every year in April um with planning items. In June and July, we do a lot of interim testing. So, we test a lot of federal grant compliance controls, things like that. Um, in September and October, we get into the bulk of our year-end testing. So, your team closes the books for June 30, and then September and October, we're digging into all of those numbers, requesting samples, asking questions, things like that. um February of this year, we prepared the draft reports and then we're here today to present the results. Um we expect to issue the audit within the next week. So, we just want to say thank you to Mike and his team. It's it's a long road. We ask a
017lot of questions. We ask for a lot of documents. Um so, it's it's really the result of of the team's efforts that we're able to come here and present good results to you this evening. To give you a snapshot of what the fund balances look like by fund, I put together this little table that just shows in the blue you'll see the fund balances last year. So as of June 30, 2024 and then in the yellow is the balances as of June 30, 2025. The biggest change you'll probably notice here is that operations and maintenance had a significant increase and then the capital projects balance is actually negative as of June 30, 2025. So that's because your bond issuance in fiscal 25 was recognized in M, but that money will be spent on expenditures out
018of capital projects. So that's why you see that mis mismatch there. So, the results of our our services are listed on this slide. First, we do an audit of the district's financial statements, and we're expecting to issue an unmodified opinion, which is the good one. Um, that means that we were able to get comfortable with all of the balances. There aren't any balances that we either couldn't get support for or disagree with. Um we're also issuing a report under government auditing standards which requires us to go a step further um on top of US generally accepted auditing standards and look further at controls. Um so in that report we have two findings which are the same as what we've had in recent years. Um the first is that we assist your team with preparing the
019financial statements and the schedule of expenditures of federal awards which is very common. um for a district. And then the second finding is that we would like to see the district perform a secondary review over transactions posted by the treasurer. The next report we issue is a report on federal major programs. There's a calculation we go through to determine which programs are considered to be major for the year. This year the major programs were title one, ESSER and Medicaid. um we did not have any control or compliance findings in our testing of those programs. And then the last service that we assist with is in preparing the ISB AFR. So within the next week, we'll submit that to the state. And I'll turn it over to Christine to go through our required communications. Great. Thank
020you. So as we go through our testing, we're taking a look at so many different things. We're taking a look at the numbers themselves, the support, as well as what management is using to come up with those amounts. So, all of those significant accounting policies are included within the notes to the financial statements to help explain those numbers that are presented. One of the big things that happened this year, well, there's multiple big things that happened this year in your district, and I'll cover all of those here in a minute, but one of them was a new accounting standard on compensated absences. So compensated absences is sick time, vacation time, time that the employees have acred based on their length of service. Here previously, what was required to be recorded was the amount that would
021be paid out if someone were to leave the district. That was all that had to be recorded under this standard. the Gazsby took another look at it and said,"Well, that is a liability, but in addition to that, a liability would be what someone has earned and is going to take as sick time in the future." So, there's two parts now. One, what has been earned and will be taken as sick time over the next year and the portion that'll be paid out. The problem with this is this is not always tracked in this manner. um there's new reports that we got to work with HR and finance to come together to pull all of this information together. So that is one of the areas where we spent some extra time this year to make sure
022we understand how that report came together, how the information flows and making sure it works appropriately. So you'll see that within the financial statements is a due statement that was implemented this year. As a result, as we go through, we're taking a look at what estimates are out there and included within the financial statements and we've added now compensated absences onto that because what we're trying to understand is right what you think will be taken. People always leave. There's always some time that is not taken and just gets lost. So that's now an estimate where we're taking a look and saying, okay, what portion of that time do we think will be taken? And now that this is something that we're doing over the next few years, as the trends come together, we'll get a
023better understanding of that trend over time. Uh capital assets, how long an asset is useful for, that's something that is continues to be an estimate. You do have a policy on on average how long most assets uh lives are, and we continue to look at that as well as the pension and postretirement liabilities. Um that's always a big number. we spend some time understanding those assumptions and a lot of those assumptions are also controlled by the plan uh not necessarily your district. So that is something that we're looking at those uh larger pension organizations to develop. We did note some corrected misstatements as we went through the audit this year. Uh those are items that we got a trial balance and then as we went through the audit we made some corrections to those and
024posted those accounts. And then we had two uncorrected misstatements as well. When we take a look at everything that went through this fiscal year, when I say the district was busy, I mean they were not only busy with our audit. Some of the other things that happened is you had audits by IMRF, you had audits by the state. Um probably a constant state of audit is what I'm thinking you felt like you were in. and the new financial software. And I'm going to tell you that's probably the biggest and hardest change. So what happens there is we're looking at data on your old system. We're asking questions on that at the same time that your staff is implementing a new system, trying to understand it, get data transferred over a new chart of accounts. So
025then when we come in and we're saying, "Okay, well we're looking at this number," everybody has to like go back in time and be like, "Okay, on the old system it's this, on the new system it's that." So, um, definitely a lot going on there. And then on top of it, the federal government this fiscal year, they put out guidance on how we are to test our federal grants. And normally that comes out in May, and it was not released until Thanksgiving this year. So when I say there were challenges in the audit, I don't mean that negatively on your group. What I mean is there are challenges from outside forces that were in play on this audit this year. So we have reached the end of the audit. We're all getting excited about the
026next audit already. Um but it was it was a good year. I we really appreciate all of the time and effort that everybody here puts forth um especially when we ask all of the grant questions. That's something that not goes past the finance department and into a lot of the specialty areas. So, um a a long time coming, but good news here at the end that we've reached the end of this audit. We have positive thoughts about next year with the system in place and moving forward. Any questions that we can take on the audit the process? >> Uh, real quick. So, I know what the city like in May every year they got really low on money because of the property taxes. A, do we have that question? and B, um, looking at our
027audit, our bond rating should be the same, not going to change. >> Yeah, no issues with the bond rating. Your positive fund balances all support that. There's no liabilities that you're not current on. Um, you don't have huge inner funds between different funds that aren't can't be repaid. So, there shouldn't be any issues with that. Um, so ours went through June where the property taxes weren't that bad yet. So I'll let Mike talk about after that. >> So the one good thing um about evidence-based funding is it comes in on the 10th and 25th of every month. So we get two payments from the state continuously. So we don't have the highs and lows of let's say tax money coming in the spring and then the dip down then tax money again in the fall
028and the dip down. We're we're much more if you look at our fund balances month by month we we might vary about 20 million over the course of a year. That's about it from the high and the low. So we don't have the big dips. Okay, great. Thank you. >> I have a question. So, I know you guys said you guys are transitioning from the old program to the new one. So, this is the last year you guys will have that problem from transferring all the stuff from the old program to the new one, right? >> Starting next year, just straight on the new one, right? >> Well, so it's actually two months. It's two months. Yeah, there's two months on the old system >> and then they're transferring the data over to the new
029system >> and then it's good. >> Okay. >> Yeah, we we went live October 1st, so the data between July 1st and October 1st is still on the old versus the Sounds fun. >> Thank you ladies very much. Appreciate it. Thank you. >> Thank you. Thanks for having us tonight. >> Thank you. Next, we're moving down to D1. And the first uh item we have is Krug School emergency repairs. And I'm going to turn it over to Mr. Andy or Mr. Andy Allen, not Andy Angel, Andy Allen to talk a little bit about um the recent repairs we had to do at Krug. Sorry about that, Andy. >> Thanks. Appreciate that. So, uh unfortunately, we had some uh repairs we had to conduct at Krug recently. Uh there was a sewer backup on Tuesday last
030week. Excuse me. It did back up the whole building. Um with the maintenance team, we started investigating options what to do. We did have to close school for the day to move the students because of it because we couldn't guarantee it. Um we got a portable bathroom delivered. Um there is a significant clog all the way down to where the main uh connects to the city, which is another almost block from that. The far right red circle down there is a hidden manhole cover that's under 22 inches of asphalt and gravel that the maintenance team thankfully knew was there in that area, but we've never had it and it should never been buried, so we're not sure who buried it. Um, but from that line down, it was actually clogged and then it was that
031created backup all the way down our line. Um, the red circle areas are problem areas for us. Um, we also had a semi-olapsed line coming out of the new section, which is that red line coming out of the new section behind that. Um, and it was not collapsed per se. It was a um, cleanout that someone had crushed down in the tube. So, a 6-in tube had only about 2 in of gap to let anything through. So, I had multiple issues there. Um, we added a couple cleanouts. uh still go ongoing is we do need to fix the minor uh break up by the lower right hand side of that picture there. Um the I guess it' be the southeast corner and we do need to bring the manhole up cover up to the city
032or to the level of the road. I did work with the village of Montgomery and the Fox Metro and the city of Aurora Aurora. The Fox Metro shows the manhole cover being there. City of Aurora doesn't acknowledge it as theirs. They say it's private and they only guarantee the connection from there to their manhole cover. So it it looks like it's our property at this point. So we're responsible for raising it up to grade and fixing the line because the line is actually on our pro pro uh property that's damaged. We don't know how it got damaged, but we can see it with the camera when we put in there. And that will degrade and potentially collapse over time, which is a bad situation. So I did get an estimate from the gentleman that helped
033us out from Stokes Construction. It's about $8,800 to fix that. uh right now and get us back up to better than we were before. So hoping if you're okay just to proceed with that fix and get it done. >> What was the amount again, Mr. Alen? >> 8,800 was his estimate he sent me today. >> So yes, >> not 88,000. 8,800. >> Thank you. >> It's a sewer line. Yes. And without the sewer line, we can't have school. So if it's not working. So, we just wanted to bring it to the attention of the board to let you know that we had an emergency situation that we've already had to um spend some funds on last week. Um expend some funds on last week and we'll continue to get it up and going. Um I
034have to say um great job by Andy Allen and the buildings and grounds team. I see Merl and Tim are both here. I know they were over there for quite a few days helping out. So, thank you gentlemen. And then also to the Krue staff, Krue administration. They were very flexible in the situation. We did have them some students get picked up early. Then we had some students come to Bardwell. Um, so it was overall we made the best. We made uh lemonade out of lemons for sure. So, all right. Next, moving on to middle school football. So, um I think previously we had had some conversations around middle school football and the board just wanted updates as far as where we're at in the process and the approximate cost for us. Um so, regarding
035middle school football, the next steps, um we've made significant progress uh in several key areas. We've started coaching interviews as we begin to assemble the right staff for the program. And we've got draft schedules have been created to ensure a structured and competitive season with other schools in the school districts in the area. Um, we also have confirmed that our insurance carrier with our insurance carrier that middle school football is covered under our current plan. So, it eliminates the need for additional coverage or additional costs. In terms of the cost, because I know that we had a couple questions from the board members, we're looking at uniforms are estimated at $4,649 and that's for the entire uh program there. Remember this is all four schools together on one team and practice equipment and practice uniforms
036combined are projected at approximately $13,000. Um a figure that was supported by three quotes obtained during the procurement process. So we've got those quotes. Um we're confident that the program is on track and moving forward and I just wanted to make sure that to see if the board had any follow-up questions as we continue to proceed with this. We've got to make sure we continue with the planning of it. Okay, great. Uh next I'm going to turn it back to Dr. Angel again. We're going to talk about a gas utility update uh with Bethany Thompson. So, I'll turn that over to Dr. Angel. >> All right. So, we have Becky Thompson here from NAI. She's our energy consultant that we use and uh she's going to give an update on natural gas and electricity costs
037and uh provide us with a little bit of kind of what's currently going on in the world. Yeah, >> sir. >> Nope. There you go. >> We're good. Okay, great. Well, thank you for having me. Um thank you for the introduction, Mike. Um, so I'm Becky Thompson with NIA Energy. We have been working with the district as your energy consultant for almost eight years now. Hard to believe. Um, and so we are third party. So we uh help with the procurement process, run the RFPs for natural gas and electricity. So for any newer members of the board who maybe haven't gone through this process before, you have comed and you have Nyore, but the actual supply itself is traded on the open commodities market like corn or soybeans. So, this is a way to establish
038cost certainty, budget stability, and eliminate some of the risk of energy prices in the marketplace. Um, while at your home, when you receive your KMED bill, it's kind of a static rate each month. For large commercial users, large school districts, it's actually a variable rate every month, and it's often reactive to the things that we're seeing in the market. So, if we have some extreme weather and prices go up, you would be subject to that if you did not have a fixed price in place. So, that's what we're doing here. We're establishing some cost certainty for you. Um, but this is kind of like an insurance policy for a very large operating cost for your district. So, let's talk about what's going on. Energy has obviously been in the news a lot. Um, it's making
039a lot of headlines and some aspect of that is a sense of urgency, especially coming off of the last week of January where we had some cold weather. We saw energy prices really spike. But really what we're seeing is global demand for energy is increasing. These data centers are no joke. Uh some of these are the size of Manhattan and they are increasing a state's electricity usage by 20%. Um and they're very quickly built, right? It take it's basically just a warehouse of supercomputers. So they can go up within about a year or two. Um however, the supply that's needed to u run those data centers is not keeping up. And so what that means is if we think of economics, what happens when your demand outpaces your available supply? Energy prices are going up,
040right? Um natural gas and electricity are actually pretty closely correlated because about 40% of the nation's electricity is made with natural gas. So when natural gas sneezes, we say electricity gets a cold. And so you'll see them kind of go up at the same time. So obviously there's a lot going on with both of these items. um and continued geopolitical and new geopolitical conflict is definitely having a sway here. Uh so you'll hear me often say throughout the course of this presentation the word volatility. It's important to understand that volatility doesn't just mean prices going up. It means prices going up and down very quickly and unpredictably. And so that's what we're doing here this evening. Um starting with your current state of your electricity contract, it expires in September of this year. you have
041a fixed rate currently in place with Smartest Energy and we were back here doing the same exact thing a little over two years ago. Um what's a little bit different about now is I think that it's important to have this discussion early on. you're not obligated to uh move forward at this point, but given some of the uncertainty in the marketplace, um having a little more runway to have this conversation and have this discussion now, I think is really imperative because we don't know where things are going to go. Uh but current indications show that likely energy prices will continue to climb between now and when your current contract expires. So, how does procurement for energy work? Well, here at EA, we do something a little bit different. Some of you may be familiar with
042con this concept, but it may be new to some of you. Um, but rather than just doing a traditional kind of sealed RFP where everyone submits one bid on a Tuesday morning, it's it is what it is. You take the lowest of them and then move forward, we actually do that to run a pre-qualifying round to vet all of our energy suppliers. But then we take it one step further in what's called a live reverse auction. So, if you're familiar with eBay, this is like eBay in reverse for buying gas and electricity. So those suppliers that have been prevetted can participate in a live event and rather than submitting one bid and hoping that they were the best and final. Uh they actually have the chance to see what their competitors are bidding and they
043can submit multiple bids over the course of the auction. They last starting at 15 minutes and then as the auction progresses in the last two minutes, this is the spot that I love that I wish eBay would enact. In the last two minutes of the auction, any additional bids that are received resets the timer to two minutes. So while it's a 15inute u minimum for an auction right now we have been seeing with the competition the last 25 to 30 minutes. So with every additional bid and every reset of that clock EA is saving taxpayer dollars on their energy cost. Um we can do this because it's commodity. So long as everyone is prevetted and all suppliers terms and conditions of their contracts are the same. No one's electricity is better than someone else's electricity.
044It's the same electrons flowing through uh the lines. So, what we're seeing here and what the motion is for this evening is this pre-qualifying round because coming to you and just saying we want to run an auction um and without any quantifiers for you, we understand you need to see some numbers in front of you. So what we see the qualifying uh rates as of last week is that first line and because the market is pretty unpredictable and if it changes um you know even just a little bit coming back to every single board meeting we enact what's there in the orange is the market contingency which is a 10% above the bid that we received um on March 9th and if you choose to approve this this evening then we would be conducting these
045live auctions on Thursday and if the rates received are below that market contingency threshold the ad administration has the authority to execute an agreement that day because we are stripping out any potential cushion and getting back down to the bare bones minimum cost for those suppliers. They cannot like wait we we can't get pricing and then wait um a week to then execute it. It has to be executed before the close of the market that day. So that's why we go about it that way. Okay, moving on to natural gas. Again, same time frame, but we uh the last time that we did this, we um aligned the contract so that they both expire in the September time frame. So, they would both represent a September 2026 start date in the new fiscal year. um
046you have currently a great rate right under 40 cents a therm and that word 100% swing doesn't maybe mean anything to you but what this means is the last week of January when districts did not have this protection and they were paying $2 a therm you were paying 39.99 cents a therm so this was um it's a riskadverse product it's a weather protectant product especially as we seem to be having these really extreme weather events more often not less Um so this product offers you absolute insulation um and has worked very well for you especially as we've had wintertorm yuri wintertorm fern and those continue to occur. So again getting back to that budget stability and that cost management this graph um maybe I might have should have started with this um when again when
047I'm talking about volatility and seeing how things are really uncertain right now. These are the historical gas prices going back to 2007. And quite often people ask me what is a good time of year to go to market. And it used to be because buying electricity or buying natural gas made sense in certain times of the year around different weather seasons. That's not really the case anymore because weather is just a factor of many that is driving what energy prices are doing. And I think this graph really illustrates that. So you see back in '08 in the housing crisis prices spiked over a dollar a therm. Um and then we experienced this more recently with the Russian Ukrainian conflict in an environment where geopolitical and economical issues are really impacting the energy market more than
048ever. And given where we're at today, there's definitely more upside risk from where I sit versus downside between now and September of where energy prices could go. So again, I think acting now may be in your best interest because if prices continue to go up and your contracts expire in September, at that point you are, you know, out of the waiting game and you have to accept what what is out there. Um, so just wanted to share this for what it's worth. What we have not seen quite yet is the new development in the Middle East have a drastic impact on energy prices. There's been some blips up and down, but relatively speaking, we haven't seen too much yet. Um, and this is following the path of what the Russian Ukrainian conflict a few years
049ago. there wasn't an immediate impact on the markets. It was a slow and steady progression over the next 8 to 10 months. So again, I think we're still in this window, which is why we're bringing this to this board meeting to have this conversation. Next month, it may be different. Two months from now, it may be even different still. Um, so any questions on that portion of it yet? Okay. So, same kind of slide, but for natural gas, establishing those auction thresholds, again, the qualifying rates from last week, the same product that you have currently, um, it offers you the most risk protection and, uh, weather certainty. Um, and again, same thing with the market contingency threshold at that 10% above what we received last week. >> Oh, yes. >> Yeah. Yep. Yes. So, um,
050all of the suppliers are actually working together and then it's a live event. It's a website. So, actually we could share the link so anyone who is interested in watching it, having some popcorn and watching an energy auction at 10:30 in the morning, you could participate. Um, the live the link does stay live for a year after. And then we also document it post so that if you ever have any questions, if you're ever foyed, um, that you have that that information available and transparent to you. Okie dokie. So with that, I think I've kind of belvered this point a little, but I I I think that um having this conversation now and participating in the auctions now before we see greater impacts to the energy rates is it's maybe a good idea. So with
051that, I'll open it up to any questions that you have. >> The district's interest for many years. So thank you. >> Thank you. Thank you. >> So you're recommending five years, 60 months. Is that what you're recommending? So the motion is for a term not to exceed 60 months when we run the auction. It's one, two, three, four, five years simultaneously for each commodity. So then administration can have a discussion because on auction day it may be that the three-year is the low bid and so we'll have a discussion is the three-year and the district's best interest. So we don't want to kind of pigeon hole you into one specific term today unless that that is the desire of the board. So it's just a term not to exceed up to 60 months. >> Okay.
052>> All right. Okay. Well, thank you so much for your time. I appreciate it. >> Thank you. >> So, Becky, once again, thank you for that presentation. Um, and with that, um, I have a motion to approve the gas and electric contract of no more than 60 months in length and subject to no more than 10% of the rates collected on March 9th, 2026. >> Is there a motion? So, move. >> Second. Any questions? Secretary, call the roll, please. >> Yes. >> Valencia, >> yes. >> Olivas, >> yes. >> Moreno, >> yes. >> Johnson, >> yes. >> Reyes, >> yes. >> Thank you. And with that, the motion passes. Next, I've got two more final updates for us. Um, dual language and enrollment. So, um, earlier, uh, Dr. Amy Angel provided an update during the
053curriculum meeting, but I wanted to provide an update to the whole board. for our elementary dual language. Uh registration is still underway and with over 84% of our preschool and elementary families registered. So we've got 84% registered which is great. Um we currently have 81% of our families requesting dual language programming. At this time we anticipate hosting dual language programming in all of our elementary buildings and still reviewing registration numbers to determine potential hub sites for our Englishon and sheltered instruction. Next week on uh March 25th is the final day for guaranteed program placement for our elementary families. At that point in time, we will be we will be able to build out our programming placement and communicate it out to our families. Families will then have a 10-day window to change their program request
054so they can remain in their base building if desired. We anticipate communicating this information out with families by the end of next week. So, that's just a little update on where we're at with elementary. As far as middle school dual dual programming, dual language, uh we have been reviewing our existing middle school dual language programming and how to support our families with Spanish by literacy instruction moving forward as this is the first cohort of fully fully dual language students moving from fifth grade into middle school across the district. In the last few weeks, we met with principles and cabinet members to discuss how we will continue to foster by literacy at all our middle schools. This week, we are formalizing our communication plan with all other parties. We are scheduled to share information throughout next
055week. Early next week, we plan to meet with middle school dual language teachers to discuss what the middle school model will look like. After that, we will communicate with all middle school staff and then we'll share the programming plans with our students and families as well. So, I just wanted to provide an update on where we're at with dual language. Any questions about that? Okay. And finally, uh I got to attend a really cool event on Saturday night. So on Saturday, March 14th, um I had the distinct honor of attending the military ball and serving as the keynote speaker for the NJOTC. Um it was an experience that proved to be a powerful reminder of what is possible when students truly feel they belong. The evening was a living reflection of the culture that the
056NJOTC commander and instructors have have so intentionally built. The respect the cadets hold for their program, their instructors, and one another was unmistakable and deeply moving. Equally impressive were the interactions among the instructors and staff who modeled a nurturing approach rooted in genuine care, a spirit of fun, and a shared commitment to the team. It was clear and inspiring. It was a clear and inspiring example of how that sense of collective purpose can cultivate authentic belonging. So, once again, just a kudos to the NGOTC leadership as well as our cadetses. Um, an amazing event. We had to shift a little bit um where everybody had to wear formal wear as opposed to the cadets wearing their regalia, but it was just an awesome event. something that was really cool to see. Kids got out there
057and started dancing at that point. I got out of there at that point, but it was a great evening for sure. So, couple of the board members have seen me try to dance at an event before and we didn't want to see that again. So, um that concludes the superintendent port uh superintendent report this evening. I'll turn it back over to board president Fuentes. >> All right, we'll continue to section five. Motion to approve the following consent agenda as listed. >> So moved. >> Second. >> Any questions? Secretary, call the role, please. >> Yes. >> Johnson, >> yes. >> Valencia, >> yes. >> Moreno, >> yes. >> No. All right, we do have a bile to read. Yes. Thank you. Um, we are pleased to announce uh Mr. Anthony Halib as the new principal at
058Fred Rogers Magnet Academy. Thank you. Uh currently Mr. Hollib serves as the director of schools uh steam at Asiggo Community Unit School District 308. He's previously served as a science department chair at Asiggo High School and a project lead the way science math teacher. Mr. Hob holds a master's of arts in educational administration from Governor State University and a bachelor's of arts in math and physics from North Central College. Welcome to East Aurora District 131 and congratulations on your appointment. And with that, I'd like to welcome up uh Principal Valick real quick. He's got a gift of appreciation from the outgoing principal to the incoming principal from the community at Fred Roger Bagdet. So, thank you so much, Mr. Valick, for your kind thoughts and your uh staff as well. All right, moving on to
059our finance and personnel committee with Miss Reyes. Thank you, President Sequentes. Good evening, everyone. Buenos toos. Uh the finance and personnel committee meeting was held on March 2nd, 2026 at the administrative center and was called to order at 5:30 p.m. and there were no public comments. Um Dr. Engel presented us that night with the district's donations and the committee agreed that the donations were all in order. Um he also reviewed the January 2026 financial reports and we noted that the district's finances appear to be in good order as well. Dr. Engel then also provided an update on the district's vended beverage contract which is in its final year with Coca-Cola. Proposals were requested from Coca-Cola, PepsiCo, and the Illinois Department of Human Services business enterprise program. PepsiCo submitted the highest commission proposal, which would generate
060nearly $1,000 more per year than Coca-Cola's estimated annual return of approximately $3,800. The committee agreed to move forward with PepsiCo's proposal which will be presented for approval at the March 16th which was presented for approval at the March 16th board meeting or sorry later tonight. Um he then also summarized the Bloom Township Trustees of Schools annual investment report which showed an average return of approximately 4% uh for fiscal year 2025 resulting in nearly $7.3 million in interest allocated to the district. Additionally, he provided an update on the district's gas and electric utility contracts, which expired on August 31st, and discussed the possibility of using a reverse bid process to explore potential cost savings, which we just heard about earlier. Uh Dr. Mr. Ballard then presented um a recommendation to approve 5.16 FTE overloads for Waldo
061Middle School um staff who covered classes during a teacher's absence from December 1st, 2025 through January 16th, 2026 when a substitute could not be secured. This item was brought forward for action at the full board meeting that night. Finally, Dr. Ballard requested approval to post vacancies for substitute custodian and substitute office staff positions in order to establish a substitute pool and ensure operational continuity for daily and long longer term assignments. This request was made in coordination with the union. The meeting then adjourned at 5:41 p.m. that night. And we do have two action items tonight. Uh 6. B.1 Motion to approve the vended beverage agreement with PepsiCo from July 1, 2026 through June 30th, 2029. >> So move second. Any questions? Secretary, call the role, please. >> Valencia, >> Yes. Moreno, >> yes. >> Johnson,
062>> yes. 6B.2 Motion to approve posting the vacancies for substitute custodian and substitute office staff roles. >> So moved. >> Second. >> Any questions? >> Secretary, call the role, please. >> Quentes, >> yes. >> Valencia, >> yes. >> Moreno, >> yes. >> Johnson, >> Yes. Our next meeting will be held on Tuesday, April 7th, 2026 at 5:30 p.m. here at the administrative center. And that concludes my report. >> All right. Thank you. Moving on to curriculum and programs committee with Mr. Olivas. >> Uh, thank you, Mr. Fuentes. We did have our curriculum committee meeting this evening here at the admin center at 6 PM. Um, I will be providing some of those minutes on Tuesday, April 7th. Um, we do have an action item that was presented to us uh today during curriculum um committee.
063I mean, if I could have um someone um just a brief overview of what we're approving or we're recommending for a motion today. >> Good evening. I'd like to briefly walk through the recommendation before the board this evening related to our behavior support systems. Currently, the district uses two programs, handle with care and CPI to support stu uh staff when students experience significant behavioral escalations. Both programs focus on deescalation strategies. The recommendation tonight uh is not to replace but to add an additional layer of support for our youngest learners. We are proposing the adoption of the Ukuru system for our prek and elementary settings. Ukurro is a trauma-informed approach that focuses heavily on prevention. handle with care would remain in place where crisis response systems are still appropriate based on student age and behavioral needs.
064But by adding Ukuru uh at the earlier grade levels, we'd strengthen the continuum of supports across the district. If approved, staff training would begin this spring with the intent to utilize Yukuro as a preventative measure during extended school year 2026. I'm happy to answer any questions the board may have. >> Thank you. All right, we do have a motion uh motion to approve the purchase of resource for the extended school year summer program food uh from Ureku in the amount of $38,60. >> So moved. >> Second. >> Any questions? Secretary, call the role, please. >> Yes. >> Valencia, >> yes. >> Johnson, >> yes. >> Luentes, >> yes. >> Divas, >> yes. >> Moreno, >> yes. And our next curriculum and committee meeting will be on April 20th here at the admin center at 6
065PM. >> All right. Thank you, Mr. Levas. Uh moving on to building and grounds committee with Mr. Loft. Thank you. We had our uh meeting March 2nd and uh our next meeting is Tuesday instead of a Monday, April 7th. We went over a lot at that meeting. We had 14 items. I'm going to give you the highlights. Um, we went out to bid on a lot of items. Went out to bid on um, Oak Park gutters. We went out to bid on uh, the speestus removal for the high school and Bri. And we got on on all these we uh, Mr. Allen did a great job sending it out to a huge list of biders. Some we got two bids, some we got 11 or 12 bids. Um, we went out to bid on flooring
066on Allen, Dietrich, Krug, and Bopri. We went out to bid on the windows due for that are needed for the uh administrative center. We went out to bid on site improvements that were needed for uh Fred Rogers playground and basketball courts. And let's see, we we discussed buying Chromebooks for the second, sixth, and ninth grade. And we got those bids through was it cooperative, Andy? >> No, we we solid solicit a bunch of different vendors and have we tell them what kind of what we're looking for and they give us their best product for the best price. So, this time we went with Northguard, I believe, is what the motion is for. Uh we've used CDW. We've used a bunch of vendors. It kind of rotates through. >> Thank you. Uh Benites, we went out
067to bid for playground repairs. Oh, no. That's the one where we had to buy the equipment from this one vendor. Correct. >> That only comes from the manufacturer, the repair items. >> Okay. Um we're working with the city of Aurora considering their sponsorship of the city of lights boys soccer wrestling cheerleading competitions. We went over work orders and uh Mr. Cphuente has brought up concern at the high school some of the furniture, but Mr. Allen has already has has spoken to the manufacturer and he has a meeting coming up to see if we can get some of those replaced under warranty. And then Mr. Halver, Dr. Hverson reported that our um grants committee grants person received a grant for $500,000 from um Senator Karina Villa for a new roof for East Aurora High School. So
068we got a bunch of action items. The first is 8B1 motion to approve the resolution authorizing the sale recycle of personal property which is basically the disposal of IT equipment. >> Somebody want to make that motion. >> I'll move. >> Second. >> Any questions? Secretary call the role please. >> Valencia. >> Yes. >> L. >> Yes. >> Johnson. >> Yes. >> Reyes? >> Yes. >> Moreno? >> Yes. >> Cuentes? >> Yes. Olivas? >> Yes. The next item is 8B2 talking about uh facility assessment but our committee has um decided to send that out to bid so we are going to remove that. There will not be action on that tonight. Third um 8B3 motion to award the base bid and alternates one and two for East High School and B preschool asbestous abatement to Kinsale
069contracting group in the amount of 101,900. So move >> second. >> Any questions? Secretary call the roll, please. >> Seuentes, >> yes. >> Valencia, >> yes. >> Moreno, >> yes. >> Johnson, >> yes. >> Next is 8B4. Motion to award the base bid 1A and 1B for Oak Park and Krug School asbestous abatement to Kfax Corporation in the amount of $84,250. So moved. Second. >> Any questions? Secretary, call the roll, please. >> Yes. >> Johnson. >> Yes. >> Valencia? >> Yes. >> Moreno? >> Yes. >> Olivas? >> Yes. >> Next is 8B5. Motion to award the base bid 2, three, and four for Allen, Dietrich, and Krug elementary schools flooring replacement to Pinnacle Flooring Company in the amount of $157,500. second. Any questions? Secretary, call the role, please. >> Yes. >> Reyes? >> Yes. >>
070Olivia? >> Yes. >> Johnson? >> Yes. >> Moreno? >> Yes. >> Valencia? >> Yes. >> Next is 8B6. Motion to award base bid five and alternate one for B preschool flooring replacement to Taza Construction DBA of Tiles and Styles LLC in the amount of $113,861. >> So moved. >> Second. >> Any questions? Secretary Karo, please. >> Valencia, >> yes. >> Fuentes, >> yes. >> Moreno, >> yes. >> Johnson, >> yes. Yes. 8B7. Motion to award the base bid one and three for repair of the administrative center windows project to Autobomb Company in the amount of $147,200. >> So move. >> Second. Any questions? >> Is this the current administrative center? >> Really? >> And we don't have any warranty on the work. >> The just Oh, no. There was there was no warranty on the
071work as we looked into it. Mr. Andy Allen um reached out. These are the windows that were restored um because they were the natural windows that were came with the property. They were restored. Um and unfortunately um the entire building over the next two years will probably have to look at this because there are a lot of those that are leaking at this point in time. So they're going to have to be stripped down, painted, reccocked, resealed. Um and right now Andy, which this is for the south and the west side of the building. >> It's the west side and the south side. I think it's 51 windows this year. >> Wow. It's unfortunate. >> I agree with um board member Johnson. It's a little much, but these it's historic. That's why, right? We had
072to do the wood windows. They make it really difficult in these historic districts. >> Yeah. If we start trying to pull them out, we have have to go back to the historic society, get permission to do it, and then we're going to have to look at replace them all. So, we're trying to prevent that from happening. Um and some of the sills are starting to rot and pieces like that. So, we're trying to get them taken care of the best we can and last longer. So, yep. I have a question. Do we all know what happened to the windows? A brief in the board or do we need a brief for like the item? Does does everybody know what happened? >> And you want to you want to just provide a little bit of update
073as far as when we rehab the build when the building was rehabbed and >> how do you guys know? >> When the building was rehabbed and redone, there was historic windows went through the historic side and that was a requirement to keep those historic windows. So, they were taken out, repaired, they put some new wood in here and there, but then they just painted them and put them back in. It doesn't look like the primer or the paint was put on real well. So, there's only like a layer and a half of it, but there's not really a way to deal with it. So, now it's peeling off and stripping off. So, now we're getting rot in areas at the sills. So, now it's leaking. I think uh Dr. Engel had water in his room
074today just from the snow that we had and the rain over the weekend that had to dry out on the carpet. Uh we put on a fan this morning. So, they're starting to leak and decay, which is a sign of more to come. So, we've taken the most significant sides this year around here. And it's very unfortunate this happened, but we got to kind of stick with what they have right now. There's not really an out for us to go with more like fiberglass or aluminum or other type of windows right now. And to replace the entire thing would be co cost prohibitive in a lot of ways because we have to try to restore it back to what it was. So all the windows in this room because it was a new addition lookalike
075windows. So we'd have to do that for all the rest of them in the in that section. And even these are showing some signs of the same wear here newer. So hopefully next year this will this side the um north or the the back side of the building here that we're on will be done next year. >> Mr. Alen and that's approximately 51 windows. I think we you counted earlier >> 51 is this year's >> this year's okay >> my count without this room next year is 27 then we got to include this room here. So >> thank you. >> Any other questions? All right secretary call the roll please. >> Yes. Valencia, >> yes. >> Olivas, >> yes. >> Moreno, >> yes. >> Johnson, >> yes. >> Reyes, >> yes. >> Okay. 8B8. Motion.
076We need a motion to award base bid 1 and two and alternate one for the 2026 site improvements to Schroeder Asphalt Services in the amount of 229,000. >> So moved. >> Second. >> Any questions? Secretary call, please. >> Yes. Valencia, >> yes. >> Johnson, >> yes. >> Moreno, >> yes. >> Finally, 8B9. Motion. We need a motion to approve the purchase of the replacement playground equipment for the Benvites Steam Academy from manufacturer Compan, Inc. in the amount of $26,512. >> So moved. >> Second. Any questions? Secretary, call the role, please. >> Valencia, >> yes. >> Johnson, >> yes. >> Reyes, >> yes. >> Moreno, >> yes. >> All right. Is that with that, uh, we're going to go into executive session for the purpose of discussing student discipline, land acquisition, negotiations, pending litigation, and the
077appointment, employment performance, compensation, and dismissal of a specific employee. A move. >> Second. >> Secretary, call the roll, please. >> Valencia, >> yes. >> Johnson, >> yes. And there will be action. Motion to reconvene from executive session. >> Second. >> Secretary call the role. >> Yes. Yes. Yes. All right. We're starting with the first one. Yeah. All right. X A or 10A. Motion to approve the resolution for student number 3496400 0. >> So move. >> Second. >> Any questions? I told I have to read it. I have to read it into the record. So let me read it. >> All right. Be it resolved this that this board of education after having considered the evidence presented by the hearing officer hereby upholds the recommendation for alternative placement to core academy in lie of expulsion for
078student number 349 640 400 of Simmons Middle School for one calendar year effective from March 17, 2026 through March 16, 2027 to include summer school 2026 Should said should said student fail to attend the alternative education setting, the expulsion will be immediately enacted for the remainder of the expulsion term without further action by the board of education. Be it further resolved that a copy of this resolution be sent to the parents of said student and duly recorded in the official minutes of this board of education, school district 131, dated this 16th day of March, 2026. We need a motion for that. I believe >> we already >> Well, I don't I don't think we could have had a motion until I read it. So, I think >> call the call. Secretary, call the role. >>
079All right. >> Yes. All right. 10B. Motion to approve the resolution for student number 309495330. So move second. >> All right. Be it resolved that this board of education after having considered the evidence presented by the hearing officer hereby upholds the recommendation for alternative placement to core academy in lie of expulsion for student number 309495330 of Simmons Middle School for one calendar year effective from March 17, 2026 through March 16, 2027 to include summer school 2026. Should said student fail to attend the alternative education setting, the expulsion will be immediately enacted for the remainder of the expulsion term without further action by the board of education. Be it further resolved that a copy of this resolution shall be sent to the parents of said student and duly recorded in the official minutes of this board
080of education, school district 131, dated this 16th day of March, 2026. >> Secretary, you call the role, please. >> Yes. Yes. >> Yes. >> All right. Moving on to the next agenda item 10 C. Motion to approve the resolution authorizing notice of nonremployment of full-time tenure teachers not in last year of probation probationary service. >> I moved. >> Second. >> Any questions? Secretary Calbr, please. >> Yes. Yes. >> Question. Yes. All right, moving on to the next one. We are not acting on D, so we're moving on to 10E. Motion to approve the >> right motion to approve the resolution authorizing nonremployment of non-tenured administrator. >> So moved. >> Second. Any questions? Secretary, call the role, please. >> Yes. >> I 10F. Motion to approve the resolution authorizing issuance of notice of remedial warning to
081Fatima Baytos, a certified employee and principal in the district. So moved. Second. Any questions? Secretary call, please. >> Yes. >> Valencia. >> Yes. >> No. >> Yes. >> No. >> Yes. All right. Motion to adjurnn. The move. Second. >> Secretary, call the role, please. >> Yes. Yes. >> Yes. Yes. >> Yes. >> Where's Burnt?