001Good evening everyone. We're going to get the February 17th 700 p.m. regular board meeting to order. Secretary, call the role please. >> Valencia >> here. Sequentes >> here. >> Reyes here. >> LE here. >> Olivas >> here. >> Moreno absent. >> Johnson >> here. All rise for the pledge of allegiance. >> I pledge algiance to the flag of the United States of America to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. >> All right, we're going to move on to public comment. Let's see. All right. In order to speak at the board meeting, you would have had to sign in before 7 p.m. Respect the 3minut time limit. Respect the confidentiality of students and staff. And make sure to keep comments appropriate. We'll start with uh
002Theodor Gillespie. >> Good evening. >> Members again. Um I'm here to um represent the Qu County Urban League. Um I've been in this position for 41 years and 32 as the CEO. Uh the Qu County Urban League is a civil rights organization and our purpose is to represent the community whether it's through education, housing, employment, and just being able to have opportunities in the mainstream. The reason why I'm here today is that I had received about four separate concerns and complaints brought directly by community members. Two came from um from a staff for two staff members and two from parents. So, let me be crystal clear. This is not new to the Urban League or to me. Though my partnership that we've had with the district has always been address issues in a civil manner
003and both parties issues have been addressed. These recent concerns and situations reflect desire for stronger communication and partnership with district 131 with certain members of the community, which is what I tried to do this past week and today. However, I was addressed with resistance and disrespect. To disregard 32 years of being true advocate for residents in this community rather than to pri prioritize the self-gratification like one board member was disheartened. Dr. Hverson, you expressed interest in working with the Urban League and other community members to develop a collective agreement of to address staff and students concerns. We genuinely welcome that. However, in many of these instance, I was directed to staff members, including some connected to the very concerns for that was being raised from a community trust standpoint. That can create hesitation for staff
004families for who simply want to be heard and feel supported and confident that collaboration is possible. Therefore, I sincerely hope we can arrange a time to meet in person. QCL has always been about empowering communities through partnership, advocacy, and opportunities. We believe that district 131 shares that commitment. Tonight, I want you to hear from a parent who have been who have what that who we have had to help because of district lack of response. Despite what you guys think, I had something that I had to do this evening. But it was important for me to represent the community whenever I am called upon. and it is often. With that being said, our group is ready to reconvene our meetings and work together and we look forward to hearing from you in a genuine conversation about
005how we can improve the conditions of the staff and the students in district 131. Thank you very much. >> All right, moving on to Miss Fleming. All right, District 131. I am a parent that's been in this neighborhood pretty much all my life, and I'm here to address a uh issue. Just bear with me. Um, I was called. Um, I wasn't, this wasn't my plan to be here tonight, but I'm glad that I'm here. I am here tonight because I need your help resolving an ongoing issue with um, my grandchild and other black students, and I cannot allow my concerns to continue to go unanswered. I reached out to the urban uh quad urban county league back in December to speak with Miss Miss Galypy who I have known for years, a community organization that
006I have used for years to help address my family's concerns that has worked that has worked directly with this district for seven years. I did this because I could not longer I could no longer stand by and allow my grandson not to receive the education he deserves. When Miss uh Theodore from the Urban League attempted to assist, she was able to move things quickly, but I had to call her again this month. Just be patient with me. I had to call her again Um, this month I'm reading this stuff off of my phone. I typed it into my phone and we were told to repeat steps I have already taken. I believed and still believe that a strong partnership between the district and its community organizations should prevent parents and students from um falling through
007the cracks. Yet that is exactly what is happening now. Students are falling through the cracks and administrators passing the buck. I am asking you to treat this matter with the urgency and seriousness it deserves to work with me and other black parents and specifically with the Urban League as as true allies and to ensure that my grandson and no other students continue to be overlooked. Thank you. All right, we're going to move on to communications from the superintendent, Dr. Hverson. Sure. First, we have our student board member report. Good evening, board. Uh, I hope everyone got to enjoy the beautiful weather from yesterday. Um, these last two weeks have been pretty busy for the Easter student body. On February 3rd, there was a highly successful student led walk out. Um, our students paraded around the
008east side of Aurora with posters and flags in protest of the presence of ICE in our community. Our students stayed respectful and safe during the miles of walking and while at the front of this high school. Uh, this protest was the biggest demonstration of students making sure their voices are heard that I've ever seen. And I want to acknowledge the efforts put in by students and I want to thank the administration for keeping us safe throughout. Uh senior night for basketball, cheer, dance, and color guard occurred on the 6th, which was also our East versus West matchup. Uh a total of sorry, a total of 37 seniors were recognized for the work they put in throughout their season. The boys uh varsity boys and girls basketball uh teams unfortunately did not win against our rivals,
009but they still did great. Um cheer, dance, and color guard put on beautiful performances uh for the halftime entertainment. And again, a big congratulations to our teams and seniors. Also on the sixth and on the seventh of our girls wrestling team on the seventh our girls wrestling team had their regionals matches which were hosted at Isora. We had a second place finisher and three third place finishers. Um out of the 267 wrestlers competing we had four sectional qualifiers and the team overall placed fifth out of 30 teams. So kudos to them and the coaches for making it so far. Uh the boys wrestling team had their regionals on the 31st of January which was also at home. Uh although no one directly qualified for sectionals, we did have five boys qualify as alternates which is
010just as amazing. Uh we are reaching the end of our winter season. So once again, I want to congratulate uh our student athletes who participated and the boys and girls basketball team had some of their final home games of the season uh this last weekend for sectionals and the boys are actually playing tonight at home. Um the winter sports banquet will be held on the 10th of March and our spring season will start on the 2nd of March. Um in the upcoming weeks there will also be first semester recognitions going around the school. Um there'll be certificates uh ranging from grade performance, attendance and behavior. And so my final congratulations to those who have done so much for our as students this year. Thank you. >> Next we have our community relations report with Miss
011Britney Walker and she's got some anxious guests back there. So we're going to turn it over to her right away. Good evening everyone. Before be thought I was going to do it. Before we get to our furry friends, um I want to take this moment to show how proud we are to recognize our very own superintendent, Dr. Robert Halverson, for receiving the Kishwaki Region Superintendent of the Year Award from the Illinois Principles Association. This prestigious prestigious award reflects Dr. Dr. Halverson's strong leadership and his unwavering commitment to building a school district where students and staff feel seen, supported, and have a true sense of belonging. His focus on strengthening community partnerships has deepened connections between our schools and families, local organizations, stakeholders, ensuring that the work together support every learner. Under his leadership, our district
012continues to grow not only in achievement, but in unity and purpose. Please join us as we congratulate Dr. Halverson on this well-deserved recognition as we are grateful for his leadership and proud to celebrate his his accomplishments. I'm sorry I had to hide that from you. All right. Now the thing the report that you do know about um I would love to talk about our wonderful EA pause program. So on the screen here you'll see all of our different um all of our schools the handlers and the dogs some of which that are in the back. So, since its launch in 2023, our EA PAUAWS program has grown into a powerful district-wide initiative focused on supporting the whole child through a strong and ongoing partnership with healing hearts. EA PAUSE began as a vision to bring
013certified comfort dogs into schools to enhance students emotional well-being. As of January 2026, every school in East Aurora has an active EA PAUSE team, which is an incredible milestone that reflects our commitment to student support and positive school climate. The goal of EA PAUAWS is to support students emotional well-being, reduce stress and anxiety, and promote a safe, welcoming learning environment through structured and supervised interactions with certified comfort dogs. These interactions provide students with opportunities to build coping skills, regulate emotions, and develop positive connections within their school community. With supporting student, whether they're supporting students during times of heightened stress, celebrating milestones, or simply offering calm presence in a school day, our EA pause teams have become an integral part of the student and staff experience. Our partnership with Healing Hearts has been essential to the
014program success. Healing Hearts is a nonprofit organization dedicated to training and certifying comfort dogs and their handlers to serve schools, hospitals, first responders, and community organizations. The rigorous training program ensures that each dog is tempered temperament tested, professionally trained, and paired with a dedicated staff handler. Beyond initial training, uh, healthy heart, I'm sorry, healing hearts provides ongoing guidance, certification standards, and continued professional development to ensure that EA pause teams maintain the highest level of safety, structure, and effectiveness. EA PAUSE is more than a program. It's a reflection of our commitment to creating schools where every student again feels safe, supported, connected, and cared for. So again, you see all of our schools, all of our handlers and um EA paws dogs presented there. And I want to introduce to you who we have here with
015us today. So we have from ECC Jake with his handler Joyce right there. From GCC, we have May with handlers Chuck and Linda. From Gates, we have Tilly with handler Stephanie. From Hermas, we have Gus with Handler Brenda. That looks like a Gus. All right, from Oak Park, we have Maverick with handler Helen. From Bardwell, we have Max with handler Kim. From Johnson, we have B with handler Jud Judy. From Waldo, we have Finn with handler Faith. From Simmons, we have Ruby with handler Ruth. And from cow herd we have Barkley with handler David. >> And I'm sorry. Would I'm sure you all want to come take a picture with one of these lovely pups, right, Ward? >> Oh, we absolutely will. I I'll take the picture. Um, we're going to take a group picture
016and then I'm going to invite uh Robin Dixon to come up and say a few more words, but we'll do a picture first. >> Oh, yeah. >> Right. We might Yeah. I'm going to actually have you all come if possible for some to come a little closer. That would be perfect right there. Where's >> our last friend at all? Okay, ready >> girl. >> Chilly. Good girl. >> All right, one more on the count of three. >> I'm sure I got it. >> Good evening. I just wanted to say a couple words on behalf of our team. I'm Robin Dixon. I am the assistant director of student services and I have had the honor and privilege the last three years to support this team. It has been a long and super fun journey to bring
017us to where we are today and to be able to say that we have the teams and supports and committed team members that have gone to many trainings and many um events as well as school um commitments and we greatly appreciate the board for allowing this opportunity for us. I appreciate all the building administrators as well as all of the team members here tonight. It has been awesome getting to know all of you the last few years and also to be able to get to know all of your your dogs and to be able to be part of the EA um team. So, thank you all so much for this opportunity. >> Thank you. Thank you. >> I think we know >> I know the staff >> owe gratitude to do to Annette Johnson. This
018was one of her >> visions I think. So thank you Annette. >> Yeah. >> Yes. >> It makes >> Oh my god, it makes a huge difference. I hear >> actually asked the kid and they said yes that they wanted to come to school because they knew it was going to be their turn to see Maverick. And then I always thought it was just for the kids, but it is not. >> It is not. >> Adults like teachers. >> Yeah. So, thank you so much for >> Yeah. No, they'll the teachers will plop down in the hallways and just hang on to us during their lunch or whatever. >> I And you know, if I have a schedule, the schedule goes out the window. >> Thank you everyone. Thank you. >> Miss Walker, does that
019conclude your report? And I know our our furry friends have to get home to study tonight, so we can pause for a second if we need to so they can take off >> ready for tomorrow. My kid would say that. >> Yeah, that's a dad joke. Yes, 100%. We'll we'll take a brief uh intermission here so we can make sure that our furry friends do get out, okay? And then we'll continue with our board meeting. close. >> So, I'll continue with the superintendent report. The next thing we have is the Aurora East Education Foundation. I know this has been something that we've been sharing ongoing with the board. Um, they have committed their last meeting to donate $125,000 this year. Um, the AEF would like to invest in projects above and beyond annual capital improvements.
020Um, ideally they're looking for projects that are highly visible in the Tomcat community. Uh so for the the first project that they're looking to donate funds for is for the improvement and relocation of the scoreboard at our stadium at the high school. Um so currently Andy Allen is going out for an RFP. We've got some additional ideas on potentially what it could cost. Um but the AEF has uh signed on with sponsoring $125,000 and donated it and once we get that RFP back we'll have more information. I foresee uh the AEF has talked in future years about trying to continuously donate but we don't have a commitment right now. But I foresee it being a rotating basis where we look at athletics, advanced academic opportunities, and artistic opportunities for our kids that are highly visible.
021So, we've already got some further ideas down the road, but we're just truly thankful for that partnership with the Aurora East Education Foundation and their willingness to come forward and donate the $125,000 that they have in their spendable balance so we can move forward with that scoreboard in a timely manner and hopefully have it up and going for our fall sports. So, that was my first announcement from the superintendent seat. Next one is our Cane County Institute Day. On February 27th, Kane and Depage County host professional development sessions in district 131. Our professional development day offers an engaging choicefilled schedule designed to support and inspire educators and staff across all roles and grade levels. Participants can select from full day, two-hour, and one-hour sessions that focus on behavior supports, effective instructional practices, datainformed decision-making, technology,
022literacy, and building inclusive school communities. The day also includes meaningful opportunities centered on employee wellness, financial planning, and retirement readiness. And this is a direct result of uh requests we've had from staff reinforcing our commitment to supporting the whole educator. Together, these offerings emphasize practical, readytouse strategies that strengthen practice, foster connection, and positively impact student learning. And I h happy to report that we have these uh offerings both internal within the district as well as in Kane and Depage County where we've partnered with the Roes. Dr. Amy Angel's been integral in setting this up for us and making sure that we're receptive to our staff desires and we're very excited for the staff members to have the opportunities to self- select their professional development that meets them where they're at. That concludes my superintendent. Actually,
023that concludes the first two things of my superintendent report for this evening. Next, we have Dr. Eric Ward here from Family Counseling Service and uh Miss Dr. Laura Arenball. They're going to come up and talk about the partnership that we've reestablished with them this year and some of the direct impacts it's had for our students. So, I'll turn it over to them. >> Thank you. Uh good evening members of the board of education and Dr. Halverson. This evening, we will provide an update on our ongoing partnership with Family Counseling Service and share the impact this work has had on our students. As Dr. Hverson mentioned, with me tonight is Dr. Eric Ward, CEO of Family Counseling Service and Robin Dixon, assistant director of student services. Oh, this is me. On August 26th, 148 members of
024the East Aurora team, including our administrators, social workers, psychologists, and counselors, participated in a training on our partnership with family counseling service and how this support integrates into our existing student support system. This was ultimately our kickoff to our relationship. Staff from all grade levels were included, spanning early learning through high school to ensure a consistent understanding and approach across the district. Beginning se September 2nd, school teams were then directed to begin utilizing family counseling service to provide immediate mental health support for students and to help conduct students and families to longer term resources as needed. Good evening. The student services team collects and monitors student risk assessment data on a regular basis. This data includes suicide risk assessments, self harm assessments, as well as homicidal risk assessments. As you can see on the chart,
025the numbers of moderate and high-risisk assessment scores that have been completed over the last three years. In 2023 2024 school year, there were 47 phone calls to 911 for high mental health needs. That number decreased to 41 in 2024 25. And since August of this school year, we have recorded 15 such calls to date. When a student is demonstrating any of these behaviors, a district staffed mental health professional completes a risk assessment to determine the level of risk, whether that being low, moderate, or high. Previously, district practice was to call 911 anytime a risk assessment score came out as high. This is not best practice for meeting student needs, maintaining trust with students, and connecting students and parents to mental health resources when they are not in an imminent and immediate danger to themselves or
026others. With the district adding the extra layer of support from the family counseling services crisis support team, we have been able to not only reduce our 911 mental health calls, which involve the police, paramedics, and ambulance coming to our schools, but also to immediately connect our students and their families to collaborative, accessible mental health supports, counseling, and resources on a daily basis. Our district mental health providers in collaboration with the family counseling services team members have been able to remove many barriers by directly connecting them with their school-based crisis response services. >> Members of the board, thank you uh just for a few minutes of your time. I do want to take a a minute just to thank Superintendent Halverson for his his vision in making this program happen as well as all of the
027the administrators and the social workers and counselors and various other staff who've made it successful so far this year. Uh our program has essentially two goals. Uh the first is to keep students out of psychiatric hospitals and in school and our second goal is to get them connected to the services that they need so that they can be successful in that school setting. To that end, we have two teams of um professionals that we use. The first is a mobile psychiatric crisis intervention team. They're the ones who get the phone call when a student is suicidal, homicidal, exhibiting some sort of dangerous behavior or some other crisis. We typically respond within 30 minutes. Uh, and our goal, like I said, is to keep them out of the psychiatric hospitals and in the school setting. And
028to date this year, we've been successful doing that over 90% of the time that we've gotten those calls. Our goal then is to connect them to services, whether it be with our organization or some other organization. Those services being outpatient counseling and psychiatry services. And even if we can move to the next slide. Um just a few numbers. So we Laura and I were talking these are a couple of weeks old and the numbers are already uh significantly higher, but 128 crisis calls uh that we've responded to. And again, over 90% of those times we've been successful keeping the students out of an ambulance, out of a psychiatric emergency room, out of a psychiatric hospital, in the school, in the community, and in the classroom learning, which is where we all want them to be.
029We've also gotten over 245 referrals for counseling and psychiatric services support. Uh many of those students have engaged in care and have already finished that care. As you can see, there are over 153 at this point who are still uh receiving ongoing services. So, this has been a remarkably remarkably successful partnership so far to date. uh we are are so happy to be back in the East Award School District and partnering with the staff to to get services to these students. Thank you. >> With that, we would be happy to answer any questions the board may have. >> Thank you. >> And Dr. Laura Airbal is going to stay up here and she's going to welcome her team to the podium with her student services department improvement plan. So, building off of what we've done
030with every other department so far, they're going to take us through their improvement plan um and talk about the steps that they've um adhered to so far and their future steps as well. >> Perfect. All right. Good evening again. Uh tonight we will be presenting the student services department Improvement Plan. Uh with me tonight is Dr. Katrina Dorsy, executive director of elementary special education. Megan Mchuan Terry, executive director of secondary special education, Melinda Thompson, director of special education, Robin Dixon, assistant director of student services, and last but not least, Cara Patrick, assistant director of health services. Over the summer, we drafted the student services department goals for the 2526 school year. A our department decided to focus on three key areas this year. Those areas are coordinated and consistent professional development to administration and staff
031to improve student supports, the assessment of our staffing to ensure we are in alignment with student needs, and the development of our student services parent group. These goals were specifically designed to be in alignment with the district's strategic pillars and have a focus on more than typical growth, development of culture and climate, and development of community partnerships. >> Good evening. Um, goal one for the student services department is by June of 2026, the district will provide coordinated and consistent professional development to administrators and staff to strengthen understanding of student services systems and improve student support. Our department has been working collaboratively with school, community, and agency based teams to provide professional development, consistency, and clarity to staff in several areas this year. This has helped us to better support our students immediate as well as
032their long-term social, emotional, behavioral as well as academic needs by increasing staff skills, knowledge, and awareness of community resources, school resources, and best practice guidance and training. Some of the professional development and trainings that have provided this year include, and I'm not going to list all of them, but some of the ones to highlight, um, the SEAG uh, team training, which is a comprehensive school threat assessment team that is, um, in the process of being trained uh, districtwide. Um, our physical restraint and timeout is regulations and documentation. Our second step, social emotional curriculum that we currently use preK through 8 um, as well as at a tiered one as well as at a tier 2 level. our CPI which is crisis prevention institute as well of this year we've also incorporated handle with care verbal
033and physical deescalation trainings um the Aurora Police Department crisiser inter crisis intervention unit um has met with us this year and provided um training our functional behavioral assessment otherwise known as FBA and behavior intervention plan training for our staff um we have a hesset house collaboration where they've come out and done presentations about their resource resources um also we've done 504 accommodation training as well this year. Goal two, by July 2026, assess current staffing levels in alignment with student needs, state and federal regulations, and district needs resources. At this point, we have completed the data collection phase. Staffing information has been gathered across schools and programs including the anticipated relays of service needs and that data is currently being analyzed to ensure we are aligning resources directly to student needs. Student services is also working
034closely with other district departments to ensure a coordinated approach. This collaboration is particularly important as we support our elementary students through the dual language shift, ensuring appropriate instructional and related service supports are in place at the middle and high school levels. We are re viewing programs to confirm they are structured to meet the evolving academic, behavioral and social emotional needs of our students. >> In addition to that, hi by the way. Um, in addition to that, the department is refining student profiles with our specialized programs. This work allows us to more clearly define the services needed, ensure students are placed in the least restrictive and most appropriate settings, and determine whether additional layers of programming would strengthen the outcomes. Our next step is to use these findings to inform staffing recommendations that are compliant with
035state and federal requirements, responsive to student needs, and sustainable for the district. ultimately ensuring that students receive the right support at the right time in the right setting. >> Good evening. Our third goal has been the establishment of a student services parent group. This goal has been an important departmental priority for several reasons. First of all, parental participation is one of the core protected principles of special education law. This group offers interested parents additional opportunities to engage with our leadership team and to advocate for their students beyond the IEP meeting table. Also, we acknowledge that parents are the only consistent IEP team member that their child will have. It is the parent and no one else who follows their child from year to year across all grade levels and educational settings. This group will serve
036as a mechanism for the district to support those parents who would like to partner with us as they navigate that lifelong journey. Finally, this group is an acknowledgement of our desire to position our department to be more visible, more available, and more effective in responding to our parents' needs. For example, our first event was held on January 14th, and the topic was confusion to clarity, understanding, IEPs, and 504s. During that session, we received quite a bit of parent feedback. We took notes and we will be using that feedback for an April training on helping our IEP teams work more effectively with parents and parent advocates. Our second event is scheduled to be held on March 11th, and we are inviting IEP service providers to help our parents understand more about the nature of school-based services
037and supports. Although we are currently meeting quarterly, we do hope to eventually meet monthly. Meeting more frequently would allow our team to present on more topics that can better support families at different stages of the special education process. Our vision is that this group will continue to grow in scope and focus so that we can support our families better as they seek to meet their children's immediate needs, but also connect them with resources and community partners that will be instrumental in supporting their children's long-term needs. >> Thank you for allowing us to present our improvement plan. We're happy to take any questions you may have. >> I don't have any questions. I just want to thank you guys for putting this presentation on. I think it it gives a little insight into what really goes
038on in some of these departments. So, thank you guys. >> Thank you very much. >> And the final item under the superintendent report item number five is we have our map data presentation. And this was moved from our curriculum board meeting to the whole board meeting. So, Dr. Dr. Amy Angel is going to go through all the information um to kind of update us after our middle of the year assessment window and look at the trends there. So, I'll turn it over to Dr. Angel. >> Yeah. Uh always love going through our MAP data and talking a little bit about what that shows. Um let's start with some key terminology. When Dr. Halverson became superintendent, he made it a priority that we focus on more than typical growth across our district um in order for
039us to close the achievement gaps that we know exist. Today's presentation is focused on exactly that. How are we doing at achieving more than typical growth and then what does our winter benchmark data indicate about our anticipated achievement outcomes on our spring I and ACT map just to set the level of the group map compares our student data with all the other students across the nation who test in the same benchmark windows. MAP divides the student data into five equalsiz groups. They refer to them as quintiles. Each quintile group contains 20% of the students scores. Each quintile represents how students perform in relation to national scores and therefore help to identify where you may have areas of high or low performance. Quintiles and map are shown by color red, orange, yellow, green, and blue. Red
040would represent the lowest performing quintile and blue would represent the highest performing quintile. Students who perform in the top two quintiles nationally for growth would be those students who are reaching more than typical growth and are on the trajectory to close achievement gaps that may exist. Those would be students in the green and the blue colors on our upcoming chart. And I'll I'll walk through it again, make sure that we're all on the same page. Um but basically students who perform in the top two quentiles nationally for achievement would be those students who are likely to score in the meet or exceed expectations when they take the AR or the ACT. Again the students in the green and the blue for achievement. So we are going to in the next couple slides look at growth
041and achievement um across all of these things. One one last point I really want to emphasize is that nationally 40% of students fall in those green and blue combined quintiles. So if our total of the students in green and blue is at 40% or higher, we are at or above where the national expectations are. So that's really important. If our total is less than 40%, then we're performing lower than we might expect nationally. So we'll take a look at that in the next slide. So let's take a look at district growth and achievement in math. Looking at the top bar of data here, we have our beautiful rainbow color there. There are a few things to note. First is this is our map data for the entire district. And if you look at that top
042bar at the green and blue, you see a 22% and a 27% respectively. Those are our top two quintiles for growth. And if you remember from that prior slide, if we have over 40% of our students in those two quintiles combined, we're growing more than expected. In East Aurora, in math, we have 49% of our students in those top two quintiles. That means we're growing more than nationally expected. So, this is this is great news. You also see on that top bar in front of the top bar the very first thing it's a teeny tiny little circle there in yellow um it shows uh the where we are in the district um overall average for growth. We're in the yellow quintile for growth. So we're in that middle growth quintile, but we're actually at the
04359th percentile nationally for growth. That means only 41% of other districts grew more than we did. who took MAP and this is a national assessment. That's a pretty big deal. Uh in fact with just two more growth percentile points that yellow circle would turn to green. So we are we are making gains that we have not seen previous. This is great. Um in the second row of data there you see actually two charts. One is for the fall the other is for the winter. Um these represent our math achievement data. So you can see that the district in math in uh the fall we were at the 39th percentile nationally for math achievement. And if you look that was that 39 in orange at the front of the first set of data and then the
044second set of data in that row shows that 45 in yellow. Um so we moved up to the 45th percentile nationally in math. our green and blue quintiles. When you look at those two again, if you add those together, we have approximately 32% of our EA students who are likely to meet or exceed expectations on the AR or the ACT ACT in the spring. When you think of achievement, let's take a look at the same data for reading. If you look at that top bar again, looking at the green and the blue, you see that both quintiles are 23% for growth. So again, if we have 40% or more, we are at or above the national growth expectations. And in East Aurora, we have 46% of our students in those two quintiles. You can also
045see on that top bar, there's a yellow circle in the front. And um for those of you who are visually impaired like me, that number is 57th percentile because it's super tiny there. Sorry. Meaning only 43% of other districts grew more than we did. So, we're doing really great when it comes to growth. In that second row of data, that's the achievement data when it comes to reading. So, you can see there we have we have plenty of room to continue to move our practice. Um, you can see in the fall we were at the 33rd percentile nationally for reading achievement. And now in the winter, we've moved up to the 42nd percentile nationally. Our green and blue quintiles for achievement indicate that approximately 31% of our EA students are likely to meet or exceed
046expectations on the IR or the ACT. In the next slide, we are going to take a look at growth data by school. This data shown in this chart represents the students who are performing in the top two quintiles for growth. Again, those students in the green and the blue. If the students are at or above that 40% uh of that national expectation, there's a green circle next to the percentage. That means anyone with a green circle, any school with a green circle is performing or growing more than what would be expected nationally normed. Okay. If anybody is has a yellow circle, it means that 30 to 39% of their students are in the green or blue. So, not quite where we would expect to be. And then anybody that would have a red circle would
047um be represented by 30% or less students in that green and blue performance. Um in addition, there are three data columns here. The first one is math, the second one is reading in English, and the third one is reading in Spanish. I want to give the one cautionary tale when it comes to the Spanish data. Just like we talked about in the fall, the Spanish data cannot be compared in the same way. I include it here for you to reference, but it cannot be referenced in the same way because it's not nationally normed. The data there comes from a very small group of comparison. Um, and it's not based on that large national norm. So, it's not data that I'm going to reference, but I put it here so that you can see it because
048I want to be sure that we're sharing the information we have. Um if you focus on those first two columns for math and reading and English, we have 16 schools who are experiencing typical or more than typical growth in both content areas. Uh the remaining schools have more than typical growth in at least one of those areas and are in the typical growth range for the other content area. Overall, our data in terms of growth data is very encouraging. It's exactly what Dr. Halverson has charged us with. Let's take a look at achievement on the next slide. Our achievement levels are not at the same levels as our growth data data. We know that more than typical growth will be needed to close those achievement gaps and this is going to take persistent effort over
049multiple years. We will keep inching up up over time. Just like on the last slide, the data shown in this chart represents the students who are performing in the top two quintiles in the green or the blue. Um, but this time for achievement instead of growth and map predicts that students who are in those top two quentiles would reach meet or exceed status on the IAR or the ACT. We currently have three schools both with both math and reading at that high level at Benvitas, Johnson and Furma. So that is uh encouraging and no surprise of course we have nine schools with 30 to 39% of the students in the top two quintiles. So 30 to 39% of the students are expected to be at that meet or exceed level on the A or the
050ACT um for one of the subjects but not the other. and the remaining schools. We know that we have schools where we have less than 30% but you actually can see the percentages shown there um of those students who are not where they need to be in terms of achievement in those top two quintiles. And we've been using this data to drive our school improvement efforts. Now that we've looked at the data by district and school, we're going to take a quick pe quick quick peak by grade level itself. When you look at growth by grade level, this is growth. You can see that every grade level we have at least one of those two content areas with 40% or more students in that green and blue or the top two quintiles. Again, all the
051growth in the top two quintiles is that more than typical growth and will continue to drive our achievement up. So, that's exactly what we're looking for. We do have a few areas where our growth is just below the 40% mark, specifically in reading for grades K and one and in math for 9 through 11. These areas align with identified needs. We also know MAP is a tricky assessment for a K1 student to take. You know, it's a lot to do an online assessment at those grade levels um where they haven't been doing them previously. Ultimately, we also know that high school math is an area where we've identified additional focus is needed, which is why this year we've been doing a math pilot so we can help support them uh perhaps with a little bit
052more intentionality. Just like our building growth data, there's much to celebrate here. And we have lots of great growth above the national norm. We're going to look at achievement by grade level as well. Here we see some consistent areas of need that align with all of the work that we've been talking about in the past year. Just as the other achievement slide showed, we have work to do in all the places where our achievement levels are not in those top two quintiles. Anywhere where you see a yellow or red circle is a place that we want to continue to focus our energy on. The way to move that achievement though is through strong implementation of our resources and curriculum and by continuing to push for that more than typical growth. So you can see here
053where our data is by grade level. Let's take a look at our district growth in a different way so that we can reinforce that we're moving the work in the right direction. Here's a summary of math uh student growth across the district. We've seen this one before. All the other slides were kind of different. Uh we reorganized it so it become a little bit clearer. This one we've seen before. Here's a map district summary of mathematics. That yellow diamond reflects the grade level norms for growth and the blue bar reflects our district's observed growth. So in every grade level, East Aurora students are growing more than the projected growth in math, which is excellent. The same is true in reading. When we take a look at reading, the same is happening here in every grade
054level. East Aurora students in the blue bar are growing more than the projected growth shown by that yellow diamond. It's promising news. It's a lot of work that still needs to happen, but we're on the right right path. So let's talk a little bit about our actions. Reviewing this data and using it to drive our decisions is the key. We know that across the district, we've been reviewing subgroup data. We've been looking at it in both growth and achievement. We've also been comparing data from multiple sources. We want to make sure that we have all the information we need to move our work forward. Our assessment coordinator and our data analysts have been hard at work compiling information that can support our school improvement work. At the building level, our principles and other building leaders
055have been working with their teams. Uh they've been reviewing cohort performance from last year to this year. They're diving into those instructional domains to identify more targeted areas of need and also developing plans to reach the students where they are. The buildings are using this data to continue to monitor and support the students with intervention and support their school improvement plans. Uh in addition, we also have professional development uh coming up at our February 27th date specific to um data tools and uh MAP is no exception to that and we're excited. We're here to support our students and staff to be successful. What questions can I answer? I had a few questions but you kind of answered them all as you were going through the slides. Um but again uh and I thank you for
056changing this presentation to the whole board instead of just curriculum because I think it's very important for all of all all of us as board members here to see where our students are at and where we need to go. Um and again I've been saying a lot about overassessing our students right um this is just one assessment that we get to see computer-based depends how sometimes students are doing that day um but again like why do we have this test why do we have this assessment right um it's supposed to be some a way to project what I is supposed to be and we know that those numbers are not matching at all. Um, so how do we move from what we see with MAP to really move forward to really represent AR? Because I
057feel we we might use this data to move those numbers up, but it's not showing up in AR and that's just me talking out loud. We have consistently taken a look at the data and actually the oftentimes what MAP says our students projected to to be on the IR is lower than what they actually perform on the IR. I'm not sure that the data has been presented in the same way where it was quite so like forwardf facing. Um, so we based on that are encouraged by what we're seeing right now and we're hopeful that we'll see continue to see what we anticipate based on this. >> And Mr. Leaves, to your point there, I would agree there's a lot of assessments that occur in education and we have to be intentional about it and
058that is one of the topics of conversation as Dr. angle gets going with her um assessment joint committee second semester because that's really when they ramp up is we're going to have some further dialogue around what we can currently use what it's what we're doing with that data what the intent of the assessment is making sure we're using it correctly um if you think back to earlier this year that's part of the reason we pulled out the fontel assessment and I know under your um guidance you asked us to hold on to some of those just in case we needed to use those in the future or we needed to use them for intervention and we're definitely doing that but we are taking a look holistically at all the assessments we're because we do lose
059a lot of time when it comes to leaky minutes because of assessments. So I think we I would agree with you we do need to be even more intentional about what the intention is with each one of these assessments and that's the work that Dr. Angel and that joint committee which is made up of administration as well as teachers will continue to work through as well. So I would agree with you on that that we need to continue to dive into that a little bit further >> and by any mean I don't want to take away from the growth what you know the teachers and students are doing. Um, as a teacher myself, I always want to see growth in my students. Um, so again, uh, thank you for those teachers and, you know, pushing
060our pushing our stu our students every day. >> Thank you. >> So, I have a quick question. This is a lot of data. How does this compare, unless I'm missing something, how does this compare to last year's numbers, our last year's numbers? >> Well, last year they did a whole uh reorming this summer. um and on on map and Isby reormed the entire I and uh assessment data. So a straight comparison is not necessarily possible. I will share some information once I have vetted through it to make sure that I actually can appropriately compare because I've been doing some stuff on the back end. But before I share that, I want to make sure I'm not saying something that's inaccurate. And >> I think building off that, Mr. offsh the one thing we want to
061do is we want to continue to look at like I' I've stressed since the beginning more than typical growth because we know that our current achievement level isn't good enough for our kids or our community. So we want to continue to grow that. In the past when I've kind of looked at what we've looked at as a district we've looked at growth. We haven't necessarily looked at more than typical growth as much and we haven't had um as much of the achievement numbers be put in front of the board. But I think it's a it's important for us to talk about our current reality so we can talk about the steps we need to take to close that achievement gap and make sure we have more students at grade level as they progress through our
062system. So there is a lot of intentionality with that with what I've asked our curriculum instruction and assessment team to do as well as our learning and leadership team to do as well. is we've always seen these great growth numbers but then you know the achievement is obviously not where we need that to be and you know and then I I don't know how you guys do it because it seems like every year the state changes these standards and then you know you can't compare one year to the next so then it's really really hard to uh unbundle that data so but you know so okay thanks Thank you, Dr. Angle, for that. And that concludes the longest superintendent report in the history of board meetings. I will pass it back over to Dr. to
063Mr. Sovetes. >> All right. Thank you, Dr. Hoverson. So, moving on to section five. Motion to approve the following consent agenda as listed. >> Some move. >> Second. >> Any questions? >> Secretary, call the role, please. >> Valencia, >> yes. >> Suentes, >> yes. >> Johnson, >> yes. Olivas. >> Yes. >> L. >> Yes. >> Reyes. >> Yes. >> All right. Moving on to section six, finance and personnel with Miss Reyes. >> Thank you, Mr. Cuantes. Good evening, everyone. Buenes no toos. The finance and personnel committee meeting was held on February 2nd, 2026 here at the administrative center and was called to order at 5:30. There were no public comments that night. Uh Dr. Engel presented us with uh district's donations and we agreed that all donations were in order. He also reviewed the November
064and December 2025 financial reports and introduced enhanced financial reporting documents. Uh these new reports include clearer visual summaries of cash flow, revenues, expenses, and trend comparisons. As a committee, we expressed appreciation for the improved format and found it to be a helpful resource. Thank you. Regarding kitchen equipment needs, Dr. Engel recommended prioritizing the replacement of Cow Herd's kitchen as it serves as the production kitchen for all elementary schools. He proposed moving forward with $95,000 in equipment purchases for Cow Herd with formal action scheduled um at tonight's full board meeting. We also discussed the quote process and it was requested that future proposals include a summary of vendors uh contacted and responses received. Projects for Waldo and Isera High School were rema will remain on the planning list and may shift to fiscal year 2026 for
065summer installation. Dr. Ballard then reviewed a request to approve 14.1 FTE second semester overloads for Isera High School. Most were previously approved in the fall. However, five additional special education overloads were added due to a teacher resignation. These overloads are necessary to ensure compliance with student IEP service requirements and include CTE assignments and one bilingual position. This item was scheduled for action at the full board meeting later that evening. The meeting then adjourned at 5:40 p.m. And we have one action item. Uh 6 B.1 motion to approve the purchase of kitchen equipment for Coward Middle School from Gator Chef in the amount of 95,9781 cent. >> So moved. >> Second. >> Any questions? Secretary, call the role, please. >> Yes. >> Johnson, yes. >> Valencia, yes. Quentes, yes. Olivas, >> yes. The next finance committee
066meeting will meet on Monday, March 2nd, 2026 at 5:30 p.m. here at the administrative center. And that concludes my report. >> Thank you. Moving on to curriculum and programs with Mr. Olivas >> um at our curriculum um committee meeting this evening um at 6 PM here. I will have the full minutes at the next uh board meeting on March what is it 1, 2, 2. Um, and we will have our next Turkland meeting on March 16 at 6 PM here at the admin center. And there are no action items. So, back to you. >> All right. Thank you. Moving on to building and grounds committee with Mr. Loft. >> Thank you. We uh met on uh February 2nd, almost two weeks ago. Uh we had a few items. Uh Andy Allen talked about the full
067um facility assessment we're looking at doing with Cortigan. It's come out. It's been a little expensive. So, he's working with them to try and get the numbers down. We talked about the city of Aurora um making improvements to Mastenon Lake and how they want to use some of our property, but Andy's been meeting with them and talking with them. So, we're just trying to get the details on that. Um we talked about the disposal of IT assets and we went through a work order summary. There are no action items. Our next meeting is right here March 2nd at 6 p.m. Back to you. >> All right. Thank you, Mr. Loft. Moving on to executive session for the purpose of discussing land acquisition negotiations, the appointment, employment performance, compensation, dismissal of a specific employee, and uh
068pending litigation. >> So move second. >> Secretary call the role, please. >> Yes. All right. And there will be action. Motion to reconvene from executive session. So move. >> Second. >> Secretary, call the role, please. >> Here. >> Yes. >> Johnson. >> Yes. >> All right. Uh, let's see here. Where's the first one? All right. Motion to approve the dismissal of a department staff. A motion to approve the dismissal of Anthony Valpel. >> Going to table that. >> No, that's the uh move. >> Oh, second. >> Any questions? Secretary Curo, please. >> Quentes? >> Yes. >> Valencia? >> Yes. Olivas? >> Yes. >> Johnson? >> Yes. >> Reyes? >> Yes. >> L? >> Yes. All right, moving on to the next one. Motion to table the dismissal of a service staff employee. >> The move
069second. >> Secretary, call the role, please. >> Yes. >> Valencia, >> yes. >> Johnson, >> yes. >> Olivas, >> yes. >> And motion to adjurnn. >> Second. >> Secretary, call the role, please. >> Valencia, >> Yes. L. Yes, >> Olivas. >> Yes, >> Johnson. >> Yes, >> Virgin.