001Call the board meeting of May 5th, 20125 to order. Secretary, call the role. Schubert here. Gillespie here. Johnson here. La here. Suentes here. Olivas here. Moreno here. Please stand for the pledge of allegiance. Pledge algiance to the flag. America to the stand with all. Okay. Um, so tonight is our public comments. So you would have had to have signed up before 7:00 to speak. We ask that you respect the 3minut time limit and ask that we uh respect the confidentiality of our students and staff. Becky Ryro. Uh, good evening. Um, my name is Becky Ryro and I've been a member of the EA community for the past 18 years. For the last three years, I've served as the president of our EA Council Local 604. But tonight, I'm going to do something a little bit
002different and address you in my capacity as a long-standing invested member of the district. Uh, the opinions I'm sharing are my own experience and I speak only for myself tonight. Um, first of all, I wanted to say thank you to Theodia and Bruce for your service. I've learned so much from the both of you. I'll always remember the night that you made sure that the cameras were turned on so all of us could see and that was such an important moment for us and I appreciate that and I wish you both the best of luck. Um, so here I go. In my in recent years, many of us have lived through a breakdown of trust between district leadership, the board of education, and staff. In an independent survey, 41% of union members said that trust
003had been deeply damaged. These results could have easily been swept under the rug. Instead, under Annette Johnson's leadership, the board took meaningful steps to address these issues, bringing renewed hope and direction to our district. And now we are in a time of transition. Uh, retaining Annette Johnson as board president offers the stability and experience that we all need. She's a proven leader and committed to staff and educators, deeply connected to our community, and equipped with the financial insight to help guide us forward as we begin building the career center and enter into contract negotiations next next year. I have witnessed firsthand her efforts to rebuild trust. We need her knowledge and experience to help ensure that our next major steps are stable and secure. Thanks for allowing me to be myself tonight and share my
004truth. Thank you. Um, Pastor Dan Hos, good evening. I may not be as eloquent as a previous speaker, but I'm going to support her her viewpoint. Again, my name is Pastor Dan Hos. Um, I have long I'm a East Aurora alumni. Uh so in Aurora East is best and um I have lived in the district. Uh I've lived in many parts of Aurora but I've lived in this district as well. But what I want to say is that um I believe that Annette uh Johnson has done a wonderful job over the last uh 10 12 years and helping to involve the community on different projects. Uh I'm here to represent uh the clergy uh in Aurora in particular on the east side, the Fox Valley Ministerial Alliance and um a strong alliance of Hispanic pastors.
005Um those obviously have uh inroads into parents and learning the feelings of parents on different uh things that come up before the board and being able to express uh their views uh or support or not support for certain issues. Um but in that has been a big part in uh organizing the community I believe and getting them more involved in in what is happening in the board. So I also think that she's got the experience. Um it's difficult to run a district this size. Um you have financial decisions, you have personnel decisions, you have other types of issues that arise. She has experience on these issues. Um she's a experienced businesswoman. She understands finances. So, I would just encourage you to um continue to let her serve as president. I think she has an ear
006and a voice in the community that helps uh at least give the board an idea of what parents think of issues. And so, I would encourage you to retain her as president of the East School Board. Thank you very much. And then, Alex Royal. Thank you, Madam President. You guys can't get rid of me, can you? Uh, I can only say thank you and goodbye to two of my colleagues, Mr. Schubert and Miss Gillespie. Um, I was in your shoes two months ago and um, one thing Mr. Schubert said, I want everyone to understand, we're doing our construction for the new high school. There's no reason why our kids don't have the same facilities as the kids in neighbor will have. Our kids deserve equality and the same the same facilities that kids neighbor will
007have. Thank you, Mr. Schubert. Those words have stuck in my ears for eight years now and I'll never forget that. And Miss Gillespie, you truly fought for inclusion, for equity, and diversity. I've known her for over 35 years now. when she first came to Aurora as her first group of students when she was uh TSTM that was a long time ago. I gonna say many years ago uh 10 years ago 10 years ago but Miss always fought for the right thing. So I came to say thank you both for your service and you will be missed. So I think next meeting you see on the other side of here with me but um that's all I had to say. Thank you honor president for your time. Okay. All righty. So, that concludes uh public comments.
008So, on to communications from the superintendent. Good evening, Board President Johnson, members of the school board, East Aurora community at large. Thank you for the opportunity to talk with you this evening. Uh we've got a little bit longer of a communication from the superintendent this evening because we did not have our committee meetings this evening. So, a couple of the items that would have been in committee um we've brought forward under the superintendent report. So, I'm going to go through each one of those briefly as well as pass a little bit of information off to my team there. The first one is 5A 5A1 district updates for band uniforms. Um, as you're aware, school board and members of the community, we've been taking a look specifically at our band uniforms and updating them. It's been
009quite a few years. Uh, so Dr. Angle, Michael Angel, has begun the process of looking into that and I wanted him to provide an update to the community at large. All right. Well, good evening everyone. Um, as we had mentioned last time, we went out and we solicited quotes for band uniforms for East High. We had three respondents that came back to us and they're included within your packet. We kind of had um we know what we want as far as the committee knows what's what it's looking for. We're looking for um 400 band uniforms for the following year and it's on there for action on May 19th that's going to be coming out. So all the information is in there. We had three respondents which included um Demulan uniform, McCormix net uniform, and FJA
010FJM uniform. Out of these three companies, uh, the committee felt that FJM Uniform offered the best of what we were looking for as far as aesthetic, quality, material cleaning, and warranty with their with their, uh, product. So, that's in there for recommendation coming up on the 19th. All righty. Thank you, Dr. Angel. Next, we have 5A2, driver's education vehicles. And once again, this has been an ongoing topic and we're looking at updating and getting some additional drivers education vehicles along with the uh staff that we approved at a previous meeting because we do have need to kind of catch up still from the COVID time, believe it or not. So, I'm going to turn it over to Dr. Angel again to talk about where we're at in the process for our new vehicles for driver's
011education. So, we had speced out two driver's ed vehicles which included uh 2025 Ford Escapes. They were all uh identically equipped. Uh we reached out to Riverview Ford, Gerald Ford, and the Suburban Purchasing Cooperative um it's contract number 206 with the state um for the two escapes uh for the driver's ed vehicle at the high school. As you can see, we had three respondents in there. Um they're all very closely uh quoted, if you will. The highest one being 61,2 720 and the lowest being 59,778. And again, this will be for approval coming up on the May 19th board of education meeting. So that's in there as well. Dr. Angel, just for clarification, the 59,000 is that that's for two vehicles, correct? That's for two vehicles, correct? Okay. Thank you. The vehicles have we uh
012have we been using, Dr. Engel? There's five total right now. We've been primarily using four. Uh, one needs a little bit of servicing, but this would actually get our especially for the summertime because a lot of a lot of the kiddos are taking drivers out during the summer and they need the time for behind the wheel. So, this would help catch us back up. Okay, great. Thank you. Uh, next we have 53, which is the Johnson Elementary preschool playground. And a little bit of the background about this. In August 2024, the Jumpstart head home visiting program moved to Johnson Elementary School. Currently, Johnson lacks a suitable outdoor play area for infants and toddlers. The plan is to build a fence playground with age appropriate equipment and pour inplace surface for the children in the jump
013start program. All East Aurora elementary schools have equipment have outdoor play areas tailored to their students and adding one more at Johnson supports a broader goal of creating a welcoming environment for the school, the program, and the community. the prevention uh initiative grant, which is a PI grant for preschool, will fully fund the project with the cost capped at $127,000. Um we're looking to have this done during the summer, so I wanted to make sure that we brought it up today. So once again, we could bring it forward at the May 19th board meeting. And once again, this would be all grant funded through the preschool initiative grant there. Any questions from the board about that at all? No. Okay. Thank you. The next one when we look at 5A4 is a coward kitchen update.
014Um, every year we have a uh health life safety inspection. Um, and this last year, um, they cited the coward consumer science rooms for inappropriate ventilation due to outdated and non-functioning hood vents. To address this violation and align with the district's 5-year capital improvement plan, we propose replacing the ventilation hoods over the upcoming summer break. The district is also reviewing all middle school consumer science rooms for potential upgrades and completing the coward update now would resolve the issue and help reduce future costs. The cost for this update would be $57,910 and once again it would be done over summer break and this would allow us to keep that great relationship we have with the regional office of education as well as the Aurora Fire Department. We've really developed a good working relationship with them as
015we've gone out to do our 5-year self uh health life safety audits and this would help us continue with that as this is something that was recommended during that audit time. Any questions from any of the board about that? Thank you. Uh next we have this one is actually up for a motion to approve. We have 5A5 which is a motion to approve the purchase of Lenovo DE 6000H network storage device from CQIT Networks in the amount of 52 75. And for a little bit more information about what we're looking at there with the network storage, I'm going to have Mr. Andy Allen come up and speak to that directly. Good evening. Thank you, Dr. Hson. Um, what this is is we currently have all our buildings on an island as far as our video
016surveillance system. Um, some of those buildings we still have servers and equipment. They're back to 2017 when it was first put in. There's I think five left and two of those buildings have been upgraded to equipment that's actually six years old because I had some that we reused. We recently have moved to a central management server through some other upgrades I was able to do and we have all them on one site which gives us allows allows us to do all the settings, make everything the same, give permissions, access, everything is centrally controlled. I don't have to manage 20 other devices around the district and try to keep them maintained and updated. The last part is a video storage server. This is a large large device. It's got almost a ped or half a pabyte
017of data storage that we can actually put on site in one place. Pull everything back back except the high school at this point. But it is still expandable. So I can do that also uh in the future coming up. So that is the goal of this to try to centralize operationally better manage things, control all that piece. That's that's what we're uh going for tonight. And uh tariffs are throwing this really hard to do, hard to get quotes and get effective timelines and all that. So that's why we're trying to come forward tonight and get this done on this year's money that I still have and can spend on this. So any questions I can answer? Okay. Thank you. Okay. So motion to approve the purchase of the Level OD 6000H network storage device from
018Cubit Networks and the amount of $52,75. So move second. Secretary call the roll. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Rhyno. Yes. Yes. Yes. Thank you. And next we have 5A6. Um, which we've saved the best part of the superintendent's communication for last because we would like to recognize a couple of our outgoing board members for their years of service. Um, so I've got some prepared remarks I would like to share and after I share um in regards to each board member, we'll pause and see if the board would like to recognize them as well. I wanted to take a few moments to express my heart heart heartfelt gratitude to our two outgoing board members, Mr. Bruce Schubert and Miss Theodia Gillespie for their exceptional service to East Aurora District 131. It has truly been a pleasure to
019collaborate with both of you since my return to the district. Their dedication and leadership and commitment to our schools have not only shaped our community, but also have inspired me and my colleagues. As we recognize their contributions today, I am reminded of the positive impact they have made and the legacy they leave behind for our students and families. First, I'd like to talk a little bit about Miss Leody Gillespie and how his how she has exemplified unwavering dedication to the Aurora community since taking her seat on the East Aurora School Board in September of 2024. Her commitment to serving the community spans many years, highlighted by her impactful 31-year tenure as the president and CEO of the Quag County Urban League. Throughout her career, Theodia has been a passionate advocate for social justice and equality,
020making a significant difference in the lives of countless individuals through her work in job training, education, housing, and healthcare. Her leadership not only uplifts those in need, but also inspires others to engage actively in community service, making her a cherished asset to East Aurora and the surrounding regions. Miss Gillespie, thank you so much for your time of service. I truly appreciate it. And with that, I'll pause and see if the board would like to have any statements regarding your your time of service with us. Thank you. I'll just jump in and say, you know, I'd like to thank you for your service on the board and the service to the community. I know that you've been an advocate for all of our students and um you have done a great job serving this community and
021I know you'll still be very actively involved. you know, Easter Aurora is in your heart, even though you know, you weren't a Tomcat, but you we have adopted you as a tom cat because because you're somebody who's always been around and has always advocated for East Dura. So, thank you. Thank you. And I I just want to say something uh short and sweet. Um I I met you when you were attending the meetings and you've been attending for a long time, so you're interested. You're vested in the community. Thank you for your service. Thank you for being here. Um, you know, diversity means a lot to me as well. So, I hope to continue along and doing that work on you, you know, from you. Absolutely. Okay. I would like to add to Athena and
022I have been friends for a long time and we may uh she's just really a service servant to the community and really uh always trying to do what's right for the kids, students, parents, and teachers. So, thank you. Um I just want to say thank you to Fior for stepping up when the opportunity um when Mr. Barrow left. Um so thank you for the knowledge that you bring and thank you for um serving our community and our district. Thank you. Okay. And next, uh Mr. Bruce Schubert has ma has made a remarkable impact on East School Board during his four two four-year terms, beginning his dedicated service in April of 2017 as a chair of the buildings and grounds committee. He has played a pivotal role in ensuring our school facilities are safe, functional, and
023welcoming for all students and staff. Even after his own children concluded their elementary and secondary education, Bruce has demonstrated a remarkable commitment to serving the community through his volunteer work on the board. His willingness to continue contributing driven solely by a passion for enhancing the educational experience for future generations exemplifies his deep rooted dedication to the Easter community. Bruce's legacy of service will undoubtedly leave a lasting positive impact on our schools and students for years to come. Mr. Schubert, thank you once again for your eight years of service. We truly appreciate it. And with that, I'll pause and see if the board would like to um have a couple statements as well. Thank you. Yeah. Thank you. Start out again, Bruce. We've been friends for a long time, but I have always enjoyed you on
024buildings and grounds. You were always the person who could find the find the details and ask the tough questions. You came into the district when we had some lead issues and some of bestest issues and you took all of your wealth of knowledge and you helped the school district. You've always been an advocate to our community and um you know long before you were even sat on the board and um we'll always be be good friends. So, thank you. I'm really gonna miss your service. Thank you. So, thank you very much. Appreciate that, Bruce. You know, I've sat here for now, six years now alongside of you. I've learned a lot from you. Um, your eight years of dedication to the school board have left a meaning meaningful mark on the district and I personally,
025like I said, learned so much from you. Um, from your thoughtful perspectives and steady leadership, uh, your commitment to doing what's best for students and families has always shine through. Um, and you will be missed on the board. Thanks. Thank you. I'd like to thank Bruce, too. Um, you know, sometimes in our closed sessions, we have uh we agree to disagree and it's not always super pretty and sweet, but Bruce would always kind of keep us even keen back to like, okay, we just got to move on and get this behind us. So, I really appreciate everything you've done for school district. Extra appreciate that. Uh, Bruce, thank you again for your service. Um I know I've known you even before I was um a school board member but out in the community and definitely
026communicating with you um on asking those hard difficult questions that sometimes need to be asked. Um so thank you for that um point of view as a parent but also as a community leader. Thank you. Thanks so thank you. And I just want to say Bruce um thank you so much for your service um your professionalism, your um calm temperament and creating an environment that is really good for uh having a dialogue about some crucial issues that need to be addressed and as you as was indicated I have been coming to board members forever as long as I've been in Aurora because I believe if you want to have impact you have to be engaged and engaged is not just being a board member but also being that advocate and you've been that advocate for
027our for our children in this district as well as the staff. So, thank you so much for the service and um we'll be around. This is not goodbye. This is we'll see you later. Yes, exactly. Thank you. Thank you. And I combined Theodia's and Bruce's together. So, I know I've been here for almost two months and obviously I know Theodia from way back. you know, she's always done an amazing job in the community in the east side of Quark County Urban League and Bruce, you know, um I've always kept up with what's going on with the district. Now, obviously the Easter is amazing, beautiful, more beautiful than I was here when I was at Easter in 2015 and before, but all these um from the HVAC systems from a wall and having no HVAC and
028just sweating in there, too. Now, these kids, they don't have to deal with those problems. So, now they can focus more on the books and they're more comfortable learning. So, thank you for everything you've done and this is not a goodbye. Hopefully, we'll see you every board meeting and even in the community. So, thank you guys both. Thanks. Thank you members of the board for the contribution. I'd like to pause real quick. We have a couple um kind of just a small token of our appreciation for everything for TheOD and Bruce with what they've done. Um and it's a puzzle and it says an essential piece of history and success in EA. I'd like to pause for a minute and hand these to Bruce and the audience and thank them for their service and then
029we can take a picture as a board if we could. What's going to be our best way to get a picture with the trophies front and center with the Sure. Thank you. Yeah. Well, there you go. And that concludes the superintendent report and we'll move down to um action ite or item six on the agenda this evening. Okay. So, motion to approve the consent agenda as listed. So, move second. Any questions? Second. Secretary call the role. Schubert. Yes. Squentes. Yes. Gillespie. Yes. L. Yes. Olivas. Yes. Moreno? Yes. Johnson? Yes. Okay. So, on to curriculum and programs with Mr. Slantes. Good evening everyone. Um, the curriculum and programs committee met on Monday, April 21st here at the administrative center. We did have two schools that presented their school improvement plans. The first one was Allen Elementary
030presented by principal Jonathan uh Jonathan Simpson and assistant principal Tanita Remy and Sagario Wing. Some of the 2023 2024 summary included 48% of students met or exceeded growth in reading, 56% of students met or exceeded growth in math. They also had an uh 18% increase for students scoring on or above grade level and I ready from fall to spring. And they also had an increase of access exits from 9 to 19. Goals for the current school year are to have a reduction in ODRs from up 10% from the previous school year, maintain an average rate of attendance of 95% and by winter 2024 60% of K to5 students will meet their expected growth in reading and math as measured by NWA Met. Moving on to Oak Park, um they also presented their school improvement plan
031which was presented by principal Annette McMahon and assistant principal Marisella Garcia. They also shared the 2023 2024 summary which included a reduction in ODRs. 47% of students met or exceeded expected growth in reading and math um and reading and 58% of students met or exceeded expected growth in math. Goals that they will be focusing on are 10% uh decrease in ODRs from the previous school year, maintain a daily average attendance of 95% or higher. Um, and by spring of 2025, 80% of preschool students will show improvement in both LLD10 rewriting W1 and by winter of 2024, 60% of students will meet or exceed their expected growth in reading and math as as measured by NWA math. Dr. Engel presented on the East Aurora High School new course proposal enrichment 2025, which introduces the skills for
032success courses for grades 9 through 11. Dr. Angelo also presented on the resource pilot updates. Uh the current resource Savas My World Mimundo will be reviewed and piloted for elementary and middle school uh social studies focusing on engagement, global issues, cultural inclusivity, and compliance with um Illinois standards. For high school math, the district plans to pilot two resources aligned with the college board framework and common core standards. Dr. um Engel also presented with Dr. Guzman um on the international newcomer center. The plan outlines a comprehensive program designed to support students who are new to the US and have a home language other than English or Spanish. We do have that as an action item for two teacher assistants and one facilitator to support the program to come. And there's more info on that um on
033all of this summary on the minutes. Miss Martinez then presented on the school uh on the student planners for 2025. The planners will be for students grades 5th through 12th for the upcoming school year and that total cost uh will be 24,896 and we do have a mo an action item on that as well. Luis Gonzalez also presented on the Scholastic summer kids books. The proposal aims to present summer learning loss by providing high interest fiction and non-fiction books in both English and Spanish to K4 students at dual language comprehension support school and English books to fifth grade students. The cost of that is $42,63018 funded by title one. Um, we uh, let's see, Miss Martinez then presented on the learning forward academy for administrators. It will be a six-day on-site professional development program for
034administrators in the district and that cost is 50,900 funded by a grant as well. And we have an action item on that as well. Rosary Horn then presented on the Jumpstart summer recruitment. Um, events will be held in parks throughout the district to enroll new families in the Jumpstart program which serves children from prenatal to age three. and the cost of the program will be covered by the prevention initiative grant. Um Dr. Engel then um spoke about the EA uh the East High School crest donation. Um and that's a a donation that will go to the high school soccer team room and then we also reviewed the attendance and enrollment report. Um so now I'll move over to the action items unless anybody has any questions. All right. 7.B.1 motion to approve two teacher assistants
035and one facilitator to support the international newcomer center. So move second secretary call the role. Schubert. Yes. Gillespie. Yes. Johnson. Yes. Moreno. Yes. Olivas. Yes. Quentes. Yes. Yes. All right. Next action item 7B.2. Motion to approve the purchase of student planners for the 2025 2026 school year from Vision Student Planners in the amount of 24,896. So move second. Okay. Any any questions? Secretary call the roll. Gillespie. Yes. Squentes. Yes. Johnson. Yes. Olivas. Yes. Vos. Yes. Schubert. Yes. Moreno. Yes. Right. 7B.3 motion to approve the learning forward academy proposal for administrators in the amount of 50,900. So move second secretary call the role. Squentes. Yes. Gillespie. Yes. Olivas. Yes. Loft. Yes. Moreno. Yes. Johnson. Yes. Schubert. Yes. And last action item 7B.4. Motion to approve the donation of a vinyl three-foot crest for the East High
036School program soccer program. Some move. Second. You guys are sleeping tonight here. Come on. Okay. Secretary, call the role. Gillespie. Yes. L. Yes. Johnson. Yes. Schubert. Yes. Suentes. Moreno. Yes. Olivas. Yes. Our next meeting is scheduled for Monday, May 19th here at the school service center at 6 PM. And that concludes my report this. So on to this. Oh, okay. Sure. Yeah, if you don't mind. I I just like to make we kind of moved rather quickly there. I just wanted to make a few comments. Um, now that I'm exiting off the board after eight years of service here, um, there's a just a couple things I want to say. I'm not going to get into a big dissertation here tonight. Um but um it has truly been an honor to serve in this role
037um on the East Ro School Board for eight years. Um my journey started back in 2020 2004 when my wife and I moved to the east side. We lived by Wanzi Valley High School and I remember when we moved to this side, I remember a neighbor saying, "Why are you moving to the east side of Aurora?" Because at that time there was a lot of crime. Uh the schools were facing multi-million dollar deficits. Um academic achievement wasn't where we had all wanted it to be. And um I we were just starting family. And I thought to myself, I questioned, you know, was that the right move? And we really loved the east side of Aurora um and and and lots of things about it. And so we we continued our move. And I told myself
038at that time that I would get involved. I wouldn't, you know, stand behind the living room curtains and complain that I would actually try and make a difference. And what I what I have found and what I learned over all these years is that the school districts in any community are really one of the primary bloodlines that feed the health and ills of any community. And so if the schools are strong and healthy, that usually is reflective of the overall community. And so I thought I'm gonna I'm gonna, you know, get blisters on my feet and run just like these two candidates probably did as you ran for your first time knocking on doors and dropping off literature to get a seat here to try and make that change. And so it it's really been
039an honor to see all the change from 04. I've been through six superintendent in terms of the very first one I met with which was Dr. Rodakovich um to you, Dr. Halverson. Um, so, um, I've met with them, I've interacted with them over the years, and it's it's truly been a pleasure. Um, being the chair of BNG all these years, I've seen a lot of change, hundreds of millions of dollars invested into the facilities here at East Aurora. Um, and what we're sitting in now is reflective of the future of East Aurora. Um, and I I I challenge the new board members to keep that going. um and really put focus on that career center which you know college is an important route for a lot of people but so are the trades and so
040that needs to continue to be a primary focus of um the board of education. Um and as for the future Dr. Halverson I wish you the best of luck. Um I've again I've been involved with many interviews of superintendent over the years and you are just outstanding. I mean really outstanding. So, I wish you I wish you the best really all the best in your your leadership here uh and collaboration with the new board of education. Um and just, you know, just some words of wisdom to our new board members. I I really wish you the best of luck. Um what you're going to learn in your very first board member training is they're going to tell you about staying up in the balcony and not getting on the dance floor too much. That's really
041good advice. So, kind of keep that because it's hard when you run for the board of education. you're usually a doer and you want to get things done and be on that dance floor and get it done, but it takes some times to get legs under you. So, I I wish you the best and always you can reach out to me anytime. I'd be glad to help you as along your journey um here at East Aurora. And then, um finally, um just keep the mission of the district as your guiding light. All the decisions that I've ever made here, I've always put the mission of the district first. And as long as my what I believe are the decisions based on that mission, then all is good, right? So, um, best of luck. And just
042a thank you to the Easter community, everybody in this room. I'm going to miss all of you um and working with you to lift up the Easter community and um I'm really going to miss that. Uh, and um, uh, really to three people. I gota I I got to thank Miss Johnson. Um over the years I've been a really what people have maybe viewed as a staunch supporter and there's a lot of reason for that. There's a lot of reason for that. Um if you look at the finances where we are as a school district, a lot of what we do here could not happen without that and she has brought really uh true professionalism and expertise into that area that was sorely needed here at Easter Aurora. So, um it has been a pleasure
043uh to work with Miss Johnson over all these years uh and this board of education and the various board members I've worked with over the year, but there's two people I really want to thank and that is my wife and my daughter who couldn't be here today. But I want to thank them for borrowing me uh to the district all these years um because it is a big investment um in time and energy because not only when you're here, it's your mind is always thinking about it, right? So, um there's a lot of time invested in each drawer, but it's all good, you know. So, it's been a pleasure serving all of you. Um like Miss John, um Miss Gillespie said, we're not saying goodbye. We're just, you know, we're moving on. And so, so
044best wishes to everybody. So, thank you. Thank you. So, uh, on to the certification of candidates. That is onto Mrs. Morales to help us out here. Yep. All right. So, based on the information received from the Cane County Clerk's Office, the Board of Education, School District 131 finds that as a result of the election held on April 1, 2025, the following candidates were elected to their respective office as members of the Board of Education of School District 131 to serve four years. Annette Johnson, 1050 Northfield Drive. Myra Reyes, 21 South Smith Street. and Vana Valencia, 30 South Stalp Avenue. Okay. So, on to the oath of office now. So, and at this time, I'd like to ask Myra and Vana and Miss Johnson to come forward to the podium where we'll administer the oath of
045office. It's a long one. So, I will take a pause and and when I take the pause, you can affirm um how you feel. So I affirm that I will faithfully discharge the duties of the office of member of the board of education of East Aurora School District 131 in in accordance with the Constitution of the United States, the Constitution of the State of Illinois, and the laws of the state of Illinois to the best of my ability. I confirm I shall respect taxpayer interest by serving as a faithful protector of the school district's assets. Yes, I do. Yes. Okay. I shall encourage and respect the free expression of opinions by my fellow board members and others who seek a hearing before the board while respecting the privacy of students and employees. Yes. Yes, sir.
046I shall recognize that a board member has no legal authority as an individual and that decisions can be made only by a majority vote at a public board meeting. Yes, sir. Understand? Mhm. I shall abide by majority decisions of the board while retaining the right to seek changes in such decisions through ethical and constructive channels. As part of the board of education, I shall accept the responsibility of my role in the equitable and quality education of every student in the school district. I shall foster with the board extensive participation of the community, formulate goals, define outcomes, and set the course of East Aurora School District 131. Yes, sir. I shall assist in establishing a structure and environment designed to ensure all students have the opportunity to attain their maximum potential through a sound organizational framework.
047I shall strive to ensure a continuous assessment of student achievement and all conditions affecting the education of our children in compliance with state law. I shall serve as education's key advocate on behalf of students and our community school or schools to advance the vision for East Aurora School District 131. And I shall strive to work together together with a district superintendent to lead the school district toward fulfilling the vision the board has created fostering excellence for every student in the areas of academic skills, knowledge, citizenship, and personal development. Welcome. Thank you. You can take your seat. Who can take your seat? Yes. always the sad part of the meeting. I think we have to have Mosowski join us, right? Oh, Theodia, would you come and join us for one more minute here? Okay. So in
048as much as there is no further business to come before this current board I motion that we adjourn sin and dive second. Secretary call the role. Lier yes. Schubert Olivas. Yes. Johnson. Yes. Moreno. Yes. Suentes. Yes. Gillespie. Yes. Here you go. In a moment, I will ask for nominations for the position of board president. I will ask the recording secretary to take note of the name or names after and after hearing all nominations, starting with the first name on her list, I will have the recording secretary poll each board member who will vote yes or no regarding that candidate. If the candidate receives four yes votes, I will hand over the gavl to that person as he or she will be our board president. If the first candidate does not receive four yes votes, the
049recording secretary will pull the members again asking for a yes or no vote for the second candidate and so on as applicable. The new board president will then take nominations in a similar fashion for the position of vice president and then secretary. Roll call. I would like to call part two of the meeting to order. Secretary, call the role. Fuentes here. Moreno here. Olivas here. Reyes here. Valencia here. Johnson here. L here. Next we will move down to uh action item 12c election of officers. I would as president prom I would like to entertain nominations for the office of board president. I would like to nominate myself. Okay. And I would uh like to uh nominate myself. And I actually had a uh couple of um couple of comments as to nominating myself and why
050I did that because that's kind of changing the script as to what what we usually do. So, um, so tonight, you know, I have definitely, um, we've had a lot of change in the last, uh, couple of years and but the the biggest change I think has been, you know, this last year and it's been a it's kind of a challenging year because we've had um, two very senior board members leave the board um, and then we had to bring on new board members. Then we also ended up um you know uh our superintendent left so we had to conduct the search and you know we also had the board elections. So needless to say that has been a busy year. So anyways um we uh we've gone through that you know we've gone through
051an election process. We've actually, you know, got new people on the board and I'd like to um, you know, welcome them to the board tonight. But here's the thing about being the board president for for several years. The district has had some change, but history history is a good thing. History, you need to remember how you got here. And I think that, you know, for myself, I have been the person that is best suited to do that. We're definitely going to be facing harder financial times because we have uncertainty in the federal government and how things are going to be um how school districts get funded and you know certainly from a financial standpoint I have um I have done that I have proven that to the community. I also feel that um you know
052there's been you know many moving parts with regards to the um uh with the process and the way things have been going with the superintendent and um I'd like to support Dr. Helverson and that and I'd also like to continue um to work with the union and make sure because I do have most experiences when it comes to negotiations and I'd like to make sure that that continues and I'd like to make sure that we get a very equitable union contract for all and I I do feel that again you know I can make that happen because I have made that happen. Our teachers have come a long way. We've started in a district where teachers were the lowest paid in the district and um needless to say, you know, we've come the lowest paid
053actually in the entire western suburbs and we have come to everybody's earning decent wages here. There is still certainly more work to do. Um I continue to like to make that happen. But most important, I want to see it through because the way that negotiations best work is if we have have strong joint committees. And those joint committees need to be our students or our our staff members, our board, and um and our administration working together so everybody feels that they have a a voice at the table. and um at the end of the day that's that is how the district will function and um best so I'm going to continue to you know I just want to make sure and I also and I'm just going to say this tonight I do feel that
054um I want to make sure that the district continues to follow being equitable to all students and staff members and our career center gets built and it gets built with a a good budget. So anyway, so that's just my little twist on why I want to be the board president. So thank you. Thank you. Are there any other nominations? Hearing none, nominations for president are closed for the nomination of Mr. Juan Suentes. Secretary, call the role. Valencia. Yes. Sequentes, yes. Johnson, no. Olivas, yes. Lash, no. Reyes, yes. Moreno, no. Now that the new president is selected, I will hand the gavl over to the new president. Thank you. All right, we're going to continue on with the nominations for vice president. Do I have any nominations for vice president? I'll nominate Annette Johnson. I would
055like to nominate myself. All right. Do we have any more nominations for vice president? All right. With that, nominations are closed for vice president. Madame uh secretary, can you please call the role for the first um nomination, which is a Annette Johnson. Reyes? No. Lashe, yes. Johnson, yes. Valencia, no. No. Moreno. Yes. Olivas. No. [Music] All right. Now, moving on to the next nomination for secretary. Do I have any nominations for secretary? Oh, yeah. The other candidate. Oh, we have to vote. Yes. for the second candidate for the second. Yeah. Oh, so for the nomination of so as vice president, we stepped up. Oh, okay. Okay. Understood. All right. So, moving on to the second nomination which is so Olivas for vice president. Can we call roll please? La. L. Yes. Reyes. Yes. Yes. Johnson.
056No. Moreno, no. Seuentes, yes. Valencia, yes. Okay, now we can move on to the secretary nominations. Do we have any nominations for secretary? I would like to nominate John Labsi. Any other nominations for secretary? Well, I would like to know what the exact job duties are of the secretary because I don't really know. Bruce, Bruce, Bruce, could you come to the podium? No. Um, do you accept the nomination? Think about it. Does anybody else want to be secretary? Any other nominations for secretary? Yeah. [Music] And that do you want to do it? No. No, that's okay. Okay. Well, I guess so then. I guess I'll do it. Okay. At this point, nominations are closed for secretary. Secretary, call the role, please. Yes or no? He's the only nominee. He's the only nominee. So we don't
057have to you have to Okay. Valencia. Valencia. Yes. Moreno. Yes. Olivas. Yes. Reyes. Yes. Johnson. Yes. L. Yes. All right. Moving on to the next agenda item. D. Motion to read the calendar of regular meeting dates and times for the 2024 2025 school year. It doesn't look like we have the fall dates on here, shouldn't we? Or do we not have to worry about that? Just for we're just reading this year's. So this year ends July 1st then. Yeah. This is if there were any emergency days, we have to readapt every year with Isby there through the Iowa system. So that's what this is. Got it. Okay. So move second. Secretary call the role please. Reyes, yes. Valencia, yes. Johnson, yes. L, yes. Sequentes, yes. Olivas, yes. Moreno, yes. All right. Uh, next we are
058moving on to seven or 12.8, assignment of board members to board committees and establishment of committee meeting dates and times. Um for the finance um I'm going to assign um Annette as the chair with myself and u Myra and as the alternate we'll have Vana on that committee for building and grounds. Um Jud, I was going to have you as the chair for that committee along with myself and Brian and Annette as the alternate. And then for curriculum, Saul, I was going to have you as the chair for curriculum, please. And Vana and Myra along uh as well on that committee. And the alternate for that committee will be Jud. Do we have um the second public comments or questions at this point? No. All right. So, motion to adjurnn. So moved. Second. Secretary, call
059the role. Secretary, call the role. Valencia, yes. La, yes. Johnson, yes. Reyes, yes. Moreno, yes. Sephuentes, yes. Olivas, yes. Sorry.