0013rd 2025 to orders secretary Colbert here Gillespie here Johnson here here Olivas here L yes here please stand for the Pledge of Allegiance I pledge allegiance United States of America repblic stands naivy and jusice for all let see okay so on to public comments so you would have had to have signed up before 7 to speak we ask that you respect the three minute time limit and ask that you respect the confidentiality of our students and staff please keep your comments appropriate Michael Curley before we get started I want to make sure everybody knows what's coming to him this packet of information includes d131 overall Navy contract which was signed in April of 2014 uh my d130 with on welcome letter um which was in 2021 um email campus uh direct I'm sorry email campus
002and District leadership about my contract which is dated 10:10 of 24 email to um to leadership about the tone and tenor of my um of my emails that I went ahead and sent to leadership so I I think you'll have an opportunity to see um what kind of a what kind of Communicator I am so I just want to make sure you had all that before we got started last time I spoke unfortunately I didn't have enough time to get all that stuff out to you so thank you very much so I guess I'll get started u President Johnson yes yes okay yes good evening President Johnson and d131 School Board I'm here tonight to follow up on my reinstatement request and Community concerns from our meeting on the 13th of 2025 I wish to
003thank my family d131 community members Mrs uh Jinger Ingram Mr um Jerry Paulson United States Army retired and his wife Samantha who were in the audience I would like to express my gratitude to Miss Denise Crosby for putting my story in print her article has been shared across social media and there has been a mountain of support and questions why did this happen to me first I'd like to clarify my relationship with d131 I was an employee of D d131 not a shared resource with the Navy it was the school board who welcomed me in 2021 it was a school board who dismissed me in December that led to my dismissal which means um which means it seems to be a major departure from the news article reporting uh School article reporting emphasizing his serious
004and other concerns over the last year this morning I spoke directly with Mr J Jason rampa my area manager at Great Lakes who verbalized support for my efforts he confirmed the role of the United States Navy plays in jrtc programs they train and certify instructors and they audit units they do not make recommendations on hiring or retention part of that audit process is confirming that all instructors have a written Employment contract that program's contract is miip Packet signed in 2014 it outlines the Navy's what the Navy provides the program and its instructors previously until my start every instructor in my position received an individual contract even today the other instructors at East or high school all have Union contracts why don't why it wasn't one given to me in your packet you will find an
005email expressing my concern for the upcoming inspection the audit component which was in De I'm sorry no uh November of 2024 and for my desire for a contract I believe many of the recipients of that email is in are in this room tonight no one from that leadership team replied to my email effective leaders advocate for others and respond to their followers concerns always doing the right thing initiating collaborative and productive and some sometimes difficult conversations that is what I do why wasn't it afforded to me I even surpri I even supplied a copy in of the verbiage to help leadership compose a contract which I was promised by July of 2024 I believe a document was never going to be completed how what I would like to know who said do not create a
006contract to be presented to President Johnson and the board for review and approval why am I different why am I different from previous instructors is my gender is of my race my ethnicity my age my disability status there must be an answer it's owed to all of us when I was dismissed for the first time in my life I had to file for unemployment d131 contested my claim I had a 30 minute hearing and a call with an objective thirdparty official the official asked me a series of questions including whether d131 had done anything short of dismissal had I done done anything short from I'm sorry dismissal such was given was I given a written warning all of my answers were no he asked me why not and I didn't have an answer I wanted
007to share with you the feedback I got from the state of Illinois their determination was in my favor and I quote the claimant was discharged because he borrowed his school access Bob to a student to retrieve a flag they forgot for a parade they were short-handed and three people were in charge of almost 400 cadets for for a parade since the claimant action which resulted in his discharge was not deliberate or willful the state of Illinois has heard the facts and responded in my favor I have believed this I believe the school board and the community deserves an answer the school board has the elected power to make decisions for d131 I'm requesting that the school board vote to reinstate me and so I can get back onto campus during these trying times we have
008four months left of school and given recent governmental shifts there is fear in this community um your time was up you know I'm sorry ma'am I have one more sentence I'm sorry um having a consistent trusted and supportive adult present on campus in the everyday lives of students is more important than ever thank you very much I appreciate your [Applause] time all righty on to Communications from the superintendent Dr Nell good evening everyone we will begin uh with our student board member hi our student board member report so I will yield the floor to you welcome good evening board members as Journey comes to an end I am honored to share the accomplishments and events that have shaped our school community over the past month this has been a time of growth guidance and achievement
009to begin our freshman recently had the opportunity to participate in the Freshman night on January 29th this is event provided them with valuable information on earning credits staying involved and finding support as they navigate High School it is reassuring to know that our newest Tomcats have moments like these to receive guidance and inspiration looking the head students will have the opportunity to explore their college future college options through five upcoming field trips this spring their first visit will be the University of Illinois orbana champagne on February 26 these trips allow students and experience first uh experience college life firsthand helping them visualize their future as they walk through campuses interact with students and immerse themselves in the environment in terms of Athletics I want to acknowledge the hard work and dedication of our winter sports
010teams as they close up their Seasons girls wrestling competed in sectionals on January 31st and made history by winning confer reference for the third year in a row as well our chess team had an impressive season placing fourth at the upstate eth conference and second at the glenbert East tournament in November on February 1st they competed in one of the most competitive sectional tournaments demonstrating their perseverance through the season additionally on February 7th East will take on West Aurora in the highly anticipated cross town rivalry game this game continues to bring excitement unity and school pride to our community for my student shout out I would like to recognize Valerie figuro for her outstanding achievements Valerie is one of our top students maintaining a perfect GPA while taking 10 AP classes she has earned multiple
011Awards including AP scholar with honor the College Board National Hispanic um recognition program and the mayor's lapaz and Excellence award over the summer she completed a six week internship for Northwestern University in Chicago working 40 hours a week conducting research on the hlmv EC cell cell line which models lung capillaries through her analysis she discovered that the cell line contained both artery and vein cells proving it could not be used exclusively for cap modeling her achievements are a testament to the talent and dedication of Easter students as we move into February I want to extend my gratitude to our teachers students and staff and administrators for their uning support their dedication continues to shape Easter into a place of opportunity growth and success thank you for your time thank you so much that's so wonderful
012how they recognize their fellow classmates every every month that's great and you guys started that that's wonderful um uh we have a community relations report you're going to hear about uh the long awaited uh broadcast journalism so if you want to come on up and share with them what's to be expected with our logo which will come to the board so this will be a quick update on that um our resilience education center broadcast technology students are working hard at creating the first time cat news series and the past few weeks they've worked on a logo that will represent our e Tomcat Network station is what they're calling it and after looking at all the great designs uh one of the students named Carlos Lopez his artwork was chosen and he'll be joining us at
013the next board meeting to present it and get your uh board approval so we can't wait to share that with you so things are moving along so um and you should have seen all the other designs I mean it was hard to really pick through them right it was amazing they did such a good job so and we'll be able to use some of those other designs as well so and we have some more good news um our school district of course has a lot to be proud of there have been many special moments and recognitions featured this school year and the previous school year on CBS morning and evening news WGN NBC tundo ABC7 Univision The Beacon News Aurora patch good morning Aurora city of Aurora Community television and more and today I would
014like to share that again we are highlighted and at a national level the 20125 edweek leaders to learn from was just published today by education week a magazine that covers kindergarten through 12th grade education news and has over 1.6 million readers and Dr Jennifer norell was one of the eight leaders Nationwide to be chosen and recognized in the special edition as an Honore she's surprised that I'm mentioning this yes she specifically was recognized for her leadership in college and Workforce Readiness including the advanced cours workk that helps our students uh high schoolers succeed and it mentions at week mentions in the article that Dr nurel is a district leader that has shown persistence and creativity as she navigates the challenges facing schools in a rapidly changing world and one of the quotes I really like
015that Dr Nell show shared with uh Ed week she said they which is our students rise to the occasion over and over and over again when you have people who believe in them and people who remove barriers and put opportunities in front of them and that's what we do here in this District so to give you a little bit of the just one little um d uh some data since 2018 ether high school has doubled the number of AP courses as well as the number of students that participate and this has been accomplished without impacting the percentages of students earning scores of three four or five and in 2024 East High School had the largest number of AP Scholars so congratulations to Dr Nell and the rest of the staff leadership team and students that
016helped our district achieve this recognition if you want to read the articles you can visit edweek.org that's what I'd like to share [Applause] just one brief uh update for that um in addition um we wanted to announce that we were going to have our Black History Month celebration this year on Thursday February 27th um at East High and it will be from actually from 4 to 5:30 my apologies I gave leas of the wrong time so that should say from 4: to 5:30 p.m. and it is a student celebr celebration um we're really excited at having it right after school um we are also going to be busing any eighth graders that want to participate over to participate in the uh event which will be filled with opportunities for student performances history lessons um and
017professional artists as well as we will have uh food for our young people and really make it a very festive and music a very festive event for them and so we're so excited typically it's at night and we don't have have a lot of students that are able to participate and so this is our effort to try to boost the numbers that actually get to participate all while they're learning history and so this year's theme is um celebrating is for black history month for both East High's program as well as the district is celebrating Black History Month the history of black excellence and so we are excited about having this opportunity for our young people and then we will be transporting them on buses home so that they'll have a way to attend and still
018make it back to their home homes so that's a an update um and then last but not least under updates we have a countywide professional development day that we are participating in with all of our staff and that is upcoming on February 28th I do believe and um our Educators participate as well as the rest of King County Educators and DuPage County Educators so we have Educators that are going to be participating both um through both counties and going to professional development so it will be a great day because it'll really allow us to go out this year for the first time in quite a few years to be able to have some camaraderie and collaborate with our Educators in the entire Western suburban area so we're very excited about that opportunity and the agenda
019is forthcoming because we will also offer opportunities here in our district as well so more to come and um that concludes the superintendent report but at this time we have a very special recognition to do this evening it is Bittersweet although we are super excited for one of our beloved board members um who has had to step down to take on an even greater responsibility that is countywide um so we're going to just take a moment on the agenda to acknowledge um Mr Alex aroyo um our former board member who has um stepped down to accept a big responsibility on the C County Board and so we just want to Alex would you PR please stand and to the front we have something for [Applause] you okay yes so so we got a special award
020for you Alex and I have been through thick and thin on the board together and uh you know he obviously was the you know next to myself the oldest serving board member and he definitely served the district very well and you will be missed Alex I you know that you know but you'll always be my buddy Alex has always Alex has always been like my little brother you have to hold your award and and the award says it says Alex Royal EAS 131 Board of Education an essential piece of both history and success there you go okay we get closer come thank you and we're gonna pause and we're going to pause for a brief reception if anything about a personal privilege yes please um I never thought this day would come I um if
021it happened it was two years from now it happened very suddenly I thought at least another four weeks on the board and um it came really really quickly and I announced to the board last week two weeks ago three weeks ago now that this likely was my last meeting and it was my last meeting um so I did a lot of thinking who here seen the crown the TV Netflix we were talk about Duty the crown stays the same the duty stays the same same the fa is underground change in the past 10 years I have 12 different board members this the current six plus me seven and we've been thick and thin but the duties remain the same and as I told you all three weeks ago work with each other fight it out
022argue it out do personally if you have to have a beer have a coffee because number one our students our staff our constituents come first I'm gone in a few weeks someone else in that chair quentis in know in 10 years who knows who'll be sitting up here and that will probably still be here but um um remember we have a duty call me old Duty first to our students and staff our constituents but thank you thank you thank you all very much it was a pleasure yeah for our newest members for our oldest members and um I do miss it I watched the last meeting I just having a little thw still but um I I do miss this already but thank you all again I'll see you outside yeah all right yeah please
023join us outside a little bit of a bre okay we're going to take a a short intermission so that we can fellowship with Mr Ro Royo and say thank you for your years of service so e e e score 60% or higher on the subscale one number seven teacher Behavior expectations maintain a daily average attendance of 95% or more and that by May 2025 8 % of or more students will grow one or more levels on the crdp we also had a presentation a school Improvement plan by Hermes Elementary um and they also reviewed their summary for the prior school year along with goals and goals for the current school year are to have 65% of students who take the access while achieve proficiency level of 3.0 or above 95% uh students will receive one
024or less odr maintain a daily average attendance of 95% and by winter of 25 65% of K through five students will meet their expected growth goals in Reading as measured by nwea map Dr Jennifer vanen uh also presented on the EA magnet lottery for the 2025 2026 school year um Marissa Martinez also presented on the rec winter and spring catalog Dr angle presented on the light sale platform proposal the total cost is 65,800 which is funded through title one and she mentioned that they will offer over 10,000 books in English and Spanish along with literacy quizzes we do have this item as an action item to come here shortly Dr angle also presented on the K5 literacy pilot recommendation the elementary school pilot U committee recommended adopting hm M and ARA Laura for K5 English
025and Spanish language arts the curriculum committee um we also wanted to thank the curriculum committee that worked on that just uh for taking on that task and submitting the recommendation the proposed cost is 2,564 411 and this covers the students and teacher resources and professional development and we do have an action item on that to come here shortly Dr Guzman also presented on the World Language curricular resource proposal looking to update the Spanish textbooks at the high school the vendor options um that we are currently going to be testing are V uh Vista Higher Learning Wayside and Carnegie Mr ASA Gordon presented on the educational credential ba program with NIU the district proposes supporting 28 non-certified staff members and obtaining a Bachelor's of science or master of arts in special education the participants will earn
026a professional educator license and will be funded through the teacher vacancy Grant and the total cost of that is 596 775 we also reviewed the attendance and enrollment and um we can move on to the action items so first action item 7 point b.1 motion to approve the purchase of light sale reading from 311 literacy in the amount in the amount of 65,800 so move second any questions secretary call the rooll gpie yes Shubert yes johnon yes sees yes yes Olivas yes the second motion 7 point b.2 motion to approve the purchase of into reading and arura from hmh in the amount of 2, questions secretary call the rooll and I just have one quick question so is the this's a lot of money right and I'm sure we need it but as the uh
027we have this committee with the Dual language have they blessed this because it's just 2.5 million is a lot of money just want to make sure it's a good thing they need yep we were involved with language acquisition they are aware of it and have taken a look at it and are prepared to start collaborating to uh make it ready for next year and it's a six-year agreement so it's for six years oh okay okay thank you okay any other questions secretary goo L yes Schubert yes Olivas yes Johnson yes sentes yesie yes all right third motion 7 pointb point3 motion to approve the World Language pilot for Heritage and AP Spanish some move second any questions secretary Colo gespi yes L yes Johnson yes Schubert yes sentes yes Olivas yes last action item 7
028pointb point4 motion to approve the educational credential ba program partnership through Northern Illinois University for a projected total cost of 775 so move second any questions secretary coloroll Olivas yes sentes yes Schubert yes gaspie yes Johnson yes L yes all right our next meeting is scheduled for Tuesday February 18th here at the school service center at 6m and that concludes my report okay at the buildings and grounds Mr schuber uh we met this evening our next meeting will be March 3rd at 6: PM uh here at the administrative Center and there are no action items tonight okay motion to go into executive session for the purpose of discussing student discipline the appointment employment performance compensation and dismissal of a specific employee so moved secretary Colo sentes Schubert yes Olivas yes Johnson yes Gillespie yes L
029yes and we will have action e e for