001Johnson yes sentes here Olivas here Aro absent L here okay please stand for the Pledge of Allegiance I pledge allegiance FL the United States of America andice okay righty okay all righty so on to public comments so we would have had to have signed up before 7 o'clock to speak we ask that you respect the three minute time limit we ask that you keep the confidentiality of our students and staff confidential please um keep your comments appropriate and their had been some questions as to why the board doesn't um respond to public comments we just do not that is a guideline that we have always followed forever so anyway so um and that's how the other school boards do it as well so Christina Leon my name is Christina Leon I am here today as
002I was made aware by a fellow Gates's parent that principal Fatima vestos dragged a child across the pavement and injured his back she continues being the principal at Gates Fatima Vos failed to protect this child the district failed to protect this child by placing Fatima Vos in a position of power where she as an educator failed to provide a safety environment for a special needs student I am distraught as to how she is allowed to remain at gates with the child she perpetrated such abuse to my daughter attends Gates and is in the SLC program as a parent my daughter's safety is my highest concern as she is nonverbal and cannot advocate for herself since I was made aware of such incident I have removed my daughter from school by keeping her at home and
003I advise that any parent that does not feel their child is safe at Gates school to do the same I do not feel that my daughter is safe under Fatima V esteros and I am petitioning for her removal as she failed her commitment of 25 years of teaching she failed a special needs child and she failed the district by tarnishing the image of District 131 I hope my matter and voice is taken serious as I am deserving of a safe educational environment for my daughter and also all the special needs children at gates to learn in a safe environment thank you Stacy Foster hi well she basically you know stated the concern that I have as well um I yes my only question is going forward what's going to happen will you guys be able
004to ensure our kids safety I mean as parents I'm sure everyone understands that that's priority and just like Mrs Leon I have kept my child out of school because I am scared that this could happen again and maybe even be fatal so all I really want to know is what is going to happen going forward thank you you can move to my portion I'll address it later okay Communications from the superintendent good evening Board of Education and parents and community members um just uh the board again this is the board's business meeting and um School boards across the state um don't respond but I just do want to say to these two parents that spoke that our administrators will follow up with you if you just give us a moment this evening we can follow
005up with some of those questions because we did hold parent meetings last week but I know that the timing for the morning one was tough because it was a late start and I think we didn't think about that and so parents were trying to get here while they were dropping their kiddos off because it was a little late so if you since you're already here they can talk to you tonight so if you hang around I do not anticipate this will be long and we'll we'll get people to talk to you so thank you um okay so our first item is our student board member report and so we're going to at this time bring our student board member up for a report on East High School tonight good evening board members as December begins
006I am honored to share the accomplishments and events that have shaped our school community over the past month November was a month of growth service and unity to begin I would like to express my excitement in knowing that our school body continues to grow in size since the start of the school year we have gained over 200 new Tom Cats this large number has brought us classmates from around the world students from Syria Afghanistan Nigeria and various parts of Central and South America have enriched enriched our e our culture to support these new Tomcats our student ambassadors have been working terly and mentoring approximately 50 students these efforts have served as an invitation to our new students to adjust to their environment while feel feeling supported and connected in their transition to eora this past
007month the winter sports season has began basketball wrestling cheer and chess teams prepared with hard work and are ready to represent easo with dignity and determination our theater program also had a productive month after delivering three incredible performances of skeleton stories their creativity talents and dedication were boldly showcased moving on the National Honor Society celebrated the induction of 60 new members these Town cats were recognized for their achievements of leadership scholarship and service additionally our student athletic Society has decided to continue their committee service with elderly residents on early Saturday morning by breaking their leaves and shoveling snow in the coming months this past month the fastf application has become available for our seniors thankfully easo has remained loyal to their continued support for their seniors and families by hosting fast for night these sessions
008are helping ensure that every student is prepared and has received essential assistance with the financial aid process another highlight that cannot go without mention was the annual Tomahawk turkey trun the Citywide anticipated event took place on November 23rd where 1,70 participants came together to run and a walk a 5k race this incredible event raised more than $50,000 for the Aurora East Education Foundation and the a plus foundation for West AO which directly supports educational opportunities for for our city students beyond the impressive numbers the turkey trap brought our community together in a celebration of Health unity and school pride looking ahead December promises to be a month of Celebration and connection on December 13th the Spanish Honor Society is hosting a no Latina dance that will bring students together for an evening of culture Indulgence
009two days later the balas event will take place this tradition has honored our community with the involvement of several student organizations celebrating Christmas and winter break activities these events are a testament to the diversity and togetherness of easw as the semester draws to a close I want to express my gratitude to our teachers supporting staff and administrators for their unwavering commitment to our students your support is what makes Easter such a special special place to learn and grow thank you for your time than you okay I have District updates and I want to start off this evening with the help of our PR officer Marissa yanowski and giving some very very important MVP awards so um we have um five individuals that we would like to say thank you special thanks to um two of
010which I believe are here this evening and so I'm going to call them to the front as I talk about each of them uh independently so first representing as it should be our SRO our school resource officers who is a part of our partnership with auroral uh police department I have Officer Jason Wooley would you come down to the front and be recognized [Applause] as he's coming up I'll share we um had a a a a c a special circumstance um about a week and a half ago and it gave us an opportunity to just have a real reason to say thank you to our SRO in the district and so East High has two SRO um officer woley and officer um Mark kid and we have um two newer SRO that work with all
011of our middle schools and I believe cow herd is officer lamansky and um officer contras is both Simmons and Waldo and they could not be with us this evening but just let me take a moment to share this with the board and the community um this is probably one of the most difficult police assignments that exist in the nation um it is really hard because Educators teachers administrators parents students we live within the realm of education and our officers our first respons Founders in District they live within the world of law enforcement and to try to marry the two is often so challenging but our SRO are so good with us and they try to make sure that we understand exactly what it is that we need to do and how to engage and and
012operate with their department and so oftentimes in emergencies they have to calm us down because we really do take things a lot more serious than they do and so um but I know that they're used to running um the police run totally different than we do in education and I say that because that's the reality but our sro's really do a fabulous job in in balancing that act and working between the two and so I know I can speak on behalf of all of our school leaders and saying thank you thank you thank you for the work that they do and oftentimes in most districts it is a thankless job and so we just wanted to represent them and so thank you officer woley for being here you are our longest sitting SRO in the
013district um overall the newbies so thank you for bringing them on board and training them up this is year um six for you year six yes so we just want to say thank you tonight and if our board wants to take a picture with our officer thank [Applause] you there okay perfect yay thank you thank you so much thank [Music] you another thing as he's walking back is the relationship piece and that's why I should have written this down our our sro's really go above and beyond to build relationships with students so oftentimes they get lots of information that we don't get because they have taken the time to build relationships so again kudos to our team we are really blessed and fortunate to have such a great s team um and one other MVP
014award and so anytime there is a change in our school day on the Fly any time the weather's bad anytime um something happens natural disasters or uh local disasters or the lights go out or the plumbing is out we have to make immediate shifts and we always think oh my goodness it's our district administrators and you know it's our principles that have to carry the brunt of that and and that is not actually the reality I will tell you one person she doesn't know she's getting the MVP award tonight so I will call up to the um to the front glattus delucio our director of Transportation who is our MVP all the time oops sorry here you go she is the one who single-handedly no matter what we call glattus about she says it's okay
015I'll take care of it she juggles like multiple bus companies um hundreds of bus routes and she has done for years for us and so when we had to go through our fast dismissal the other day whenever we say we need the buses don't worry I'll contact the drivers she delivers 100% of the time and so we just want to take this opportunity to say thank you and kudos to you you and your department are really our MVPs truly and rock stars you never let us down so thank you so much surprise yay thank you thank you thank you always thank you's trying to steal her from us too okay one other announcement is that our staff holiday party which the board board of education is invited to don't forget is December 6th so it's
016Friday at 4:30 p.m. so Lisa should have given you the flyer for that but we just want to remind you of that we're looking forward to an opportunity to celebrate um and say thank you to our staff for a wonderful first semester what time again um 4:30 starts at 4:30 pm and where um it's at the Embassy embu Suites yes Embassy yep yep um okay so before we move on to the next item um the board votes I just want to speak to this um this particular action item um before the vote and and I want to say that um we met internally in the district and thought long and hard on the partnership for um our owner's representative position our uh General construction kind of management uh position for what we hope to be
017is the the district's um one of the huge proud points Pride points of Pride for um the next two years and that will be the construction um and creation of the district's Career and Technical Center um it has been a journey that is we've been on for probably at least the last three years in the planning phases and we want to make sure that this um comes to fruition um timely most importantly but certainly having everything that we need and so to do that we began to look at several um companies that could provide these services but I will tell you the company that we're recommending this evening has been in business between 40 and 50 years I believe and not only that but the experience and the projects um that they bring um to
018the table um is going to serve as invaluable to us they have about 20 projects that we were able to discuss that are Aviation mechanics project and as you know our um Career Tech Center will have one of the only will be one of the only public schools that has an aviation mechanics program um in the state and so their expertise at doing this not only in building schools with stem labs and those projects but they've actually done many projects with Midway Airport expansion O'Hare Airport expansion they've done the aviation mechanic Center at Midway for American Airlines for United Airlines so we know when we can't answer those questions be because we don't have that as an expertise this company would we also celebrate the fact that they have done many other projects for the
019Chicago Department of Aviation they also have been involved in 20 plus projects that we could see most recently for healthc care triage and Health Labs as we begin to build facilities for our students to earn their uh nursing license their LPN credentials and so they built Labs consistently for for University of Illinois Chicago Rush Copley in Chicago and the Chicago Allied Health uh centers we have seen that they've done projects for Sim lab simulator labs and CAD lab projects I've just described our entire career tech center and so having had the experience to know not just what the law says and the school code says about where and when to put lab stations and how far apart to put lab stations but actually knowing what will work best in the functionality on the outside to
020make sure that what the board builds is for years to come what is needed and what is going to be um best for our programming and our students to maximize those resources and so I just wanted to say that publicly um as we have looked to smaller entities to be able to partner with us and be an owners's rep and we have some a future project next summer that we are going to be bringing to you at the next uh b& meeting to be able to um ask for a partnership of an owner's rep for that but this is a special project that really required some expertise so um Madame President without any further Ado item C okay motion to approve the construction managment agreement with fa passion for the East aora Career Technical Center
021I thought we're pulling this item okay I thought you make sure thought we're pulling not pulling it now so we're not pulling it now well it's going forward did you guys not speak no no I did talk to no part our conversation today I just thought pulling it yeah no I talked to I talked to you but I didn't know you talk separ I talked to I called her and I told her I asked her speak to speak to that tonight okay and did you question my answer was my question was satisfactory answer you didn't we can we can move forward yeah I just didn't know I talked to you and I talked to her but I know you two had talked to each other before you talked to me you know because when she
022told me all the reasons behind it I thought okay well probably not a bad idea I have no objection just just that I feel that there's a motion on the table this proposals made months ago the boarders made of this where this months ago we had a chance to get a minority owned business a woman own business but I did not know her qualifications at the time um it just caught me off guard that's all and um she supp to give a presentation tonight then we cancel tonight's meeting now she's on next month's committee agenda but then uh now we're voting on someone else tonight I was just curious that's all my concerns got it no yeah no I I called Anette back so that she I closed the loop on our conversation it just
023yeah just it all happened at once you guys all got your questions answered we did talk you got your questions answered in mostly mostly but it just it just C me off guard that this was months ago presentation oh next month next month next month then next month is here and we canceled the meeting so I was next month and I were picking another company tonight that's that's all my concern was and you know I just feel bad that the top her top two Engineers are East High grants that want to work on this project and that were not being picked tonight but I have no problems forward you didn't answer my questions but okay maybe we should hold it I mean sounds like you got a legitimate I mean did we go with RFQ
024or what did we do for this no so you want me to answer that so no this is for services so what we do is what we've always done for services which is to analyze and look at different companies and to see what their proposals can provide level of expertise what their experience is and so um we did look not just at the company that Mr Royo is speaking of but we did look at several other companies as a group inside and then called them to have a conversation of specifically about their past projects that connect to this project so that we know that going into this they have the expertise and so we I did talk to Mr Royo about another project that would be more aligned to that expertise of that company that
025um that we looked at so that's what we talked about earlier he just did not know that I followed up with Miss Johnson I mean I think Professional Services I know it's a car out but I do think we should bid it out you know just put it out and you know out there for for the whole public to do it that's my opinion what there other any other companies available uh that are qualified to bid on this project have they been reviewed yep so the bidding so and again I can look to the attorney but typically like for architect services for those Services it's an RFQ so it's not a I understand Services yeah who who is best qualified and plus Who falls in love with the state state standards but um so yes
026because of that because of the nature of the services as I said Dr earlier like this Company's top two engineer is EAS grats and I feel bad like we're telling EAS kids go out there and be the best person you can you're not welcome here at East aora don't apply here you know that's not the message that's being sent though Mr or that's but what we're saying is there was a very aggressive I'm speaking a very aggressive timeline with this we want to keep things you know there's a lot of things that have to happen to make this this project work in the time frame that the board put forward to the administration we're not saying that this company cannot be entertained for future projects at the district there's always projects at East Aurora but
027this particular project is on it is on their tracks already so if you recall take a step back this puts the whole schedule of the career center back so if the board is okay with that then that's fine but it that's a big step and how many months ago did I send you this project this this contractor you said it it was how many months ago did I send you this contractor's name months ago and all a sudden we pick a local person who's connected politically right no no it was sent to I think my myself and Steve I think and and and other committee members also but it's okay it's okay I was accepting responsib I will call the question now okay okay so um so move okay yeah sorry second okay all right
028secretary Colo Schubert yes Gillespie yes Johnson yes Olivas yes aroo no centes yes J no all righty so okay and now are you done with your report yeah I think the next one is just for the board to be able to because you vote on the calendar initially and then when we make changes we just want to make sure we have consensus so it's not a motion but just if everybody's okay with those dates if they clear your calendar we just want to take consensus so that would be moving January 6th to the 13th and moving and because that's the week before the 20th moving the board meeting slated for the 21st because that would be a Tuesday night to Monday the 27th if that's a we just want to take consensus does that work
029for each of you Mr sentes yes yes yeah Mr Royo is that good for you Monday 27th for next school board meeting um well no we would have one on the 13th and one on the 27th okay so we'd still have two okay I think we're good Lisa that concludes my report thank you all right motion to approve the following consent agenda is listed so moved second any questions secretary coloroll Schubert yes sentes yes Johnson yes GES yes Olivas yeso yes L yes okay well our finance committee won't be on the sex correct corre be 13 okay all right so uh as to finance our next uh meeting will be Monday the 13th here at the service center other than that there's no other action items so on to curriculum and programs with Mr sentes
030good evening everyone the curriculum and programs committee met on Monday November 18th at 6m here at the administrative Center we did have two um Improvement plans that were presented by uh two schools so Gonzalez child Center and coward Middle School principal uh Stephanie Stein Breer and assistant principal Lana Gundy shared the 2023 summary along with goals for the current school year um some of the accomplishments are that 77% of preschool students grew one or more developmental levels on the desired results developmental profile in language and literacy development 81.3% of K through five students matter exceeded growth in the uh nwaa map Reading English and 75% of K5 students met or exceeded growth on nwaa map um Spanish along with 70% of K5 students matter exceeded expected growth on nwaa map math goals that they're going
031to um focus on for the current school year are to reduce the office office discipline referrals by 10% maintain a daily average of attendance of 95% and um 85% of K5 Adventure students will have met their growth metrics in map Reading and uh 75% in map math principal uh Jacqueline Gibson along with assistant principal um Anna heimberger and Veronica Zamora and Dean Derek Smith also presented on behalf of cardd they shared that 60% of eth grade students achieved growth on map Reading 10 students attained proficiency based on the access exit criteria and they also achiev commendable status as reported by ISB goals for the current school year for coward are that they are going to increase or try to maintain a attendance level at 95% um in certain subgroups um 90% of students will have
032one or less referrals um and 20% of CMS students will meter exceed growth as measured by the spring I ready diagnostic we also o had a presentation uh from Principal Jennifer Mitchell and assistant principal Jackie Stone on some of the updates to the high school course catalog expanding offerings uh which include electrical systems 1 and two cyber security PC repair law enforcement one and two um Dr Nell also presented on the pilot program for the resilience education center that will take place on December 14th which will offer Workshop or activities for birth 23 and prek to 12th grade um families uh families are encouraged to sign up and then um Dr also explain that we will start the interim counseling service plan with uh current EA Staff first uh we also had two updates for
033disposal uh of outdated Elementary materials and those uh resolutions are up here in just one second the attendance was at 93.4 7 through November 14th and enrollment um at students any questions on anything so far no if not we'll move on to the action item on the first one 7 point b.1 motion to approve the resolution for disposal of outdated Elementary fles curricular materials so move second any questions secretary call roll sentes yes Aro Olivas yes gesp yes yes Johnson yes Schubert yes all right the next action item is also for um outdated materials uh 7 pointb point2 motion to approve the resolution for disposal of outdated Elementary connect and listos materials so move second any questions secretary call the rooll gespi yes Shubert yes Johnson yes tentes Aro Olivas yes all right the next
034curriculum and programs committee will meet on Monday December 16th here at 6 pm at the administrative Center and that concludes my report all righty buildings and grounds with Mr Schubert uh there's no report this evening um our next meeting is January 13th here at the administrative Center and there's no action items okay all righty motion to go into executive session for the purpose of discussing student discipline and employment performance compensation dismissal of a specific employee plus any legal matters so move second secretary Colo yes Schubert yes Olivas yes gesi yes Johnson sees Aro [Music] yes e e e that's true because he knows I know I know he knows yeah inter terms ready to Jesus he has a problem huge problem this e okay motion to reconvene from executive session so move second okay back
035we're back sorry okay secretary Colo Olivas yes sentes yes Schubert yes gespi yes aroo yes Johnson yes L yes okay now we still we ready for Bruce yes okay okay all right okay the first uh be a resolve that this board of education after having considered the evidence presented by the hearing officer hereby upholds a recommendation for expulsion of student number 6974 8604 of EAS extension campus effective December 3rd 2024 for the remainder of the 2024 2025 school year to include summer school 2025 and the 2025 2026 school year to include summer school of 2026 at the completion of the expulsion period student number 697-4525 will return to the extension campus for the 2026 2027 school year and December 4th 2026 we had further resolved that a copy of this resolution be sent to the
036parents of said student and duly record in the official minutes of this board of education School District 131 dated the second day of December 2024 okay motion to approve the resolution for student number 45864 so moved second secretary call the rooll Aro AR yes yes Johnson yes gpie yes Shubert yes SE Wes yes us yes uh be it resolve that this board of education after having considered the evidence presented by the hearing officer hereby upholds a recommendation for expulsion of student number 583 234907 of Easter or extension campus effective December 3rd 2024 for the remainder of the 2024 2025 school year include summer school 2025 and the 2025 2026 school year until December 2nd at the completion of the expulsion period student number 583 234907 will return to the extension campus for the 2025 2026
037school year on December 3rd 2025 we had further resolved that a copy of this resolution be sent to the parents of said student and duly recorded in the official minutes of this board of education School District 131 dated this third day of December 2024 motion to approve the resolution for student number 4907 some move second secretary Colo sentes yes aroo Olivas yes Schubert yes Johnson yes gespi yes L yes be a resolve that this board of education after considered the evidence presented by the hearing office offic hereby upholds a recommendation for expulsion of student number 818 21614 of Easter or High School effect of December 3rd 2024 for the remainder of the 2024 2025 school year to include summer school 2025 and the 2025 2026 school year until December 2nd at the completion of the
038expulsion period student number 583 234907 will return to the extension campus for the 25 2026 school year on December 3rd 2025 be it further resolved that a copy of this resolution be sent to the parents of said student and duly recorded in the official minutes of this board of education School District 131 dated this third day of December 20124 okay motion to approve the resolution for student number 818 21614 five so move second secretary call the roll L yes uh aroo yes Johnson yes gillespi yes Schubert yes sentes yes Olivas yes be resolve that this board of education after having considered the evidence presented by the hearing officer hereby upholds a recommendation in lie of expulsion for alternate placement Illinois virtual school for student number 52199 329 of EAS High School effective December 3rd 2024
039from December of the 2024 2025 school year to December of the 2025 2026 school year should student fail to attend the alternative educational setting the expulsion will be immediately enacted for the remainder of the expulsion term without further action by the Board of Education be it further resolved that a copy of this resolution be sent to the parents of said student and duly recorded in the official minutes of this board of education School District 131 dated this is that the correct date 18th day of November correct so dated this um today December 2nd 2024 dat no he just did you hear what Bruce said we changed it I'll okay dates are okay we're okay on that y I think typed we're fine okay motion to approve the resolution for student number 521 329 so moved
040second secretary call Olivas yes sentes yes Schubert yes gaspi yes aroo yes Johnson yes L yes okay motion to approve the dismissal of an administrator so move secretary call roll sees yes Aro yes Olivas yes Schubert yes Johnson yes gaspi yes yes we don't have to list who the person is Dr do we need to list who the person is yes we need this okay recall that a motion sorry okay let's recall the motion motion to approve the dismissal of an administrator kayn kayin Wilson so moved second secretary Colo sees yeso yes Olivas yes Schubert yes Johnson yes Gillespie yes L yes motion to adjourn so moved second secretary call the Schubert yes gespi yes Johnson yes sentes Aro Olivas yes L yes to ask you about this one thing