001okay all righty so on to our public comments so you would have had to have signed up before 7 o'clock to speak we ask that you respect the three minute time limit and we ask that you respect the confidentiality of our students and staff uh Becky ryro good evening Becky r Union president um tonight I'm here to introduce to you the Easter Ro extension campus um there are 27 staff members at the Easter War extension campus and 95% of them are proud union members um when I think of the extension campus two things come directly to mind for me oh and I also wanted to introduce Trevor who's out in the audience he's a building rep and Julie wasn't able to be here tonight and Mr Crump was nice enough to come as well so
002um when I think of the extension campus uh two things come to mind uh the first one is it is very clear every single time I go there that the staff is very focused on meeting students where they are and that's something um that they put forth every day um the second thing and they do that for both emotional supports and academic supports and the second thing that is very clear to me when I go and visit there is that restorative practices are at the Forefront the staff consistently practices and advocates for giving students the tools they need to repair relationships and to build trust and it's something that we could all learn from so I'm excited to have them here tonight and introduce them to you so have a good evening Al righty so
003our first speaker is Trevor hello uh my name is uh Trevor shragi I'm um an e-learning instructor at eaec and I'm the building rep um and I wanted to uh thank you for your time tonight and just uh introduce myself and talk a little bit about eaec as a campus um we have amongst those 27 um folks over there we have over 300 years of education experience together and what I think that you'll understand that that means that we are very low turnover as a building and we um have a lot of experience and I think that is the reason why we can um help the students that we have we have a really needy population of students um these are students whose needs have meant that they were excluded from a middle school environment
004or from the high school and when they come to us they have a lot um they have a lot to work on right and so and we help them do that and I personally am honored to do it I find the work extremely valuable and I and I feel like you know I used to be an attorney and I always say that my um my worst day as a teacher is better than my best day as an attorney um and I tell kids that and they never believe me but um they but I I I just put that in their heads you know so I uh I wanted to say that um we one big success that we have there is that um um Mr Crump and I the principal Crump have been working um
005we had a wonderful professional development and we worked on a uh a the Catalyst for educational change and we have like a way to communicate between you building reps and between um Administration and it's been extremely successful and I want to really commend Mr Trump for his work with me to improve um relationships in the building and building culture I wanted to say that building culture has improved in the areas of honest communication listening for understanding and making commitments between union reps um and the uh Administration and this is really important progress but as um um Miss Royo said we also want to continue improving in the areas of improving building safety because um we really think that that's foundational for our kids is that if they are not safe if they're not in a
006reliable um and uh like emotionally comforting space right um we talk about like uh being um like emotionally safe in order to do academic work that's absolutely foundational and we are still working on that and uh we're working to improve reliability with our processes and procedures in order to get to a level where students and Staff feel like a trust relationship ship to improve our academic progress so um I wanted to point that out um and I wanted to also mention that I work with several educators of the year in a very small campus and they are also we have seen consistently higher numbers of graduates in this program year-over year over year since I've been there and I'm really pleased I think we're going in the right direction so I wanted to thank you
007again for your time and uh um I would welcome any questions if you had them okay thank you [Applause] oh I'm sorry this is Julie JIS Julie JIS is next okay good evening everyone I'd like to add good evening everyone I'd like to add um some things to what Mr shragi shared with you today uh my name is Julie Jervis and this is my 20th year teaching exclusively in District 131 um it's my final year before retiring um and I can honestly say it's been an honor and a privilege uh to serve the needs of the students of this District um I still run into former students regularly who um still recognize me which is shocking um but they uh some of them are in their 20s now and they say um that I just
008brought so much joy to the art room and I inspired them to believe in their own abilities and it's humbling to be able to do that uh when I came to teach at the extension campus I was hoping I could make a positive difference in the lives of the students there and I believe I have um the art program at the extension campus gives students the opportunity to express themselves um to use their hands and their minds to experiment with different materials and to uh give them a sense of pride in their accomplishments um it giv students a break from the uity platform that they work with which is individualized computer-based instruction um kind of dry right not Hands-On it gives them a break from that and it's a more collaborative and socially supportive environment
009which which they need to grow um it also teaches students I think the most important life skill which is perseverance um students are directed not to quit when they face challenges learn to creatively solve problems and to redefine their mistakes as Bob Ross would say as happy accidents um I usually tell students to trust the process sometimes they tell me that too um we use a choice based art curriculum which means in addition to teaching lessons to students I also allow students to make choices about um materials and and uh content that they want to include um and many positive things have happened in the art room in the past two years we've created two beautiful murals in our building and in the past month we thanks to a city City funed Grant had a
010visiting artist come in teach our students how to build these beautiful glowing uh sculptures out of chicken wire that have been displayed in the Aurora Art Gallery as part of the Aurora luminera lumur Festival um with all the success we have had some challenges um which have been increasing lately um our numbers in the building are higher than they've ever been and they don't show any sign of slowing um any students generally most students who are involved in fights in the high school are redirected to our building um and as you can imagine that means that we're housing students who have fought each other and they're all in our fairly small building um we also have uh a record high number of students in the dreams program and that program um help students who have
011IEPs with emotional regulation um drug use has become an increasing problem and I actually got injured last week as a result of some students who I believe were under the influence um Mr Crump has been um trying his very best admirably trying to do everything he can to make the building work but uh I think we need more help than than what he can personally do as one administrator in our building and I'm appealing to all of you to be supportive of uh meeting the needs of our students that so desperately deserve it thank thank you okay question all righty okay thank you all righty Communications from the superintendent Dr darell good evening Board of Education and community members um this evening I'm going to pass um item a off to Miss Lisa Morales um
012but before that I would just like to say that we are so excited um this evening we have been waiting with baited breath um on our new student board members to be um selected and I just went over earlier before the meeting started and gave congratulations to our Stu our two new student board members and their families and just reiterated how this year was a huge process we had so many more applicants this year so that's a really great thing in fact I think we probably had triple or quadruple the number of um interested students from East High and so again just huge accolades to the two students who Lisa is going to brag about a little bit before we introduce and swear them in but just Kudos because to have been selected um through
013such a tough pool we had amazing uh finalists and then the two that you're going to meet in a minute um kind of rose to the occasion through our five finalist um and they went through not only an extensive application process which included letters of recommendation um from staff as well as their own letters of interest but also this time they went through two rounds of interviews so I just want to say that because it was uh really a little longer of a process but it was great so I want to say Kudos and let everyone know um what these two amazing students went through so without any further Ado Lisa I will let you take it away yes um we had 10 students actually um uh apply and so the process was we started
014it in September it was a really great process and it was uh myself and Marissa yanoski we um we interviewed the five students and it was awesome walking out because each one of those kids they they they were up there on their game it was it was really really nice so I congratulate the both of you um for being selected um so let's see here we're going to start with um so both of the students um that you're going to meet are in the top 10% of their class with one of them being a contender um for valid victorium um this year so I will begin with Karina viagran if you would just stand Karina I would like to introduce Karina viagran as our first student board member for the 2425 school year Karina's High
015School career includes student council National Honor Society student ambassador science National Honor Society student athlete Society volleyball and the varsity and JV soccer man manager I'm sure that this is just a few of the things that you do her community engagement consists of the mayor's office youth Advisory Board woman in Steam panel and volunteering at her local church all of the activities that Karina has been involved in has demonstrated to her the importance of teamwork patience and Leadership a staff member writes Karina has represented East High School at sever lead several leadership conferences and continues to use her organ ization communication and creativity to increase the Student council's Success in the school as well as uh presence in the community uh please join me as we welcome [Applause] Karina next I'd like to introduce Kevin
016Martinez Kevin if you would [Applause] stand Kevin has made a significant impact through his dedication to community service student advocacy and extracurricular activities throughout his high school career Kevin has been involved has been involved on the math team Upward Bound jazz jazz and marching band student council basketball and National Honor Society again to name a few his community involvement includes the city of Aurora youth Council and Lita which is a leadership Enterprise for diverse for a diverse America Kevin has been uh a driving force in promoting school spirit and fostering a positive learning environment and just recently has been instrumental in bringing back the student cheer cheering section at football games creating an engaging atmosphere for school events for students a staff member writes from day one Kevin has demonstrated remarkable initiative and a genuine
017desire to learn his ability to prioritize his studies while staying focused on a athlete responsibilities is clear is a clear example of his time management skills and his dedication to achieving multiple goals join me as we welcome Kevin so a little fun fact before you have you come up and uh take the oath of office is both students were students at the magnet academy and woohoo Jen um and um another fun fact is that Michael's brother was a student board member in 2020 uh Michael Kevin I'm sorry yeah Michael Michael so that's uh you got some big shoes to fill um so that's great so at this time if if um Karina and um Kevin if you come up I almost said Michael again I'm gonna Minister the oath of office you can come on
018up really do all right so I'm going to uh read a few things and then both of you can answer I do okay so I do solemnly swear that I will Faithfully discharge the duties of the office of Schoolboard member of the Board of Education of District 131 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 do I further swear that I show respect and represent East aora students interest by serving as a faithful protector of that interest while serving as a student board member I do I shall encourage and respect the free expression of opinion by my fellow students and others who want to express their ideas to me and promise to
019bring those ideas to the board of education for discussion welcome congratulations to both of you guys I'm my you guys come stand you get to stand in the front today squeez in right everybody can see me right yes thank you welcome welcome welcome okay okay okay so congratulations again okay under District updates um we are going to table the ISB resolutions discussion until November 4th uh our delegate is going to attend the ISB resolutions webinar that is upcoming and so on the 4th we will come back to have the discussion and the recommendations for our board and for his Direction so thank you for attending that um item um C we are going to table as well we have some recent information that we were able to add to that presentation so we will table
020that and then our assistant superintendent for um teaching and learning will also be back um on November 4th so we will table that as well so the final item for this evening is the agreement that um we've been working on with the Aurora East Educational Foundation for I would say probably about six to nine months the conversation that we've been having regarding the the addition of a video media production coordinator position that would work in concert with both the district and the foundation and be able to meet um many of their needs as well as our needs on a day-to-day basis and so what was in your packet was um the agreement that was drafted by our Board of Education and also that agreement went before the foundation already and the foundation voted to support
021the agreement and so um a further down on the agenda we have the action item for the position that went before our finance and Personnel committee but first we are asking if the board has questions about the actual agreement um to handle that first before you vote to add the position later that's more perfunctory but this is actually an opportunity just to see if there are any additional questions I thought the agreement was very well written um are there any questions before the vote yeah did our legal counsel look at this agre yes he actually drafted it okay yeah it was drafted by uh John fester and I know we have one board member that actually is a sitting Foundation member so if you have any questions I will defer to board [Laughter] member okay
022so no other questions okay thank you all right so motion to approve the agreement with the EAS Educational Foundation for the video media Productions coordinator so move any questions secretary call the rooll aroo yes Johnson yes gespi yes Schubert yes sees yes Olivas I'm going to abstain okay all right so on to the consent agenda so motion to approve the following consent agenda is listed so mov second any questions secretary call the role Schubert yes gespi yes Johnson yes Olivas yes aroo yes centes yes okay okay on to finance and Personnel I guess that would be me so anyways we met on October the 7th and quite a few things things we had already gone over um mainly the property tax levy which we we uh gave Direction on that at the last board meeting
023and went over that and then we also had the insurance renewal so the insurance renewal basically as in as in everywhere else saw an increase of about eight 8.6% however it was discussed at the meeting that we could H um Institute some cost savings me measures that were just basically good for our staff so they were going to go back and add all of those and other than that you know it was renewed at at an 8.6% increase so uh any questions about that okay motion to approve the health dental vision life accidental death dismemberment long-term disability flexible spending account C and EAP insurance program renewals as presented by Hub International for the 2025 calendar year so second secretary call the rooll sentes yes aroo yes Olivas yes gaspie yes Johnson yes Schubert yes okay
024I I believe we already did this correct or is this the position okay okay so this is the video media position that we just discussed earlier so motion to approve the video and media production position so move second secretary call the rooll colesby yes Schubert yes Johnson yes sentes yes aroo yes Olivas abstain okay uh on to curriculum and programs so Mr santes good evening everyone the curriculum and programs committee met this evening here at 6 PM our next meeting will be on November 18th at 6m I will go over the summary at the next board meeting on November 4th and we have no action items so that concludes my report at the moment okay Al righty and on to buildings and grounds Mr Schubert okay just a brief report from our October 7th meeting
025um in summary uh we discussed um out at the high school um the district bids did go out for the phase one mechanical Improvement projects these are going to Encompass The Freshman Center and two gymnasiums um the committee will review the the remaining parts of that um facility that require improvements at our next meeting um we did uh obtain quotes um or I'm sorry yes we did obtain quotes from train uh those quotes are on tonight's agenda for the board consideration uh this committee did support uh the proposal as presented um we discussed the Career Technical Center we received an update from the district that it continues to work with the city of Aurora and The Architects uh to complete the necessary steps so that we can move forward and uh look forward to a
026groundbreaking at that site um that is still on target for spring of 2025 um we did um um get some soil borings and did a traffic study and that is going to be presented to the city of Aurora um we did discuss some maintenance contracts uh for 18 buildings across the district um the district would like to renew the quarterly maintenance contracts so the committee did Advance this item for the board's consideration this evening um and then we did receive a um a proposal on alleviating some congestion and improve traffic flow out at the high school at the main parking lot um and so we did um support that plan as presented so hopefully that'll um improve um some of those things out at the high school um if there aren't any questions going to
027move right into the action items this evening there are three the first is I need a motion to award the 2025 EAS or High School mechanical project number 24112 for base bid plus alternate one to decal mechanical in the amount of 3,588 one95 some move second okay any questions secretary call the rooll Schubert yes Olivas yes gespi yes Johnson yes sentes yes Aro yes um action item two I need a motion to approve the purchase of mechanical equipment controls and warranties for the east or High School 2025 mechanical project through the Omni Cooperative purchasing agreement with train Technologies in the amount of $290,000 9,387 so move second any questions secretary call the rooll Olivas yes sentes yes Schubert yes gaspie yes aroo yes Johnson yes third action items I need a motion to approve the
028renewal of the district HVAC maintenance agreement at 18 District buildings with f Moran in the amount of [Music] $56,500 performance compensation and dismissal of a specific employee Plus student discipline some move second secretary call the rooll AR yes Johnson yes gaspi yes Schubert yes sentes Olivas yes okay and we will have action e e e session move secretary colol yes sentes yes Schubert yes gespi yes Aro yes Johnson yes okay and then we're we're not going to hear the motion so uh motion to adjourn so move secretary Colo Aro yes Johnson yes gesp yeses yes so this a big