Integrity is the current Board they have cleaned up problems that existed for years. Intergity is not running your opponent in the ground like the so called ministers keep the change coming
How do you know any of the board is not posting about the others since none post under their name.
They cleaned up things that others have brought to their attention. Employees and others told the board about the insurance mess for awhile and not until they came up for re election did something happen. As far as the credit cards they took them away but did they make those that misused the pay the district back. They still employee a Superintendent that lets the board do his job.
Why do you think this is political? The majority of the teachers can't vote in the election since they don't live in district. Wake up and be an adult. Nothing political about it, as it has been mentioned at all of these meetings this was a promise that is being enacted from negotiations. If you believe differently why don't you go to the source rather than post and drag people through the mud....
At Bardwell Scott Strands own union President stood up and told the group this was a mid year climate check that the Superintenent and board president agreed to. Some wild stories seem to be circulating around the school. That the board expects teachers to aise scores 30%. That we will all be fired if we don't meet and exceed. Johnson addressed that and said we are happy with your progress. Adam Harding told us we have a voice at the reform committees the majority of us have chosen to believe Adam. Adam for years has been a great instructional leader. If Scott wants to change the district then he needs to start in his classroom. He also needs to join the reform committees.
These are the Committees
RTI and PBIS
Assessments
Disipline
PLC
Afer School
That is how you make a difference and if Dr Roberts and Ms Johnson agreed to this and Adam says so then I believe him.
First, let address the meeting are political. If that's the case most of he teachers can't vote so why would Johnson or Roberts waste their time?
Why would the distrct have allowed these committees and given permission to the committees to generate action out of them that will end up going to Curiculum and the entire board voting on them.?
Starnd and Montroy at one time were apart of board activities and Ms Lewis had meeting with the Superintent, Clayton and Kristen to implement KIds Hope. the District also pays Kids Hope for finger prints. It seems like they have tried everything in their power to move the kids ahead in this district. Kristen and Anita had friendship for many years. It is not like Kristen did not have many opportunities to tell Ms Lewis the board was not headed in the right direction.
Zack and Jackie Montroy have worked on a mentor program with Clayton, Anita and Annette so again it seemed like everything was fine.
The real story is Marin Gonzalez her friendship with Jackie has shaded the real workings of the board and the community working on solving problems.
maybe they should all sit down with each other and stop hurting the district.
One always remembers negative things are blown up the good is never talked about.
The Devil speaks with a folded message. That is the Campaign of Zack.
Wife Jackie gets up at a recent meeting and accuses the board of not expecting blame but praises Dr Roberts for excepting blame. Yet Jacks husband runs around telling everyone he is going to get rid of Roberts and Roberts is a bad leader. Which is it Jackie and Zack?
The only message they have been consistent on is the board is horrible. This falls right into the Marin Gonzalez message. the board bullied administrators. The one person who spreads that word is Marin because the board demoted her. Her ego could not take it and turned them down So her only mover was to return to a classroom. She then looked and looked and no other district would hire her. Now she blames the board because she had to take a principals job in Chicago and live in Chicago 5 days a week. Marin caused months of back stabbing in Central office and it is a repeat all over again. If you want Marin in control vote fr Zack and ask Jackie why Dr Roberts was a great leader and now he is not.
Sounds like a great program. Why are we not talking about this
Aurora) – East Aurora School District 131 is hosting a public Information Session and Open House for the Fred Rodgers Magnet Academy on Thursday, February 7 at 6:00 p.m. at East Aurora High School. All families who reside in the school district’s boundaries with students in 3rd -12th grades during the 2013-2014 school year are invited to attend, including families who currently live in district and attend private and parochial schools. The Magnet Academy Information Session and Open House will afford families the opportunity to learn more details about the successful educational institution that is the first of its kind in this area.
Administrators and teachers will be on hand to discuss the school’s Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM) curriculum, the application and lottery process, and the new initiative that will provide a personal laptop computer for EVERY student who is enrolled at the school beginning in the 2013-2014 school year. “We are going to bring personal access to technology to every child enrolled in the Magnet Academy. This will not only have a direct impact on the student, but on the family as well students will be able to take the computers home each night,” said Annette Johnson, President of the East Aurora Board of Education. Currently, Magnet Academy students in 6th -8th grades are participating in a pilot 1-to-1 Computing Initiative that provides personal laptops for each student to use at school and home during the school year. That program will expand to all grade levels next school year. “My laptop has literally made my access to education limitless,” said Oscar Miranda, 8th grade Magnet Academy student. Because of the direct access to technology, the Magnet Academy has become a textbook free campus with lessons being taught via computers, Smartboards, and other technological devices. The Fred Rodgers Magnet Academy will also physically expand to its own full-service school building in August of 2013. Currently, the educational institution located at 501 College Avenue, which was previously Madonna High School, Aurora Central High School, and the Fred Rodgers Community Center, is being renovated to house 450 students in a state-of-the-art S.T.E.M. educational institution.
The Magnet Academy was established in 2008 for students who are academically talented and interested in math, science, and technology. The Magnet Academy uses the Common Core standards and a STEM curriculum to enrich and expand learning concepts beyond the standard curriculum.
Open to all 3rd – 12th grade students who live in the East Aurora school district, the Magnet Academy currently has openings at all grade levels. After completing an online application, all qualified applicants are placed into a public lottery for selection. Once enrolled, students remain in the school as long as they continue to meet the qualifications.
Complete details about the new online application process, lottery selection, STEM curriculum and the 1-to-1 Computing Initiative will be discussed during the Magnet Academy Information Session and Open House on Thursday, February 7 at 6:00 p.m. at East Aurora High School’s Freshman Center. Enter through Door #42. Session will be conducted in English and Spanish.
For more information, please contact Angela Rowley, Magnet Academy principal, at 630.978.9482 or arowley@d131.org
Learn more about the Magnet Academy at www.d131.org
Integrity is when a teacher refuses to kiss administrators' behinds, and instead stands up for what their students and parents thinks is best...even if it means that teacher risks losing their job.
10:07 am Your comment is a bit confusing, if I understood you correctly you are trying to say everyone got along working on projects geared towards the student community, but now are not in agreement any longer.
Lets take another POV and consider this. Once outside people got involved more intimately with the current board, they realized the hypocrisy that was veiled in a facade of integrity. Just a thought....
So, because most staff don't live in the district, Johnson's sudden interest in meeting with the teachers and other staff must not be politically motivated? If she can't get their vote, why bother! Give me a break! Teachers are in the thick of things every single day. The people that actually work in the schools actually care about the kids! I have been in this district for many years and know many district people in many district buildings. Johnson, Roberts, other board members and district office employees are NEVER in the buildings. NEVER!!! I'm sorry, never is an exaggeration. NEXT TO NEVER!!! An occasional cameo to get in the paper. It's the "kiss the baby" strategy. Teachers and staff deal with parents! Community members! Voters! Oh yeah! Let's see...if we can BS those teachers maybe they won't talk so much to the people who vote. They won't mention all the CRAP that goes on. They won't encourage change. Most of the newer district employees would have no clue if Johnson or Roberts were standing next to them. Where have you been? You're going to show up now! UP YOURS! HOW INSULTING! All the positive Johnson comments on this blog ARE FROM JOHNSON! The fact is you screwed up the finances, you have thieves working for the district. You protect incompetent people who screw up one six figure job by giving them another to screw up. Speaking of that, when has that guy ever shown up to a sporting event?! What the hell is his job?!!! Lose the dead weight! Hire more teachers for the kids! FOR THE KIDS!!! Remember them?! Get out the pitch forks and torches and run all those people out of town! The children have suffered long enough! Voters! I implore you! The people in the schools are not the enemy or the problem! They actually care about your kids and their future! Vote out the the Greed, the Mismanagement, the Liars, the Thieves, all the people that are not allowing your child a fair shot at life! WE NEED CHANGE!!!
Look at the agenda a teacher is getting fired after 15 years of service because she can't pronounce words in Spanish well yeah right. Bardwell again, then you wonder why the climate is so bad.
Johnson has many supporters in the district including the union. I am a rep. And know she settled the contract not Dr Roberts or his administrators. Joan Glozabach sat with Jay Augustine, Deanne Adams and Aird and never said a word. Your Union brought up problem after problem and not one solution. Until we voted the contract down Johnson was not involved nor was Roberts. Ask around to reps in negotiations. Johnson came in asked for a survey and the Union came back with the list. That is why the committees got formed. They took the entire list and put teacher problems into lists. Harding was given full release to work on the problems. We have poor administration and the board needs to clean house starting with Nestor, Aird, Adams, Glozabach and Roberts. They have made some progress getting rid of Marin, Auustine and Chuck Roberts. They also need to look at the Principals. EHS, Simmons, Waldo, Johnson, Bardwell, Hermes, Gates and Oak Park all need to leadership. Leadership starts at the building levels. Johnson's mistake is thinking she gets Dr Roberts to work he lies to her all the time. We need to ask better questions and not believe our building leaders about the board. If you see her don't be afraid to ask. I know the work bully is spread by administration . In the unions workings with her she is very anti administration.
As far as the rest of the Board they are never seen, Leonard is around with the maintenanace but could care less about the Curiculum.
8:48- I am a parent and a community member and I could not have said it better. I appreciate your rebuttal to all the, well few fans of the current Board and super that keep trying to put present business decisions in a positive light. I hope people get serious about the schools and vote this election. Our district needs help.
Very well stated 8:48 pm. To add a little to what you wrote, not only is there a sudden interest to meet with teachers, but think about why none of the teachers are allowed to go out of district to attend workshops for the county wide institute day. Administration is basically keeping all teachers on "lock down" that day. Does anybody really believe that they think PBIS is so important that all district employees have to meet at the high school that day. Come on! We've been doing PBIS for years, it's not rocket science. We all know why nobody is allowed to go out of district. After all the bad publicity this year, administration doesn't want us answering the question of "what the heck is going on @ d131".
The current board has a list of accomplishments a mile long blaming them for poor decisions of the past will not get you anywhere. Wghat is the plan with anyone else that will come in and run the schools. Vote for the person who wins the debates is that not what the informed voter does?
Try being a community member or parent in West Aurora. But then we have Marin's husband Bob to solve all our problems. Because of Steve Ormond we have over 1 million in lawsuits. Our Liability Insurance doubled and all the Board members take trips all over. This year alone they have taken trips to San Diego, and Boston twice. Why don't you move west Johnson the community in 129 needs you.
"Keep your eye on those who cause dissensions & hindrances (Greek = "occasions of stumbling") contrary to the teaching, and turn away from them." (Apostle Paul / Romans 16:17)
This defines the three Ministers and the Campaign they are running. It also defines a false prophet.
Dr Aird is poison and Kristen Strand backs her. Just listen to her husband Scott the worst teacher at Bardwell. Everytime we get Scott's kids we know they are not prepared. It is public record the board /community should question why he is still a teacher. FOIA the district and ask for his classes performance. He teaches 3rd grade. If you stand up to Groh, Villa or Aird you get classroom informal visits and harassed all the time. Not Scott that why his wife is running for the Board.
Take a look, and take a closer look on the two teachers and their students performance that got formal remediation plans filed. The quite majority know and the reason we cant leave the district is Dr Air Head made us the laughing stock.
9:36 p.m., you are wrong about Scott Strand. He is an excellent teacher! My grandson had him last year at Bardwell.
Low test scores often reflect poor parenting, not teaching. My grandson got good scores on his achievement tests last year.
And I don't know Mrs. Strand personally, but she seems to have a real dedication to helping our district. I will probably vote for her because we need some fresh ideas on our school board. Like others have said, I'm uncomfortable with the Marin Gonzalez connection but nobody's perfect.
THIS IS WHAT YOUR CURRENT BOARD HAS DONE FOR THE LAST FOUR YEARS. While some want to portray our district as not moving forward for selfish reasons the community needs to be informed. It is also important to note Leonard, Johnson and Cervantes have grown up on the East maintained residence, and graduated from East Aurora. Stella Gonzalez taught for better than 12 years and resides on the East Side. 1. REDUCED THE EAST AURORA SCHOOL TAX LEVY FOR 2012! 2. We have an A PLUS financial rating from the State of Illinois 3. With 85 Million in Cash Reserves, we have the largest reserves of our peer schools. 4. Purchased the new Early Childhood Learning Center on Reckinger Road 5. Established the Magnet Academy and purchased the Root Street property which is currently being rehabbed. When it open in the fall of 2013, it will alleviate over crowding in many of our schools and offer state of the art facilities for our students. The focus on Math, Science and Technology will better prepare our students for college. 6. Hired 200 new teachers and guaranteed their three year contract and jobs while the State continues to make cuts in public education 7. Gave teachers a total of 24% in raises catching starting teachers up to what others districts are paying. 8. Negotiated new insurance contracts that resulted in millions in savings 9. Established on-line courses for students' convenience and enrichment resulting in a virtual classroom 10. Provided fifteen minutes of extra classroom instruction. 11. Ensured that an equitable bidding process is in place. 12. The new Student Information System is up and running 13. In process of implementing a new accounting system 14. Test scores have increased 15. Smart Boards installed in all classrooms 16. Purchased new textbooks for all core areas 17. Restored, art, music and sports programs at the elementary level 18. Put gifted program into all of our schools 19. Increased the number of pre-school classrooms 20. Brought special ed students back to our district at a savings of over $1,000,000 21. Gave the band $250,000 to purchase new instruments at elementary, middle and high school levels 22. Partnered with Communities in Schools to provide after school programs in every building 23. Provided additional funds to our NJROTC, the largest in the country. 24. Invested over 20 million in rehabbing our buildings over the last four years.
More bullying in the form of name calling from the blog. I'm so glad there are no more "curse" words on here. Now all we can do is insult people with names like "Dr. Air Head" "Shrek" and "Donkey."
Yeah, naughty words are much worse. Good call "blog administrator."
6:07am As a Bardwell grandparent you may receive the benefits of a mentor program Scott and his wife run out of Bardwell on Saturdays. Little benefit to students is achieved other than bring Naperville church members into our community to feel good about themselves. The message is clear we will give you help you will join community 4:12. They are building a church with district funds not building a community.
We have a janitor come open the building, plow our lot, heat our building, clean our building. When questioned our wonderful board and weak superintendent caved. There is no Church and State separation. She like Clayton run illegal organizations out of the buildings. She uses Clayton on district time to promote her cause at church events
They have gotten 400 families to join Community Christian these families are being taken away from Community churches that existed for years. Our Lady of Good Council is one example.
As for Scott being a good teacher you are a parent ask for data on him verses other teachers at Bardwell. Ask about the two teachers Anna Groh terminated because they dared to ask questions.
The board needs to do the right thing and reinstate the Bardwell teacher that was good enough to teach your children for 14 years Monday we will be watching.
Comments posted here need to be factual. When they are not, they sound immature and disrespectful. They make teachers who work for 131 feel emmbarrassed to work for our district. Personal attacks are shameful and only bring bad energy.
I disagree 6:07am... Majority of Parents of the children attending schools today don't even have a HS diploma. We send our children to school everyday to be taught by teachers that have been to school and have got an education. If teachers are not going to do what they are being paid to do, well why be there? Our kids can learn nothing in the streets!!!!!!!!
I would suspect the name callers are from the same group giving credit to the present board for things already in the works before they existed as a board. Always tryin to give credit where it is not due and scapegoat others for their shortcomings. Voters beware!
Integrity---not something most people posting on this blog have with all the lies and false statements that are being put on here! Community 4:12--ALL the money goes directly back into the schools hands. People from all around donate their time and toys to this event...again ALL money goes directly back to the school. Community 4:12 gains nothing financially. If you are so worried about people attending other churches, maybe you should look into why! Obviously, your church isn't "feeding" its attendees. Stop trashing Jacki on this blog! She is an amazing social worker, she advocates for her students and does right by them! The whole Marin thing...what makes you think she wants to come back here? She is more than thrilled with where she is...learn the facts people, use your brains. Be someone with integrity!
Sounds good on the surface but let's dig in a little.
1. REDUCED THE EAST AURORA SCHOOL TAX LEVY FOR 2012! Yet no one has had their taxes reduced even one penny 2. We have an A PLUS financial rating from the State of Illinois . Unfortunately, we have an F rating in education. Maybe, they should spend some of that surplus on teachers and students. 3. With 85 Million in Cash Reserves, we have the largest reserves of our peer schools. 85 million in the bank and the children have 20 year old text books and the teachers are the lowest paid in the 6 county area. Somebody should inform the board that we are institution of learning, not a for-profit business. 4. Purchased the new Early Childhood Learning Center on Reckinger Road. I’ll give you that one. They are good at purchasing things to boost their image. 5. Established the Magnet Academy and purchased the Root Street property… The Magnet Academy was established before this board was seated (the current board simply overpaid for a building the City of Aurora had a practice of donating to previous groups) and all our students deserve state of the art facilities, not just the privileged few the board decides. 6. Hired 200 new teachers and guaranteed their three year contract and jobs while the State continues to make cuts in public education Hired 200 new teachers? Yet somehow class sizes have increased to up to 40 kids per class (more in PE classes)? Something doesn’t add up here. 7. Gave teachers a total of 24% in raises catching starting teachers up to what others districts are paying. Here is an example of the 24% increase you are talking about: Lane 28 with a masters + 48 2012-2013 $ 87,266 2013-2014 $ 86,132 2014-2015 $ 85,290 I’m not a CPA but that is not an increase according to my calculator. In fact according to my basic math background, that is a major decrease, especially when you factor in cost of living. 8. Negotiated new insurance contracts that resulted in millions in savings I’m sure the district is saving money, I paid over $10,000 in doctor bills last year that the new district supplied insurer refused to cover. Services that were covered by Blue Cross Blue Shield the year before. 9. Established on-line courses for students' convenience and enrichment resulting in a virtual classroom. This is the first time I’ve been made aware of this program (if it exists) but I would argue that the children belong in classrooms with teachers, not sitting behind a computer, who knows where with no supervision. 10. Provided fifteen minutes of extra classroom instruction. A complete lie, there is no extra time spent teaching. Elementary teachers are just in the buildings for an extra 15 minutes as required by the new contract. They do not spend one more minute in class. 11. Ensured that an equitable bidding process is in place. Now run by the buddy of a board member (with no certifications). Recent example includes hiring a bus company that is charging the district 1.7 million dollars more than the bus company we have had for the past 20 years for the exact same services. I think I want the old system back. 12. The new Student Information System is up and running And what did that cost the district? No transparency. The teachers have had no formal training on this system. They have simply been required to spend personal time to figure it out for themselves.
13. In process of implementing a new accounting system A system that was obviously needed for years and is being revamped now that it is election time. Has there been any accountability for the hundreds of thousands in missing receipts by administrators? No! We are just supposed to trust that they did the correct things with our money. 14. Test scores have increased Some areas have increased, some have decreased. There has been no major improvement in the past 4 years. District 131 academics are still rated in the bottom 5% in the state. 15. Smart Boards installed in all classrooms. Unfortunately, a majority of the staff has no clue how to implement the boards to improve education. Without proper training, it is a waste of money. 16. Purchased new textbooks for all core areas Yet most students are still using 20 year old textbooks? Again, things just don’t add up. Maybe the new accounting system will be able to figure it out. 17. Restored, art, music and sports programs at the elementary level. Partially false, Art was restored for 4th and 5th graders only. Music and sports were already in place. 18. Put gifted program into all of our schools The program is gifted in name only. These classes would be average in most other school districts. The process of placing our best students in the same classrooms has also placed our worst students in classes together. A fact that is compounded with the extremely large class sizes we have had since this board was seated. Just imagine 40 problem children all in one classroom. 19. Increased the number of pre-school classrooms This is true but has also been a major contributor to the overcrowding in the buildings. 20. Brought special ed students back to our district at a savings of over $1,000,000 You must be referring to the Quad County Urban League. A program every other school district has withdrawn from because their students were not receiving the services they should be. Only District 131 Board is more concerned with money than children. 21. Gave the band $250,000 to purchase new instruments at elementary, middle and high school levels Gave the band? Wow, it’s as though they are reaching into their own pockets to donate money. Just an FYI, it is the boards duty to make sure that our programs are properly supplied. $250,000 sounds impressive when you lump it all together like that but it actually comes out to an average $15,625 per building. Now, considering that the band program has been neglected for 30 years, you realize this is just a drop in the bucket of what is needed. Maybe, they should have dug a little deeper into that 85 million dollars they are bragging about. 22. Partnered with Communities in Schools to provide after school programs in every building Communities in Schools has been providing services in our buildings for many years, long before the current board was seated. 23. Provided additional funds to our NJROTC, the largest in the country. Shouldn’t the Navy be supplying these funds as the program is a recruiting tool for them? 24. Invested over 20 million in rehabbing our buildings over the last four years. Yet our buildings and grounds are falling apart. I’m sure somebody got 20 million dollars. Perhaps they should have been more frugal with where the money is actually going. Even with a thousand trips to Menards, I’m sure the district maintenance guys have not spent anywhere near 20 million. Where did that money go?
Yes, our buildings are a joke. They are not even up to basic standards. Walk through east high today. You will go through at least 10 different climate zones. I am not talking about a few degrees in temperature. I am talking about super cold 60 degrees to incredibly hot 80+ degrees. Also, you will encounter variances in humidity and in some parts of the building you can even feel breezes because the windows don't seal.
They could spend all of that 85 million on the buildings and I don't think they would still be where they should be.
The only reason we have as much money as we have is because it ISN'T SPENT ON THE KIDS. It isn't spent on giving teachers what they need, or fixing the buildings, or even employing enough people to make the district run smoothly.
Feel free to pass this to anyone and everyone who might benefit from it. I am writing on behalf of retirees who have been stripped of their insurance benefits from the district. There is a policy in effect since 1975 (which HR and the Board did NOT know about) that simply states that when we retire, if we meet the criteria, we have the option of remaining in the Hospital-Surgical-Medical and Major Medical insurance plan at the basic premium rates plus 15%. It says more but that is the crux of the policy. Once the insurance scandal broke with the firing of Penny Halvax and the retirment of Jay Augustine, the Board has decided to update the policy by eliminating it as soon as possible. They gave us less than two weeks last December to decide what we needed to do, as the new rates they were willing to give us were Cobra rates and more than doubled our current rates. After much hassle, we were able to get into the TRS insurance if that is what we chose, since they do not have open enrollment until May. (Long story short). In a nutshell, what this means, is that when you retire, you will have TRS or nothing unless you go out on your own. We all know hard difficult private insurance is. Past retirees have formed a group, CORE (Committee of Retired Employees) to attempt to get our message out and plead with the Board to not make this change. If at all possible, come to the Board meeting tonight, 7pm. There will be some of us speaking, including myself. They didn't like what I said at the last Board meeting and they certainly won't like what I have to say tonight. There is so much more to this mess which is way too long for this email (you probably wouldn't read it all anyhow-HA), but if you are retiring this year, close to retiring, or want to save one of the few perks we as teachers get, show your support by coming tonight and/or emailing me or calling.
By the way-RETIREMENT IS GREAT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Has anyone seen the test scores of the kids that are in the magnet program? It has been in existance for over 5 years. Any scores? Are they any better than the other schools in the district? If there are no results to share then why did the district spend the money on buying a building and everything else if there are not scores to support such a move. OR is this just another school with a 'label' to alleviate overcrowding?
Here is another example of the Board or the Superintendent not knowing the policies February 4, 2013 at 10:23 AM. Try and find some one who would do a class action suit against them if their was a policy they did not follow they should be accountable. Was this a policy of The Illinois School Code or a district one? If it is in the code maybe contacting the State Board of Education could help.
It shows the board members do not read their board packet. They should have been knowledgeable ad asked all their questions before coming to the meeting. I don't thing Stella Gonzalez, Truza, Hull and Leonard even know how to turn on a computer. The board is a joke.
Well the dumb blond better known as Stefanie Lulay kisses Carrie Anne fat ass The Wiz hires none other than Clayton Muhammad away from the East Aurora schools. Paying over $100K per year to be his spokes person. Tom is worried that Rick is beating Bob O'Connor on this issue of schools and the neighborhoods.
We all know the East Aurora schools are overcrowded and disfunctional because of Tom. A school district can not have as many poor students, non English speakers, and overcrowding.
Clayton will be on board to tell everyone who great the schools are and write Bob O'Connor's speeches so he can answer such charges.
Openline has learned Clayton will be on this full time.
Has the Mayor not done enough for the schools stealing him in the middle of the school year, leaving poor East without a spokesperson
Numbers don't lie Mr Mayor and you created the East Aurora school then you charged them for the Root St building.
Maybe Clayton can meet with all the gangs and stop the violence. Like the Mayor told ABC is all due to Boys to Men the illegal group Clayton runs. I thought last week it was the police.
Clayton Muhammad can now spin Aurora news in his own inimitable style, the way he's been spinning D131 news for years. Maybe murderers will now be described by the mayor's office as "lifespan adjusters". Must preserve IMAGE, after all!
2/5/13, 8:20 AM Anonymous said...
I remember when Clayton Muhammad said the kids who got Division III at a high school music contest had "won bronze". Now he gets to be the Mayor's spinmeister.
Maybe Aurora's motto should be "Second to None in Protecting Our Image...and who cares about the facts?"
Here's an opportunity to do something positive, to help our kids:
Our band students throughout the district are selling Butter Braids, from now until Feb. 22nd. There are 6 flavors (apple, cherry, cream cheese, bavarian cream, and raspberry), and are 1 lb. 6 ounces each (serves 11 people). Cost is $12.00. Money earned from this sale will benefit our band students of all ages, including helping to fund our summer band camp.
Place your order with any D131 band student. Don't know a band student? Call any of our schools and ask to speak to a band director--or go online to the district website.
In Board Policy 500.30 that talks about Insurance it also states that the district pays for the insurance and nothing about the employees paying anything but it is said that the employees to pay some so again no one is following policy.
Don't kid yourself, the heat will be back on today even if they have to hire a fleet of outside contractors to get it done. We can't let administrators be inconvenienced.
At Simmons, we have had areas of the building with heating and air conditioning problems for years that never get fixed. A while back, the office lost their air conditioning one morning. Outside contractors were brought in and it was repaired toot sweet, the same morning. The kids and teachers are still suffering.
Who are these retired teachers at he Board meeting they announced they are from Naperville. It was clear they wanted a handout . If you had been in he audience they had been given thumbs up signs by Zack and Kristen's husband. Residents beware if the current board is not reelected Strand and Montroy will hand all the freebees to out of town teachers while the residents here don't have any insurance.
If Muhammed's going to be the Director of Communications for the city, does that mean they're going to lay off some of the other "spokesmen"? How many spokesmen does the mayor need?
The West Aurora Board of Education received more bad news on Monday evening regarding budgeting for the next school year.
Cash flow for the district could dip to about $4 million in May
If East Aurora does not want Johnson will take her as a resident of West Aurora as a staff member at EHS I find this indefensible. I shows our entire school district is better run. Yes we have our problems but are the better school district.
News from the central office is the gross & unexcusable lack of preventive maintenance hascaught up with us in the total failure of the boiler at the central office. Was it intentional ? we don't know , it's being investigated . Weare very lucky to have Mr. feltes on the job he knows exactly what to do. Everything is under control & heat is back on. GOOD JOB MARTY
Good for the District now they can get a secretary that will sit and do the job Clayton was suppose to do. He spent his time running around for the Wiz anyway. Now the City can pay
I don't really know enough about some people to make negative remarks. Clayton always seemed alright. I don't have a beef with him. Maybe he should of finished the school year. Maybe he is getting out before the scat hits the fan. Just like people will call Becker a quitter if he leaves. The truth is, anyone would jump ship if there was another opportunity. Why stay with this train wreck district if you don't have to. Hopefully Becker will wait for April to decide. Hopefully the people who lied to him will be out the door and a good change will take place. If Johnson stays and it is business as usual with Nestor sinking the sports ship why would Becker stay. I work at the high school and I talk to people at the middle schools and Nestor (the head of sports) doesn't show up for any of the games. This is the invented position. Becker could have been given a similar position for probably half Nestor's salary and done a better job. It didn't have to have a administrative price tag. Just an ambassador, a promoter of sports in the district along with the stipened head coach position. Clayton, good luck to you. I don't think you really have anything to do with D(ebacle)131. I'm sure trying to PR around all the dysfunction was impossible. I'm sure there are other district office employees trying to do there job while being depressed and humiliated. However the few steering this train wreck to further disaster have to go. Hang in there secretaries and other district office workers, hang in there coach Becker, hang in there D131 students and staff and community. Change is coming.
Honestly people,,,maintenance issues are bound to happen with the shear number of buildings in D131 and the age of many of them. Lets not catastrophize.
I recall Annette et al took a tour of all buildings and the boiler rooms when she first came on the Board. Her neighbor McCue was the district boiler expert before she took over as all around know it all expert.
So how is it Feltes discovered and unfound problem that is Nestors fault ????? I suspect while one 'anonymous' person is pointing a finger, 3 more fingers are pointng back at a more likely person to hold accountable.
The problems of the district whether, insurance, poor maintenance, test scores are not things that happened in the last four years. This board choose to be honest and transparent and has been made the goat for all the problems. This blog destroys everyone no matter how great of a program this blog will find a reason to rip it down.
Funny thing is West Aurora who is not transparent only has 4 million in the bank. teachers will be riffed and union contracts renegociated.
Who has a better district we do but the people who blog here are disgruntled employees who do not live in the district. They do not care for our community becauce they don't live here and that who we listen to.
East is the dumping ground for the city. I am glad Clayton is taking the job with the city maybe he can brand a better image for the East Side A few years back he, Johnson and Roberts tried to bring the East Aurora up with he image campaign. Many of us remembered the talking points and the staff was asked to help. I thought it was a good program.
Now thanks to the negative blog and the mistakes of the Montroy campaign things changed. congradualtions Clayton
Denise Crosby will write anything for her own benefit and with the Suntimes moving out of town she is trying to keep he newspaper afloat.
Denise promised retractions when she misreported credit card purchases and damaged professional reputations in our district with our administrators and Principals.
From the Beacon lets spread good words for our students
The East Aurora School District is hosting a public information session and open house for the Fred Rodgers Magnet Academy on Thursday at East Aurora High School.
Families who reside in the East Aurora School District with students in grades 3 through 12 during the 2013-14 school year are invited.
The Fred Rodgers Magnet Academy offers a science, technology, engineering and math curriculum for students in third through twelfth grade in a textbook-free environment. Students learn via computers and Smartboards, and beginning in the 2013-14 school year, every students at the magnet academy will be issued a laptop for school and homework.
“We are going to bring personal access to technology to every child enrolled in the Magnet Academy. This will not only have a direct impact on the student, but on the family as well students will be able to take the computers home each night,” said East Aurora School Board President Annette Johnson.
Tonight’s session will include information on the school’s STEM curriculum and the application and lottery process for being admitted to the Magnet Academy. The Academy has openings at all grade levels for next year. After completing an online application, qualified students are put into a lottery for a space in the academy.
Once enrolled, students can remain in the school as long as they continue to meet qualifications.
Complete details about the new online application process, lottery selection, STEM curriculum and the 1-to-1 Computing Initiative will be discussed during the Magnet Academy Information Session and Open House at 6 p.m. Thursday at the East Aurora High School, in the freshman center. Enter through Door 42.
Sessions will be conducted in English and Spanish.
For more information, please contact Angela Rowley, Magnet Academy principal, at 630.978.9482 or arowley@d131.org.
Why would any board want to be transparent after the way they are constantly attacked. This is why government is a broken system because of newspapers like The Beacon.
I actually feel sorry for them between the blog and The Beacon I ask myself why would someone receive no pay and get hit over the head with a two by four every two weeks.
Denise Crosby acts like they created the insurance mess when in reality it has been going on fir years. If she where a fair jjounalist she would thank them. Because of the Beacon do you think that any board in Aurora will speak out again
When it comes to reporting about east aurora,Denise Crosby is not a very through, dedicated journalist. She is a friend a good friend of Kurt Becker an has an agenda. Here reporting of monday board meeting was editorial not reporting. She has no credibility. She could care less about the people or tax payers of east aurora. Stay in Sugar Grove with Kurt, Thank You
Hmmmmm! I'm just curious. There was a flurry of negative blogs about the Beacon and some pro Annette banter. Now,is it one ambitious person writing multiple blogs hoping to look like many, or does every pro Annette/anti Beacon blogger struggle with spelling and grammar? I love when I hear that the problems were before the current board. So the credit card issues were more than 4 years ago, B&G not keeping track of receipts was more than 4 years ago, the transgender embarrassment was more than 4 years ago, two board members insulting each other including the board president insulting all of East Aurora was a different board over 4 years ago, blah blah blah...look, I'll be nice, thanks for your service,but we have to move forward. Please step down. We need a change.
You just don't get it, do you? Most of the corruption has been revealed without any help from the board. The issue is not with transparency.
The issue is that the board has covered up and protected the Malfeasance. There is no question that there has been wrong doing (whether due to greed, corruption or incompetance) by the administration and board. It creates a much larger problem when the board acknowledges the malfeasance and then protects the individuals committing the wrongful acts.
The board protected Nestor Garcia by creating an unneeded six figure position and moving him into it before exposing the corruption at buildings and grounds.
Jay Augustine was protected for years until the Beacon FOIA'd the district credit cards and even then was simply allowed to retire a month early with absolutely no consequences.
Denean Adams was caught using the district credit card to gamble in Atlantic City (when she was being paid to be at a conference). She used FMLA time to avoid responsibility. She has used the time off to complete her doctoral work and simply had to repay the public money that she was caught stealing before returning to work as though nothing happened.
Joan Glotzbach is the head of the committee that presented the LGBT Transgender policy to the board, no consequences. She is also behind the entire Bob Green fiasco costing the district who knows how much. She is head of Human Resources and so allowed Wilson Morales to get away with beating a child. No consequences.
Jerome Roberts is the superintendent in charge of all these corrupt administrators and the leader of a district that is in the bottom 5% of the state. Yet our board rewarded him with an extended contract and retain him despite all the incompetence and corruption.
The issue is not about transparency, it's about a lack of accountability.
If Denise Crosby reported false info on the district credit card debacle, why doesn't the district sue her for slander? Or better yet, why don't you enlighten us 4:30 pm?
To the post that said 'East is the dumping ground for the city'. If this is true (which I too believe it is). Isn't that like peeing on yourself? When are the leaders going to realize this...
Are you kidding me Denise Crosby having INTEGRITY, what have you been smoking. She never had and never will. Go to Chicago with all your flunkey reports, because we've got your number Denise, (KURT).
Already the tax payers when Marty Feltes saved the taxpayers ten so thousands of dollars with his idea to fix the heating. Heating that was poorly maintained for years. Yes the district did spent 20 million in four years fixing steam pipes because our wonderful maintenance department did not treat the water properly going into the pipes. Yes our building do have problems and like a old house if you have a preventive maintenance program it does not fall apart. But the district employees where to busy going to Menards and not doing heir jobs.
Yes the board made a tough choice to bring Marty in because the current people running it are inept and some are just plain crooks.
That is the type of board that needs to be reelected not people that have personal relationships for years with employees working for the district. Zack and Kristen may be ok people in their personal lives but it is difficult to be the one who cleans house when your relative has to look them in the eye.
As for the speaker Monday night he applied for he same job Marty got and although he would run the landscaping fine he has no mechanical ability
Before you start praising Marty Feltes, you might want to consider a few things. He recently did a plumbing job at the high school...a job that NEVER went out for bid. The Board can't even follow its "everything goes out for bid" policy. Apparently Mr. Leonard feels he is "above" Board policy so he can "award" contracts to his schmoozing buddies. At this "awarded" job, Mr. Feltes must have decided that he didn't need licensed plumbers to do the plumbing job. The labor board showed up, catching these unlicensed "scabs"...with pipes in their hands. Feltes was fined. Perhaps he added his fine into the cost of LICENSED plumbers he hired to do the job, and passed that cost on to the district. What a joke! Then, to add insult to injury, Mr. Feltes was "awarded" yet another job...an administrative position for which he is NOT qualified...by the lovely Board of Education. If Mr. Feltes does not even have the integrity to hire qualified people to do the work for his OWN company, what makes one think he will have any vested interest in the kind of work he will do in District 131?? Just more proof as to why D131's Board of Education is not only the laughing stock of the entire community,but living proof that "who you know" is far more important than "what you know." After all, if the Board President can tell graduating seniors that they didn't need to go to college, or further their education, why should we expect anything but a D- performance by this Board? By the way...the "D-" is a gift. I'd also bet this post doesn't get printed, or does not get printed without editing. After all, the truth hurts!
If our buildings are such a joke, why did't you complain when Augustin & his flunky Nestor were running the building & grounds dept. into the ground. Because you don't care, you just want run your filthy mouth like a fool. You have no credibility let alone INTEGRITY. You have an agenda. HAVE A NICE DAY JACKI.
Whatever you may think of Denise Crosby's journalistic abilities & style, no one can deny that she has been writing about our district for a LONG time, and has seen and heard plenty.
It sounds like Kristen & Zack think the school board is trying to bring the good old days back. It's obvious they haven't been to any board meetings or read the beaconfused. This board has fought trench warfare , working there little fingers to the bone trying to get ride of the good old days. You don't care about the tax payers or our kid's all you want is to grow your churchs.
West Aurora was 4 million in the bank period. East has 85 million. If you teach in West there is a good chance you will be laid off. Of course the Naysayers will say 131 has not spent their money. Has West Aurora? how can you run your checking account down to zero. There finance situation has been compared to a family of 4 having $1000 to live on.
There board members have been on three out of State trips this year alone and have credit cards. The East Aurora members have not taken any out of State trips nor do they have credit cards. West hides credit card purchases in there Treasury report while East has full disclosure. West has multi lawsuits because of Steve Ormond raises the liability rates 10%. The list goes on and on in the tale of two school districts.
Where is the fair balanced reporting. The Janitor at West needed to goto CBS News to get his story told. People at West are talking because of the poor choices all Unions are being called to emergency meetings about consessions. East has a 3 year guaranteed contract. So what does West have that East does not Mike Chapin. If the Beacon was fair they would assign the better reporter (lulay) to West but reporting in Aurora has never been fair. \
I know some West Side Teachers and have heard them complaining about some of their cuts. Here's an example of some of the conversations.
West Side: Oh no, we just had volleyball cut down from 5 coaches to just three. East Side: Really, we've never had more than two coaches per grade level on the East Side.
West Side: Oh no, they reduced the number of teachers this year, now we have up to 28 students in most of our classes (a fact guaranteed by their contract or they receive a stipend). How are the children ever going to learn. East Side: Really, we regularly have up to 40 children in a class, even higher number than that in PE.
Here's another thought for you. I know people on the West Side with the same education and years of experience that I have. Let's say they were forced to make a $5,000 concession in pay, they would still be making $15,000 more than I am.
The fact is, we have been running a sleleton crew of a staff for decades. How can you cut the fat when there's hardly even any meat. Now you know why East Side Teachers have such an issue when they are asked to make sacrifices while at the same time the board brags about an 85 million dollar surplus.
The Broard President never told seniors not to goto college she told them to use a Dual credit program to save money.
I have heard her speak many times on this topic, also Illinois Jobs for Prosperity a Harverd study taks about the emergence of 2 years training programs for kids.
It is also a program the City of Aurora is pushing.
The Board Predident has been working with Fox Valley Industrial league to bring opportunies to EA students.
Many jobs exist today that kids can make $50k a year with. Kids today need to be educated about careers.
I wish Ray would stop posting he is the only one who is present at Johnson speeches and knows about B&G.
So much for Zacks plea to the Board to be positive.
9:56 said "The Janitor at West needed to goto CBS News to get his story told."
No, he didn't. All he had to do was report it to DCFS as HE WAS REQUIRED TO DO BY LAW. As a school employee, he was a MANDATORY REPORTER. The law doesn't say "tell your boss", the law says TELL DCFS. Yes, the principal and superintendent are also mandatory reporters, and deserve prosecution, BUT SO DOES THE JANITOR. It's wrong that he's getting a freebie on this. For the rest of his life, we'll all know HE COULD HAVE STOPPED ORLAND SOONER if he had followed the law. I don't care how many other people he blames, HE HAS A PIECE OF IT TOO.
More lies & deceit from disgruntled maintenance dept. hot shots. LIE #1 board members do not hand out or sign any contracts. The board as a group will approve a contract. Mr. Leonard has no power to hand out contracts to friend or foe. If you had come to board meetings or bothered to read policy you would know this. LIE #2 Mr Feltes has never worked at east high under the feltes name, he worked with another plumbing contractor in a joint venture.(J-V) This J-V bid to Monaco Mechanical,Inc. for the plumbing part of this contract. Monaco was the low bidder on a contract to replace unit ventilators and plumbing. Monaco does not do plumbing. The J-V has nothing to do with the school district, the J-V works through Monaco Mechanical. The contract required cleaning out 40 years of trash from the tunnels so piping could be installed. This is where the laborer comes in The union wanted there man to do the work. By that time the cleaning was done but the union filed a complaint. Paper work work was exchanged and the case was closed. Labors clean floors and haul trash, they do no plumbing. So you see all that writing you did were all lies. You just can't stand change, you would like to go back to the good old days and spend spend spend. Will those days are gone and soon you will be to. You see I know who you are. HAVE A NICE DAY RAY.
West Aurora passed the referendum a year before East. Now they are out of money. They are having big layoffs. I would rather have a job then no money at all
Back when Farum was President I remember some community members questioning a 20 million surplus the district had and what they did with it and the board said that the State only allows districts could have only so much in surplus.
Why if we have 82 million in surplus why are the schools ran down, overcrowded and teachers have to pay for supplies in classrooms.
The West side does post their pro cards on their list of bills. They don't use credit cards they use pro cards so that is where you have to look.
Our district did post the credit card bill under the Board judgement for awhile but then they stated putting them under a different name and not under the Board judgement so they pay a game now also.
It was mentioned on here about D129 list of bills and how they didn't show the credit cards. I went and looked at their website for the agenda and here is what I found about how they show expenses.
ILLINOIS PSYCHOLOGISTS - REGISTER LISA LIACE TO ISPA CONVENTION 1 1303582 V811716 10.5.2210.332.4620.00.00 $295.00 Staff Development conference fees ILLINOIS PSYCHOLOGISTS - REGISTER ELISABETH RAUSCH TO ISPA CONVENTION 1 1303582 V811716 10.5.2210.332.4620.00.00 $295.00 Staff Development conference fees ILLINOIS PSYCHOLOGISTS - REGISTER GINA SCHOCK TO ISPA CONVENTION 1 1303582 V811716 10.5.2210.332.4620.00.00 $295.00 Staff Development conference fees ILLINOIS PSYCHOLOGISTS - REGISTER MIREIA VALLS TO ISPA CONVENTION 1 1303582 V811716 10.5.2210.332.4620.00.00 $395.00 Staff Development conference fees ILLINOIS PSYCHOLOGISTS - REGISTER EVELYN HERNANDEZ TO ISPA CONVENTION 1 1303582 V811716 10.5.2210.332.4620.00.00 $395.00 Staff Development conference fees Check #: 0 PO/InvoiceTotal: $2,288.99
As you can see they list with the peoples names that went to conferences and the charges. They do a good job in letting the public know how they are spending the money.
It is not the P cards it is he business software they use d131 has the same software and is working on installing it. it' is bing hampered by workers that don't have Micro Soft Office skills. the software is he exact same brand West is using only difference West is up and running ours is not.
Thanks to Hull reading the first policy in hs life the board has to meet and the office can't get heat. I remember a time when a emergency was a emergency and the district could do its job then came Hull and got in way. Central office calls him the board member from hell.
Remember ladies thanks to Ray we have to listen to this noise all next week.
Hull cost the office a comfortable working environment and the taxpayers money. For years Hull allowed Nestor to spend hundreds of thousands of dollars. Now that we have a person who saves money he dogs him. Shame on you Mr Hull I wanted to come to work Monday and not hear noise
I think I need somebody to explain this to me. The Beacon reported that Clayton is making $103,000 in District 131 but actually with benefits he is making about $116,000.
What exactly were we paying the man $116,000 a year for? To run an illegal fraternity? Oh wait, I forgot, he was hired to improve the district's image in the community. How has that been going?
By the way, at $116,000, Clayton was making more than every teacher in the school district and even more than 80% of the administrators. Not bad for a man that was certified in nothing. It shows that it doesn't matter what you know, just who you know.
Now Clayton is going to the City of Aurora (supposedly to be the spokesman for the mayor) but if you have read the updates in the Beacon you will see that Dan Ferrelli is remaining the city spokesman.
Clayton is being paid his significant salary to supervise Dan Ferrelli and Kevin Stahr. That is correct, Clayton will be making with benefits six figures to supervise two people.
If anybody has some insights into this insanity, please enlighten us.
I wonder if anyone is keeping track of the fights at East High. There was another one today, that makes about one a day for the last 3 weeks. It is a very poorly managed school and Conrad has to go. Most of the students don't even know she's principal of the school. In fact I hear she is on her way out, West will not hire you so don't bother, others are interviewing for her job at East. Conrad has been the most incompetent principal we have had here at East Aurora just look at our graduation rate. We look forward to a change, and a safer school for the students and the teachers, and yes that was Mrs. Liska who got punched in face and knocked to the floor last month.
I have a concern that maybe some bloggers can help me with. I heard about the terrible murder of the West High student who was formerly an East Aurora student. My understanding is that she had just been going to West High for a few months. I have read in the papers that West High had counselors and grief workers at the high school to talk to students. I have not heard anything about counseling for East Aurora students. Did she have family in D131? Wasn't her body discovered in the area of one of our elementary schools? What about our kids? Don't they deserve counseling and help in dealing with their feelings? Did a letter go home from any administrator?
I believe there are people who post here only when they have an ax to grind. And I believe there are a couple of people wo are bitter ax grinders who post frequently. My opinion, Conrad has done a good job with what support the central office has given her. I think she works well with the teachers and community. But she must have crossed someone to have nasty comments written about her.
Where is Clayton and his B2M boyz to save the Cty from violence. The reason the gangs are acting up is because of his new Boss Weisner. By patting himself on the back the gangs sent him a message.
As for Clayton he bailed good, he must think his good bubby Johnson will not be around to protect him anymore.
If Johnson favored you Anotherwards Clayton was the popular kid and she did favor him no work was expected. Clayton was always out glad handing and taking pictures. Did we ever see the pictures.?
Now he can run around and clean up the mess Weisner made with the gangs. Lets see if he is truly the pied piper of stopping violence. I bet not but not he is paid big bucks to lie about.
As a person who goes to board meeting often it appears Hull can't work with anybody. He never looks the audience in the face and never once has had a positive thing to say. He constantly complains about never knowing anything. he on the board why does he not come to the meetings prepared. it seems like he never reads anything or wants something read to him without doing any work.
So how is it he got involved in the boiler repair. The working conditions for the secretaries are really bad. It seems like everyone is just playing games.
CENTRAL OFFICE NEWS 22 Well their at it again, the high paid secretaries at central are whining about the smell & noise from the temp heaters. Because of our high paid maintenance (gym teacher nestor) guru and hislack of preventive maintenance & timely replacement of failing equp., we have a failed boiler that can not be fixed. An office that needs heat & some people have the nerve to complain & whine. they called the State dept of labor claiming they were running diesel fueled temp heaters in the office. Astate inspector came out, inspected for hours, checking air quality, nois levels, temperature & what ever. She found everything was fine, no problems at all, everything good. She actually told the secretaries they were lucky to have people around (Dr Roberts, Mr Feltes) to give them such a nice warm place to work, in these emergency conditions. These secretaries wanted the office closed & sent home with pay. what babies. Teachers put up with daily and worse. get over it. P.S. pop your head in nestors office and say thanks
There has been no plan for dealing with the districts failing infrastructure ever. Nestor kept his job for years by reducing maintenance costs to a bare minimum. Unfortunately, this meant that nothing has been replaced for many years, just patched together.
Now we have board members going after the maintenance department and creating such hurdles to maintenance (and every other form of purchasing) that it is becoming impossible to even patch things together. Is it any wonder that major infrastructure is beginning to fail?
Annette can brag about 85 million dollars in the bank for the short term but while she is bragging everything is falling apart and will cost more in the long run to deal with.
Wow, I'm surprise that a State inspector came out so quick. If I was smelling diesel fuel I would call the fire department they would be the one to really make a judgement on that.
I would think the Superintendent or the board would make sure there was a policy in place that the boilers where inspected every six months. I don't see where Ray is to blame for that. This district doesn't have the right Superintendent or administrators in place to make sure things are running right.
If the schools are in that bad of shape, close them and start dissolving the district. Let the kids be absorbed by the other districts. It would finally racially balance things, the kids would get a better education and test scores would go up as would auroras image. That is how Aurora needs to change not by hiring pr people and keeping the Hispanic kids in a holding pen (d131) but actually solving the issues.
Ray was in charge of the B n G why did he not put this policy or procedure into place. ay was to busy helping himself to handouts in the maintenance department including a summer job for his son. Everyone at the Coty knows Ray was never qualified for the job he has and near bankruptcy. Sfter being made supervisor he got out of financial trouble real fast. Like everything else the building will get cleaned up like he finances. The only thing the maintenance can't do anymore is ride around in he district truck going to by tools for hems elves at Menards.
10:25 looks like angry fat fingers hammering out distractions from what is really going on. It is past finger pointing time, I don't care what Ray or Nestor did. There were 6 other Board members that had the majority vote to change and fix these things 4 years ago. Where were/are they?
We hear there are some recordings being released to the public and media where Annette is referring to Hispanics & African Americans as lazy people who wont show up to vote like her white neighbors in Ward 1 and where she is using derogatory terms for homosexuals and transgender people. Let’s see how she cleans this up during her taxpayer funded campaign breakfasts that just so happen to end the week before the elections. Why are there so many breakfast meetings the week before the elections instead of just two like the other weeks.
Weisner ruined Aurora by not controlling the neighborhoods. Now he hires Clayton to put a spin on the City. Why? He never put a positive spin on 131 what a waste.
This district under Weisner went from about 10,000 kids to over 14.000 numbers don't lie. They remodeled and put additions on in all the schools as of 2004. Then the Hometown debacle. A school district can not absorb that many students that are ill prepared to goto school. It oes not matter how the Superintendent, teacher, principal or board of directors. The warning to East Aurora residents is Weisners policies watch this Community Christian attended by his Chief of Staff Guzman is bring more social service to Ward 3 and 4. He is trying to control the board by electing Strand. He is trying to Control Ward 3 by electing Reece Boyd. Weisner, Ergo, Weit, and Caputo all attend Ginger Creek thus Zack Montroy. Please note residents this year the City is not broke because they received census money to the tune of 38 million to blow. Yet police have not been hired back.
I am not a fan of Johnson but its clear she does not bend to Weisner all the way. That why she has had recent problems, No doubt that why Hull attacked her. It's a classic game played at The City all the time. Clayton was a political move. The City created a position for Clayton. Ask yourself who many speakers does Weisner need? He has 12 in the department.
The East Sides only salvation is electing Lawerance, Jay Leonardi, Gardiakos, Feldotto and your current board.
If you want to save the East Side from further decline
I have looked at he campaign material of he three new people running and they say nothing. There is not one comment on any issue facing :131 other than name calling at the current board. It also bothers me that they are recent transplants our community. The other major factor is the conflict of interest with Montroy and Strand. It seems they have promised the administration business as usual. Now I hear they are involved with Weisner. NO THANKS?
Looks like Ray is out spreading lies again about Johnson. when will Minister Hull stop
Annette Johnson has done more for all races of students than other Board Member period. The defamation that goes on with the board has to stop. It is interesting Strand would like The blogmaster on her Facebook page for supporting her and Zack would blast the board about the blog at the board meeting. Again another minister speaking with a forked message.
can't have it both ways Kristen and Zack are you that disparate for votes.
Lawrence's problem is going to be the Openline Effect. It seems whoever Openline supports loses. Just ask Pat Fee. And Openline supports Lawrence so much it's scary.
D131 is so screwed up! How could anyone in their right mind not want a change in the board and at the central office. Are there some keepers? Sure! I think the people that need to go/ be replaced. Come on people! With all the problems and embarrassments it is obvious that the current "leadership" is not working. These are old problems never corrected and new problems created. If there is truly audio of Annette making bigoted comments about our community than she needs to be run out of town. And...the talk about B&G...my gosh. How miss managed can things get. Example: I know people at Simmons. Now this is two or three years ago. B&G was told multiple times about various concerns. A few heads of B&G were told by several people. Nestor was told to his face and was shown a leaky air conditioner in the Gym area. This could have been easily fixed, and people were told it would be fixed and nothing was done. Instead summer came and the floor flooded and was ruined. They had to have Haz Mat come in because there was all kinds of health concerns and damage. Maybe a hundred dollar fix turned into thousands of dollars. Is this saving money? B&G (Nestor) were told by staff and administrators and the job was ignored. This happened at the high school and some of the elementary staff told me the same thing. Mismanagement. All under the watch of this board and superintendent. If I'm not getting the story straight than please someone from Simmons or the high school straighten me out. Maybe I heard wrong or didn't get accurate info. I don't think that's the case.
What this school district needs is a group of people to run the district with an iron fist (the board), a superintendent that will take drastic measures for the benefit of the school district (even if it means angering a lot of people) and administrators that will do their job instead of doing things just to protect their positions.
Having worked with the Board I know it takes more than 2 years to understand enough of how the board works to figure out what is going on. I am not surprised that it took 4 years to fix the insurance or credit cards. I know others on the board that asked and were lied to by Dr Roberts and Jay Augustine as questions came up. I have also heard many employees or Retirees asked about premiums and got brushed off. I call it the d131 shuffle. Phones and Credit Cards also got questioned again he d131 shuffle. the maintenace department has been a mess for years and he board needed to hire a person loyal to them. One thing Johnson did very early on was hire lawyers loyal to the board. The Regional Office and Illisois School Board Associatation provide general guild lines but are a organization made of a pro administrators or retired Superintenents and serve little purpose. I know Ms Strand, but not he other two. Agree it will be difficult for hem to clean up anything because of their spouses working in 131. They will also have a earning curve. I will be working to get Johnson reelected because she is the only one who knows the law and enough about the inter workings of the district. I does not surprise me to see her being targeted. I have heard a lot of corrupt people are running scared. I also feel Clayton knew more was brewing and got out.
Talk about dirty politics and mindless complaints. Johnson and Leonard complain all the time bout the 800 trips to Mendards over 7 months. At the time the 18 Firemen and Engineers and 10 maintenance people were going for parts to repair these old buildings.
The math: 800 trips / 7 months / 28 people is 4 trips per month per person.
Or one trip per week per person.
That’s a lot to complain about. Johnson & Leonard now require the 4 supervisors to run for parts. That takes the supervisors away from their responsibilities.
That sounds efficient. Thanks Johnson. Thanks Leonard. Nice job.
The Fireman are not part of th 800 trips to Menards so lets redo the Math 10 people over 6 months averaging 13 trips to Menards alone. What they don't tell you is he other supply houses they were going to. Every maintenance guy averaged at least one trip per day. that why the building are falling apart nobody ever repaired them.
The Fireman and janitors are the only ones working its Hill Ave that's screwing the district.
The same goes for the teachers they are also the only ones working while central office does nothing. The top management needs to go
The old story goes a few rotten apples spoil the bunch
What about the maintenance person who bought candy bars and water for himself at Menards sure sounded like a emergency repair to me.
How about the 100 rakes, shovels, hoes, hedge trimmers, pruning shears garden gloves, flowers, seeds and plants purchased at Menards while we had a open account at two land scape companies.
How about the lies Jay Augustine told that all maintenanace people working at Hill Ave have their tools. FOIA the bills public and see what your tax dollars paid for.
No wonder the teachers in 131 were underpaid the wrong people made all the money.
If a tape exists like that then why not release it now. Because it does not. It is another attempt to discredit Johnson's name because she is working on cleaning up the years of mess in the district well getting side tracked by some who don't want the district to change.
If the waste uncovered would have never taken place teachers in 131 today would have made much more money, had better insurance rates and better buildings to work in.
It is ashame one board lust to become board President and shake his daughters hand at gradaation lied to all this.
Dear "I will be working to get Johnson reelected" Johnson may know a little about many things, but how to best educate our children is not one of them. Her personal claim to fame is being a master manipulator. My guess is, that is probably the reason for Clayton's move. He was tired of being a part of all that drama and being held responsible for cleaning up the messes with the press. I wish him the best.
5:09 is correct. But all we needed was an effective board and all the rest would have fallen into place. I am with the minister and friends. All we can hope for to fix our district at this point is people with some care and prayer.
You shouldn't have to FIOA what the maintenance workers send we should be able to see it in the list of bills the board approves and post in the agenda. Do they hide that like they do the credit cards. The Board approves the list of bills and if candy and water was bought then whoever did it should be made to pay it back.
Johnson claim to fame is running a successful business. The district is a business that needs to run effectively to provide wages and a job without the possibility of a layoff. All I know is this is only one of three districts not enacting RIF notices in the entire metro Chicagoland. There hav been many programs, a no renegotiation clause for three years and 200 new teachers hired since she was board president. Look to the West Side by their own admission they are renegotiating with all three unions and the finances are equal to a family of four earning $1500 a month to live on. Their quote not mine. This all while residents of 131 had their property taxes frozen . No truth and taxation hearing this year. That promise was kept by the board that as soon as the bonds got fully funded which finished last year the district would freeze your taxes. Again look around every surrounding community had a truth and taxation hearing. So it appears Johnson did her job. The only people upset are the people who got caught. You should pray for them they violated the commandment Thou shall not steal. I am sure Johnson could use a few prayers too to protect her from the lies being spread along with all the candidates because they have put their reputations on the line for non paying jobs to educate your children
If somebody really wants to get rid of Annette Johnson, they should take this post from Rayanne Carlson back on September 2nd to the State Attorney's office.
In it a former board member, Rayanne Carlson, publicly accuses Annette Johnson of bribing her for her vote on Roberts contract.
This is very illegal and shows what type of person we have leading the board. I am copying the post below to make it easy for those interested in reading it.
Blogger Rayanne said...
I do not post much here any more, but I would like to support a comment here. I will not speak about what other board members may or may not do, but I do know when I was on the Board Annette Johnson was trying to encourage me to vote in favor of renewing Roberts contract. No matter what reasons I gave for my reluctance, she had "a deal" she wanted to offer me.
I am not sure, at that time how she thought she was going to get these things done,but she offered them like she had strings. 1. She said she would see that my granddaughter would get in the district preschool. 2. or.....She would arrange for the band director (K) to get back to the high school. My vote was not up for "let's make a deal."
I am mentioning this again because someone seems to think this doing- favors-atmosphere exists. The scenario sounds very familiar. I am not accusing anyone of accepting favors, but rather suggesting that someone else must be perpetuating this impression in some manner.
Rayanne lives in fantasy land and should be sued for posting defaming comments.
Why would Johnson promise her grand daughter a slot in Preschool. Rayannes daughter qualifies 100% for the Preschool for those who know her. Kaisershot never wanted his job back and at the time Rayanne, Dee and Anita would have not needed Johnson help. Five other members voted on the contract Rayanne was not needed and never came to the vote anyway.
More Lies!!! and look up the legal term publisher.
Great article on our parents and the Magnet School. Why is the blog not talking about that. Could it be that it was Johnson who took the program from one classroom to a entire school and got the grant for every child to have a computer.
Like anything good in our district the blog is right there to tear them or the program down.
Getting into the Fred Rodgers Magnet Academy is almost like winning a lottery, or better. Hundreds of parents trenched through snow and slush on a school night recently — with young children in tow — hoping their child will get admitted into the academy for the 2013-2014 school year. Fred Rodgers Magnet Academy principal Angela Rowley addressed 250 people during an information session at East Aurora High, while on the other side of the multi-purpose room were another 250 mothers and fathers hearing a duplicate presentation in Spanish. The East Aurora magnet program, open to third- to 12th graders, was originally piloted in 2008 for students who are academically talented and interested in math, science and technology. Rowley had completed an explanation of the text-free environment and curriculum, as well as a demonstration of the online application process, when she said all qualified applicants are placed into a public lottery for selection in order to give each student the same opportunity. The public lottery will be held April 11. Melanie Doherty said her two daughters, who will be in the third and fourth grades next year, were ecstatic when the principal announced each student will receive a laptop for school and homework. The district secured private funding for the computers. “Their eyes opened wide,” Doherty said. “Our girls are very tech savvy. I didn’t touch a computer until the 6th grade – we want our children to have every academic opportunity available to them,” Doherty said. Doherty said her 9-year old daughter qualified last year, but didn’t get chosen in the lottery. “I was so disappointed that I cried,” the mother said. “To actually make it into the academy may not be like winning a jackpot of money, but it is huge – it is our children’s future,” Doherty said.
Rowley acknowledged the excitement and disappointment associated with those placed on a wait list. “For parents it is an almost life-changing opportunity for their child to dig in, explore and be pushed beyond standard curriculum,” Rowley said. Rowley, recruited from the prestigious Illinois Mathematics and Science Academy in Aurora to begin the planning process for the academy more than a decade ago, said the program was piloted and gradually expanded to make sure it was not just another school. The principal said enrollment over the past two years has been at capacity with 25 students from each grade level, but with the purchase of the Fred Rodgers Community Center building, next year’s magnet program will triple in size with 75 students from grades 3rd through 8th. The number of high school students will remain unchanged and expand as the lower grades advance through the program. Once selected, students remain in the magnet program as long as they continue to meet the qualifications. East Aurora Board president Annette Johnson said attendance for the academy’s open house spoke volumes for the interest parents have in the program. “When we actually draw the lottery, it is actually as though parents win the lottery,” Johnson said. “We have studied magnet academy programs in other school districts, and ours will be unique because it will be giving every student a laptop for school and homework. Some of our families do not have a computer, so it will not only change their child’s life, but the whole family,” Johnson said. Johnson said the pilot was so successful the district decided to expand the program and look for a building. The East Aurora District purchased the building at Root Street and College Avenue last summer from the city of Aurora. The building’s life has evolved from the old Madonna High School of the 1920s-1930s and the old Aurora Central Catholic High School until 1997 when the city purchased the building and used it for a community center. While the fourth floor was reserved for the academy’s 6th – 8th grade students, 3rd through 5th graders were at O’Donnell Elementary. Next year will be the first time all 3rd – 8th graders will attend the academy together. The 9th – 12th grades will remain at East Aurora High School. “It has been a vision of the district to give our students an opportunity to excel in math, science and technology. We have bright students in our district and when we piloted the program, the results were so great and the community was so supportive we had to move forward,” Johnson said. Johnson said aside from academic excellence for individual students, the academy’s test results will be part of the child’s home school and the new location will alleviate some of the over-crowding in classes. “It is 100 percent 21st century learning — the curriculum of the future probably will not have students learning from textbooks,” Johnson said.
The Board made the Magnet School what it is. Dr Roberts had the original vision to start the Magnet School. While everyone is so negative getting 500 parents involved and expanding the program to be all 21st century computer based learning is unique.
Having Angie Rowley has been a blessing and that is where the leadership of Johnson has moved the district. Hull and Wells voted to accept the decision of Marin Gonzalez to appoint Raquel Wilson a PE teacher. The Board pushed and said no! They told Marin that the school would remain Science, Math and Technology. Rowley brought ideas from IMSA to our district and was allowed to grow. That would have been another EA OK choice. There will never be another board that has such forward thinking vision for excellence.
As a note Kristen Strand recommended Raquel Wilson and should be forced to answer why she made such a bad choice. Kristen served on a interview committee at the time. Perhaps she was a afraid to say NO to administration. A place she will find herself in often if elected
I know Kevin Kaisershot, and I can tell you that's been true for at least the past few years. Too much damage has been done for him to go back and fix it...we can't go back to the way things were at EHS under his leadership, so better for him to quietly do an outstanding job of teaching our Simmons kids for the next couple of years, until he retires.
That article says "We have bright students in our district and when we piloted the program, the results were so great and the community was so supportive we had to move forward,” Johnson said .
So where are the test results? Why was taxpayer dollars spent on this school without sharing the testing results with the public if its so successful. The results exist, so why not share them? This deserves an eyebrow raised with a big Hmmmmmmmmmmmm.
The Magnet Academy is all hype. Here you go, a new building, new laptops etc. There is no documentation that shows that the students there do any better than the children in our other buildings. I’m not sure how the district can do it legally but they are ensuring that you will never know performance results by hiding the Magnet School test results in the other buildings test scores (home school). Here’s a thought for you; if the students at the Magnet Academy were actually showing any real improvement over the other schools, don’t you think the administrators and board would be shouting it from the mountaintops? Where is the transparency that Annette keeps boasting about???
Next question: Are the parents really happy that their children are at the Magnet Academy or are they just ecstatic that they don’t have to send their children to the schools they know are failing, falling apart, full of mold, full of violence, etc?
Since we know that nothing that comes from the board and administration is true, I’ll believe it when it’s documented by the state. Just as every other school in the state is required to do by law, even the magnet programs in Chicago.
2:11 and 2:50 make excellent points. Even if the scores are sent back to the kids "home school" the admin knows who is in the magnet program and can EASILY break out those scores and get a tally by student, class and the academy as a whole. So where are they? Why are we spending taxpayer dollars on a Magnet Academy when there are no test results to share? Is this just another school to alieve overcrowding or is it a true magnet academy? I think East needs a school like this, but is it really producing?
While I too would like to know the results of the Magnet students, I ALSO am glad that their scores go to their home school. I believe if they shared the magnet results, they'd show those students doing better. They HAVE to be with the additional attention and resources they get. If the magnet had it's own report and those students' scores stayed there, we'd have one school doing well, and all the others doing even worse than they currently are. I have no doubt that the scores of the magnet kids have a positive effect on the overall performance of their home schools.
The results of the Magnet Program are published and given to parents in a presentation. Currently 100% of the children showed growth. I am proud of our district and will be applying. it worries me that so many kids will compete for 75 slots per grade.
The Magnet Academy started because of NCLB. According to NCLB rules if a school was not making AYP, the district had to offer the children of the failing school an opportunity to go to a school in the district that was passing. The problem in District 131 is that all the schools are failing. So: where to send the kids.
The next idea was to farm our kids out to neighboring districts who said “Forget that, we don’t want your failing kids to screw up our scores”. No other districts would take District 131 students. The administration had to come up with some alternative for the students whose parents knew their rights under NCLB, so with no other real alternative, they started the Magnet Academy Program.
Why don’t the administrators want to reveal the test scores for the Magnet Program? Simple, if it is revealed that the Magnet Program is failing also, they are back to square one.
The district can not legally withhold or hide the Magnet School results. If somebody wanted to contact the Illinois State Board of Education, I am sure changes would be forthcoming.
Extremely poor philosophy 4:19pm. The Magnet School should stand alone with its own scores. If it doesnt, what incentive (assuming the scores are good) does anyone outside D131 have for moving into the district? East does not have a single decent performing school out of all 19. Why would they pass up the chance to not have at least one that is a star and would bring good PR to the district and the City of Aurora. Anyone who has a statistical background can tell you that the effect of rolling the scores back into the home school will be minimal. This is a big mistake to roll the score back into the home schools. Chicago does not do this for good reason. AND what by the way is an East Aurorans home school? Kids are shifted all over from school to school based on available spots not on where the kids live geographically that is why the district does not have busing. Its a big con game yet nobody seems to know about it.
Kristen Strand kids goto the Magnet School does she really fit into the community. It's a good thing the current board hired Rowley so her sons can get a good education .
I can show you a dozen more with Magnet in the name of the school and many more than with other titles that are still selective. It is required. As usual, only District 131 ignores school code.
The district should be happy they don't have busing that a good reason why other school districts are broke. I would rather provide a ride than lose a program.
as for the Magnet School parents will be able to see the progress of the Magnet School as a stand alone but they return the scores to the home school because it is a Magnet School and not a Charter School like Chicago. I also see it as start in fixing overcrowding.
Even if the scores are to be sent to the home school,like others have said, I would think they would want to show how well the Magnet School is doing. The comment made was the children are "academically talented"...not gifted! So what defines talented in D131? Chilren whose parents are willing to drive them to a school which will not tolerate the distractions the main stream have to deal with. Tardiness,disruptive behavior.....without these things all our teachers could be more effective teachers and many more of our students would be more academically talented.
Where are the scores for that school? How is it that nobody knows that information? As one person said, if they were good they would be screaming it from the mountain tops. My guess is that they are not good and the district is just using the cover of a "magnet" school to yet buy another building to house kids because the neighborhoods are overcrowded. I would hope they publish them since they have the data.
Maybe 10:47pm should check with the others on the union team this was agree on in September. Who do you know he is getting the job are you just out spreading more lies.
It sounds like Annette Johnson is at it again. Looking at nothing more than dollars and cents and ignoring our children’s education all together. The research will not support this decision. Going to a six period schedule at the high school is the worst possible choice that can be made, especially for our kids.
The six period school day will effectively eliminate elective classes at East High. For many of our students, the only reason they come to school is for their elective classes. It may automotive class or building trades or a multitude of other possibilities that motivates them to stay in school.
It has been shown in study after study that the elimination of electives drives the dropout rate way up. East high is already experiencing a dropout rate of over 50%. The last thing we need is to make choices proven to raise the dropout rate.
This is a perfect example of why we desperately need to clean house in the board and administration. It is one thing to suffer the loss of elective classes when financial circumstances forces difficult decisions but to do this at the same time the district is boasting about an 85 million dollar surplus is simply a sadistic act against our children.
If Adam Harding does take Clayton's position - it will be a great decision for the Distrct. I have found him to be dedicated to d131 - and a fine spokesperson for teachers. Why shouldn't he be able to apply for a posted position? Why does that make him a Benedict Arnold? Why can't this blog be a positive force for the district?
Blaming Annette Johnson for six periods is crazy. The Board had nothing to do with that decision. How do you think it's dollars and cents. If someone is in schools he disrict getsaid no matter what. A study was done by administration and union and it showed EA Highschool students getting less instruction time in the entire area as well a teachers getting no protected time. Thus late starts.
Yes, Annette Johnson may push us to have surveys and look at with other districts are doing but It was a decision that should have been made a long time ago. I would also suggest the students sigh up for ACT Prep.
Also, maybe Montroy needs to weight in on the issue being his wife works at East. Lets see if he is pro improving the education or just letting it be EA OK
7:20 p.m., you speak for me also! When I was in high school, the main reason I got up in the morning was to get to school and sing in the choirs. My choir director and I were able to arrange a college scholarship based upon my vocal skills. My bass voice was what set me apart in a positive way and probably kept me out of the trouble a lot of my classmates got into. And I knew a lot of kids who ran track, did art, fixed cars, or played instruments. They were like me, couldn't wait to get to school for their elective classes.
Seems to me Mrs. Montroy would be very involved in this issue since she's a guidance counselor. The Strand & Montroy pair should have the guts to speak out in our students best interests.
Adam Harding must step down from the union president position now. The fact that Adam applied for the administrative job shows us where his allegiance lies. Now we know why he supported the first contract proposal which would have required staff to do 25% more work for 2% more pay. We also see why he is on a campaign tour for Annette Johnson. He has already lost all credibility with the teaching staff. Everyone I spoke with yesterday were using words like traitor and turncoat. Their anger was very apparent.
The simple fact is the administration and union are adversarial roles and frequently, legally adversarial. Basically our defense lawyer just publicly stated that he wants to work with the prosecution against the teaching staff. It is a clear conflict of interest
Blaming Johnson for any proposed policy change is far from crazy. The woman sits in committee meetings constantly making her opinions clear. The administrators who are just trying to keep their jobs for another day are running around in circles just to keep her pleased. If there is a proposed change to the schedule 1) Johnson is behind it (and always from a bottom line perspective) and 2) Jerome is right there being her YES Man.
The board and administration can do whatever “surveys” they like. The fact is, surveys can easily be skewed by phrasing questions a certain way to obtain a predetermined result. They are unreliable. The research does not support eliminating electives, especially in a school district that already has a high dropout rate. The children need their motivating factor for coming to school.
They are weighing in. Maybe you are not searching the right spots. They have a FB page an it says: Hi, Hometown Friends! We are hosting a Community Coffee on Wednesday, Feb. 20th from 6:30 - 8:00 pm at the old Hometown Cafe on Four Seasons. Come enjoy some snacks, meet candidates Kirsten Strand, Zach Montroy, and Mary Louise Peryea and share your thoughts about our school district with us. Invite your neighbors and please join us!
Yes you can blame Ms. Johnson for 6 periods. The School Board has the final say, by way of the Superintendent. As his boss, she is/ has been calling the shots.
Those students who want to make a difference in their school CAN...by registering to vote and have your voice heard through excercising your right to vote. If you are not 18 years of age, inform your parents, family, neighbors-voting is a privilege!
Five seats on the seven member board of education will be filled at the April 9, 2013 election.
The State has already stated they are only funding State aid at 80%.
The powers that be always ask for 100% but schools never get it. Looks like are famous Tomcat Linda Chapa Lavia is trying to look like she is doing a fine job for us.
Meanwhile, in Springfield they are trying to make a law changing our retirement age.
Congrads to Alderman Lawerance for stopping her and Tom Weisner from creating a scam that would pay off Linda's husbands bad dept. I got a idea Linda and Tom should give the money to East and West 1.5 mill would come in handy
The relationship between teachers and central office does NOT need to be adversarial - it sould be a SHARED vision for kids !!! I believe that MR. Harding is respected by all who know him.
Notice that Batavia School Board "spent $13,366 in total on the one-day conference—more than $2,600 for food, $5,600 for hotel stays and $4,100 for the conference registration and class fees"
Geneva School Board just pays for Metra train fare & convention fees for their superintendent & a couple of board members to go.
Props to Annette Johnson for keeping spending down on things like this.
Then I will be voting for her because it seems the kids need more time in class and the other people running from the board. Our children deserve the best. I can't imagine the other running would want anything less. Why have we not had this in the past?
Maybe that is why it became one of the worst High Schools academically in State. The students should be in class after-all they only have a short time in school to learn all they can and prepare for college. Many students have come back and talked with the district in focus groups and talked about how they are not prepared for college writing and math.
Next year the elementary students have to start fifteen minutes early shame on the school board and administration for trying to educate the kids. When Montrose and Strand get in god help the kids all will be reversed because they don't want their husband and wife to work to hard.
The kids are behind because they were in sheltered in bi-lingual programs their entire lives and never were forced to learn English. If you go to another country you are 'immersed" in order to eat, survive. Not so here. When all of the productions at an end of the year program are in spanish, you know you're in trouble.
So fifteen minutes is going to help the students learn. Maybe giving them something to go to school would help. All in All they are just another brick in the wall. Maybe if we didn't have to have NCLB and really give them something that they want to go to school for our students will excel. We have a changing world and we need to give our students the tools to move forward in it.
I graduated from East Aurora back in 1987 and am shocked and saddened at how bad things have become.
People here honestly believe that we can reverse declining test scores, increasing dropout rates and decreasing graduation rates?
I just read that 23% of Americans are illiterate. What is the illiteracy rate in 131? What percentage of high school graduates are truly prepared for college?
Newsflash to all of you here...things are not going to get better for public education. They will only get worse.
8:00 pm is correct until this year the district followed that plan. The new bilingual program uses immersion. The single most destructive person in the last 8 years was Dr Aird. The problem with her and people like her is they feel sorry for the kids. Our children are high functioning but she has held them back. Also, she is at fault with a no common core curriculum She does not kept up with modern day teaching. I have witnessed her become possessed with her own agenda over the years and this year is the worst.
Behind closed doors she bad mouths all of her peers and the board. She feels she is unstoppable because quote " she has the support of the new candidates and the other board members are uninformed".
The only hope our district has is keeping Johnson and the silent majority support and pray she does not get fed up and walk away. Change does need to continue for East Aurora. Going back to teaching skills 20 years ago will not work.
8:32 you just reinforced 8:00 am's point. Private and home schools don't have to meet NCLB standards. NCLB did more damage to schools than positives. Whether you think Bush is to blame for the beginning of our economic troubles or not, there's no doubt NCLB is his fail.
I have been following the Strand Montroy page and have become very concerned with their tone. For people who claim to have integrity I would have to question their motives.
They have their friends log in and write against the district. They never tell you their opinion. We are not electing their friends. We are electing them. I want to know very clearly what they think and how do they intend to pay for new schools, all day Kinder or busing.
When are we going to hear from them and if they have to keep asking stupid questions that translates to stupid board members
To: February 11, 2013 at 12:44 PM, The only fantasy land I enjoy taking part in is in Orlando FL. I only stated facts as the conversations were between Ms. Johnson and me a few years back. I suspect you to be her friend up in Ward One and I had told you, at the times these things were happening, how ludicrous her offers were.
Yes, my daughter could have gotten my granddaughter in preschool. Yes, I did NOT vote on the contract and I resigned at that time due to the many lies I had been told leading up to that point. One of the main untruths I was told was when Ms. Johnson was running for the Board. She adamantly agreed we needed a new superintendent. By time the contract came up, she had done an about face and argued with me many times about keeping things as they were. She felt she was in a position to 'manipulate' the Boards employee to do what was needed or wanted and planned to vote to renew the contract. That is how she came to offer me her assistance. If I would vote in favor of the contract, she would see that those other things got done "for me." Obviously, I knew my granddaughters qualifications, more importantly, my daughter had no desire to send my granddaughter to the preschool.
I had spoken with the Superintendent and K. years before and did not have wishes to go back to that subject via Ms. Johnson. The fact she thought I needed her manipulation to accomplish nonexistent goals "for me" shows the only one living in a fantasy land is Ms. Johnson and those who post on her behalf.
Five of the Board members were going to vote for his contract and there was no need to get Rayanne to vote for it. It make no sense. Rayanne hates Johnson because of a words they exchanged over blog. Johnson told Rayanne the blog is hurtful as I have also. Rayanne has told us she thinks its funny. The purpose was for district discussion not to tear people apart. Children have been attacked of board members, spouses, and people personal lives. I am not surprised Rayanne is after Johnson now. I do know Johnson told her very bluntly she had no creditability and was hated by district administrators, and board members because of the blog. Rayanne always felt she had no respect from them.
I also doubt it was ever possible to turn Rayanne vote nor would Johnson have tried because of the issues Rayanne had with Dr Roberts and a union grievance filed against Rayanne. Many believe that is the reason she still runs this to get even for the union grievance and the fact Jack Canna asked her to lose the blog down.
We will have Rayanne to thank when we don't get a good Superintendent or pool of candiadates. Afterall who wants to be attacked all the time. No other district has to put up with this. Until you do the right thing and close it don Rayanne you have zero creditability.
Isn't funny that now Johnson says they are just letting Roberts contract run out and really she has no faith in him since she is running the district and that the last time they renewed his contract he was the same he is now they let him stay. Remember that he will get a nice pension from this district and they are afraid to fire even though he isn't doing a good job and the Board President is stepping in to do his job.
The board members now are the ones that know how things are ran and they don't have the guts to step up and say they got something for letting Roberts stay even though they knew he wasn't doing his job and they let Johnson do it to get the accomplishments for the things that are happening in the district when it should be the Superintendent.
There is no one posting on Annette’s behalf except Annette herself. Every post supporting Annette or bashing the other candidates (or anyone critical of the current system) has the same spelling and grammatical errors. They’re as good as a signature at the end of every post. It shows that you don’t have to be very literate to succeed in business. You only need to have a vindictive streak and a desire to screw everybody for your own profit.
Of course, the good thing about all the posting and the campaigning Annette’s been doing, it gives her less time to screw things up in the district. Keep her as busy as we can the next several weeks. It will take less work to correct her screw-ups when she’s gone. Maybe in April we can begin rebuilding the reputation of this district.
8:00 you are very wrong about Dr. Aird. She is actually the only one in our district who understands our community. I am guessing you are white, monolingual and mono-cultural. No wonder why you sound so ignorant. But please of course let’s leave it to Beatrice Reyes, the new queen, very Hispanic looking, with a Hispanic last name and not a word of Spanish, very shameful to have a district employee who is not proud of her heritage and who wants to push English disrespecting our students, their parents and their culture. Beatrice is Annette’s puppet and Diane Argueta is Beatrice’s puppet. That’s another one that we can’t stand. She thinks she is big, well, she is big, but she is only keeping her job because she is too afraid to be herself. She is not good at her job and she is only there because Beatrice does all the thinking for her. Our district is really going nowhere.
You're a damn liar 8:39PM! You think Annette is writing all these pro Annette blog posts! How narcissistic do you think I...uh...she would have to be to do something like that? She is a wonderful woman and very dedicated to helping all those welfare kids get through high school. So I'm voting for myself...or...uh...Annette to continue this perfect reign over all these incompetent...competent...uh...yeah...gotta go...
The truth about Rayanne is her stories about Roberts and his contract coinside with Zack and Kristen's new Question of the week. The real story was Rayanne was upset with Anita and Annette because they both voted to renew his contract. None of the other conservations took place, I asked Rayanne many times why she resigned and at time nothing came up. Yes, Dr Roberts was kept because he did stablize the finances. Look at the other districts around. We have in a very short time put many things back into the schools like, more music, band, art, sports, computers, bought new building, expanded preschool, grew the magnet program, increased instruction time, hired over 200 new teachers, gave them a voice at the reform committees and many things too numerous o mention. Yes, all these things take time to implement and a new superintendent would have never been able to move with such speed. Zack and Kristen and their few supporters mostly people who do not live in Aurora can only create negativity and pull the district down at this point to get elected. They are telling residents who horrible things are. Really, why don't they tell them their property taxes got frozen.
Zack openly denounced the blog at the last meeting but continues to take Rayannes support. That speaks volumns. Lets also not forget Zacks wife recently spoke praising Dr Roberts. Can't have it both ways Zack.
Johnson is busy working on a knew program to bring every child attending a K to 12 program a take home computer. It's funny The Strand boys already benefit from her program. Kristen is more than happy to take it. If she has so much integrity then why not give the computer to a low income child.
The program is called Community based computing and it will not cost the tax payers nothing. They will soon announce the grant that will become the springboard to this program. The free computer grant is a result of personal relationships Johnson has in the community. The buildings at 131 will soon all become wireless. Again a result of another grant and the vision of the Superintndent to have two grant writers.
I would hardly say she was no time to campaign or become negative like her oppontents who encourage teachers to become negative until the teachers get he facts.
Johnson is busy trying to get every kid a computer in the district and I am impressed they have a plan. It was clear that after test results came back from Johnson School it was the only way to give our teachers the tools to increase test scores. Noboby can improve overcrowding unless the district builts 2 new schools New schools or busing would see large tax increases and financial ruin for all residents so the solution is increased technology. Johnson School became the most improved because large class sizes being taught off I Pads and it gave the teacher a big advantage. Kids working in groups and are learning. They can be off on their own working on a App but because of the App used they are playing a game. Certainly more fun than paper pencil or books.
Changing the learning divide is giving a low income family access to a computer in their home and we will see the wheels in motion next week.
Intergrity is not running for a position that your family financially benefits from. Recently Ms Weit turned down a position to be on the Aurora Housing Board because her and her husband had property that received rent from Aurora Housing.
Zack Montroy and Kristen Strand should have had the same ethics. I am more troubled because they are Ministers and should show better moral character.
That said I do believe this blog contributes to many peope stepping up and running. It is sad out of 14,000 parents of students that attend d131 nobody steps up.
My choice will be to return Johnson and Leonard and vote for the two new candidates in the two year term.
I too would like to see change but I really have a problem with the conflict situation.
Thanks Annette! Not for patting yourself on the back but for the computer thing. Yeah! At D131 we make it easy for all our kids to have access to porn. "Did you get your homework done?" "No but I cyber bullied, played video games, and watched porn."
There’s an article in the Beacon this evening. It says that Sheila Conrad is out as principal at East High at the end of the year. It also stated that Joseph Talluto (the principal at Waldo resigned effective immediately. It stated that he was placed on administrative leave at the beginning of the week pending an investigation.
It’s too bad that Wilson Morales didn’t have the integrity to do the honorable thing and resign when it was clear that he beat up a middle school student. I’d like to think that Joseph Talluto did the honorable thing by choice but it just may be he didn’t have a wife who was the superintendent’s secretary to protect him.
Another stupid argument from 7:53 - Don't let kids have computers because they might look at porn.
Really?
Maybe people shouldn't drive because they might get in an accident.
Again, PARENTS need to supervise their children and make sure the right things are being done with the resources provided to them.
But I can see your point. In a district where 99% of the parents are dead beats who don't give a crap about their kids, maybe they should not get computers.
Maybe the posters are a going away present everyone in Central Office was shocked when Aird gave Clayton a transgender doll as a going away present. It shows she just laughed in everyone's face about the confusion and anger she created for so many parents, staff and teachers. It also shows her disrespect.
She needs to move on but without Johnson in charge everyone knows Jerome will not have the balls.
Central Office had a big party today for Clayton at the expense of the Board. the overwhelming theme is they finally got the Board to fight among themselves enough so they won't have to work at all.
Ray Hull got the I cant read and stool pigeon award.
Anita Lewis got the goody two shoes award.
Stella and Maryanne got the drunk of the year award
Nacho got the dumb Mexican award.
Leonard got the Patronage employee of the year award
And Johnson got the dethroned queen bee award. BTW it was the same award recycled from Dee Weaver.
Jerome just laughed all the way to the bank and said it took him four years to get her.
The new joke is the new board will wait for a answer from god and we all know how long that takes.
many of the slight majority just feel bad for the kids. There was a day when the board was united and people actually worked out of fear for their jobs but no more thanks to Leonard and Hull
BTW Jerome proclaimed that he has another sixteen months of doing nothing. Even if the new board attempts to get rid of him they are so busy fighting with themselves they will not have time to get to him.
He will be out of town after Tuesday because quote he won't miss the show working on his new consulting career as a Read 180 salesman.
He told everyone he just needs a couple of assignments to pay for boat fuel and his new BMW. Seems life is treating Jerome well. Two BMW's a Porsche, and a new vacation house.
At least Johnson had everyone working she may have treated them like dogs but now everyone knows they can run to Hull and she is afraid he will call her a racist for abusing Jerome.
I think Montroy & Strand have proven to have excellent moral character and can make decisions based on 17000 students.
No one complained when Salinas voted on his wife's contract. Or Bob McCue made construction decisions while making money off the district for his company....the list goes on. There are many instances that never made it to the public knowledge.
I guess the powers of this district could be compared to drug addiction. Those making the "choices for excelllence" are causing us to hit rock bottom. Hopefully it makes us stronger after they are gone and doesn't kill us first.
You have to ask yourself why are so many employees are choosing to leave. Many are NOT bad employees as someONE on this blog wants us to think. I won't try to sing the praises of the outstanding employees who have chosen to leave us in the last 4 yrs. It will only lead to more slander by those who want to make excuses.
220 comments:
1 – 200 of 220 Newer› Newest»Integrity is the current Board they have cleaned up problems that existed for years. Intergity is not running your opponent in the ground like the so called ministers keep the change coming
According to the schedule sent out by Clayton, the next political rally for Annette Johnson will be at Beaupre on Tuesday at 7:30 AM.
How do you know any of the board is not posting about the others since none post under their name.
They cleaned up things that others have brought to their attention. Employees and others told the board about the insurance mess for awhile and not until they came up for re election did something happen. As far as the credit cards they took them away but did they make those that misused the pay the district back. They still employee a Superintendent that lets the board do his job.
Why do you think this is political? The majority of the teachers can't vote in the election since they don't live in district. Wake up and be an adult. Nothing political about it, as it has been mentioned at all of these meetings this was a promise that is being enacted from negotiations. If you believe differently why don't you go to the source rather than post and drag people through the mud....
I'm glad to see the meetings. If it took an upcoming election to push them to happen, so what? They're a good thing our district is doing!
Lets fact check the Kristen and Zack lie machine
At Bardwell Scott Strands own union President stood up and told the group this was a mid year climate check that the Superintenent and board president agreed to. Some wild stories seem to be circulating around the school. That the board expects teachers to aise scores 30%. That we will all be fired if we don't meet and exceed. Johnson addressed that and said we are happy with your progress. Adam Harding told us we have a voice at the reform committees the majority of us have chosen to believe Adam. Adam for years has been a great instructional leader. If Scott wants to change the district then he needs to start in his classroom. He also needs to join the reform committees.
These are the Committees
RTI and PBIS
Assessments
Disipline
PLC
Afer School
That is how you make a difference and if Dr Roberts and Ms Johnson agreed to this and Adam says so then I believe him.
First, let address the meeting are political. If that's the case most of he teachers can't vote so why would Johnson or Roberts waste their time?
Why would the distrct have allowed these committees and given permission to the committees to generate action out of them that will end up going to Curiculum and the entire board voting on them.?
Starnd and Montroy at one time were apart of board activities and Ms Lewis had meeting with the Superintent, Clayton and Kristen to implement KIds Hope. the District also pays Kids Hope for finger prints. It seems like they have tried everything in their power to move the kids ahead in this district. Kristen and Anita had friendship for many years. It is not like Kristen did not have many opportunities to tell Ms Lewis the board was not headed in the right direction.
Zack and Jackie Montroy have worked on a mentor program with Clayton, Anita and Annette so again it seemed like everything was fine.
The real story is Marin Gonzalez her friendship with Jackie has shaded the real workings of the board and the community working on solving problems.
maybe they should all sit down with each other and stop hurting the district.
One always remembers negative things are blown up the good is never talked about.
The Devil speaks with a folded message. That is the Campaign of Zack.
Wife Jackie gets up at a recent meeting and accuses the board of not expecting blame but praises Dr Roberts for excepting blame. Yet Jacks husband runs around telling everyone he is going to get rid of Roberts and Roberts is a bad leader. Which is it Jackie and Zack?
The only message they have been consistent on is the board is horrible. This falls right into the Marin Gonzalez message. the board bullied administrators. The one person who spreads that word is Marin because the board demoted her. Her ego could not take it and turned them down So her only mover was to return to a classroom. She then looked and looked and no other district would hire her. Now she blames the board because she had to take a principals job in Chicago and live in Chicago 5 days a week. Marin caused months of back stabbing in Central office and it is a repeat all over again. If you want Marin in control vote fr Zack and ask Jackie why Dr Roberts was a great leader and now he is not.
Sounds like a great program. Why are we not talking about this
Aurora) – East Aurora School District 131 is hosting a public Information Session and Open House for the Fred Rodgers Magnet Academy on Thursday, February 7 at 6:00 p.m. at East Aurora High School.
All families who reside in the school district’s boundaries with students in 3rd -12th grades during the 2013-2014 school year are invited to attend, including families who currently live in district and attend private and parochial schools.
The Magnet Academy Information Session and Open House will afford families the opportunity to learn more details about the successful educational institution that is the first of its kind in this area.
Administrators and teachers will be on hand to discuss the school’s Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM) curriculum, the application and lottery process, and the new initiative that will provide a personal laptop computer for EVERY student who is enrolled at the school beginning in the 2013-2014 school year.
“We are going to bring personal access to technology to every child enrolled in the Magnet Academy. This will not only have a direct impact on the student, but on the family as well students will be able to take the computers home each night,” said Annette Johnson, President of the East Aurora Board of Education.
Currently, Magnet Academy students in 6th -8th grades are participating in a pilot 1-to-1 Computing Initiative that provides personal laptops for each student to use at school and home during the school year. That program will expand to all grade levels next school year.
“My laptop has literally made my access to education limitless,” said Oscar Miranda, 8th grade Magnet Academy student.
Because of the direct access to technology, the Magnet Academy has become a textbook free campus with lessons being taught via computers, Smartboards, and other technological devices.
The Fred Rodgers Magnet Academy will also physically expand to its own full-service school building in August of 2013. Currently, the educational institution located at 501 College Avenue, which was previously Madonna High School, Aurora Central High School, and the Fred Rodgers Community Center, is being renovated to house 450 students in a state-of-the-art S.T.E.M. educational institution.
The Magnet Academy was established in 2008 for students who are academically talented and interested in math, science, and technology. The Magnet Academy uses the Common Core standards and a STEM curriculum to enrich and expand learning concepts beyond the standard curriculum.
Open to all 3rd – 12th grade students who live in the East Aurora school district, the Magnet Academy currently has openings at all grade levels. After completing an online application, all qualified applicants are placed into a public lottery for selection. Once enrolled, students remain in the school as long as they continue to meet the qualifications.
Complete details about the new online application process, lottery selection, STEM curriculum and the 1-to-1 Computing Initiative will be discussed during the Magnet Academy Information Session and Open House on Thursday, February 7 at 6:00 p.m. at East Aurora High School’s Freshman Center. Enter through Door #42. Session will be conducted in English and Spanish.
For more information, please contact Angela Rowley, Magnet Academy principal, at 630.978.9482 or arowley@d131.org
Learn more about the Magnet Academy at www.d131.org
What is integrity?
Integrity is when a teacher refuses to kiss administrators' behinds, and instead stands up for what their students and parents thinks is best...even if it means that teacher risks losing their job.
That's integrity.
Get over it.
Get over what, 7:03 p.m.? Why should we "get over" integrity?
10:07 am Your comment is a bit confusing, if I understood you correctly you are trying to say everyone got along working on projects geared towards the student community, but now are not in agreement any longer.
Lets take another POV and consider this. Once outside people got involved more intimately with the current board, they realized the hypocrisy that was veiled in a facade of integrity. Just a thought....
So, because most staff don't live in the district, Johnson's sudden interest in meeting with the teachers and other staff must not be politically motivated? If she can't get their vote, why bother! Give me a break! Teachers are in the thick of things every single day. The people that actually work in the schools actually care about the kids! I have been in this district for many years and know many district people in many district buildings. Johnson, Roberts, other board members and district office employees are NEVER in the buildings. NEVER!!! I'm sorry, never is an exaggeration. NEXT TO NEVER!!! An occasional cameo to get in the paper. It's the "kiss the baby" strategy. Teachers and staff deal with parents! Community members! Voters! Oh yeah! Let's see...if we can BS those teachers maybe they won't talk so much to the people who vote. They won't mention all the CRAP that goes on. They won't encourage change. Most of the newer district employees would have no clue if Johnson or Roberts were standing next to them. Where have you been? You're going to show up now! UP YOURS! HOW INSULTING! All the positive Johnson comments on this blog ARE FROM JOHNSON! The fact is you screwed up the finances, you have thieves working for the district. You protect incompetent people who screw up one six figure job by giving them another to screw up. Speaking of that, when has that guy ever shown up to a sporting event?! What the hell is his job?!!! Lose the dead weight! Hire more teachers for the kids! FOR THE KIDS!!! Remember them?! Get out the pitch forks and torches and run all those people out of town! The children have suffered long enough! Voters! I implore you! The people in the schools are not the enemy or the problem! They actually care about your kids and their future! Vote out the the Greed, the Mismanagement, the Liars, the Thieves, all the people that are not allowing your child a fair shot at life! WE NEED CHANGE!!!
Who the heck is Fred Rodgers and why is one of Easts schools named after him.
Look at the agenda a teacher is getting fired after 15 years of service because she can't pronounce words in Spanish well yeah right. Bardwell again, then you wonder why the climate is so bad.
Johnson has many supporters in the district including the union. I am a rep. And know she settled the contract not Dr Roberts or his administrators. Joan Glozabach sat with Jay Augustine, Deanne Adams and Aird and never said a word. Your Union brought up problem after problem and not one solution. Until we voted the contract down Johnson was not involved nor was Roberts. Ask around to reps in negotiations. Johnson came in asked for a survey and the Union came back with the list. That is why the committees got formed. They took the entire list and put teacher problems into lists. Harding was given full release to work on the problems. We have poor administration and the board needs to clean house starting with Nestor, Aird, Adams, Glozabach and Roberts. They have made some progress getting rid of Marin, Auustine and Chuck Roberts. They also need to look at the Principals. EHS, Simmons, Waldo, Johnson, Bardwell, Hermes, Gates and Oak Park all need to leadership. Leadership starts at the building levels. Johnson's mistake is thinking she gets Dr Roberts to work he lies to her all the time. We need to ask better questions and not believe our building leaders about the board. If you see her don't be afraid to ask. I know the work bully is spread by administration . In the unions workings with her she is very anti administration.
As far as the rest of the Board they are never seen, Leonard is around with the maintenanace but could care less about the Curiculum.
8:48- I am a parent and a community member and I could not have said it better. I appreciate your rebuttal to all the, well few fans of the current Board and super that keep trying to put present business decisions in a positive light.
I hope people get serious about the schools and vote this election. Our district needs help.
Very well stated 8:48 pm. To add a little to what you wrote, not only is there a sudden interest to meet with teachers, but think about why none of the teachers are allowed to go out of district to attend workshops for the county wide institute day. Administration is basically keeping all teachers on "lock down" that day. Does anybody really believe that they think PBIS is so important that all district employees have to meet at the high school that day. Come on! We've been doing PBIS for years, it's not rocket science. We all know why nobody is allowed to go out of district. After all the bad publicity this year, administration doesn't want us answering the question of "what the heck is going on @ d131".
The current board has a list of accomplishments a mile long blaming them for poor decisions of the past will not get you anywhere. Wghat is the plan with anyone else that will come in and run the schools. Vote for the person who wins the debates is that not what the informed voter does?
Try being a community member or parent in West Aurora. But then we have Marin's husband Bob to solve all our problems. Because of Steve Ormond we have over 1 million in lawsuits. Our Liability Insurance doubled and all the Board members take trips all over. This year alone they have taken trips to San Diego, and Boston twice. Why don't you move west Johnson the community in 129 needs you.
"Keep your eye on those who cause dissensions & hindrances (Greek = "occasions of stumbling") contrary to the teaching, and turn away from them." (Apostle Paul / Romans 16:17)
This defines the three Ministers and the Campaign they are running. It also defines a false prophet.
Dr Aird is poison and Kristen Strand backs her. Just listen to her husband Scott the worst teacher at Bardwell. Everytime we get Scott's kids we know they are not prepared. It is public record the board /community should question why he is still a teacher. FOIA the district and ask for his classes performance.
He teaches 3rd grade. If you stand up to Groh, Villa or Aird you get classroom informal visits and harassed all the time. Not Scott that why his wife is running for the Board.
Take a look, and take a closer look on the two teachers and their students performance that got formal remediation plans filed. The quite majority know and the reason we cant leave the district is Dr Air Head made us the laughing stock.
9:36 p.m., you are wrong about Scott Strand. He is an excellent teacher! My grandson had him last year at Bardwell.
Low test scores often reflect poor parenting, not teaching. My grandson got good scores on his achievement tests last year.
And I don't know Mrs. Strand personally, but she seems to have a real dedication to helping our district. I will probably vote for her because we need some fresh ideas on our school board. Like others have said, I'm uncomfortable with the Marin Gonzalez connection but nobody's perfect.
THIS IS WHAT YOUR CURRENT BOARD HAS DONE FOR THE LAST FOUR YEARS. While some want to portray our district as not moving forward for selfish reasons the community needs to be informed. It is also important to note Leonard, Johnson and Cervantes have grown up on the East maintained residence, and graduated from East Aurora. Stella Gonzalez taught for better than 12 years and resides on the East Side.
1. REDUCED THE EAST AURORA SCHOOL TAX LEVY FOR 2012!
2. We have an A PLUS financial rating from the State of Illinois
3. With 85 Million in Cash Reserves, we have the largest reserves of our peer schools.
4. Purchased the new Early Childhood Learning Center on Reckinger Road
5. Established the Magnet Academy and purchased the Root Street property which is currently being rehabbed. When it open in the fall of 2013, it will alleviate over crowding in many of our schools and offer state of the art facilities for our students. The focus on Math, Science and Technology will better prepare our students for college.
6. Hired 200 new teachers and guaranteed their three year contract and jobs while the State continues to make cuts in public education
7. Gave teachers a total of 24% in raises catching starting teachers up to what others districts are paying.
8. Negotiated new insurance contracts that resulted in millions in savings
9. Established on-line courses for students' convenience and enrichment resulting in a virtual classroom
10. Provided fifteen minutes of extra classroom instruction.
11. Ensured that an equitable bidding process is in place.
12. The new Student Information System is up and running
13. In process of implementing a new accounting system
14. Test scores have increased
15. Smart Boards installed in all classrooms
16. Purchased new textbooks for all core areas
17. Restored, art, music and sports programs at the elementary level
18. Put gifted program into all of our schools
19. Increased the number of pre-school classrooms
20. Brought special ed students back to our district at a savings of over $1,000,000
21. Gave the band $250,000 to purchase new instruments at elementary, middle and high school levels
22. Partnered with Communities in Schools to provide after school programs in every building
23. Provided additional funds to our NJROTC, the largest in the country.
24. Invested over 20 million in rehabbing our buildings over the last four years.
More bullying in the form of name calling from the blog. I'm so glad there are no more "curse" words on here. Now all we can do is insult people with names like "Dr. Air Head" "Shrek" and "Donkey."
Yeah, naughty words are much worse. Good call "blog administrator."
6:07am As a Bardwell grandparent you may receive the benefits of a mentor program Scott and his wife run out of Bardwell on Saturdays. Little benefit to students is achieved other than bring Naperville church members into our community to feel good about themselves. The message is clear we will give you help you will join community 4:12. They are building a church with district funds not building a community.
We have a janitor come open the building, plow our lot, heat our building, clean our building. When questioned our wonderful board and weak superintendent caved. There is no Church and State separation. She like Clayton run illegal organizations out of the buildings. She uses Clayton on district time to promote her cause at church events
They have gotten 400 families to join Community Christian these families are being taken away from Community churches that existed for years. Our Lady of Good Council is one example.
As for Scott being a good teacher you are a parent ask for data on him verses other teachers at Bardwell. Ask about the two teachers Anna Groh terminated because they dared to ask questions.
The board needs to do the right thing and reinstate the Bardwell teacher that was good enough to teach your children for 14 years Monday we will be watching.
Comments posted here need to be factual. When they are not, they sound immature and disrespectful. They make teachers who work for 131 feel emmbarrassed to work for our district. Personal attacks are shameful and only bring bad energy.
LOL 9:19pm.
When I started reading your message I thoguht to myself-'yes! someone else is making a point about the current board."
Then I realized you were targeting the new candidates. Funny how our thoughts ran in the same direction, but very different POV.
I disagree 6:07am... Majority of Parents of the children attending schools today don't even have a HS diploma. We send our children to school everyday to be taught by teachers that have been to school and have got an education. If teachers are not going to do what they are being paid to do, well why be there? Our kids can learn nothing in the streets!!!!!!!!
I would suspect the name callers are from the same group giving credit to the present board for things already in the works before they existed as a board. Always tryin to give credit where it is not due and scapegoat others for their shortcomings. Voters beware!
Ok, who's the wise guy that put d131 in charge of lighting at the superdome?
Integrity---not something most people posting on this blog have with all the lies and false statements that are being put on here!
Community 4:12--ALL the money goes directly back into the schools hands. People from all around donate their time and toys to this event...again ALL money goes directly back to the school. Community 4:12 gains nothing financially.
If you are so worried about people attending other churches, maybe you should look into why! Obviously, your church isn't "feeding" its attendees.
Stop trashing Jacki on this blog! She is an amazing social worker, she advocates for her students and does right by them!
The whole Marin thing...what makes you think she wants to come back here? She is more than thrilled with where she is...learn the facts people, use your brains. Be someone with integrity!
To: February 3, 2013 at 7:58 AM
Sounds good on the surface but let's dig in a little.
1. REDUCED THE EAST AURORA SCHOOL TAX LEVY FOR 2012!
Yet no one has had their taxes reduced even one penny
2. We have an A PLUS financial rating from the State of Illinois .
Unfortunately, we have an F rating in education. Maybe, they should spend some of that surplus on teachers and students.
3. With 85 Million in Cash Reserves, we have the largest reserves of our peer schools.
85 million in the bank and the children have 20 year old text books and the teachers are the lowest paid in the 6 county area. Somebody should inform the board that we are institution of learning, not a for-profit business.
4. Purchased the new Early Childhood Learning Center on Reckinger Road.
I’ll give you that one. They are good at purchasing things to boost their image.
5. Established the Magnet Academy and purchased the Root Street property…
The Magnet Academy was established before this board was seated (the current board simply overpaid for a building the City of Aurora had a practice of donating to previous groups) and all our students deserve state of the art facilities, not just the privileged few the board decides.
6. Hired 200 new teachers and guaranteed their three year contract and jobs while the State continues to make cuts in public education
Hired 200 new teachers? Yet somehow class sizes have increased to up to 40 kids per class (more in PE classes)? Something doesn’t add up here.
7. Gave teachers a total of 24% in raises catching starting teachers up to what others districts are paying. Here is an example of the 24% increase you are talking about:
Lane 28 with a masters + 48
2012-2013 $ 87,266
2013-2014 $ 86,132
2014-2015 $ 85,290
I’m not a CPA but that is not an increase according to my calculator. In fact according to my basic math background, that is a major decrease, especially when you factor in cost of living.
8. Negotiated new insurance contracts that resulted in millions in savings
I’m sure the district is saving money, I paid over $10,000 in doctor bills last year that the new district supplied insurer refused to cover. Services that were covered by Blue Cross Blue Shield the year before.
9. Established on-line courses for students' convenience and enrichment resulting in a virtual classroom. This is the first time I’ve been made aware of this program (if it exists) but I would argue that the children belong in classrooms with teachers, not sitting behind a computer, who knows where with no supervision.
10. Provided fifteen minutes of extra classroom instruction.
A complete lie, there is no extra time spent teaching. Elementary teachers are just in the buildings for an extra 15 minutes as required by the new contract. They do not spend one more minute in class.
11. Ensured that an equitable bidding process is in place.
Now run by the buddy of a board member (with no certifications). Recent example includes hiring a bus company that is charging the district 1.7 million dollars more than the bus company we have had for the past 20 years for the exact same services. I think I want the old system back.
12. The new Student Information System is up and running
And what did that cost the district? No transparency. The teachers have had no formal training on this system. They have simply been required to spend personal time to figure it out for themselves.
13. In process of implementing a new accounting system
A system that was obviously needed for years and is being revamped now that it is election time. Has there been any accountability for the hundreds of thousands in missing receipts by administrators? No! We are just supposed to trust that they did the correct things with our money.
14. Test scores have increased
Some areas have increased, some have decreased. There has been no major improvement in the past 4 years. District 131 academics are still rated in the bottom 5% in the state.
15. Smart Boards installed in all classrooms.
Unfortunately, a majority of the staff has no clue how to implement the boards to improve education. Without proper training, it is a waste of money.
16. Purchased new textbooks for all core areas
Yet most students are still using 20 year old textbooks? Again, things just don’t add up. Maybe the new accounting system will be able to figure it out.
17. Restored, art, music and sports programs at the elementary level.
Partially false, Art was restored for 4th and 5th graders only. Music and sports were already in place.
18. Put gifted program into all of our schools
The program is gifted in name only. These classes would be average in most other school districts. The process of placing our best students in the same classrooms has also placed our worst students in classes together. A fact that is compounded with the extremely large class sizes we have had since this board was seated. Just imagine 40 problem children all in one classroom.
19. Increased the number of pre-school classrooms
This is true but has also been a major contributor to the overcrowding in the buildings.
20. Brought special ed students back to our district at a savings of over $1,000,000
You must be referring to the Quad County Urban League. A program every other school district has withdrawn from because their students were not receiving the services they should be. Only District 131 Board is more concerned with money than children.
21. Gave the band $250,000 to purchase new instruments at elementary, middle and high school levels Gave the band? Wow, it’s as though they are reaching into their own pockets to donate money. Just an FYI, it is the boards duty to make sure that our programs are properly supplied. $250,000 sounds impressive when you lump it all together like that but it actually comes out to an average $15,625 per building. Now, considering that the band program has been neglected for 30 years, you realize this is just a drop in the bucket of what is needed. Maybe, they should have dug a little deeper into that 85 million dollars they are bragging about.
22. Partnered with Communities in Schools to provide after school programs in every building Communities in Schools has been providing services in our buildings for many years, long before the current board was seated.
23. Provided additional funds to our NJROTC, the largest in the country.
Shouldn’t the Navy be supplying these funds as the program is a recruiting tool for them?
24. Invested over 20 million in rehabbing our buildings over the last four years.
Yet our buildings and grounds are falling apart. I’m sure somebody got 20 million dollars. Perhaps they should have been more frugal with where the money is actually going. Even with a thousand trips to Menards, I’m sure the district maintenance guys have not spent anywhere near 20 million. Where did that money go?
Yes, our buildings are a joke. They are not even up to basic standards. Walk through east high today. You will go through at least 10 different climate zones. I am not talking about a few degrees in temperature. I am talking about super cold 60 degrees to incredibly hot 80+ degrees. Also, you will encounter variances in humidity and in some parts of the building you can even feel breezes because the windows don't seal.
They could spend all of that 85 million on the buildings and I don't think they would still be where they should be.
The only reason we have as much money as we have is because it ISN'T SPENT ON THE KIDS. It isn't spent on giving teachers what they need, or fixing the buildings, or even employing enough people to make the district run smoothly.
Hi Everyone:
Feel free to pass this to anyone and everyone who might benefit from it. I am writing on behalf of retirees who have been stripped of their insurance benefits from the district. There is a policy in effect since 1975 (which HR and the Board did NOT know about) that simply states that when we retire, if we meet the criteria, we have the option of remaining in the Hospital-Surgical-Medical and Major Medical insurance plan at the basic premium rates plus 15%. It says more but that is the crux of the policy. Once the insurance scandal broke with the firing of Penny Halvax and the retirment of Jay Augustine, the Board has decided to update the policy by eliminating it as soon as possible. They gave us less than two weeks last December to decide what we needed to do, as the new rates they were willing to give us were Cobra rates and more than doubled our current rates. After much hassle, we were able to get into the TRS insurance if that is what we chose, since they do not have open enrollment until May. (Long story short). In a nutshell, what this means, is that when you retire, you will have TRS or nothing unless you go out on your own. We all know hard difficult private insurance is. Past retirees have formed a group, CORE (Committee of Retired Employees) to attempt to get our message out and plead with the Board to not make this change. If at all possible, come to the Board meeting tonight, 7pm. There will be some of us speaking, including myself. They didn't like what I said at the last Board meeting and they certainly won't like what I have to say tonight. There is so much more to this mess which is way too long for this email (you probably wouldn't read it all anyhow-HA), but if you are retiring this year, close to retiring, or want to save one of the few perks we as teachers get, show your support by coming tonight and/or emailing me or calling.
By the way-RETIREMENT IS GREAT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Has anyone seen the test scores of the kids that are in the magnet program? It has been in existance for over 5 years. Any scores? Are they any better than the other schools in the district? If there are no results to share then why did the district spend the money on buying a building and everything else if there are not scores to support such a move. OR is this just another school with a 'label' to alleviate overcrowding?
Central Office PSA...Adams is back
Here is another example of the Board or the Superintendent not knowing the policies February 4, 2013 at 10:23 AM. Try and find some one who would do a class action suit against them if their was a policy they did not follow they should be accountable. Was this a policy of The Illinois School Code or a district one? If it is in the code maybe contacting the State Board of Education could help.
It shows the board members do not read their board packet. They should have been knowledgeable ad asked all their questions before coming to the meeting. I don't thing Stella Gonzalez, Truza, Hull and Leonard even know how to turn on a computer. The board is a joke.
Saw this on Openline Blog:
Openline scoops the Beacon again.
Well the dumb blond better known as Stefanie Lulay kisses Carrie Anne fat ass The Wiz hires none other than Clayton Muhammad away from the East Aurora schools. Paying over $100K per year to be his spokes person. Tom is worried that Rick is beating Bob O'Connor on this issue of schools and the neighborhoods.
We all know the East Aurora schools are overcrowded and disfunctional because of Tom. A school district can not have as many poor students, non English speakers, and overcrowding.
Clayton will be on board to tell everyone who great the schools are and write Bob O'Connor's speeches so he can answer such charges.
Openline has learned Clayton will be on this full time.
Has the Mayor not done enough for the schools stealing him in the middle of the school year, leaving poor East without a spokesperson
Numbers don't lie Mr Mayor and you created the East Aurora school then you charged them for the Root St building.
Maybe Clayton can meet with all the gangs and stop the violence. Like the Mayor told ABC is all due to Boys to Men the illegal group Clayton runs. I thought last week it was the police.
2/5/13, 1:26 AM
More from the "other blog":
Anonymous said...
Clayton Muhammad can now spin Aurora news in his own inimitable style, the way he's been spinning D131 news for years. Maybe murderers will now be described by the mayor's office as "lifespan adjusters". Must preserve IMAGE, after all!
2/5/13, 8:20 AM
Anonymous said...
I remember when Clayton Muhammad said the kids who got Division III at a high school music contest had "won bronze". Now he gets to be the Mayor's spinmeister.
Maybe Aurora's motto should be "Second to None in Protecting Our Image...and who cares about the facts?"
Here's an opportunity to do something positive, to help our kids:
Our band students throughout the district are selling Butter Braids, from now until Feb. 22nd. There are 6 flavors (apple, cherry, cream cheese, bavarian cream, and raspberry), and are 1 lb. 6 ounces each (serves 11 people). Cost is $12.00. Money earned from this sale will benefit our band students of all ages, including helping to fund our summer band camp.
Place your order with any D131 band student. Don't know a band student? Call any of our schools and ask to speak to a band director--or go online to the district website.
What a DELICIOUS way to support our kids!
In Board Policy 500.30 that talks about Insurance it also states that the district pays for the insurance and nothing about the employees paying anything but it is said that the employees to pay some so again no one is following policy.
Central office news is the new maintenance guy, Leonard's buddy Marty Feltes lost all heat at the service center.
Rumor is no heat for a month. That is progress.
Don't kid yourself, the heat will be back on today even if they have to hire a fleet of outside contractors to get it done. We can't let administrators be inconvenienced.
At Simmons, we have had areas of the building with heating and air conditioning problems for years that never get fixed. A while back, the office lost their air conditioning one morning. Outside contractors were brought in and it was repaired toot sweet, the same morning. The kids and teachers are still suffering.
It never changes in District 131.
The Beacon finally catches up:
http://beaconnews.suntimes.com/news/18027620-418/muhammad-leaves-east-aurora-to-be-named-to-city-post.html
Good Riddance. No more EEEEE AAAAAAA
Who are these retired teachers at he Board meeting they announced they are from Naperville. It was clear they wanted a handout . If you had been in he audience they had been given thumbs up signs by Zack and Kristen's husband.
Residents beware if the current board is not reelected Strand and Montroy will hand all the freebees to out of town teachers while the residents here don't have any insurance.
If Muhammed's going to be the Director of Communications for the city, does that mean they're going to lay off some of the other "spokesmen"? How many spokesmen does the mayor need?
The West Aurora Board of Education received more bad news on Monday evening regarding budgeting for the next school year.
Cash flow for the district could dip to about $4 million in May
If East Aurora does not want Johnson will take her as a resident of West Aurora as a staff member at EHS I find this indefensible. I shows our entire school district is better run. Yes we have our problems but are the better school district.
How is it that a blog "scooped" the beacon.
You mean, it is easier to post something on a blog rather than in a newspaper.
God, I hope so.
News from the central office is the gross & unexcusable lack of preventive maintenance hascaught up with us in the total failure of the boiler at the central office. Was it intentional ? we don't know , it's being investigated . Weare very lucky to have Mr. feltes on the job he knows exactly what to do. Everything is under control & heat is back on. GOOD JOB MARTY
Good for the District now they can get a secretary that will sit and do the job Clayton was suppose to do. He spent his time running around for the Wiz anyway. Now the City can pay
Integrity is not Clayton as administrators they all have contracts. The true professional leaves at the end of the school year.
Wow, 20 million dollars in building maintenance and nobody knew the boiler was on it's last legs?
I wouldn't give Marty too much credit. I'm sure he didn't do much more than make a call to an HVAC company.
I would bet that if the district did an evaluation of all the boilers in our buildings, most would be failing.
I remember a few years ago when the custodians at Simmons were literally holding the heating system together with duct tape.
I don't really know enough about some people to make negative remarks. Clayton always seemed alright. I don't have a beef with him. Maybe he should of finished the school year. Maybe he is getting out before the scat hits the fan. Just like people will call Becker a quitter if he leaves. The truth is, anyone would jump ship if there was another opportunity. Why stay with this train wreck district if you don't have to. Hopefully Becker will wait for April to decide. Hopefully the people who lied to him will be out the door and a good change will take place. If Johnson stays and it is business as usual with Nestor sinking the sports ship why would Becker stay. I work at the high school and I talk to people at the middle schools and Nestor (the head of sports) doesn't show up for any of the games. This is the invented position. Becker could have been given a similar position for probably half Nestor's salary and done a better job. It didn't have to have a administrative price tag. Just an ambassador, a promoter of sports in the district along with the stipened head coach position. Clayton, good luck to you. I don't think you really have anything to do with D(ebacle)131. I'm sure trying to PR around all the dysfunction was impossible. I'm sure there are other district office employees trying to do there job while being depressed and humiliated. However the few steering this train wreck to further disaster have to go. Hang in there secretaries and other district office workers, hang in there coach Becker, hang in there D131 students and staff and community. Change is coming.
12:22PM Annette, if you're going to pretend to be a teacher at East, than proof read your blog entry.
Ray stop blaming Annette she does not blog you do Also you approved the 20 million Ray so why did you not check on how they spent the money.
we Ray has been on all the committees and talks a big game but has done nothing.
Honestly people,,,maintenance issues are bound to happen with the shear number of buildings in D131 and the age of many of them. Lets not catastrophize.
I recall Annette et al took a tour of all buildings and the boiler rooms when she first came on the Board. Her neighbor McCue was the district boiler expert before she took over as all around know it all expert.
So how is it Feltes discovered and unfound problem that is Nestors fault ????? I suspect while one 'anonymous' person is pointing a finger, 3 more fingers are pointng back at a more likely person to hold accountable.
The problems of the district whether, insurance, poor maintenance, test scores are not things that happened in the last four years. This board choose to be honest and transparent and has been made the goat for all the problems. This blog destroys everyone no matter how great of a program this blog will find a reason to rip it down.
Funny thing is West Aurora who is not transparent only has 4 million in the bank. teachers will be riffed and union contracts renegociated.
Who has a better district we do but the people who blog here are disgruntled employees who do not live in the district. They do not care for our community becauce they don't live here and that who we listen to.
Too bad for us
Denise Crosby is starting to really get a feel for how the community feels on the East Side toward our school district.
http://beaconnews.suntimes.com/news/crosby/18014396-418/east-board-still-taking-hits-muhammad-resignation-a-big-one.html
Check it out.
East is the dumping ground for the city. I am glad Clayton is taking the job with the city maybe he can brand a better image for the East Side A few years back he, Johnson and Roberts tried to bring the East Aurora up with he image campaign. Many of us remembered the talking points and the staff was asked to help. I thought it was a good program.
Now thanks to the negative blog and the mistakes of the Montroy campaign things changed. congradualtions Clayton
Denise Crosby has been covering/reporting on our district's news for a LONG time (at least 10 years). She is a very thorough, dedicated journalist.
I'd describe her as someone who has INTEGRITY.
Denise Crosby will write anything for her own benefit and with the Suntimes moving out of town she is trying to keep he newspaper afloat.
Denise promised retractions when she misreported credit card purchases and damaged professional reputations in our district with our administrators and Principals.
From the Beacon lets spread good words for our students
The East Aurora School District is hosting a public information session and open house for the Fred Rodgers Magnet Academy on Thursday at East Aurora High School.
Families who reside in the East Aurora School District with students in grades 3 through 12 during the 2013-14 school year are invited.
The Fred Rodgers Magnet Academy offers a science, technology, engineering and math curriculum for students in third through twelfth grade in a textbook-free environment. Students learn via computers and Smartboards, and beginning in the 2013-14 school year, every students at the magnet academy will be issued a laptop for school and homework.
“We are going to bring personal access to technology to every child enrolled in the Magnet Academy. This will not only have a direct impact on the student, but on the family as well students will be able to take the computers home each night,” said East Aurora School Board President Annette Johnson.
Tonight’s session will include information on the school’s STEM curriculum and the application and lottery process for being admitted to the Magnet Academy. The Academy has openings at all grade levels for next year. After completing an online application, qualified students are put into a lottery for a space in the academy.
Once enrolled, students can remain in the school as long as they continue to meet qualifications.
Complete details about the new online application process, lottery selection, STEM curriculum and the 1-to-1 Computing Initiative will be discussed during the Magnet Academy Information Session and Open House at 6 p.m. Thursday at the East Aurora High School, in the freshman center. Enter through Door 42.
Sessions will be conducted in English and Spanish.
For more information, please contact Angela Rowley, Magnet Academy principal, at 630.978.9482 or arowley@d131.org.
Why would any board want to be transparent after the way they are constantly attacked. This is why government is a broken system because of newspapers like The Beacon.
I actually feel sorry for them between the blog and The Beacon I ask myself why would someone receive no pay and get hit over the head with a two by four every two weeks.
Denise Crosby acts like they created the insurance mess when in reality it has been going on fir years. If she where a fair jjounalist she would thank them. Because of the Beacon do you think that any board in Aurora will speak out again
When it comes to reporting about east aurora,Denise Crosby is not a very through, dedicated journalist. She is a friend a good friend of Kurt Becker an has an agenda. Here reporting of monday board meeting was editorial not reporting. She has no credibility. She could care less about the people or tax payers of east aurora. Stay in Sugar Grove with Kurt, Thank You
Most people I know in Aurora think her articles are a joke,so no big deal for whatever she writes.
Hmmmmm! I'm just curious. There was a flurry of negative blogs about the Beacon and some pro Annette banter. Now,is it one ambitious person writing multiple blogs hoping to look like many, or does every pro Annette/anti Beacon blogger struggle with spelling and grammar? I love when I hear that the problems were before the current board. So the credit card issues were more than 4 years ago, B&G not keeping track of receipts was more than 4 years ago, the transgender embarrassment was more than 4 years ago, two board members insulting each other including the board president insulting all of East Aurora was a different board over 4 years ago, blah blah blah...look, I'll be nice, thanks for your service,but we have to move forward. Please step down. We need a change.
To: February 6, 2013 at 6:12 PM
You just don't get it, do you? Most of the corruption has been revealed without any help from the board. The issue is not with transparency.
The issue is that the board has covered up and protected the Malfeasance. There is no question that there has been wrong doing (whether due to greed, corruption or incompetance) by the administration and board. It creates a much larger problem when the board acknowledges the malfeasance and then protects the individuals committing the wrongful acts.
The board protected Nestor Garcia by creating an unneeded six figure position and moving him into it before exposing the corruption at buildings and grounds.
Jay Augustine was protected for years until the Beacon FOIA'd the district credit cards and even then was simply allowed to retire a month early with absolutely no consequences.
Denean Adams was caught using the district credit card to gamble in Atlantic City (when she was being paid to be at a conference). She used FMLA time to avoid responsibility. She has used the time off to complete her doctoral work and simply had to repay the public money that she was caught stealing before returning to work as though nothing happened.
Joan Glotzbach is the head of the committee that presented the LGBT Transgender policy to the board, no consequences. She is also behind the entire Bob Green fiasco costing the district who knows how much. She is head of Human Resources and so allowed Wilson Morales to get away with beating a child. No consequences.
Jerome Roberts is the superintendent in charge of all these corrupt administrators and the leader of a district that is in the bottom 5% of the state. Yet our board rewarded him with an extended contract and retain him despite all the incompetence and corruption.
The issue is not about transparency, it's about a lack of accountability.
If Denise Crosby reported false info on the district credit card debacle, why doesn't the district sue her for slander? Or better yet, why don't you enlighten us 4:30 pm?
To the post that said 'East is the dumping ground for the city'. If this is true (which I too believe it is). Isn't that like peeing on yourself? When are the leaders going to realize this...
Are you kidding me Denise Crosby having INTEGRITY, what have you been smoking. She never had and never will. Go to Chicago with all your flunkey reports, because we've got your number Denise, (KURT).
Already the tax payers when Marty Feltes saved the taxpayers ten so thousands of dollars with his idea to fix the heating. Heating that was poorly maintained for years. Yes the district did spent 20 million in four years fixing steam pipes because our wonderful maintenance department did not treat the water properly going into the pipes. Yes our building do have problems and like a old house if you have a preventive maintenance program it does not fall apart. But the district employees where to busy going to Menards and not doing heir jobs.
Yes the board made a tough choice to bring Marty in because the current people running it are inept and some are just plain crooks.
That is the type of board that needs to be reelected not people that have personal relationships for years with employees working for the district. Zack and Kristen may be ok people in their personal lives but it is difficult to be the one who cleans house when your relative has to look them in the eye.
As for the speaker Monday night he applied for he same job Marty got and although he would run the landscaping fine he has no mechanical ability
Before you start praising Marty Feltes, you might want to consider a few things. He recently did a plumbing job at the high school...a job that NEVER went out for bid. The Board can't even follow its "everything goes out for bid" policy. Apparently Mr. Leonard feels he is "above" Board policy so he can "award" contracts to his schmoozing buddies. At this "awarded" job, Mr. Feltes must have decided that he didn't need licensed plumbers to do the plumbing job. The labor board showed up, catching these unlicensed "scabs"...with pipes in their hands. Feltes was fined. Perhaps he added his fine into the cost of LICENSED plumbers he hired to do the job, and passed that cost on to the district. What a joke! Then, to add insult to injury, Mr. Feltes was "awarded" yet another job...an administrative position for which he is NOT qualified...by the lovely Board of Education. If Mr. Feltes does not even have the integrity to hire qualified people to do the work for his OWN company, what makes one think he will have any vested interest in the kind of work he will do in District 131?? Just more proof as to why D131's Board of Education is not only the laughing stock of the entire community,but living proof that "who you know" is far more important than "what you know." After all, if the Board President can tell graduating seniors that they didn't need to go to college, or further their education, why should we expect anything but a D- performance by this Board? By the way...the "D-" is a gift. I'd also bet this post doesn't get printed, or does not get printed without editing. After all, the truth hurts!
If our buildings are such a joke, why did't you complain when Augustin & his flunky Nestor were running the building & grounds dept. into the ground. Because you don't care, you just want run your filthy mouth like a fool. You have no credibility let alone INTEGRITY. You have an agenda. HAVE A NICE DAY JACKI.
Whatever you may think of Denise Crosby's journalistic abilities & style, no one can deny that she has been writing about our district for a LONG time, and has seen and heard plenty.
openline.blogspot.com/2005/04/east-aurora-students-make-noise-for.html
It sounds like Kristen & Zack think the school board is trying to bring the good old days back. It's obvious they haven't been to any board meetings or read the beaconfused. This board has fought trench warfare , working there little fingers to the bone trying to get ride of the good old days. You don't care about the tax payers or our kid's all you want is to grow your churchs.
West Aurora was 4 million in the bank period. East has 85 million. If you teach in West there is a good chance you will be laid off. Of course the Naysayers will say 131 has not spent their money. Has West Aurora? how can you run your checking account down to zero. There finance situation has been compared to a family of 4 having $1000 to live on.
There board members have been on three out of State trips this year alone and have credit cards. The East Aurora members have not taken any out of State trips nor do they have credit cards. West hides credit card purchases in there Treasury report while East has full disclosure. West has multi lawsuits because of Steve Ormond raises the liability rates 10%.
The list goes on and on in the tale of two school districts.
Where is the fair balanced reporting. The Janitor at West needed to goto CBS News to get his story told.
People at West are talking because of the poor choices all Unions are being called to emergency meetings about consessions. East has a 3 year guaranteed contract.
So what does West have that East does not Mike Chapin. If the Beacon was fair they would assign the better reporter (lulay) to West but reporting in Aurora has never been fair. \
The word is "Their" not "there" - Learn the difference.
I know some West Side Teachers and have heard them complaining about some of their cuts. Here's an example of some of the conversations.
West Side: Oh no, we just had volleyball cut down from 5 coaches to just three. East Side: Really, we've never had more than two coaches per grade level on the East Side.
West Side: Oh no, they reduced the number of teachers this year, now we have up to 28 students in most of our classes (a fact guaranteed by their contract or they receive a stipend). How are the children ever going to learn. East Side: Really, we regularly have up to 40 children in a class, even higher number than that in PE.
Here's another thought for you. I know people on the West Side with the same education and years of experience that I have. Let's say they were forced to make a $5,000 concession in pay, they would still be making $15,000 more than I am.
The fact is, we have been running a sleleton crew of a staff for decades. How can you cut the fat when there's hardly even any meat. Now you know why East Side Teachers have such an issue when they are asked to make sacrifices while at the same time the board brags about an 85 million dollar surplus.
Article in the Beacon about the candidates forum on the West Side:
http://beaconnews.suntimes.com/news/18052608-418/west-aurora-school-board-candidates-forum-march-13.html
WHERE IS EAST'S FORUM???
I mean other than the building to building campaign tour Annette and Jerome are running.
The Broard President never told seniors not to goto college she told them to use a Dual credit program to save money.
I have heard her speak many times on this topic, also Illinois Jobs for Prosperity a Harverd study taks about the emergence of 2 years training programs for kids.
It is also a program the City of Aurora is pushing.
The Board Predident has been working with Fox Valley Industrial league to bring opportunies to EA students.
Many jobs exist today that kids can make $50k a year with. Kids today need to be educated about careers.
I wish Ray would stop posting he is the only one who is present at Johnson speeches and knows about B&G.
So much for Zacks plea to the Board to be positive.
9:56 said "The Janitor at West needed to goto CBS News to get his story told."
No, he didn't. All he had to do was report it to DCFS as HE WAS REQUIRED TO DO BY LAW. As a school employee, he was a MANDATORY REPORTER. The law doesn't say "tell your boss", the law says TELL DCFS. Yes, the principal and superintendent are also mandatory reporters, and deserve prosecution, BUT SO DOES THE JANITOR. It's wrong that he's getting a freebie on this. For the rest of his life, we'll all know HE COULD HAVE STOPPED ORLAND SOONER if he had followed the law. I don't care how many other people he blames, HE HAS A PIECE OF IT TOO.
More lies & deceit from disgruntled maintenance dept. hot shots. LIE #1 board members do not hand out or sign any contracts. The board as a group will approve a contract. Mr. Leonard has no power to hand out contracts to friend or foe. If you had come to board meetings or bothered to read policy you would know this. LIE #2 Mr Feltes has never worked at east high under the feltes name, he worked with another plumbing contractor in a joint venture.(J-V) This J-V bid to Monaco Mechanical,Inc. for the plumbing part of this contract. Monaco was the low bidder on a contract to replace unit ventilators and plumbing. Monaco does not do plumbing. The J-V has nothing to do with the school district, the J-V works through Monaco Mechanical. The contract required cleaning out 40 years of trash from the tunnels so piping could be installed. This is where the laborer comes in The union wanted there man to do the work. By that time the cleaning was done but the union filed a complaint. Paper work work was exchanged and the case was closed. Labors clean floors and haul trash, they do no plumbing. So you see all that writing you did were all lies. You just can't stand change, you would like to go back to the good old days and spend spend spend. Will those days are gone and soon you will be to. You see I know who you are. HAVE A NICE DAY RAY.
Excellent rebuttal 11:03!
West Aurora passed the referendum a year before East. Now they are out of money. They are having big layoffs. I would rather have a job then no money at all
Back when Farum was President I remember some community members questioning a 20 million surplus the district had and what they did with it and the board said that the State only allows districts could have only so much in surplus.
Why if we have 82 million in surplus why are the schools ran down, overcrowded and teachers have to pay for supplies in classrooms.
The West side does post their pro cards on their list of bills. They don't use credit cards they use pro cards so that is where you have to look.
Our district did post the credit card bill under the Board judgement for awhile but then they stated putting them under a different name and not under the Board judgement so they pay a game now also.
Is clayton resigning? We have been hearing this around the buildings? If so why and when?
5:35 a.m., he tendered his resignation at last Monday's School Board meeting.
It was mentioned on here about D129 list of bills and how they didn't show the credit cards. I went and looked at their website for the agenda and here is what I found about how they show expenses.
ILLINOIS PSYCHOLOGISTS - REGISTER LISA LIACE TO
ISPA CONVENTION
1 1303582 V811716 10.5.2210.332.4620.00.00 $295.00
Staff Development conference fees
ILLINOIS PSYCHOLOGISTS - REGISTER ELISABETH
RAUSCH TO ISPA CONVENTION
1 1303582 V811716 10.5.2210.332.4620.00.00 $295.00
Staff Development conference fees
ILLINOIS PSYCHOLOGISTS - REGISTER GINA SCHOCK
TO ISPA CONVENTION
1 1303582 V811716 10.5.2210.332.4620.00.00 $295.00
Staff Development conference fees
ILLINOIS PSYCHOLOGISTS - REGISTER MIREIA VALLS
TO ISPA CONVENTION
1 1303582 V811716 10.5.2210.332.4620.00.00 $395.00
Staff Development conference fees
ILLINOIS PSYCHOLOGISTS - REGISTER EVELYN
HERNANDEZ TO ISPA CONVENTION
1 1303582 V811716 10.5.2210.332.4620.00.00 $395.00
Staff Development conference fees
Check #: 0
PO/InvoiceTotal: $2,288.99
As you can see they list with the peoples names that went to conferences and the charges. They do a good job in letting the public know how they are spending the money.
I am glad to see him go Clayton did nothing but work for the City and Boys 2 Men anyways. The article said he was starting on he 18th
It is not the P cards it is he business software they use d131 has the same software and is working on installing it. it' is bing hampered by workers that don't have Micro Soft Office skills. the software is he exact same brand West is using only difference West is up and running ours is not.
Thanks to Hull reading the first policy in hs life the board has to meet and the office can't get heat. I remember a time when a emergency was a emergency and the district could do its job then came Hull and got in way. Central office calls him the board member from hell.
Remember ladies thanks to Ray we have to listen to this noise all next week.
Hull cost the office a comfortable working environment and the taxpayers money. For years Hull allowed Nestor to spend hundreds of thousands of dollars. Now that we have a person who saves money he dogs him. Shame on you Mr Hull I wanted to come to work Monday and not hear noise
I think I need somebody to explain this to me. The Beacon reported that Clayton is making $103,000 in District 131 but actually with benefits he is making about $116,000.
What exactly were we paying the man $116,000 a year for? To run an illegal fraternity? Oh wait, I forgot, he was hired to improve the district's image in the community. How has that been going?
By the way, at $116,000, Clayton was making more than every teacher in the school district and even more than 80% of the administrators. Not bad for a man that was certified in nothing. It shows that it doesn't matter what you know, just who you know.
Now Clayton is going to the City of Aurora (supposedly to be the spokesman for the mayor) but if you have read the updates in the Beacon you will see that Dan Ferrelli is remaining the city spokesman.
Clayton is being paid his significant salary to supervise Dan Ferrelli and Kevin Stahr. That is correct, Clayton will be making with benefits six figures to supervise two people.
If anybody has some insights into this insanity, please enlighten us.
Got my entertainment today by reading this blog!
I wonder if anyone is keeping track of the fights at East High. There was another one today, that makes about one a day for the last 3 weeks. It is a very poorly managed school and Conrad has to go. Most of the students don't even know she's principal of the school. In fact I hear she is on her way out, West will not hire you so don't bother, others are interviewing for her job at East. Conrad has been the most incompetent principal we have had here at East Aurora just look at our graduation rate. We look forward to a change, and a safer school for the students and the teachers, and yes that was Mrs. Liska who got punched in face and knocked to the floor last month.
I have a concern that maybe some bloggers can help me with. I heard about the terrible murder of the West High student who was formerly an East Aurora student. My understanding is that she had just been going to West High for a few months. I have read in the papers that West High had counselors and grief workers at the high school to talk to students. I have not heard anything about counseling for East Aurora students. Did she have family in D131? Wasn't her body discovered in the area of one of our elementary schools? What about our kids? Don't they deserve counseling and help in dealing with their feelings? Did a letter go home from any administrator?
I believe there are people who post here only when they have an ax to grind. And I believe there are a couple of people wo are bitter ax grinders who post frequently.
My opinion, Conrad has done a good job with what support the central office has given her. I think she works well with the teachers and community. But she must have crossed someone to have nasty comments written about her.
Where is Clayton and his B2M boyz to save the Cty from violence. The reason the gangs are acting up is because of his new Boss Weisner. By patting himself on the back the gangs sent him a message.
As for Clayton he bailed good, he must think his good bubby Johnson will not be around to protect him anymore.
If Johnson favored you Anotherwards Clayton was the popular kid and she did favor him no work was expected.
Clayton was always out glad handing and taking pictures. Did we ever see the pictures.?
Now he can run around and clean up the mess Weisner made with the gangs. Lets see if he is truly the pied piper of stopping violence. I bet not but not he is paid big bucks to lie about.
The high school is East's biggest problem. Fights, worst academics in the state, extremely low graduation rate. Who is being held accountable?
As a person who goes to board meeting often it appears Hull can't work with anybody. He never looks the audience in the face and never once has had a positive thing to say.
He constantly complains about never knowing anything. he on the board why does he not come to the meetings prepared. it seems like he never reads anything or wants something read to him without doing any work.
So how is it he got involved in the boiler repair. The working conditions for the secretaries are really bad. It seems like everyone is just playing games.
CENTRAL OFFICE NEWS 22 Well their at it again, the high paid secretaries at central are whining about the smell & noise from the temp heaters. Because of our high paid maintenance (gym teacher nestor) guru and hislack of preventive maintenance & timely replacement of failing equp., we have a failed boiler that can not be fixed. An office that needs heat & some people have the nerve to complain & whine. they called the State dept of labor claiming they were running diesel fueled temp heaters in the office. Astate inspector came out, inspected for hours, checking air quality, nois levels, temperature & what ever. She found everything was fine, no problems at all, everything good. She actually told the secretaries they were lucky to have people around (Dr Roberts, Mr Feltes) to give them such a nice warm place to work, in these emergency conditions. These secretaries wanted the office closed & sent home with pay. what babies. Teachers put up with daily and worse. get over it. P.S. pop your head in nestors office and say thanks
There has been no plan for dealing with the districts failing infrastructure ever. Nestor kept his job for years by reducing maintenance costs to a bare minimum. Unfortunately, this meant that nothing has been replaced for many years, just patched together.
Now we have board members going after the maintenance department and creating such hurdles to maintenance (and every other form of purchasing) that it is becoming impossible to even patch things together. Is it any wonder that major infrastructure is beginning to fail?
Annette can brag about 85 million dollars in the bank for the short term but while she is bragging everything is falling apart and will cost more in the long run to deal with.
Wow, I'm surprise that a State inspector came out so quick. If I was smelling diesel fuel I would call the fire department they would be the one to really make a judgement on that.
I would think the Superintendent or the board would make sure there was a policy in place that the boilers where inspected every six months. I don't see where Ray is to blame for that. This district doesn't have the right Superintendent or administrators in place to make sure things are running right.
If the schools are in that bad of shape, close them and start dissolving the district. Let the kids be absorbed by the other districts. It would finally racially balance things, the kids would get a better education and test scores would go up as would auroras image. That is how Aurora needs to change not by hiring pr people and keeping the Hispanic kids in a holding pen (d131) but actually solving the issues.
Ray was in charge of the B n G why did he not put this policy or procedure into place. ay was to busy helping himself to handouts in the maintenance department including a summer job for his son. Everyone at the Coty knows Ray was never qualified for the job he has and near bankruptcy. Sfter being made supervisor he got out of financial trouble real fast. Like everything else the building will get cleaned up like he finances. The only thing the maintenance can't do anymore is ride around in he district truck going to by tools for hems elves at Menards.
10:25 looks like angry fat fingers hammering out distractions from what is really going on. It is past finger pointing time, I don't care what Ray or Nestor did. There were 6 other Board members that had the majority vote to change and fix these things 4 years ago. Where were/are they?
We hear there are some recordings being released to the public and media where Annette is referring to Hispanics & African Americans as lazy people who wont show up to vote like her white neighbors in Ward 1 and where she is using derogatory terms for homosexuals and transgender people. Let’s see how she cleans this up during her taxpayer funded campaign breakfasts that just so happen to end the week before the elections. Why are there so many breakfast meetings the week before the elections instead of just two like the other weeks.
Weisner ruined Aurora by not controlling the neighborhoods. Now he hires Clayton to put a spin on the City. Why? He never put a positive spin on 131 what a waste.
This district under Weisner went from about 10,000 kids to over 14.000 numbers don't lie. They remodeled and put additions on in all the schools as of 2004. Then the Hometown debacle. A school district can not absorb that many students that are ill prepared to goto school. It oes not matter how the Superintendent, teacher, principal or board of directors.
The warning to East Aurora residents is Weisners policies watch this Community Christian attended by his Chief of Staff Guzman is bring more social service to Ward 3 and 4. He is trying to control the board by electing Strand. He is trying to Control Ward 3 by electing Reece Boyd. Weisner, Ergo, Weit, and Caputo all attend Ginger Creek thus Zack Montroy.
Please note residents this year the City is not broke because they received census money to the tune of 38 million to blow. Yet police have not been hired back.
I am not a fan of Johnson but its clear she does not bend to Weisner all the way. That why she has had recent problems, No doubt that why Hull attacked her. It's a classic game played at The City all the time. Clayton was a political move. The City created a position for Clayton. Ask yourself who many speakers does Weisner need? He has 12 in the department.
The East Sides only salvation is electing Lawerance, Jay Leonardi, Gardiakos, Feldotto and your current board.
If you want to save the East Side from further decline
I have looked at he campaign material of he three new people running and they say nothing. There is not one comment on any issue facing :131 other than name calling at the current board. It also bothers me that they are recent transplants our community. The other major factor is the conflict of interest with Montroy and Strand. It seems they have promised the administration business as usual. Now I hear they are involved with Weisner. NO THANKS?
This sounds like his dirty style of politics
Looks like Ray is out spreading lies again about Johnson. when will Minister Hull stop
Annette Johnson has done more for all races of students than other Board Member period. The defamation that goes on with the board has to stop.
It is interesting Strand would like The blogmaster on her Facebook page for supporting her and Zack would blast the board about the blog at the board meeting. Again another minister speaking with a forked message.
can't have it both ways Kristen and Zack are you that disparate for votes.
Lawrence's problem is going to be the Openline Effect. It seems whoever Openline supports loses. Just ask Pat Fee. And Openline supports Lawrence so much it's scary.
So goes the East side then so goes Aurora
D131 is so screwed up! How could anyone in their right mind not want a change in the board and at the central office. Are there some keepers? Sure! I think the people that need to go/ be replaced. Come on people! With all the problems and embarrassments it is obvious that the current "leadership" is not working. These are old problems never corrected and new problems created. If there is truly audio of Annette making bigoted comments about our community than she needs to be run out of town. And...the talk about B&G...my gosh. How miss managed can things get. Example: I know people at Simmons. Now this is two or three years ago. B&G was told multiple times about various concerns. A few heads of B&G were told by several people. Nestor was told to his face and was shown a leaky air conditioner in the Gym area. This could have been easily fixed, and people were told it would be fixed and nothing was done. Instead summer came and the floor flooded and was ruined. They had to have Haz Mat come in because there was all kinds of health concerns and damage. Maybe a hundred dollar fix turned into thousands of dollars. Is this saving money? B&G (Nestor) were told by staff and administrators and the job was ignored. This happened at the high school and some of the elementary staff told me the same thing. Mismanagement. All under the watch of this board and superintendent. If I'm not getting the story straight than please someone from Simmons or the high school straighten me out. Maybe I heard wrong or didn't get accurate info. I don't think that's the case.
What this school district needs is a group of people to run the district with an iron fist (the board), a superintendent that will take drastic measures for the benefit of the school district (even if it means angering a lot of people) and administrators that will do their job instead of doing things just to protect their positions.
Having worked with the Board I know it takes more than 2 years to understand enough of how the board works to figure out what is going on. I am not surprised that it took 4 years to fix the insurance or credit cards. I know others on the board that asked and were lied to by Dr Roberts and Jay Augustine as questions came up. I have also heard many employees or Retirees asked about premiums and got brushed off. I call it the d131 shuffle. Phones and Credit Cards also got questioned again he d131 shuffle. the maintenace department has been a mess for years and he board needed to hire a person loyal to them.
One thing Johnson did very early on was hire lawyers loyal to the board. The Regional Office and Illisois School Board Associatation provide general guild lines but are a organization made of a pro administrators or retired Superintenents and serve little purpose.
I know Ms Strand, but not he other two. Agree it will be difficult for hem to clean up anything because of their spouses working in 131. They will also have a earning curve.
I will be working to get Johnson reelected because she is the only one who knows the law and enough about the inter workings of the district. I does not surprise me to see her being targeted. I have heard a lot of corrupt people are running scared.
I also feel Clayton knew more was brewing and got out.
Talk about dirty politics and mindless complaints. Johnson and Leonard complain all the time bout the 800 trips to Mendards over 7 months. At the time the 18 Firemen and Engineers and 10 maintenance people were going for parts to repair these old buildings.
The math: 800 trips / 7 months / 28 people is 4 trips per month per person.
Or one trip per week per person.
That’s a lot to complain about. Johnson & Leonard now require the 4 supervisors to run for parts. That takes the supervisors away from their responsibilities.
That sounds efficient. Thanks Johnson. Thanks Leonard. Nice job.
The Fireman are not part of th 800 trips to Menards so lets redo the Math 10 people over 6 months averaging 13 trips to Menards alone. What they don't tell you is he other supply houses they were going to. Every maintenance guy averaged at least one trip per day. that why the building are falling apart nobody ever repaired them.
The Fireman and janitors are the only ones working its Hill Ave that's screwing the district.
The same goes for the teachers they are also the only ones working while central office does nothing. The top management needs to go
The old story goes a few rotten apples spoil the bunch
What about the maintenance person who bought candy bars and water for himself at Menards sure sounded like a emergency repair to me.
How about the 100 rakes, shovels, hoes, hedge trimmers, pruning shears garden gloves, flowers, seeds and plants purchased at Menards while we had a open account at two land scape companies.
How about the lies Jay Augustine told that all maintenanace people working at Hill Ave have their tools. FOIA the bills public and see what your tax dollars paid for.
No wonder the teachers in 131 were underpaid the wrong people made all the money.
If a tape exists like that then why not release it now. Because it does not. It is another attempt to discredit Johnson's name because she is working on cleaning up the years of mess in the district well getting side tracked by some who don't want the district to change.
If the waste uncovered would have never taken place teachers in 131 today would have made much more money, had better insurance rates and better buildings to work in.
It is ashame one board lust to become board President and shake his daughters hand at gradaation lied to all this.
Dear "I will be working to get Johnson reelected"
Johnson may know a little about many things, but how to best educate our children is not one of them. Her personal claim to fame is being a master manipulator. My guess is, that is probably the reason for Clayton's move. He was tired of being a part of all that drama and being held responsible for cleaning up the messes with the press. I wish him the best.
5:09 is correct. But all we needed was an effective board and all the rest would have fallen into place.
I am with the minister and friends. All we can hope for to fix our district at this point is people with some care and prayer.
You shouldn't have to FIOA what the maintenance workers send we should be able to see it in the list of bills the board approves and post in the agenda. Do they hide that like they do the credit cards. The Board approves the list of bills and if candy and water was bought then whoever did it should be made to pay it back.
Johnson claim to fame is running a successful business. The district is a business that needs to run effectively to provide wages and a job without the possibility of a layoff.
All I know is this is only one of three districts not enacting RIF notices in the entire metro Chicagoland. There hav been many programs, a no renegotiation clause for three years and 200 new teachers hired since she was board president.
Look to the West Side by their own admission they are renegotiating with all three unions and the finances are equal to a family of four earning $1500 a month to live on. Their quote not mine.
This all while residents of 131 had their property taxes frozen . No truth and taxation hearing this year. That promise was kept by the board that as soon as the bonds got fully funded which finished last year the district would freeze your taxes. Again look around every surrounding community had a truth and taxation hearing.
So it appears Johnson did her job.
The only people upset are the people who got caught. You should pray for them they violated the commandment Thou shall not steal. I am sure Johnson could use a few prayers too to protect her from the lies being spread along with all the candidates because they have put their reputations on the line for non paying jobs to educate your children
If somebody really wants to get rid of Annette Johnson, they should take this post from Rayanne Carlson back on September 2nd to the State Attorney's office.
In it a former board member, Rayanne Carlson, publicly accuses Annette Johnson of bribing her for her vote on Roberts contract.
This is very illegal and shows what type of person we have leading the board. I am copying the post below to make it easy for those interested in reading it.
Blogger Rayanne said...
I do not post much here any more, but I would like to support a comment here. I will not speak about what other board members may or may not do, but I do know when I was on the Board Annette Johnson was trying to encourage me to vote in favor of renewing Roberts contract. No matter what reasons I gave for my reluctance, she had "a deal" she wanted to offer me.
I am not sure, at that time how she thought she was going to get these things done,but she offered them like she had strings.
1. She said she would see that my granddaughter would get in the district preschool.
2. or.....She would arrange for the band director (K) to get back to the high school.
My vote was not up for "let's make a deal."
I am mentioning this again because someone seems to think this doing- favors-atmosphere exists. The scenario sounds very familiar. I am not accusing anyone of accepting favors, but rather suggesting that someone else must be perpetuating this impression in some manner.
September 2, 2012 at 3:23 PM
beaconnews.suntimes.com/18145148-417/magnet-school-open-house-attracts-hundreds.html
Rayanne lives in fantasy land and should be sued for posting defaming comments.
Why would Johnson promise her grand daughter a slot in Preschool. Rayannes daughter qualifies 100% for the Preschool for those who know her.
Kaisershot never wanted his job back and at the time Rayanne, Dee and Anita would have not needed Johnson help.
Five other members voted on the contract Rayanne was not needed and never came to the vote anyway.
More Lies!!! and look up the legal term publisher.
Great article on our parents and the Magnet School. Why is the blog not talking about that. Could it be that it was Johnson who took the program from one classroom to a entire school and got the grant for every child to have a computer.
Like anything good in our district the blog is right there to tear them or the program down.
Getting into the Fred Rodgers Magnet Academy is almost like winning a lottery, or better.
Hundreds of parents trenched through snow and slush on a school night recently — with young children in tow — hoping their child will get admitted into the academy for the 2013-2014 school year.
Fred Rodgers Magnet Academy principal Angela Rowley addressed 250 people during an information session at East Aurora High, while on the other side of the multi-purpose room were another 250 mothers and fathers hearing a duplicate presentation in Spanish.
The East Aurora magnet program, open to third- to 12th graders, was originally piloted in 2008 for students who are academically talented and interested in math, science and technology.
Rowley had completed an explanation of the text-free environment and curriculum, as well as a demonstration of the online application process, when she said all qualified applicants are placed into a public lottery for selection in order to give each student the same opportunity.
The public lottery will be held April 11.
Melanie Doherty said her two daughters, who will be in the third and fourth grades next year, were ecstatic when the principal announced each student will receive a laptop for school and homework. The district secured private funding for the computers.
“Their eyes opened wide,” Doherty said. “Our girls are very tech savvy. I didn’t touch a computer until the 6th grade – we want our children to have every academic opportunity available to them,” Doherty said.
Doherty said her 9-year old daughter qualified last year, but didn’t get chosen in the lottery. “I was so disappointed that I cried,” the mother said. “To actually make it into the academy may not be like winning a jackpot of money, but it is huge – it is our children’s future,” Doherty said.
Rowley acknowledged the excitement and disappointment associated with those placed on a wait list. “For parents it is an almost life-changing opportunity for their child to dig in, explore and be pushed beyond standard curriculum,” Rowley said.
Rowley, recruited from the prestigious Illinois Mathematics and Science Academy in Aurora to begin the planning process for the academy more than a decade ago, said the program was piloted and gradually expanded to make sure it was not just another school.
The principal said enrollment over the past two years has been at capacity with 25 students from each grade level, but with the purchase of the Fred Rodgers Community Center building, next year’s magnet program will triple in size with 75 students from grades 3rd through 8th. The number of high school students will remain unchanged and expand as the lower grades advance through the program.
Once selected, students remain in the magnet program as long as they continue to meet the qualifications.
East Aurora Board president Annette Johnson said attendance for the academy’s open house spoke volumes for the interest parents have in the program. “When we actually draw the lottery, it is actually as though parents win the lottery,” Johnson said.
“We have studied magnet academy programs in other school districts, and ours will be unique because it will be giving every student a laptop for school and homework. Some of our families do not have a computer, so it will not only change their child’s life, but the whole family,” Johnson said.
Johnson said the pilot was so successful the district decided to expand the program and look for a building. The East Aurora District purchased the building at Root Street and College Avenue last summer from the city of Aurora.
The building’s life has evolved from the old Madonna High School of the 1920s-1930s and the old Aurora Central Catholic High School until 1997 when the city purchased the building and used it for a community center.
While the fourth floor was reserved for the academy’s 6th – 8th grade students, 3rd through 5th graders were at O’Donnell Elementary. Next year will be the first time all 3rd – 8th graders will attend the academy together. The 9th – 12th grades will remain at East Aurora High School.
“It has been a vision of the district to give our students an opportunity to excel in math, science and technology. We have bright students in our district and when we piloted the program, the results were so great and the community was so supportive we had to move forward,” Johnson said.
Johnson said aside from academic excellence for individual students, the academy’s test results will be part of the child’s home school and the new location will alleviate some of the over-crowding in classes.
“It is 100 percent 21st century learning — the curriculum of the future probably will not have students learning from textbooks,” Johnson said.
The Board made the Magnet School what it is. Dr Roberts had the original vision to start the Magnet School. While everyone is so negative getting 500 parents involved and expanding the program to be all 21st century computer based learning is unique.
Having Angie Rowley has been a blessing and that is where the leadership of Johnson has moved the district. Hull and Wells voted to accept the decision of Marin Gonzalez to appoint Raquel Wilson a PE teacher. The Board pushed and said no! They told Marin that the school would remain Science, Math and Technology. Rowley brought ideas from IMSA to our district and was allowed to grow. That would have been another EA OK choice. There will never be another board that has such forward thinking vision for excellence.
As a note Kristen Strand recommended Raquel Wilson and should be forced to answer why she made such a bad choice. Kristen served on a interview committee at the time. Perhaps she was a afraid to say NO to administration. A place she will find herself in often if elected
12:44 says "Kaisershot never wanted his job back"
I know Kevin Kaisershot, and I can tell you that's been true for at least the past few years. Too much damage has been done for him to go back and fix it...we can't go back to the way things were at EHS under his leadership, so better for him to quietly do an outstanding job of teaching our Simmons kids for the next couple of years, until he retires.
That article says "We have bright students in our district and when we piloted the program, the results were so great and the community was so supportive we had to move forward,” Johnson said .
So where are the test results? Why was taxpayer dollars spent on this school without sharing the testing results with the public if its so successful. The results exist, so why not share them? This deserves an eyebrow raised with a big Hmmmmmmmmmmmm.
The Magnet Academy is all hype. Here you go, a new building, new laptops etc. There is no documentation that shows that the students there do any better than the children in our other buildings. I’m not sure how the district can do it legally but they are ensuring that you will never know performance results by hiding the Magnet School test results in the other buildings test scores (home school). Here’s a thought for you; if the students at the Magnet Academy were actually showing any real improvement over the other schools, don’t you think the administrators and board would be shouting it from the mountaintops? Where is the transparency that Annette keeps boasting about???
Next question: Are the parents really happy that their children are at the Magnet Academy or are they just ecstatic that they don’t have to send their children to the schools they know are failing, falling apart, full of mold, full of violence, etc?
Since we know that nothing that comes from the board and administration is true, I’ll believe it when it’s documented by the state. Just as every other school in the state is required to do by law, even the magnet programs in Chicago.
2:09 p.m., more like inconvenient or embarrassing truth.
Nope, just lies.
3:22 p.m.'s definition of "lies":
Things that they would rather be forgotten or swept under the rug.
Denial & distraction...
2:11 and 2:50 make excellent points. Even if the scores are sent back to the kids "home school" the admin knows who is in the magnet program and can EASILY break out those scores and get a tally by student, class and the academy as a whole. So where are they? Why are we spending taxpayer dollars on a Magnet Academy when there are no test results to share? Is this just another school to alieve overcrowding or is it a true magnet academy? I think East needs a school like this, but is it really producing?
While I too would like to know the results of the Magnet students, I ALSO am glad that their scores go to their home school. I believe if they shared the magnet results, they'd show those students doing better. They HAVE to be with the additional attention and resources they get. If the magnet had it's own report and those students' scores stayed there, we'd have one school doing well, and all the others doing even worse than they currently are. I have no doubt that the scores of the magnet kids have a positive effect on the overall performance of their home schools.
Not really. But keep trying
The results of the Magnet Program are published and given to parents in a presentation. Currently 100% of the children showed growth. I am proud of our district and will be applying. it worries me that so many kids will compete for 75 slots per grade.
I can see there is no program like it,
The Magnet Academy started because of NCLB. According to NCLB rules if a school was not making AYP, the district had to offer the children of the failing school an opportunity to go to a school in the district that was passing. The problem in District 131 is that all the schools are failing. So: where to send the kids.
The next idea was to farm our kids out to neighboring districts who said “Forget that, we don’t want your failing kids to screw up our scores”. No other districts would take District 131 students. The administration had to come up with some alternative for the students whose parents knew their rights under NCLB, so with no other real alternative, they started the Magnet Academy Program.
Why don’t the administrators want to reveal the test scores for the Magnet Program? Simple, if it is revealed that the Magnet Program is failing also, they are back to square one.
The district can not legally withhold or hide the Magnet School results. If somebody wanted to contact the Illinois State Board of Education, I am sure changes would be forthcoming.
Oh, what tangled weaves we weave when we practice to deceive.
Benedict Adam Harding our union president is going to be hired to replace Clayton as spokesperson for the district. Shame shame shame on you.
Extremely poor philosophy 4:19pm. The Magnet School should stand alone with its own scores. If it doesnt, what incentive (assuming the scores are good) does anyone outside D131 have for moving into the district? East does not have a single decent performing school out of all 19. Why would they pass up the chance to not have at least one that is a star and would bring good PR to the district and the City of Aurora. Anyone who has a statistical background can tell you that the effect of rolling the scores back into the home school will be minimal. This is a big mistake to roll the score back into the home schools. Chicago does not do this for good reason. AND what by the way is an East Aurorans home school? Kids are shifted all over from school to school based on available spots not on where the kids live geographically that is why the district does not have busing. Its a big con game yet nobody seems to know about it.
I guess he won't be the union president anymore then huh.
A Magnet School under Illinois School Code must return scores to the home school. Stop trying to pull the district down
Kristen Strand kids goto the Magnet School does she really fit into the community. It's a good thing the current board hired Rowley so her sons can get a good education .
Here's a link to the test scores for Whitney Young Magnet School in Chicago:
https://iirc.niu.edu/School.aspx?schoolid=150162990250764
If they are required to return scores to home schools, then why are they reporting school scores?
Here is the link for BEASLEY ELEM MAGNET ACADEMIC CTR:
https://iirc.niu.edu/School.aspx?schoolid=150162990252800
Here is the link for Black Magnet Elementary School:
https://iirc.niu.edu/School.aspx?schoolid=150162990252086
I can show you a dozen more with Magnet in the name of the school and many more than with other titles that are still selective. It is required. As usual, only District 131 ignores school code.
If the story about Adam Harding is true, he will be the most hated person in District 131. And that is saying a lot in this district.
It makes sense now why Adam is helping Annette Johnson and Jerome Roberts on her campaign tour of our schools.
The district should be happy they don't have busing that a good reason why other school districts are broke. I would rather provide a ride than lose a program.
as for the Magnet School parents will be able to see the progress of the Magnet School as a stand alone but they return the scores to the home school because it is a Magnet School and not a Charter School like Chicago. I also see it as start in fixing overcrowding.
Even if the scores are to be sent to the home school,like others have said, I would think they would want to show how well the Magnet School is doing. The comment made was the children are "academically talented"...not gifted! So what defines talented in D131? Chilren whose parents are willing to drive them to a school which will not tolerate the distractions the main stream have to deal with. Tardiness,disruptive behavior.....without these things all our teachers could be more effective teachers and many more of our students would be more academically talented.
Where are the scores for that school? How is it that nobody knows that information? As one person said, if they were good they would be screaming it from the mountain tops. My guess is that they are not good and the district is just using the cover of a "magnet" school to yet buy another building to house kids because the neighborhoods are overcrowded. I would hope they publish them since they have the data.
Maybe 10:47pm should check with the others on the union team this was agree on in September. Who do you know he is getting the job are you just out spreading more lies.
https://www.facebook.com/groups/347176468729707/
Oppose the 6 period schedule!
It sounds like Annette Johnson is at it again. Looking at nothing more than dollars and cents and ignoring our children’s education all together. The research will not support this decision. Going to a six period schedule at the high school is the worst possible choice that can be made, especially for our kids.
The six period school day will effectively eliminate elective classes at East High. For many of our students, the only reason they come to school is for their elective classes. It may automotive class or building trades or a multitude of other possibilities that motivates them to stay in school.
It has been shown in study after study that the elimination of electives drives the dropout rate way up. East high is already experiencing a dropout rate of over 50%. The last thing we need is to make choices proven to raise the dropout rate.
This is a perfect example of why we desperately need to clean house in the board and administration. It is one thing to suffer the loss of elective classes when financial circumstances forces difficult decisions but to do this at the same time the district is boasting about an 85 million dollar surplus is simply a sadistic act against our children.
If Adam Harding does take Clayton's position - it will be a great decision for the Distrct. I have found him to be dedicated to d131 - and a fine spokesperson for teachers. Why shouldn't he be able to apply for a posted position?
Why does that make him a Benedict Arnold? Why can't this blog be a positive force for the district?
Blaming Annette Johnson for six periods is crazy. The Board had nothing to do with that decision. How do you think it's dollars and cents. If someone is in schools he disrict getsaid no matter what. A study was done by administration and union and it showed EA Highschool students getting less instruction time in the entire area as well a teachers getting no protected time. Thus late starts.
Yes, Annette Johnson may push us to have surveys and look at with other districts are doing but It was a decision that should have been made a long time ago. I would also suggest the students sigh up for ACT Prep.
Also, maybe Montroy needs to weight in on the issue being his wife works at East. Lets see if he is pro improving the education or just letting it be EA OK
7:20 p.m., you speak for me also! When I was in high school, the main reason I got up in the morning was to get to school and sing in the choirs. My choir director and I were able to arrange a college scholarship based upon my vocal skills. My bass voice was what set me apart in a positive way and probably kept me out of the trouble a lot of my classmates got into. And I knew a lot of kids who ran track, did art, fixed cars, or played instruments. They were like me, couldn't wait to get to school for their elective classes.
Seems to me Mrs. Montroy would be very involved in this issue since she's a guidance counselor. The Strand & Montroy pair should have the guts to speak out in our students best interests.
Adam Harding must step down from the union president position now. The fact that Adam applied for the administrative job shows us where his allegiance lies. Now we know why he supported the first contract proposal which would have required staff to do 25% more work for 2% more pay. We also see why he is on a campaign tour for Annette Johnson. He has already lost all credibility with the teaching staff. Everyone I spoke with yesterday were using words like traitor and turncoat. Their anger was very apparent.
The simple fact is the administration and union are adversarial roles and frequently, legally adversarial. Basically our defense lawyer just publicly stated that he wants to work with the prosecution against the teaching staff. It is a clear conflict of interest
Blaming Johnson for any proposed policy change is far from crazy. The woman sits in committee meetings constantly making her opinions clear. The administrators who are just trying to keep their jobs for another day are running around in circles just to keep her pleased. If there is a proposed change to the schedule 1) Johnson is behind it (and always from a bottom line perspective) and 2) Jerome is right there being her YES Man.
The board and administration can do whatever “surveys” they like. The fact is, surveys can easily be skewed by phrasing questions a certain way to obtain a predetermined result. They are unreliable. The research does not support eliminating electives, especially in a school district that already has a high dropout rate. The children need their motivating factor for coming to school.
They are weighing in. Maybe you are not searching the right spots.
They have a FB page an it says:
Hi, Hometown Friends!
We are hosting a Community Coffee on Wednesday, Feb. 20th from 6:30 - 8:00 pm at the old Hometown Cafe on Four Seasons. Come enjoy some snacks, meet candidates Kirsten Strand, Zach Montroy, and Mary Louise Peryea and share your thoughts about our school district with us. Invite your neighbors and please join us!
beaconnews.suntimes.com/news/18188560-418/analysis-east-aurora-among-districts-to-benefit-most-from-budget-bid.html
Yes you can blame Ms. Johnson for 6 periods. The School Board has the final say, by way of the Superintendent. As his boss, she is/ has been calling the shots.
Those students who want to make a difference in their school CAN...by registering to vote and have your voice heard through excercising your right to vote.
If you are not 18 years of age, inform your parents, family, neighbors-voting is a privilege!
Five seats on the seven member board of education will be filled at the April 9, 2013 election.
There is time to register!
http://www.elections.il.gov/Downloads/ElectionInformation/PDF/registervote.pdf
The State has already stated they are only funding State aid at 80%.
The powers that be always ask for 100% but schools never get it. Looks like are famous Tomcat Linda Chapa Lavia is trying to look like she is doing a fine job for us.
Meanwhile, in Springfield they are trying to make a law changing our retirement age.
Congrads to Alderman Lawerance for stopping her and Tom Weisner from creating a scam that would pay off Linda's husbands bad dept. I got a idea Linda and Tom should give the money to East and West 1.5 mill would come in handy
The relationship between teachers and central office does NOT need to be adversarial - it sould be a SHARED vision for kids !!! I believe that MR. Harding is respected by all who know him.
Heard this mentioned on WGN news on the radio, and then found this article:
geneva.patch.com/articles/batavia-school-board-spends-13-300-on-food-hotel-at-chicago-leadership-conference
Notice that Batavia School Board "spent $13,366 in total on the one-day conference—more than $2,600 for food, $5,600 for hotel stays and $4,100 for the conference registration and class fees"
Geneva School Board just pays for Metra train fare & convention fees for their superintendent & a couple of board members to go.
Props to Annette Johnson for keeping spending down on things like this.
Then I will be voting for her because it seems the kids need more time in class and the other people running from the board. Our children deserve the best. I can't imagine the other running would want anything less. Why have we not had this in the past?
Maybe that is why it became one of the worst High Schools academically in State. The students should be in class after-all they only have a short time in school to learn all they can and prepare for college. Many students have come back and talked with the district in focus groups and talked about how they are not prepared for college writing and math.
Next year the elementary students have to start fifteen minutes early shame on the school board and administration for trying to educate the kids. When Montrose and Strand get in god help the kids all will be reversed because they don't want their husband and wife to work to hard.
Our kids deserve better!
The kids are behind because they were in sheltered in bi-lingual programs their entire lives and never were forced to learn English. If you go to another country you are 'immersed" in order to eat, survive. Not so here. When all of the productions at an end of the year program are in spanish, you know you're in trouble.
So fifteen minutes is going to help the students learn. Maybe giving them something to go to school would help. All in All they are just another brick in the wall. Maybe if we didn't have to have NCLB and really give them something that they want to go to school for our students will excel. We have a changing world and we need to give our students the tools to move forward in it.
Integrity...? That's a laugh!!
I graduated from East Aurora back in 1987 and am shocked and saddened at how bad things have become.
People here honestly believe that we can reverse declining test scores, increasing dropout rates and decreasing graduation rates?
I just read that 23% of Americans are illiterate. What is the illiteracy rate in 131? What percentage of high school graduates are truly prepared for college?
Newsflash to all of you here...things are not going to get better for public education. They will only get worse.
Thank God for private schools and home schooling.
8:00 pm is correct until this year the district followed that plan. The new bilingual program uses immersion. The single most destructive person in the last 8 years was Dr Aird. The problem with her and people like her is they feel sorry for the kids. Our children are high functioning but she has held them back. Also, she is at fault with a no common core curriculum She does not kept up with modern day teaching. I have witnessed her become possessed with her own agenda over the years and this year is the worst.
Behind closed doors she bad mouths all of her peers and the board. She feels she is unstoppable because quote " she has the support of the new candidates and the other board members are uninformed".
The only hope our district has is keeping Johnson and the silent majority support and pray she does not get fed up and walk away. Change does need to continue for East Aurora. Going back to teaching skills 20 years ago will not work.
8:32 you just reinforced 8:00 am's point. Private and home schools don't have to meet NCLB standards. NCLB did more damage to schools than positives. Whether you think Bush is to blame for the beginning of our economic troubles or not, there's no doubt NCLB is his fail.
How come the list of bills isn't showing for Nov or Dec is the board trying to hide something?
I have been following the Strand Montroy page and have become very concerned with their tone. For people who claim to have integrity I would have to question their motives.
They have their friends log in and write against the district. They never tell you their opinion. We are not electing their friends. We are electing them. I want to know very clearly what they think and how do they intend to pay for new schools, all day Kinder or busing.
When are we going to hear from them and if they have to keep asking stupid questions that translates to stupid board members
To: February 11, 2013 at 12:44 PM,
The only fantasy land I enjoy taking part in is in Orlando FL. I only stated facts as the conversations were between Ms. Johnson and me a few years back. I suspect you to be her friend up in Ward One and I had told you, at the times these things were happening, how ludicrous her offers were.
Yes, my daughter could have gotten my granddaughter in preschool. Yes, I did NOT vote on the contract and I resigned at that time due to the many lies I had been told leading up to that point. One of the main untruths I was told was when Ms. Johnson was running for the Board. She adamantly agreed we needed a new superintendent. By time the contract came up, she had done an about face and argued with me many times about keeping things as they were. She felt she was in a position to 'manipulate' the Boards employee to do what was needed or wanted and planned to vote to renew the contract. That is how she came to offer me her assistance. If I would vote in favor of the contract, she would see that those other things got done "for me."
Obviously, I knew my granddaughters qualifications, more importantly, my daughter had no desire to send my granddaughter to the preschool.
I had spoken with the Superintendent and K. years before and did not have wishes to go back to that subject via Ms. Johnson. The fact she thought I needed her manipulation to accomplish nonexistent goals "for me" shows the only one living in a fantasy land is Ms. Johnson and those who post on her behalf.
Five of the Board members were going to vote for his contract and there was no need to get Rayanne to vote for it. It make no sense. Rayanne hates Johnson because of a words they exchanged over blog. Johnson told Rayanne the blog is hurtful as I have also. Rayanne has told us she thinks its funny. The purpose was for district discussion not to tear people apart. Children have been attacked of board members, spouses, and people personal lives. I am not surprised Rayanne is after Johnson now. I do know Johnson told her very bluntly she had no creditability and was hated by district administrators, and board members because of the blog. Rayanne always felt she had no respect from them.
I also doubt it was ever possible to turn Rayanne vote nor would Johnson have tried because of the issues Rayanne had with Dr Roberts and a union grievance filed against Rayanne. Many believe that is the reason she still runs this to get even for the union grievance and the fact Jack Canna asked her to lose the blog down.
We will have Rayanne to thank when we don't get a good Superintendent or pool of candiadates. Afterall who wants to be attacked all the time. No other district has to put up with this. Until you do the right thing and close it don Rayanne you have zero creditability.
Lets see if you post this.
Isn't funny that now Johnson says they are just letting Roberts contract run out and really she has no faith in him since she is running the district and that the last time they renewed his contract he was the same he is now they let him stay. Remember that he will get a nice pension from this district and they are afraid to fire even though he isn't doing a good job and the Board President is stepping in to do his job.
The board members now are the ones that know how things are ran and they don't have the guts to step up and say they got something for letting Roberts stay even though they knew he wasn't doing his job and they let Johnson do it to get the accomplishments for the things that are happening in the district when it should be the Superintendent.
There is no one posting on Annette’s behalf except Annette herself. Every post supporting Annette or bashing the other candidates (or anyone critical of the current system) has the same spelling and grammatical errors. They’re as good as a signature at the end of every post. It shows that you don’t have to be very literate to succeed in business. You only need to have a vindictive streak and a desire to screw everybody for your own profit.
Of course, the good thing about all the posting and the campaigning Annette’s been doing, it gives her less time to screw things up in the district. Keep her as busy as we can the next several weeks. It will take less work to correct her screw-ups when she’s gone. Maybe in April we can begin rebuilding the reputation of this district.
8:00 you are very wrong about Dr. Aird. She is actually the only one in our district who understands our community. I am guessing you are white, monolingual and mono-cultural. No wonder why you sound so ignorant. But please of course let’s leave it to Beatrice Reyes, the new queen, very Hispanic looking, with a Hispanic last name and not a word of Spanish, very shameful to have a district employee who is not proud of her heritage and who wants to push English disrespecting our students, their parents and their culture. Beatrice is Annette’s puppet and Diane Argueta is Beatrice’s puppet. That’s another one that we can’t stand. She thinks she is big, well, she is big, but she is only keeping her job because she is too afraid to be herself. She is not good at her job and she is only there because Beatrice does all the thinking for her. Our district is really going nowhere.
You're a damn liar 8:39PM! You think Annette is writing all these pro Annette blog posts! How narcissistic do you think I...uh...she would have to be to do something like that? She is a wonderful woman and very dedicated to helping all those welfare kids get through high school. So I'm voting for myself...or...uh...Annette to continue this perfect reign over all these incompetent...competent...uh...yeah...gotta go...
The truth about Rayanne is her stories about Roberts and his contract coinside with Zack and Kristen's new Question of the week.
The real story was Rayanne was upset with Anita and Annette because they both voted to renew his contract. None of the other conservations took place, I asked Rayanne many times why she resigned and at time nothing came up.
Yes, Dr Roberts was kept because he did stablize the finances. Look at the other districts around.
We have in a very short time put many things back into the schools like, more music, band, art, sports, computers, bought new building, expanded preschool, grew the magnet program, increased instruction time, hired over 200 new teachers, gave them a voice at the reform committees and many things too numerous o mention.
Yes, all these things take time to implement and a new superintendent would have never been able to move with such speed.
Zack and Kristen and their few supporters mostly people who do not live in Aurora can only create negativity and pull the district down at this point to get elected. They are telling residents who horrible things are. Really, why don't they tell them their property taxes got frozen.
Zack openly denounced the blog at the last meeting but continues to take Rayannes support. That speaks volumns. Lets also not forget Zacks wife recently spoke praising Dr Roberts. Can't have it both ways Zack.
8:58 your a racist.
Johnson is busy working on a knew program to bring every child attending a K to 12 program a take home computer. It's funny The Strand boys already benefit from her program. Kristen is more than happy to take it. If she has so much integrity then why not give the computer to a low income child.
The program is called Community based computing and it will not cost the tax payers nothing. They will soon announce the grant that will become the springboard to this program. The free computer grant is a result of personal relationships Johnson has in the community. The buildings at 131 will soon all become wireless. Again a result of another grant and the vision of the Superintndent to have two grant writers.
I would hardly say she was no time to campaign or become negative like her oppontents who encourage teachers to become negative until the teachers get he facts.
Johnson is busy trying to get every kid a computer in the district and I am impressed they have a plan. It was clear that after test results came back from Johnson School it was the only way to give our teachers the tools to increase test scores.
Noboby can improve overcrowding unless the district builts 2 new schools New schools or busing would see large tax increases and financial ruin for all residents so the solution is increased technology.
Johnson School became the most improved because large class sizes being taught off I Pads and it gave the teacher a big advantage.
Kids working in groups and are learning. They can be off on their own working on a App but because of the App used they are playing a game. Certainly more fun than paper pencil or books.
Changing the learning divide is giving a low income family access to a computer in their home and we will see the wheels in motion next week.
Intergrity is not running for a position that your family financially benefits from. Recently Ms Weit turned down a position to be on the Aurora Housing Board because her and her husband had property that received rent from Aurora Housing.
Zack Montroy and Kristen Strand should have had the same ethics. I am more troubled because they are Ministers and should show better moral character.
That said I do believe this blog contributes to many peope stepping up and running. It is sad out of 14,000 parents of students that attend d131 nobody steps up.
My choice will be to return Johnson and Leonard and vote for the two new candidates in the two year term.
I too would like to see change but I really have a problem with the conflict situation.
How come we pay a Superintendent and administrators when Johnson says she is doing everything?
Why is the district being invoiced for Claytons Boys to Men posters and flyers?
Thanks Annette! Not for patting yourself on the back but for the computer thing. Yeah! At D131 we make it easy for all our kids to have access to porn. "Did you get your homework done?" "No but I cyber bullied, played video games, and watched porn."
There’s an article in the Beacon this evening. It says that Sheila Conrad is out as principal at East High at the end of the year. It also stated that Joseph Talluto (the principal at Waldo resigned effective immediately. It stated that he was placed on administrative leave at the beginning of the week pending an investigation.
http://beaconnews.suntimes.com/news/18258130-418/east-aurora-high-school-waldo-principals-departing.html
It’s too bad that Wilson Morales didn’t have the integrity to do the honorable thing and resign when it was clear that he beat up a middle school student. I’d like to think that Joseph Talluto did the honorable thing by choice but it just may be he didn’t have a wife who was the superintendent’s secretary to protect him.
Another stupid argument from 7:53 - Don't let kids have computers because they might look at porn.
Really?
Maybe people shouldn't drive because they might get in an accident.
Again, PARENTS need to supervise their children and make sure the right things are being done with the resources provided to them.
But I can see your point. In a district where 99% of the parents are dead beats who don't give a crap about their kids, maybe they should not get computers.
The computers are blocked and leave it up to this blog to find something negative about children receiving computers.
Maybe the posters are a going away present everyone in Central Office was shocked when Aird gave Clayton a transgender doll as a going away present. It shows she just laughed in everyone's face about the confusion and anger she created for so many parents, staff and teachers. It also shows her disrespect.
She needs to move on but without Johnson in charge everyone knows Jerome will not have the balls.
Central Office had a big party today for Clayton at the expense of the Board. the overwhelming theme is they finally got the Board to fight among themselves enough so they won't have to work at all.
Ray Hull got the I cant read and stool pigeon award.
Anita Lewis got the goody two shoes award.
Stella and Maryanne got the drunk of the year award
Nacho got the dumb Mexican award.
Leonard got the Patronage employee of the year award
And Johnson got the dethroned queen bee award. BTW it was the same award recycled from Dee Weaver.
Jerome just laughed all the way to the bank and said it took him four years to get her.
The new joke is the new board will wait for a answer from god and we all know how long that takes.
many of the slight majority just feel bad for the kids. There was a day when the board was united and people actually worked out of fear for their jobs but no more thanks to Leonard and Hull
BTW Jerome proclaimed that he has another sixteen months of doing nothing. Even if the new board attempts to get rid of him they are so busy fighting with themselves they will not have time to get to him.
He will be out of town after Tuesday because quote he won't miss the show working on his new consulting career as a Read 180 salesman.
He told everyone he just needs a couple of assignments to pay for boat fuel and his new BMW. Seems life is treating Jerome well. Two BMW's a Porsche, and a new vacation house.
At least Johnson had everyone working she may have treated them like dogs but now everyone knows they can run to Hull and she is afraid he will call her a racist for abusing Jerome.
As d131 turns
I think Montroy & Strand have proven to have excellent moral character and can make decisions based on 17000 students.
No one complained when Salinas voted on his wife's contract. Or Bob McCue made construction decisions while making money off the district for his company....the list goes on. There are many instances that never made it to the public knowledge.
I guess the powers of this district could be compared to drug addiction. Those making the "choices for excelllence" are causing us to hit rock bottom. Hopefully it makes us stronger after they are gone and doesn't kill us first.
You have to ask yourself why are so many employees are choosing to leave. Many are NOT bad employees as someONE on this blog wants us to think. I won't try to sing the praises of the outstanding employees who have chosen to leave us in the last 4 yrs. It will only lead to more slander by those who want to make excuses.
beaconnews.suntimes.com/news/18258130-418/east-aurora-high-school-waldo-principals-departing.html
What's the story with Joseph Talluto?
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