Workshop before Board meeting Monday

Prior to the regular school board meeting, Monday December 17, there will be a workshop being presented by PMA Securities Inc. The purpose of this workshop is to discuss the Financial Planning Program and the financial outlook for our school district. This workshop begins at 5:30 and will be held at the school service center at 417 Fifth Ave.

PMA Securities Inc has offered a workshop previously on August 20 at which time they presented the possibility of issuing working cash bonds

The full agenda can be accessed at the website www.d131.org. I hope you will share this information.

The last workshop suggested a referendum would pay for these bonds.

I think our community needs to be informed and hear for themselves how our administrators would like to put money in the bank with borrowed money.

Please try to attend.

Board position opening

Tuesday, September 18, 2007

SCHOOL BOARD MEMBER ANNOUNCES RESIGNATION

(Aurora)-Mr. Russell Pietrowiak, a member of the Board of Education for East Aurora School District 131 and the Chairperson of the Board’s Finance Committee, has announced his resignation from the Board of Education effective Wednesday, October 31, 2007. Mr. Pietrowiak has served on the Board of Education since 2005.

State law allows the board 45 days to appoint a new member to fill Pietrowiak’s vacancy, according to Carol Farnum, President of the Board of Education. The newly appointed Board member would serve until the next Board of Education election in April 2009.

Anyone interested in applying for appointment to the Board of Education should write a letter of interest and submit it to:
East Aurora School District 131 Administration Office
c/o Lisa Morales
Executive Assistant/Secretary to the Board
417 Fifth Street
Aurora, IL 60505

The deadline for submissions is 4:00 p.m. on Thursday, September 27, 2007.

The Board of Education will conduct interviews with candidates from Tuesday, October 2- Sunday, October 14, 2007. The new member will be sworn in at the Board of Education meeting on Monday, November 5, 2007.

In order to serve on the Board of Education, an individual must: (1) be a registered voter (2) be at least 18 years of age, (3) be a resident of the State of Illinois and in the boundaries of District 131 for at least one year preceding the appointment.


For additional information, please contact:
Lisa Morales
Secretary to the Board of Education
630.299.5554 or lmorales@d131.org

An invite to EA staff and community

Many times we cannot express our true feelings in the work place without fear of repercussions from co-workers, superiors or the community. We may fear our comments will put our job in jeopardy or affect our working environment. We worry our motives for our comments may be misconstrued. You are your own best spokesperson.

The list is long of reasons for not speaking up and speaking out. Well now…Here is your chance and here is your place. Please come on in, be honest and let it all out. I believe folk’s need a place to vent, a place to speak candidly. Complain, brag, inquire, explain, about co-workers, policies, the union, the students. Share with us what may be happening in your corner of district 131.

You may want to send out your questions and concerns in a comment to get feedback.You never know who else may be dropping in to take a peak at what is being said. Your thoughts may hit deaf ears but could reach a few eyes through blogging. Reply anonymously if you like, or with your real name, if you choose. If you use an alias (select other) that would help distinguish commenters and make it easier when others respond.

Please read the right hand side of this blog and remember to be respectful.

PTA announcement

"1st Thursdays"Parent to School Connections 7:00 PM October 4 -- Presenting East High's Career Center
All parents, teachers, and other members of the EastHigh community are invited to a monthly program focusing on some aspect of the East Aurora High School educational mission. The program is sponsored and advertised by the East High PTA*.The October meeting will be held in the Career Center--enter door 5 and follow signs.

The center has a growing number of resources to help our students prepare for their life after high school. High school is really only a starting point for the rest of their lives. Later dates are November 1, December 6. In January it will be on the 2nd Thursday due to the winter holiday. Meetings will generally be in the faculty cafeteria or you will be directed from there to another location --as with the October meeting. In addition to a specific topic there will be time for more general discussion on various topics and issues about high school education of our students -- time for sharing between parents, administration, faculty and community members. Bring your questions.

For questions or program suggestions contact PTA in English or Spanish at easthighpta@yahoo.com .*

At 6:30 PM on each of the 1st Thursdays there will be a PTA business meeting. Every one is welcome to attend but voting will be restricted to PTA members.

Meeting dates for the remainder of the 2007-2008 school year

All meetings are held at the School Service Center, 417 Fifth Street, Aurora, IL

School board meetings are held First & third Monday of each month @ 7PM.
*Should the meeting date fall on a holiday, the meeting will be held onTuesday or Wednesday.

Oct. 1 & 15; Nov. 5 & 19; Dec. 3 & 17, 2007
Jan. 7 & 22*; Feb. 4 & 19*; March 3 & 17; April 7 & 21; May 5 & 19; June 2 & 16, 2008

*****************************************************************************
Personnel meeting dates:
First Thursday of every month @ 5PM

Sept. 6; Oct. 4; Nov. 1; Dec. 6, 2007;
Jan. 10; Feb. 7; March 6; April 10; May 8; June 5, 2008
**************************************************

Building & grounds committee
First Wednesday each month @ 4PM, unless schedule conflict.

Oct. 4; Nov. 7; Dec. 5, 2007;
Jan. 9; Feb. 6; March 5; April 9; May 7; June 4, 2008
*****************************************************
Curriculum Board Committee
These meetings are at 6:00 p.m. unless otherwise noted.

September 10; October 9; November 12; December 10, 2007
January 14; February 11; March 10; April 14; May 12; June 9, 2008
****************************************************

Financial Committee meetings

These meetings are the Tuesday after the first Board Meeting
and are scheduled for 6:30pm

September 11; October 9; November 13; December 11,2007
January 15; February 12; March 11; April 15; May 13; June 10, 2008

Abbreviated minutes

I have found that some things posted in the minutes are abbreviated. I would like to share my comments in their entirety.
Dee has forwarded hers, and they are posted, also.
Below is what appears posted on the 131 website under Board Bits.

Board of Education Meeting
Monday, July 16, 2007– 7:00 P.M.
School Service Center
417 Fifth Street
· Comments of Board Members

Mrs. Dee Weaver had concerns regarding information that appeared in the Beacon Newspaper.

Mrs. Rayanne Carlson read comments she felt regarding the board and how decisions are made and were made at the last board meeting.

Our statements verbatim can be read in the comment section of this post

One stop spot for meeting info-we'll see how it goes.

Sorry to the few of you who have continued to check in on this blog. I have been careless in my intent to use this blog format to keep people better informed about meetings and such, in District 131.

I wanted to make sure I do not do anything that violates any rules concerning sharing of information with the public. I believe I have asked the right people and can proceed as planned. I hope to provide a place to find dates, times, places, agendas, and minutes of meetings. I can only post online information that has already been shared with the public, but may have not been posted on the district website.

Also, on occasion I may give my personal opinion as a community member and continue to welcome feedback.

This may be a short lived task, if the school district finally updates it's website and becomes more user friendly and more concerned with keeping our community informed.

Until then.....Here is the agenda for Next weeks Board meeting-NOTE the change of date. The minutes from the previous meeting are below the agenda.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Agenda
Board of Education Meeting
Tuesday, June 19, 2007
7:00 P.M.

I. Roll Call

II. Pledge of Allegiance

III. Approval of Minutes

IV. Communications from the Superintendent
· Motion to Approve the Calendar for the Board of Education Meetings for the 2007/2008 School Year – Vice President Bob McCue
· Student Recognition– Mr. Clayton Muhammad
· Community Relations Report – Mr. Clayton Muhammad

V. Comments of Board Members

PUBLIC COMMENTS/QUESTIONS

VI. Curriculum/Programs Committee, Mr. Donald L. Herbig., Chair met June 11th at 6:00 p.m.
A. Informational Item
· Meeting Schedule – Monday, July 9th at 6:00 p.m. at the SSC
· Curriculum/Programs Committee Meeting Minutes of June 11th
· Calendar of Meeting Dates
· Grant Update
· District Improvement Plan Update
· SES Update
· TBE Application
· Additional Bilingual Teacher

B. Action Items: None

VII. Buildings & Grounds Committee, Bob McCue, Chair, met June 6th at 4:00 P.M.
A. Informational/Discussion Items
· Meeting Schedule – Wednesday, July 11th at 4:00 p.m. at the SSC
· Buildings & Grounds Committee Minutes of June 6th
· School Improvement Final Report for the 2006/2007 School Year
· Building & Grounds Committee Calendar for 2007/2008
· Bleacher Bid
· Freshmen Center Timeline

B. Action Items:
· Motion to Approve the Change Order Request for the Removal of Unsuitable Soil in the Freshmen Center Parking Lot at East High in the Amount of $20,436.47

VIII. Finance Committee, Mr. Russell Pietrowiak, Chair met June 6th at 6:30 p.m.
A. Informational/Discussion Items
· Meeting Schedule – Tuesday, July 10th at 6:30 p.m. at the SSC
· Finance Committee Meeting Minutes of June 6th
· Employee Benefit Renewals
· Budget

B. Action Items:
· Motion to Approve to Hire a Bilingual Science Teacher and Two Overloads for the East High School Science Program
· Motion to Approve to Hire a Grant Secretary for the Early Childhood Center
· Motion to Approve the Following Resolutions:
Ø Ordinance on Prevailing Wage Rates
Ø Resolution for Depositories
Ø Resolution to Establish Imprest Revolving Fund
Ø Resolution to Establish Petty Cash Revolving Fund
Ø Resolution Appointing School District Treasurer (Jay Augustine)
· Motion to Approve the 2008 Department of Human Service Contract
· Motion to Accept a Donation from MPZ Masonry for the Brick and Labor to Install Columns on the Existing Marquee Sign at the High School
· Motion to Accept a Donation in the Amount of $1,000 from Hector Huitron (Aurora Soccer Federation)
· Motion to Accept the Following Bids for Custodial Supplies:
Ø 1st Ayd in the Amount of $178.25
Ø Green Clean Solutions in the Amount of $1,084.50
Ø HP Products in the Amount of $4,871.05
Ø Janco Supply in the Amount of $153,877.96
Ø Ramrod in the Amount of $8,274.92
· Motion to Approve the Following Monthly Financial Reports
Ø Treasurer’s Report
Ø Financial Statement
Ø Payroll Report
Ø Petty Cash Report
Ø List of Bills

IX. Executive Session: None

X. Action, if any, Resulting from Executive Session

XI. Personnel & Policy Committee, Mrs. Juanita Wells, Chair met June 7th at 5:00 P.M.
A. Informational Item
· Meeting Schedule – Thursday, July 12th at 5:00 p.m. at the SSC
· Personnel & Policy Committee Minutes of June 7th
· Additional Bilingual Teacher
· Committee Meeting Dates for the 2007/2008 School Year

B. Action Items
· Motion to Approve a Grant Secretary for the Preschool Center
· Motion to Approve the Personnel Report as Presented

XII. Adjournment

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Board Bits
Monday, June 4, 2007 – 7:00 P.M.
School Service Center
417 Fifth Street

Present: Donald L. Herbig, Russell Pietrowiak,
Juanita Wells, Dee Weaver. Carol E. Farnum, Rayanne Carlson

Absent: Bob McCue

· Roll Call

· Pledge of Allegiance

· Approval of Minutes
o Approval of the Board of Education Workshop Minutes of May 21, 2007

· Communications of Superintendent
o Dr. Roberts thanked everyone for coming out this evening. He had the opportunity to attend the Hope Wall graduation last week. It was great to be there. Also, the middle school promotion ceremonies took place at all three middle schools. Dr. Roberts attended and it was wonderful to see just about 1,000 students being promoted to the 9th grade.

o Dr. Chris Aird recommended for approval Community School Graduates Megan V. arrellano and Michael J. Turacek.
o Mr. Clayton Muhammad, Community Relations Coordinator, highlighted several events that have taken place in the last two weeks. On June 1st the district held a memorial tribute to for our three fallen marines; Hector Ramos, Eduardo Lopez and Jesse De la Torre. The ceremony was held in the serenity Garden at East High School. Also, the Memorial Day parade was very well represented by O’Donnell, Waldo and East High School. The East Aurora Alumni Association made a debut with its own float as well.

o Last month we celebrated our mentor and protégé celebration. We have a team that works with the Human Resources Department called NEST (New Educator Support Team). This team works with new educators in the district. These individuals received the ICE Award for their time, dedication and support of our new teachers. They are: Aggie Berger, Cindy Boinga, Chris Boyles, Meg Callahan, Jill Doyle, Cynthia Fioromonte, Amy Huggins, Sara Imthurn, Karen Jensen, Shari Johnson Pelki, Joyce LeFeber, Annette McMahon, Denise Menesis, Rosa Moreno, Mike Morkert, Myrna Parks, Minerva Rivera, Sebastian Rodriguez, Loretta Solfisburg, Kris Weatley and Michelle Zwart. Mrs. Hollingsworth as well as her assistant Pat Wynn received awards for their commitment and dedication to these new teachers.

o A final ICE Award went out to our East Aurora High School foreign exchange student from China, Deyu Meng and his host family; Stephanie Kifowit.
o Mr. Rich Davis, Building Trades Teacher at East High, presented the superintendent with the keys to the house that our students helped to build at 800 Arthur Way. This home features 4 bedrooms and 3 ½ bath. Mr. Davis teaches the afternoon class and Kurt Roley teaches the morning class. Mr. Davis thanked the board for their support of this program over the years. Students in the past have come from are West High, Nequa Valley and Waubonsee to attend the program. This program has been in place since 1991. There will be an open house scheduled for this home in the near future and that date will follow. The next project will take place at 825 Benton Street. For this new home we will be teaming up with the Joseph Corporation to build a fortified home which is a concrete wall home that will have 2 ½ inches of concrete, 3 inches of foam insulation and 2 ½ inches of concrete. This type of home has been featured on Fox News. It is an affordable home that will be tornado, hurricane and earthquake proof. It will be a great experience for our students. The progress of this home can be viewed at http://www.aurorafortifiedproject.org/

o Mr. Nestor Garcia gave a presentation on the progress of our Freshmen Center and the planning stages that have brought us to where we are today. We will have full occupancy of the Freshmen Center on August 15th. Tours of the Center will take place on June 14th.
o Dr. Chris Aird introduced Judy Judy and Roger Sanders who presented information on the district’s strategic visioning process.

· Comments of Board Members
o Mr. Bud Herbig congratulated our East Aurora High School graduates.
o Mrs. Rayanne Carlson attended the Memorial Tribute at East High School last week. Mr. Muhammad did an excellent job with the families. Mrs. Carlson hopes to research and “catch up” on things that the board has already done so that she is up to speed on district business.
o Mrs. Juanita Wells thanked everyone this evening on their presentations. There was a lot of good information shared.
o Mr. Russell Pietrowiak informed the board that the State of Illinois has not created a budget as of yet. It is very important that we do not let up on holding our legislators accountable for doing education funding reform. District 131 has been involved above and beyond more so than any school district that he is aware of in working with A+ Illinois which is the premier lobbying group. Mr. Pietrowiak attended the Hope Wall graduation and encouraged everyone to attend one of their graduations in the future. Attending this ceremony really puts things into perspective. Also, the Golden K’s always supports the students at Hope Wall. They should be commended for their commitment and dedication. Finally, it is great to know that we will be looking into revamping our district website.
o Mrs. Dee Weaver attended graduation as well which was wonderful to be a part of. Mrs. Weaver also attended the Memorial Day parade and mentioned that Mary Taylor who helped with our band students did an outstanding job.
o Mrs. Carol Farnum attended the high school graduation, Hope Wall’s graduation and all three middle school promotion ceremonies.

· Open Meeting: None

· Curriculum/Technology Committee
o Their next meeting will be held on June 11th at 6:00 p.m. at the SSC.
o There were no additional informational or action items.

· Building & Grounds Committee
o Their next meeting will be held on June 6th at 4:00 p.m. at the SSC
o There were no additional informational or action items.

· Finance Committee
Their next meeting will be held on June 6th at 6:30 p.m. at the SSC.
Approval of Self Funding the HMOI Plan Effective July 1, 2007

· Executive Session for the purpose of discussing the Appointment, Employment and Dismissal of a Specific Employee
o Adjourned into Executive Session at 8:25 p.m., reconvened into open session at 8:50 p.m.
o Approved the Minutes of the Executive Session

· Personnel and Policy Committee
o Their next meeting will be held on June 7th at 5:00 p.m. at SSC
o Approved School Board Policy Section 705.04-R (Student Attendance Areas)
o Approved School Board Policy Section 710.07 (Student Appearance)
o Approved School Board Policy Section 500.112 (Administrative Supplemental Early Retirement Program)
o Approved the Personnel Report as presented

· The meeting adjourned at 8:52 p.m.

The work continues

Hello fellow Bloggers,
I apologize for the lack of new posts to this blog. I had been a bit busy and openlineblog had good dialog going on a few of their posts, so I did not see a need for encouraging discussion on this blog.

That will hopefully change. Over the next few months I hope to encourage community input and keep district 131 residents informed of things going on concerning our schools. Our open forum here can be a useful tool to our school board to survey the community and keep it's members up to date on issues that are not normally news worthy to the local media.

I will update this post as I fine tune this blog site to continue to serve the old purpose and realign it as a communication tool within the district.

In the mean time, Dee and I would like to thank all of those who have encouraged and supported us throughout the election process. We look forward to being representatives of our community in District 131 as board members.

We would like to invite everyone to attend the School Board meeting on May 7th @ 7pm. We are scheduled to be sworn in that night. Due to some information that is required to be delivered to the school board prior to our swearing in, the swearing in may be rescheduled to Tuesday May 8th.

The regular board meeting will still take place Monday. Please attend and show support for the dedication of the out going members.

Please note in the comments. An excellent beginning to this blog as a communication tool. I have copied a comment and entered it in this post from Dan Barriero. His dedication is continuing, I hope community members do not stop their campaign to support our schools.

Yes, to transparency, why some will still say NO to the referendum

A blog comment I felt worth posting:

Anonymous said...

The Need for Public School Financial Transparency
The Illinois government-run school system continues to resist financial transparency. Instead of fully disclosing how it’s spending $20 billion dollars of taxpayers’ money, they cry out for more. In the private sector there’s something called GAAP accounting practices. GAAP stands for “Generally Accepted Accounting Principles.” In the government-run school system in Illinois we see PAAP – “Politically Accepted Accounting Principles.”

We’ve got a simple question: how can anyone not support full disclosure of all government revenues and expenditures? Yet when it comes to the public school spending crisis in Illinois, those who stand to personally profit from increasing taxes resist transparency. As one observer has stated, it’s time to “solve the lexicography of the dissemblers.” Currently there is no citizen oversight of government-run school spending, and there’s precious little effective school board oversight, either.

There should be a standardized accounting and full disclosure of all district revenues and expenditures (including the district’s check register) on the World Wide Web, including:
A list of all employees in an organizational chart.
Every classroom expenditure should be outlined.
Every contract – including those of administrators, should be posted in its entirety.
(It’s clear that many school boards prefer to keep some of the perks and some of the details of the benefit packages away from the public eye, since the scale of their generosity with money earmarked for educating kids would rouse ire on the part of the taxpayers.)

March 14, 2007 10:16 AM

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Excellent points and resolution.

It is my understanding, the same time the balanced budget is due from the schools in 2010, the state is going to require some sort of website posting of accounting from the schools.
It is suppose to be part of the total accountability package.

Do we dare to hope the we taxpayers may actually see how our dollars are spent?

Could this possibly be the reason the push is on for referendums to pass and money to be spent, before transparency is law?

Show us (where) the money (is spent).

I spoke recently with one of our State representatives. Concerning school finances, they "do NOT think it's about more money. It's about the kids." Which I agreed. They went on to explain the "schools have not been accountable to the state and communities" for sometime.

This is why the state has required the schools to have a balanced budget by 2010.
Similar to our contribution through property taxes, the state has been paying into the schools (with taxpayer money) and is not seeing the accounting for these funds.

For YEARS our district has gone over budget and borrowed against our children's future. The future is here and now and they want us, community members, to pay for it. In some ways we are responsible. We should have been more involved, earlier on, and required more accountability sooner.

The community was not asked for it's input until the district surplus of cash had run dry. In turn, we the community did not ask for more accountability till the district wanted us to cough up more cash. For both sides it has been all about the money and we all are using the kids as the
bargaining chip for our response to the budget dilemma.

This isn't about busing, or kids getting to school or field trips. It is about getting our kids the best basic education we can afford. Schools cannot continue to take over as social workers and surrogate parents to give kids trips to the zoo and offer alternative schools to chronically truant students. Programs for students who want to be in school and whose parents make the effort to be involved are paying the cost. These students are losing lifetime opportunities that cannot be replaced.

National Honor Society, fine arts, clubs and activities are a small investment in keeping students encouraged about school and creating an atmosphere of community within their school. Not to mention, it looks great on the college application.

Below you will see a proposal that was mentioned at one budget forum. It was put aside quickly and I, for one, do not know why. In the list of alternate reductions you will see nearly 3 million could be saved by cuts to administrative positions only. Why wasn't this plan discussed more at the Tuesday Talks? Or at more of the Board forums?

Alternate Reductions

1.1.) Service Center Admin.
a) 81,000
b) 65,000
c) 30,000
d) 76,000
e) 87,500
f) 24,000
g) 65,400
h) 60,900

Total 489,800

2.2.)Elementary Admin.
a) 599,813
b) 319,614

Total 919,427

3.3.) Middle School Admin.
a) 492,059
b) 109,469

Total 601,528

4.) High School Admin.
a) 270,752
b) 10,000
c) 266,415
d) 90,000
e) 197,000

Total 834,167

Grand Total - All Alternative Reductions= $ 2,844,922

Board in favor of referendum

There was a meeting tonight with administration, a few community members and 6 board members present.
In short, Board member McCue and Barriero were the only ones that took the community input into consideration and suggested asking for 55c instead of 85c increase, to show they listening to the community .

When all was said and done Roberts and Augustine made the recommendation to ask for 85c. The board majority agreed to 75c.

As Dan Barriero suggested, without asking for a lower amount, it is as if all the forums and comments by the public were for nothing, if they come back and ask for the same amount that was rejected in November.

Obviously, that is exactly what their agenda was, so much for transparency. I am sure we all saw that one coming. Maybe not head on, but with a little "side stepping" as it was described in the Beacon.

http://openline.blogspot.com/

Hello Folks,
I started this ea131blog when new EA stories quit appearing on "openline blog" yet, people continued to go back to the old East Aurora postings to continue commenting.

I will continue to post when I am able to attend meetings and give details of what goes on at those meetings. In the best interest of keeping active dialogue about district 131, I suggest you continue to read and comment on the "openline blog" site, where I believe many more people will read your comments. You are welcome to continue posting here. I just want to see the comments continue to help us all see different perspectives.

I know there a few new people to this site, may I suggest you go to the site listed in the title of this post, and check it out, too..

Please keep telling friends and neighbors, coworkers and others you meet what the FACTS are with the referendum. The questions left unanswered and the details of a budget left untold.
I have listened to Dr, Roberts and I have listened to the pro ref. individuals. I am not confident my money will be any better spent with additional funds, than it has been in the past.

:o) Till later.

Tax caps, band instruments, admin cuts, oh my.....

I attended 2 District 131 meetings on Tuesday, Jan. 16th. I
attended the Tuesday Talks meeting at East HS hosted by Dr. Roberts. I thought it was to be second in a series he has scheduled. I was disappointed to find out this meeting was just a repeat of the first meeting but at a different time of day, and different location. As will be the remaining three talks.

Basically, Dr. Roberts explained “how we got here.” Which I took to mean-How district 131 got in this financial situation. He explained that due to the new law that requires districts to balance their budgets, 131 has a problem. Previously, 131 used to borrow money (deficit financing) to balance their budget.
Approx. 7 years ago they had a surplus of $20 million. At that time, they were spending $4 million more per year than they were taking in. The board chose to spend down the surplus before coming to the electorate to ask for more. Over the last 2 years they have cut $4 million from the budget. They felt there would be a “friendly referendum environment when the tenure of the community changed.”
He feels that great strides have been made in the quality of qualified teachers the district now attracts and retains. Over the last decade they have become more of a preferred employer due to changed working conditions and improved salaries. He feels this has resulted in getting 12 schools getting off the AYP list.

Since the referendum did not pass in Nov. '06, cuts will need to be made in ‘07-‘08 school year. They have attempted to do a balanced reduction “so everyone feels a little pain.” For those who have suggested cutting more administrative positions, Dr. Roberts said even if they cut their 16 principals and 8 central office people at the administrative level, that could not balance the budget.

The rest of the “talks” was stuff you would have already read in the paper or somewhere, if you have been keeping up with 131 and their business dealings.
Yada yada…….boards decides whether or not to put ref. on the ballot; West EAV (tax $$) extremely higher than Easts.
Dr. Roberts ended asking if we can look ourselves in the mirror and ask the question “do they need the money?” If we say no- 13,000 kids in the community will suffer. “Just a guy trying to help 13,000 kids.”
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I went to the School board meeting that evening. Pretty much, same stuff. Board member,Russ P. expounded on why the tax cap has hurt our revenue. (to save space on this post, I will be adding a comment about tax caps ).

A very surprising comment came from Bud Herbig and the curricular committee. He put a request out for donations of band instruments. It seems there are many students at the elementary level that cannot join band, because they cannot afford the instruments. As you well know, as a band booster, I could write another chapter on that comment.

So for now, I will leave you with this brief overview of the meetings and will add comments later, and I encourage yours. :o)

Meetings in January

The remainder of January there are 4 different meetings scheduled in the district. One will have discussions on the budget, 2 others will focus on the referendum campaign in District 131. The school board meeting offers time for public comment.

For concerned community members, attending all these meetings to keep well informed, can be quite a task.

The community budget forum aka Tuesday Talk, open door meeting will be midday.
The Community Advisory Committee meeting scheduled for January 16th at 12:00 noon will be hosting a community budget forum in lieu of their usual meeting. East Aurora School District 131 Superintendent, Dr. Jerome Roberts will be the host. Also, the meeting location has been changed to East High School room 239 in order to accommodate a larger group.
Referendum Review Council (RRC) meetings are January 18th and 25th at 6:30 at the service center. One meeting was already held on the 11th.

The flyer says: Register for RRC by contacting Info@d131.org or 630-299-5566

This is a group comprised of parents, community members, educators and civic leaders that provides constructive feedback about the district's November referendum campaign. This council focuses on what should be changed, created, cancelled or continued (4 C's) in reference to the previous process. Information collected will be provided to the Board of Education and Administration.

There is a disclaimer of sorts on this flyer that states:

PLEASE NOTE: This council is not the East Aurora Referendum Committee. The Board of Education has yet to vote on placing a referendum on the April ballot. In such case that the Board votes in favor of an April referendum, the EA Referendum committee will be reestablished independent of the School District.

East Aurora Referendum Committee (no meetings yet)

And.........the District 131 School Board meeting is "supposed" to be held on Tuesday this week, due to the holiday. Meeting is posted to take place January 16th at 7:00 p.m at the school service center.

District News

You can be put on the mailing list for District 131 by contacting Clayton Muhammad at cmuhammad@d131.org. When on the mailing list you will periodically receive a news of things going on in 131, press releases and "131 E-NEWS: SUPERINTENDENT'S WEEKLY MESSAGE"

In the Supt.'s message Dr. Roberts relays personal info and a bit of his weekly agenda.
I appreciate these personal glimpses and weekly updates.
I thought I'd share this with you in part, for the week of January 8th he tells us:
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
District News
As the new year starts, I will continue the “Tuesday Talks with the Superintendent” with the community regarding the possibility of an April Referendum. The next talk is on Tuesday, January 16 at 12:00p.m. at East Aurora High School. Thank you to our principal, Sheila Conrad for hosting this meeting.
■If you are interested in working on the Referendum Review Council, the team that reviews the efforts of the last referendum campaign,please contact the Office of Community Relations. More information will be sent this week to those who have already signed up. Thank you for your concern about the district.
■We continue to meet to work on the district's Strategic Visioning Plan. The process is lengthy, but once it is complete, we will have a strong foundation for future planning.

Tuesday 01/09/07
• Meeting with District 129 Supt., Dr.Jim Rydland re: Referendum Talks
• Spanish Class
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I am wishful that during the talks with West Supt.
Dr. Roberts may return to 131 with some of West Aurora's long term goals and dedication to their band program.

Beacon News Dec. 23, 2006 "West compares it's taxes with other districts."
The statement made by Kevin Wegner-the West Aurora district's assistant supt. of finance.
"A successful referendum would be enough to fix the financial foundation for the long term and enable the district to start a refresh cycle for things like buses, computers, security cameras and band instruments."

District 131 has gotten grant money through the help of Chapa-LaVia for security items. Options could be for purchases of cameras and internet security and things of that nature. We have no buses, District 131 has not given money to band for instruments until they committed the high school band homicide. Then a one time amount was budgeted for the middle schools. Not sure why or how that happened. Will call it a gift horse.

Just putting a few things out there to think about while trying to figure out......what does East Aurora need more money for?
(Subliminal message-administration?)

I apologize, I was misinformed

I searched the 131 website to find the board calendar that lists the board meeting dates for the year. It also has notations on dates that will change due to holidays.
*Jan 1st meeting will be changed till the 3rd, 2007.

I have been unable to access the board minutes, to read if there were comments of meeting dates notated. I attempted to notify someone of this problem and to get dates of other meetings not posted on the 131 website. See emails below.
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Sent: Thursday, December 28, 2006 8:54 PM
To: jroberts@d131.org Cc: cmuhammad@d131.org
Subject: Open door meetings

Hello!

I am writing you for info and realize I will probably not receive an answer till after school has resumed, and that is OK.

I have tried to access calendars and bits.....on the 131 website and I am not "authorized." I was trying to find a list of the open door meetings. I had it, but must have deleted it.
Please remind me, again.

Thanks,
~Rayanne
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Subj:RE: Open door meetings
Date:1/3/2007 10:22:30 AM Central Standard Time
From:jroberts@d131.org

Hi there
Happy New Year to you too! I have no explanation as to why this occurred. I will forward your email on to technology to see if they do. Thanks for letting me know.
Peace
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I and six other community members were not aware of the cancellation of tonight's board meeting. We were waiting at the front door of the service center. No notice was posted on the door and the door was locked. I called one of the board members home and was told it was decided at the last meeting, to not have a meeting this week.

I came home and checked the website again. I was able to access the "board bits" and minutes but found NO minutes for the last meeting that would have had the info about the cancellation.

This is so frustrating. How can we be involved, how can others become involved when the district is not "public friendly."

What use is a few "open door" meetings when everything is closed to the public. If not closed, they sure are not putting out any welcome mats.
I would describe this district as "communication challenged."
I am unsure if they don't want to communicate, don't know how, or just don't care to keep the community informed.

Aaaarrrggghhh!