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.”
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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:
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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
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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!