Family time, especially during the holidays, takes priority over everything in our home. So,I have no new discussion issues to post at this time. I thought I'd open a 2009 opportunity for predictions. Serious, silly, or knowledgeable insight....let's hear what our community looks for in the new year.
I am optimistic for the coming year. We have a new president. Elections are coming for our local officials and District 131 school board members. I feel confident, that a good mix for good government in Aurora will be in place this next year.
For fun, share your predictions for East Aurora.
142 comments:
I predict good things for 2009--new School Board members, a new mayor, and with our new President maybe we can get rid of that ridiculous "No Child Left Behind" unfunded mandate!
I'm hoping that we finally get that long-promised "community-friendly" website, especially at East High. There is no excuse for a picture & phone # of Rick Johnson to be featured under Administration, when he has been gone from the district since last June!
On the positive side, being able to see the district's check register is new this year--a big "thanks" to whoever's responsible (Dee?)
The check register was brought before the board by Anita I don't know her last name. I do believe that Rayanne and Dee has fought for something like that but it took a community member to bring it up so the other board members believed that the people of the district would like this. So for all the parents and other community members out there if you have ideas remember that if you go in front of the board with ideas at least they will see that some of the things that Dee and Rayanne say are not something just posted on a blog but what people want. i believe Anita is going to run for school board and I think she would make a good choice to be on the board.
12:36, I think you're talking about Anita Lewis--I agree, she'll be a great addition to the School Board!
Does anybody know who else is running?
Yes, it was Anita Lewis.
Yes, she will be running for the school board.
I think getting Blago out of office would be a big help to many things in Illinois. He has really put this state in a cash poor situation which is affecting so many school district and state funded programs.
Hopefully this will be the year that the state of Illinois starts acting responsibly.
I know all the current board members that are up for re-election are going to run again--McCue, Wells, Maurice, and Salinas. Also several packets have been taken by community members. Petition filing starts January 20th so we will know by the end of the month who will be on the ballot.
For all the new ones that are running, get your packets in early as the first ones who get there, their names are on the top of the ballot. Example: If Wells is the 1'st one there, then McCue, then Maurice the ballot would look like this:
Wells
McCue
Maurice
As proven in the past people who are not aware of what is going on will vote for the names at the top. If everyone is able to get there at the same time when the packets are handed in the will have to do a lottery like was done for the mayoral race. Food for thought for those who are running.
I can't believe McCue is running. The man can't hear and he never says anything and it is so hard to hear him. It is time for him to let new blood be on the board.
I will be supporting Anita Lewis and Ken Maurice, and other community members who step forward to run.
Ms. Wells, Mr. Salinas, and Mr. McCue are all old-guard School Board, and need to be gone. They are partly responsible for the public's mistrust of this district's administration, because of the decisions they made the past 4 years.
I will not be standing by Ken Maurice. He has the thinking of the old school board members. No one who cared for this district would renew a superintendents contract a year before it was even up. He supports that the superintendent should also be allowed to live somewhere else.
These will be tough times coming up and we need people to stand up and say no to some of this spending. Even with the referendum passing this district will still be in trouble. You see in the papers lately that the state will not be honoring some of the money they said they would be giving to the districts. With the foreclosures, property values going down and unemployment in this district we will be up to some decisions that need to be made for the children of this district and not people's pocket book.
The decisions that have been made by the "old" board members and Ken, are going to have long term affects that will not be able to be repaired any time soon.
The students will suffer the consequences of a lucrative contract for Roberts and the secretaries ( Salinas wife included). Also, adding to budget increases are nice pay raises due to job title changes for a few personnel at the service center.
I am sure we will hear Roberts crying poor for our district, blaming the economy while laughing on the way to the Bollingbrook bank to withdraw and spend his retirement check in his home district
Some food for thought. If the old guard and Maurice is voted out, there just might be something that can be done about Roberts contract. I am sure it would be a hard road to tow, but I am sure the new ones will try with certain others that will still be there. Wells certainly needs to go. She makes no bones about letting people know that she would like to be president of the school board and if anyone goes to the meetings, then they know she is not one for this job!
I wonder about this board having someone be gone for three months. I thought Carol Farum was retired so what kind of work should she be doing. I could see maybe a month but for three months she should of done the right thing and stepped down. Is anyone sure when she phones in that she is sitting by the phone during the whole school board meeting and who is paying for that phone call.
Want a prediction?
I predict Carol will resign from her position after the election, rather than have 5 positions be open for new comers.
Let us hope that when it comes to picking a school board president when this election is over that Farum does not get it again. Also, if Wells is re-elected that she does not get to be school board president.
There's no way that Ms. Farnum could be School Board president again, because she's been absent for so many meetings. The only reason she was chosen last time was because she had experience, and no one else wanted the position or felt they were qualified at that time.
Happy New Year to all who read this blog!
And a question: What will it take to get rid of Rick Johnson's picture and info on the East High website? Don't we deserve to have current information about who is in charge at that school??
I'd rather see no information than outdated, inaccurate stuff. C'mon, it's not as though we can't afford a decent website, now that the referendum passed. Or is that money going for hotel rooms & expensive dinners for a lucky few, while hard-working taxpayers are left holding the bag?
FYI- per Illinois school code, you can only take part in a meeting (and vote) via audio or video conference if one of the following apply:
Personal illness or disability
Business (either the District's or your employment)
Family or other emergency
Just being on vacation doesn't count. You can certainly listen to the meeting via conference call, but unless one of the above applies you can't contribute to the meeting as a Board Member.
East is working with the same web provider that West used and it did take awhile for their site to get to where it is today. They have a full time staff member devoted to it and maybe things will move faster when East finds someone. West has all Board policies under a tab on the Board page and they are searchable. Most of the policies are the boiler plate from the State Board with a tweaks here and there.
They go against there own policy too about that policy 271 on audio and video conferencing. The thing is though as long as the board votes on her being gone and they say she can there is nothing you can do. This is just another example why the board members up for re-election should be gotten rid of. I don't think they even care that they go against policy since they done it so much.
Here's a prediction for 2009--our Tomcat boys' basketball team will beat the West Blackhawks tomorrow night!
Our team has been awesome. Last night they beat Waubonsie, and I think they're unstoppable this year.
Go Tomcats!!
This was the only thing displayed on the message center today on the D131 website:
FNxMNO kwahzrrtvnpy, [url=http://dvezadieifyw.com/]dvezadieifyw[/url], [link=http://ljezkrtsdaxa.com/]ljezkrtsdaxa[/link], http://vjuhahbzdvnd.com/
Yep, our administrators are giving us exactly what they think we deserve.
Making choices for arrogance, as usual!
There is an article in the Sun-Times about one of the new charter schools in Chicago. Children had been strip searched, there were also grades and attendance being changed to make the students seem more successful. Apparently falsefying grades and attendance is illegal. Grades etc. are official state records.
Teachers in Aurora 131 have been told for years to change student grades. We are told that less than 25% must fail. If more than 25% of the class is failing, we are told to change some grades or face remediation. Some grades have been changed by administrators without the proper notification given to parents and teachers.
At least in Chicago, it's a local problem at a particular building. In Aurora it's "Unofficial Policy" within the district.
It's the same thing with referrals. If a teacher writes referrals on children, the teacher is questioned and threatened with remediation. We are forced by administration to accept ridiculous behaviors within the classes.
Things will not change until there are major changes made at the administrative level.
The East West game is on the 17th
Yes, go Tomcats you deserve it. No matter how people feel the kids in this district deserve the best. We might not all agree on things but that is how it is almost anywhere but I think all of us agree that our children should be the most important thing in this district.
Frankly January 8, 2009 11:21, you don't even deserve that much.
It's not about what I deserve--it's about what our kids deserve!
Our kids deserve administrators who make decisions in the best interests of our kids, not circling the wagons to support a personal vendetta. Administrators who spend their time & our money wisely to benefit the community they supposedly serve instead of wasting both for their own selfish interests.
Our children have definitely NOT benefited from certain decisions made by administrators & old-guard School Board members over the past several years. Our sorry excuse for a website (we've been asked to "be patient" and wait for improvement for 2 years) is but one major example of this. Other examples are the decline of the EHS band program and administrators helping themselves to thousands of dollars that should have gone for our kids' education.
11:36 hit the nail on the head: "Things will not change until there are major changes made at the administrative level". Let's start by voting in some new School Board members this spring!
To:January 8, 2009 11:36 AM
It's no wonder this district has so many problems. Only in this district can someone make the allegations of illegal activities as you did and the only responses have to do with basketball games and websites.
The citizens of this community deserve exactly what they are getting.
10:18, some of us are concerned with illegal activity as well as websites, as well as commenting on the positive in our district (basketball team). It's not either/or, it's both/and.
Lots of things are wrong AND right in District 131--and this blog provides a place to talk about all of our concerns. As far as changing students' grades under pressure from administrators, I'm hoping that once we get rid of "No Child Left Behind" there will be less pressure on teachers to teach to the test, so they can concentrate on educating our kids. If a student is failing part of the blame should go to the parents, part to the community, and a small part to the schools. Same when a child succeeds--parents, community, and schools share the credit. I've raised kids, so I know what I'm talking about!
I just went to the D131 website, and saw 11 sets of Board Bits listed as being posted. I thought, great! Now those of us alums who live out of town can read a summary of what happened at the meetings.
Here's what I saw when I clicked on each of the Board Bits:
The requested URL http://www.d131.org/boardofed/board_schedule.asp was not found on this server. We apologize for any inconvenience!
And I clicked on all eleven Board Bits and got the same thing. No Board Bits at all--just the message above.
If I did my job like the folks at the Service Center do theirs, I'd be out on my butt before the day was over.
Many in this district are making choices for incompetence, not excellence.
I am really going to be interested to see if all of those who wanted to take the place of the school board members that had to be replaced will run for the board.
Shady land deals, illegal fraternities, falsifying state records, it's no wonder so many of our communities children grow up to be criminals. Children follow the example of the leaders in their community.
If the adults in this community tolerate illegal behavior from their leaders, then they should not have a problem when their children emmulate illegal activities.
Again this community gets exactly what they deserve.
Now the D131 website has added the October and November check registers to its list of downloadable information, under "Agendas and Board Bits".
A good thing, right?
Only if you don't want any actual information. When I clicked on the View icon, here's what I saw:
"The requested URL http://www.d131.org/boardofed/board_schedule.asp was not found on this server. We apologize for any inconvenience!"
Yep, that's what you'll see when you try to download both check registers and all of the Board Bits. None of the actual promised information--just an apology.
Kinda looks like they're improving the website like they "improved" the EHS band program.
We deserve better, and we'll have a golden opportunity this spring to replace those old-guard School Board members. Now THAT will be an improvement!
Oh no. You won't be able to investigate what they are spending their money on. Poor ignorant you.
1:11, you must be both rich and foolish. Rich because you don't care how much money is wasted in this district, and foolish because you trust corrupt administrators to spend our money wisely.
Does anyone know why it's 4:00 and Cowherd still hasn't released the students? They are on some type of lockdown.
I looked at the district website last week and could see the register so there is probably some clinch with the website.
The problem is that they decided to get a new website but didn't have anyone to run it. From what I hear they had some teachers or administrators doing some of the school websites and they have left or don't do it anymore. So they brought in someone to design a new website and I believe at first it took so long to find the right pictures to put on the home page (which probably cost more) instead of focusing on the basic of what was needed. I believe the West side had the same company do theirs and it is working fine. It doesn't have all the pictures on the home page but it has the information you need. I believe they have someone that takes care of the website also.
You would think the district would of thought to find someone to run the whole website before beginning it. They sure can get those news briefs out there but have trouble keeping other area's up to date. So why before they even started to spend this money did they not make sure that they had someone to take care of all the area's of information of the district. Part of it I believe is they only care about the part the PR person does and what the superintendent says which is a shame because there is so much more that needs to be on it. It is another example of poor planning on the administrations part and a school board that just says yes to these people before seeing if they have dotted all there eyes like having someone to keep the website up to date.
Hopefully nothing bad has happened at Cowherd.
There was a bomb threat at Cowherd. What doesn't make sense is why you would lock students for more than two hours and for an hour past the school day in a building that is under a bomb threat.
It seems obvious to me that the safest thing to do is get children away from bomb, not lock them in with it.
Of course, I am coming to this conclusion without all the facts. The reason I do not have all the facts is because they were not shared with me or any of the other adults in the community. They did not even share any details with the Cowherd staff until three and a half hours after the original threat.
This is yet another example of the poor decision making abilities and communication from the administration in this district.
I could be wrong but maybe they thought that if they let the children out there might be someone outside that could of caused damage. In this day you can not be sure if they do the bomb threat hoping that they will release the kids and something happen out side the school.
More ignorance and lies from the East Aurora community.
It's no lie that the administration was told that there was a bomb in the building at 2:20 and then locked the children in that building until after 4:00. That's approximately two hours that they locked the children and teachers in a building with a possible bomb.
When I was growing up, if there was a bomb threat, they would get the children out of the building as soon as possible if there was a risk of a bomb going off. The theory is simple. Get the children away from the bomb before it blows up and kills someone.
How would the administration justify locking children in a building with a bomb. Imagine if the bomb went off and killed a bunch of kids. They could have gotten the kids out of the building but decided rather to lock them in with the bomb.
It's the most irresponsible decision I've ever seen an adminstrator make and that's with seeing the non-stop idiot actions we see in this district.
You can not just blame the building level administrators in this one, they were in contact with the central office from start and I am sure were following the directions of Dr. Roberts.
Hey 10:12, What part do you think the Aurora P.D. played in the bomb threat? You all are so full of piss and vinegar you don't even know how to think!!!!!!!!!!!
I saw what the Aurora PD was doing at Cowherd. They walked a dog up and down the hallways to sniff for bombs. They then placed themselves in the next hallway with the administrators(where they could see what was happening but were out of the blast range) as the children opened their lockers.
The cops and administrators did not put themselves in any undo risk as they did put the children in. They also did not inform the teachers of the danger as they walked the children to their lockers.
When they were asked what was happening, they responded that the children could expect a phone call at home that evening. When I asked the children today if they received a phone call, approximately 80% said that they had not. They came to school today still having no idea why they were held in the building for an hour and a half after the day ended.
I noticed that there was no story in the Beacon about how Cowherd was on lockdown. There have been stories lately about a lockdown at Waubonsee and at Oswego East. It's very strange that the Beacon had nothing to report about Cowherd.
The Central Office Administrators were nowhere to be found at Cowherd.
The Central Office is no more than five minutes away from Cowherd. If the building was safe enough for the children to be in, why was there not one Central Office Administrator at Cowherd, directing the search and investigation?
They were informed immediately. They knew what was happening. The superintendent (Jerome Roberts) and the director of secondary education (Marin Gonzalez) at least should have gotten their A$$es over to Cowherd.
What could they possibly been doing at the Central Office that was more important than the situation going on at Cowherd.
It makes one wonder if Jerome Roberts was even in Aurora on Monday. He was probably sitting in his big house (Out of District) counting his new big raise.
I notice on the December check register the following, posted 12/15/08:
A check for $13,939.43, listed as "Travel".
I'd consider that an expensive tab for one trip. What did we taxpayers get for our money? Was it necessary to spend almost $14K that could have gone directly for our children?
After reading the Beacon this morning about the state cutting back and what Jay said about money maybe it's time for the administration and certain school board members to stop going on trips.
Don't forget to add Lisa Morales, spouses, children and grandchildren to that list.
Let's see if Jerome can make the simple decision about cancelling school tomorrow before or after half the staff leave in the morning.
Not only the staff, what about the children who might have to leave early to get to school? This involves everyone! Other schools are already getting out the message there will be no school tomorrow.
Was it early enough for you? No, now you will say it was too early right. He woke me up at 5:50, doesn't he know people are sleeping.
SHUT UP
7:05's never heard of an answering machine, but jumps out of bed to get to a ringing phone at 5:50 a.m.
Then goes to the computer to tell us to SHUT UP.
Classy, dude!
There is kind of a big break between 5:50 and 7:05. So I probably did not jump out of bed to get the phone and the run over to the computer. You might be so old and out of shape that it takes you a hour to get from one room in your house to another but not me.
What I noticed is that this is the first time in all my years teaching in this district that I got a call before was already out of bed and getting ready for work.
Some may say that this blog is useless but it is obvious to me that the district administrators are monitoring it and there have been changes made because of it. If you don't think so just ask Clayton, he is still hiding the Boys II Menn fraternity website. If it were really legal and a positive group for our children, he would perform the groups activities where all could see them.
Okay, so 7:05 jumped out of bed at 5:50 to answer the phone, went back to bed, and got up an hour later to tell us to SHUT UP.
I may be older than you, but I've heard of (and use) those newfangled inventions called voice mail & answering machines. But I'm sure it's easier to just complain, isn't it?
Nobody reads this blog at the administrative level. Only old hags and about 10 bitchy parents. Oh, and one "know-it-all" school board member who runs it.
Hey 1:09, which are you--an old hag or a bitchy parent?
Personally, I was happy with my 5:35 am call. I was up already and getting ready but at least I had not left yet.
I am whichever one your mother isn't.
There will be no school tomorrow--my spouse (a teacher) just got the phone call.
How's that for timely notification?
I see the central office is reading this again on our dime. If you guys have the time and our reading this in working hours than we don't need so many of you so hopefully we we get new school board members we can clean house and put some more money towards the kids. We need some more of no all school board members to put the money for our children instead of administrators pockets.
In the real world we maybe don't get a call from our work to say it is closing. We don't work 9 months out of the year we work 12 months out of the year. We don't get a government pension that tax payers pay into we have to and not at 75%. I know that there are many teachers out there that are wiling to go to school in this type of weather that do there best but we have administrators that live outside of this district who make good money that would rather stay home than come out in this weather that don't even live in this district.
We need to clean house and that starts in the Central Office and the people that work there that are more concerned about their pocket book and not the kids of this district. It is plain to see that they look at this website to see what is being said and if they have time for that we don't need all of them. If they think that some school board member is not it all then they need to look at the whole school board because most of them are not really doing there job and are being ruled by the district employees and not what they should be doing for the children of this district.
At least the the no all member speaks out for the children and not for the benifit of the administrators. Some don't take a three month leave for what ever reason and is there for the meetings or uses the excuse of there job not to be there.
It is time for a change in this district and we have that chance in the up coming election. For all that what want change look who will be running in the next election. Antia Lewis will be a good candidate for this she has spoken out for change and hopefully we will have others that will want the good of this district.
9:23 that was brutal. You really need to keep your comments to yourself. I'm sure if you were capable of having children you would expect them to walk in this weather. Its that reason and only that reason school was canceled. The safety of the children is number one!!!!!!
I'm so sick of hearing you cry about our supposed nine month job. Many of us take hours upon hours of work home with us every day. We also have part time jobs on the weekend to assist with that great salary we have. When it comes to pensions, we must put in 35 years to be eligible for that 75%. Like many of the opinions I see on here most of you do not know what goes into what you are talking about. In order to qualify for our pension we contribute 10% of our salary every paycheck for 35 years. Most school districts pay for there employees retirement as a benefit. Not here at good old D131. No sir, not only do we make them pay for their own retirement, we underpay our employees by an average of $10,000, and you wonder why, when we log into this piece of _ _ _ blog that we might be a little upset as to what the community thinks of us as teachers.
Jan 1/15 @ 11:25PM
Maybe Jan 1/15 @ 9:23PM was brutal, but so were you.
Your salary still equals to 12 months pay. The same the rest of alot of this community lives on or less. You may have to pay in 10% towards your retirement, but the people of this community pay the rest throught their taxes, which of course if you live in this community it comes out of your taxes. From what I have heard and have knowledge of many teachers and administrators do not live in this communit biggest complaint being the superintendany. The tax payers of this community(unless a teacher or administrator)also pay into social security for their own retirement and it is much more that what you state you pay. Also, we do not get 75%. Therefore we pay for our own and the teachers and administration. As for underpaying teachers in this community, have you ever noticed that many in this community is below poverty level? Not only do they work a full time job, but also have to work a part time job to try to make ends meet. Then there are the many that are on welfare and the ones that are here illegally that we also have the burden of. Teachers knew what they were doing when they decided to do the job. I for one, am grateful for the many good teachers out there! Why do you log on to this blog if you are only going to get upset? The way I took this persons posting is that it was against administratio and the board, not the teachers. You are taking this very personally and it makes me wonder just who you are.
WHO CARES IF THE TEACHER LIVES IN THE DISTRICT. Do you think the teachers found some community where there are no schools? GUESS WHAT, they didn't. So I guess with their property tax dollars they are also paying into the teachers retirement, maybe not speciffically theirs but some teachers in some communtiy. YOU ARE A MORON. EVERYBODY PAYS PROPERTY TAXES. ALL TEACHERS whether or not they live in the district they teach in.
I think the main reason school has been called off is because of administration's fear of possible lawsuits if something were to happen to one of our children because of the weather. And we can expect teachers to be in a bad mood today, because they know that because school was called off we will have to extend the school year into the 2nd week of June this year.
Is there some kind of sliding scale out there that says what a teachers salary should be? It seems if you live in a district that has a lot of money they can pay a higher salary that others and our districts shouldn't be judged like that. If you don't like what you are making then go to another district where they pay more. As far as the pensions most teachers get a good one and why should you be any different that any other working person. Do you think your the only ones that have to work 34yrs to get one. For now you don't have to worry like many workers today of losing your job when you only have a few months before you could go on retirement.
As far as the schools closing in this weather I don't think anyone wants children to walk to school in this weather and to be truthful we all know that most of the grade school kids get driven to school just drive by one in the morning and you can see the traffic jam. As far as getting notified early the way this weather has been and how many days it has lasted might make the decision hard. I saw on the TV that Naperville still hadn't decided to close for today.
As far as being capable of having children I have and my children went to school in this district when you could be proud of it. They did walk to school in cold weather and when it was this cold I didn't wait for the school to close I kept them home I didn't need anyone telling me that they should stay home.
I have been to a few board meetings and I have seen Lisa and how she looks at some of the board members when she doesn't like something they have said. She acts like she runs the board and she is just the secretary not an appointed member and she doesn't live in this district. She needs to remember she is only the secretary and nothing more for this board.
No, 8:42, everybody doesn't pay property taxes.
The many, many public housing residents in District 131 who turned out to vote in the presidential election do NOT pay property taxes.
But they did vote to raise OUR taxes, for the referendum. In other words, they voted to help themselves to something they don't pay into.
And there's not a thing we taxpayers can do about it--except to make sure we replace those corrupt bozos on the School Board who've made so many decisions against our kids' best interests these past several years.
And we can expect teachers to be in a bad mood today, because they know that because school was called off we will have to extend the school year into the 2nd week of June this year.
Let those teachers be mad. There are people out there that maybe couldn't make it to work or the business shut down because of the weather and they will not get paid for it or be able to make it up so at least they should be thankful they get paid.
Did the workers at the Service Center come in on these cold days are did they get to take off with pay?
Did anyone read the Beacon today about how superintendents drive around to see if the schools should be open? Did ours come all the way from Joliet to look at our schools?
Let's all support East tonight as they play basketball against West High. Our Tomcats have been awesome this season, and it will be sweet if they win tonite!
This is on the website for the "new, improved" East High band today:
Friday, January 15 - Basketball Game Cancelled
Saturday, January 16 - Games go on as Scheduled
12:00 Call Time - Grils Game
FREE PIZZA if you sign up at the girls game
6:30 Call Time - EAST VS. WEST AURORA
Bring Both of your shirts if you can.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
HELLO? Besides two words being misspelled (I think they mean "girls" and "canceled"), both dates mentioned are WRONG.
Yesterday was Friday, January 16th. Today is Saturday, January 17th.
And here's just another example of administration's failure to uphold the proud standards of excellence that USED to be expected in District 131.
BLOW IT OUT YOUR ASS
LOL
Looks like a band booster and the new improved director are having a few words.
And all spelled correctly!
Looks like this "new Improved" blog, oh wait, this blog is the same old crap, posted by the same old people for the past like 4 years.
Every time I get on here it is like talking to my grandpa with Alzheimer’s. He always thinks the conversation is new and interesting, when it has been the same thing over and over again.
I do not know where some of you are coming from with your thinking. This blog has not been here for 4 years. Shame on 1/17 @ 7:50AM for the profanity and screaming it. Some of the comments here is how people post on Openlineblog. The only other ones I can think of that would post like these are certain ones in this district that do not like this blog, who has no respect for the community members.
I don't remember seeing anywhere that this blog was going to be new and improved but I do remember the district saying their website would be. Yes, some problems get revisited a lot but that is because the same thing keeps happening. If you don't like what is on here than don't read it we all have that option.
Hey 7:50, if I did what you suggested it might sound almost as good as the brass in the "new improved" East High band!
I think 7:50 actually meant to yell, BLOW IT OUT YOUR BRASS.
Good one Rayanne
It is nice to be able to see the East-West game on TV tonight. I noticed as they panned the audience that Clayton is in the stands with his computer and and went to the district web site and clicked on the link and see that they are doing a webcast of the game. Why is it that they can do webcast of the games and not the school board meetings? Are the board meetings not as important as the games? I think it is great that they can show the games on the website but shouldn't they be able to do other things like the board meetings or isn't the meetings that important to some administrators?
Go East beat West. As of now it is a tie 51-51 and they have been tied a couple of times so lets go East.
EXPERIENCE ALL OF THE EXCITING EVENTS TAKING PLACE IN OUR SCHOOL DISTRICT. SPORTS, GRADUATION CEREMONIES, THEATER, AND MUSIC CONCERTS WILL ALL BE AVAILABLE SHORTLY. CHECK BACK OFTEN, YOU MIGHT BE ON TV.
But no School Board Meetings which must mean like a certain board member says we don't need to see the boring stuff that goes on or how our board works. Those meetings are not exciting enough even though they give examples of excellence awards at the board meetings.
This is really getting embarrasing. East has lost 22 of the last 25 games against West Aurora. East has only won 3 times in the past 25 years.
Substandard sports.
Substandard Band.
Substandard test scores.
Substandard administration.
Is there anything that East can say they excel in?
At least they can say, they didn't lose as badly as they have in recent years. Of course West played last night which makes it harder. That's probably why the game was as close as it was.
I did see in the Beacon that Clayton is using popular music that he plays from his laptop. I certainly hope but highly doubt that he is paying the proper royalties to the appropriate artists. If he is not, he is opening the district up to millions of dollars in copyright infrigement lawsuits. It does seem that breaking the law and bragging about it in the newspaper are his only real talents.
1:07 a.m., add substandard website to your list.
Amazing how Mr. Muhammad can coordinate pre-game festivities from his laptop, but the EHS website is still full of "pardon our dust", "coming soon", and "thanks for your patience".
Not to mention outdated & inaccurate information, such as Rick Johnson still being listed under Administration.
But our teachers & kids are outstanding. The fact that East lost last night doesn't take away from the fact that they played with heart and represented us well!
Oh, and don't forget
Substandard funding
Substandard community
Substandard support
Substandard Parental involvement
Don't leave yourself out of the mediocrity.
This was in The Beacon of the April fillings for the election.
School boards
• East Aurora: three 4-year terms; one 2-year term
Who is the 2yr. term? Maurice and Salinas both got there position because some drop out so shouldn't it be 2 2-years terms and 2-4 years terms.
No, that should be correct. I believe Salinas was replacing a person whose term is up in April 2009 and Maurice replaced the board member whose term should be up in April 2011. The board can only replace a member temporarily until the next election.
They both got THEIR positions not There positions. It's English, take a class.
8:45, here's a news flash: The referendum passed. So "substandard funding" and "substandard support" don't necessarily apply.
I do agree that some parents drop the ball when it comes to providing their share of support for kids, whether financial, emotional, or academic.
No it still does because attendance at every single event but the East West game, yeah I know 4,000 people, but every other event has a piss poor audience. Every open house has a piss poor turn out, every school board meeting has piss poor parental involvement, and the parent teacher conferences have very few parents. Do you think all of those fall under support?
And funding, yeah right. You passed a referendum that lets the school continue to operate at the most basic level. You did not give money to go above and beyond; you gave money to continue to operate at current status.
So guess what, they still do apply.
I knew that it should be their but wanted to see if some teachers or admins was reading the blog.
This district will never get the money it needs from a referendum they just don't have it. It will only get worse with the state not coming through with some of they money they where suppose to give and with foreclosures and people getting layoff we are in for a rough road.
Lack of Funding:
Do you consider having 35 to 40 students in classes properly funded?
Maybe this district should go to the City and tell them no new building of homes. We have no place to build new schools and the ones we have we don't have any space to build on to. This district is getting overcrowded. Now there are things we can't do about that but we certainly can try to make sure the kids that go to this school live here. We can also help the city if we know that people are renting out their homes to multiple families. As a community we need to stand up and say this district does not need any new homes built and more if we can business to help with revenue. We can try to have more referendums but with no place to build new schools that isn't going to help.
We need an administration that goes to the city and tells them that we need help with the overcrowding of the schools. Remember there is a Schodeen Project out there they want to build and we don't even have any room to build new schools for the children this will bring in.
If you want to eliminate 35-40 students per class, you need to the same teacher contract as the West Side.
On the West Side, if a teacher has more than 28 students in a class, they receive an extra stipend. Almost every teacher on the West Side has 28 students or less in a class.
It's very simple. The West Side Administrators put in a little extra work when they schedule. None of them want to go before the superintendent and school board and explain why they need extra money for excessive students stipends.
Proper scheduling will eliminate 40students in one class and 20 in others. It would also eliminate 300 students being scheduled in one gym period or 450 students assigned to one lunch period.
Piss poor scheduling is just another of the deficiencies we see all the time from the current administration.
You make a very good point. But I would think that a superintendent should know the population of the school and how the classes are being handled. Now I will say the administration should keep the superintendent and school board advised about the situation and why some classes have more than others. One problem I have heard of is there is more ELL learners and that ones that don't need it are grouped together in different grade levels. This shouldn't be on the shoulders of the teachers but the principles and administrators of the schools and them the superintendent. The superintendent should be aware of how many students are in the classes.
We need strong leadership in this district and it looks like the superintendent and the school board are not doing their part in looking into these problems. It seems that we can give a superintendent a new contract a year before it is up and raises to service center workers and maintenance workers before we take care of our first responsibility the children of this district. I know the school board gives the superintendent the power to run the district based on the policies they have put forth but it seems that they are looking the other way when it comes to the education of our children. I hope we can start taking care of the education of the children and not pensions of the superintendent and administrators.
I also hope we can get the new and improved website for all the school district.
The administration knows about the scheduling issues. How can you not know when you schedule 450 students in one lunch period? There aren't enough seats and the students are consistently late to the next period because they all can't get through the line and eat in only 30 minutes.
How can you not know when you have scheduled 60 students for each of the five gym teachers in one period. Three hundred students tripping all over each other trying to learn athletic fundamentals. It's especially fun when you get to health class.
At Cowherd they have a spanish teacher who has only one student in their class. This has been discussed amongst the staff and we are told to be quiet and leave it alone.
These are all examples of poor administrating and situations that just don't happen in most other districts
Does anybody know where the agenda is posted for tonight's School Board meeting? I thought it was required by law that the agenda be posted in advance, but it's not on the district website & I don't know where else to find it. Thanks!
Watching the innauguration of Barack Obama shows a person what hope we can have when you have a new, strong, moral leader.
Imagine what we as a community could do with a new, strong, moral administration.
The agenda is there now.
I noticed in the Beacon this morning a listing of those who are running for public offices in the Fox Valley, including School Board.
West Aurora, Indian Prairie, Somonauk, Yorkville--there are more than 10 school districts listed. But no mention whatsoever of East Aurora.
Could it be because the all-powerful Mr. Clayton Muhammad has not released the information to the press? I've been told that all D131 news has to be "filtered" through him, and if he is able to withhold or delay publication of the names of School Board candidates that's just plain WRONG.
Making choices for arrogance as usual.
You could call the Beacon and ask why East wasn't in the paper.
Oh yes. This blog jumps to the conclusion that Clayton is hiding the information.
THIS BLOG: Making choices for Ignorance
7:57, great idea. I took your suggestion, and called the Beacon. I asked why the East Aurora school board candidates had not been published and was told the following:
"The district did not respond to our request for a list".
Kind of looks like someone is hiding information, or at least avoiding or delaying making it public. And since Mr. Muhammad is the public relations director, wouldn't he be the person who should have responded to the Beacon's request for a list?
Not jumping to any conclusions--just stating the facts.
This is just another example of the lack of the school board and the community. There is no reason that those names shouldn't have been in the paper it looks like a couple of people might not be doing their job up there at Central Office. Maybe they need a new secertary.
That first line should of said.
This is just another example of the lack of respect for the school board and the community by Central Office.
I am sure if we simply simply make a law or rule against it, it'll be done. Clayton won't pass up an opportunity to break a law.
NO, you posted your conclusion, and then got the facts. There is a difference. How about I put you in jail, and then try to figure out if you killed somebody? How about I fire you from your job and then try to figure out if you were stealing? Sounds good right.
Making choices for ignorance!
If all the surronding district could send theirs to the Beacon I don't know why our district couldn't.
This happened last time when we elected school board members. I called and talked to the Beacon and they said that Lisa Morales is the one who handles this and she had yet to contact them with the names of the last ones who filed. Did whomever ask the Beacon who it was that did not get back to them? The petitions are turned into the central office.
It is my understanding that Mr. Muhammad, as the director of community relations, is responsible for communicating information about our district to the press. According to the Beacon, "the district" did not respond to their request for information.
Therefore, it is reasonable to conclude that Mr. Muhammad is the person who failed to give the requested list of School Board candidates to the Beacon.
Unless there's another Director of Community Relations we don't know about (and knowing the secrecy in this district, there very well may be!)
Clayton is the districts PR person not the boards. In the elections of school board members the secretary is the one to hand out the new member packets and petitions. Lisa is the acting secretary since Well's handed it to her like all the others so it is her responsibly to do this not Clayton. If he does try to withhold stuff someone should call the elections committee.
I wonder what the board itself thinks of this. All the surrounding districts had who was running for the boards but not us. This is why we really need to get a board that will make sure things are done right in this district.
The person I spoke to at the Beacon-News this morning said "the district did not respond to our request for a list". It doesn't make sense that Lisa Morales would have been the only person in the district aware of the Beacon's request, when Clayton Muhammad is the official spokesperson and is paid to be the director of community relations.
The bottom line is, someone at the central office dropped the ball.
Again.
Making decisions for incompetence.
Hey anne. You are just all over the place with your clayton bashing; this blog, openline and the becon news online. Guess what, nobody give a crap about your bitching. Shut your mouth and duct tape it closed.
Anne; making choices for stupidity.
As far as the school board it is Lisa that gives that information. If she let someone else change her mind then she no longer deserves to be the secretary of the board. If this board lets Clayton have a final say of that process then shame on them. Who ever this Ann is if she thinks they did then she should contact the states attorney. I don't know if they are suppose to give the names to the paper and if there is anything by law that they are suppose to but it would be something to look into. Electing school board members have nothing to do with the district the district is suppose to follow the policies of the school board which we know usually doesn't happen. The names of the people that turned in their petitions should not be first seen by the administration but by the people of the district. If Lisa let the administration see them first then we really need to clean house.
do ya think it is possible a few of the old board were a little tardy or unavailable and did not turn in their petitions. By not reporting to the Beacon, they can get slipped in a day or two late, and who's the wiser?
What is the problem here? Why doesn't someone call back the Beacon and ask who they spoke to if you want to know or call the central office and ask who is the person who does this and why it wasn't put in the paper? Who is Anne?
Maybe Anne has noticed that every other piece of news released to the media in D131 seems to have to go through the director of the Office of Community Relations, and so she (and others) conclude that the school board list does as well.
At least she refers to him as Mr., showing more respect than using just his first name. 7:54 just says "clayton"--not even capitalizing. With friends like you, who needs enemies?
I have a hunch that Ann's last name is Onymous.
I think that the East Aurora Community Blogspot should change its name to East Aurora Conspiracy Theory Blogspot. You people are unbelievable.
thats why theirs a disclaimer at the bottom. it's the same four bloggers making s***t up and posting. if it was true they wouldn't all be anonymous!!!!!!
We are Anonymous.
We are legion.
We do not forgive.
We do not forget.
What the hell does that mean.
10:05, paranoid much?
Since the almighty district bigwigs have chosen not to tell the media (or citizens) who our School Board candidates are, does anyone know?
Feel free to post anonymously. Just like the bigwigs do!
If I was one of the ones running I would be mad. This is the first time people will see their names for running for the board. The board has done this every year there was elections why not this year. Although the last elections they did miss a couple but the excuess was the Beacon called early and a couple came in late. I think it is important that the school board canidates names get in the paper since most do not spend a lot of money to get their names out. Hopefully this year people will look into who is running and not just vote for the first four.
I'm not trying to make excuses for anyone but this is what I found out about filing dates.
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2009 Election Deadlines
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Here are a few dates to keep in mind for the April 7, 2009 election:
Boards wanting to certify public policy questions for the April 7, 2009 election have until Jan. 31. And school board candidates can file their nominating papers from Jan. 19 through Jan. 26.
Other key 2009 election dates include:
Jan. 19 and 20 - First days for candidates to file nominating papers for the April 7 school board elections
Jan. 26 - Last day for school board candidates to file nominating papers
Jan. 31 - Last day for the school board to adopt a resolution putting public policy questions on the ballot for the April 7 election
Feb. 5 - Last day for board secretary to certify candidates to the election authority (county clerk or election commission in some locales) for the April 7 school board election
Feb. 5 - Last day for board secretary to certify public policy questions to the election authority for referendum at the April 7 election
April 7 - Consolidated Election Day, includes election of school board members
While for the last few years East has been giving out the names even before the last filing dates it does make some wonder why they didn't this year even though the canidates have till 1/26 to turn them in.
I filed to run on Tuesday morning, Jan 20th.at 7:30 which was the first day possible since the District office was closed Monday. At that time the people filing were Stella Gonzales, Fernando Salinas, and myself. This is the order they will be listed on the ballot. Others have till 5:00 pm on Monday, Jan 26th to file. I am assuming that the list will be turned into the Beacon on Monday evening for publication on Tuesday. I do not know who is all running but I hope there are more new names and that we all take the time to make our views known before the election.
Thanks for the update Anita. Although it would of been nice if they would of posted like others districts who had put in their petitions. I think most do file on the first day.
How difficult would it have been for our district's spokesperson to RESPOND to the Beacon's request for a list, by saying that the deadline for filing is next Monday?
At least people would know what's going on, instead of being uninformed & disrespected!
First of all the Beacon should know that and I think this is the first year that the district didn't give the names. Last year they didn't give all the names when the Beacon asked because the Beacon asked the first day when the candidates turn the petitions in and some of them didn't turn theirs into later. The district should have given them the names they had. I'm sure some turned them in later in the day. Maybe you should go to the school board meeting and ask why they didn't turn in the names they had on the first day like everyone else.
This is part of an good article in the Beacon today about the up coming election.
The people you choose as mayor or alderman, school or park board member may be called upon to make -- in these terrible economic times -- tough decisions about your tax dollars and the services they pay for.
Make these candidates earn your vote.
These are the people who will decide how well, or poorly, city, park, township and school services are delivered.
These are the people who will set or change the many rules, ordinances and laws that affect the quality of life you enjoy.
There's no local governmental body that's immune from the economic troubles our country is experiencing.
The income they depend upon to provide you with services is down because unemployment is high, people's homes are in foreclosure, consumers are spending less, or in the case of any revenue stream coming from the state of Illinois, it is months late in arriving, thus messing up the governmental body's cash flow.
Let's hope the voters on the East takes the time to look into the candidates that are running for the school board and not just vote for the first four. Maybe the people that pushed the referendum can go to the public housing units like they did the referendum and get them to vote for good candidates. It is just as important to them for good school board candidates as it is getting money for the schools.
So no one knows who else put in for the school board?
According to previous info, people have until 5 p.m. today to file their nominating petitions.
If the Beacon is doing their job of keeping the community informed the candidates' names should be published in tomorrow's paper.
I haven't seen where it is writen that the Beacon has to do that. All the other districts gave them what they had last week. It will be up to the district now to give the names.
Well, here it is Tuesday morning and the Beacon (page A3) has published more names of those who are running for public office, now that the filing deadline has passed.
But where is the listing of East Aurora School Board candidates? There is no excuse for this information being withheld from the public; either Mr. Muhammad (Director of Community Relations) or Ms. Morales (executive secretary at the Service Center), or both, are NOT doing their jobs. Or the district, as usual, is making choices for arrogance.
Too bad, soo sad.
And so typical, business as usual.
Someone posted on openline.com that they called Lisa and she said she had to validate them first before giving the names out. I think this is the first year she has done that.
What the hell do you know about what Lisa has to do.
If you take the time and look how School Board Elections are run you will know. I know someone who ran at one time and asked about the petitions when they turned theirs in and it was stated they take them and list the names and then validate them. Even the West side has the candidates on their website now. I bet the ones that gave the names to the Beacon last week didn't validate them. There is something rotten here and we deserve to know who turned theirs in and if they find that some are not valid then they can strike the name from the ballot.
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