For those of you that can't make it to vote on election day remember you can early vote for all that are running. No matter who you think should win vote.
Looks like this is going to be the big Annette Johnson Campaign push this week. All three middle schools and the the big campaign rally on Friday at East High.
How can this possibly be legal. The new candidates should be contacting the Illinois Election Commision to check into the legality of these meetings. District personnel and resources should not be funding Annette's election campaign.
For the good of the district, lets hope big campaigns and big signs have been a waste of time. Strand and Montroy are humble deserving candidates. Leonard is the best of the remaining options in my POV.
Interesting that the board can't be bothered for the third month in a row to respond to Mr. Padron's polite requests for information, so he has to use FOIA. Tonight's forum will be a grEAt opportunity to ask our School Board candidates what they plan to do to increase transparency in this district.
It was interesting this morning at Cowherd. Annette's campaign speech was supposed to begin at 7:15. By 7:30, nobody (not one person) had come to hear her propaganda. The only building personnel at the rally was the assistant principal who was assigned to host it. Not even the principal showed up.
The administration had to make announcements and twist the arms of several non-tenured teachers to have just a few people to go into the meeting.
If Annette gets this type of turnout on Tuesday, the district will definately be heading in a more positive direction. The only chance Annette has is if there are enough uninformed voters out there.
Again Johnson showed her arrogance at last nights meeting. Gonzalez needs to go as she continues to not understand what the teachers are attempting to say. Imagine Turza upset about the comments being made about Annette. DUH Her response alone should warrant her alliance with Johnson and not the community. SHAME ON THE 3 OF YOU !!!
Funding and Disbursements FY14 Employer Contributions to Teacher Retirement System – Federal Grants Please be advised that for Fiscal Year 2014 (July 1, 2013, to June 30, 2014) the preliminary employer’s share of teachers’ retirement rate will be 35.41 percent for personnel employed with Federal grant funds. * Legislative factors may increase or decrease the rates. The contributions amounts have not been finalized. Additionally, the Early Retirement Option (ERO) may expire on June 30, 2013. If legislation is not extended for ERO, the contribution could be 9 percent, not 9.4 percent. ** The rate is equal to the state contribution rate and changes each fiscal year. More information is available on the TRS website at http://trs.illinois.gov/subsections/employers/employerservices.htm. The percentage is now determined annually according to the funding amount set by the state legislature. If you have specific questions regarding TRS contributions, you can direct your inquiries to the TRS
Noticed in the Beacon News that Mary Anne Turza stated “I grant you that sometimes she gets impatient and she loses her temper". An observation from one of her staunch supporters. This is old news. 131 needs "COOL CALM PATIENT" LEADERSHIP. NOT HOTHEADS AND EMOTIONAL UNSTABLE board Presidents like Annette Johnson.
Another wonderful article in the Beacon today about our District 131 School Board. It's no wonder Denise Crosby wrote the article titled "As the School Churns'. Every story about our recent school board could be called the same.
Just listen to them. Everybody is picking on us. Yes, Johnson goes around screaming at people but that's acceptable. She means well. We went with the lowest bidder for toilet paper (even though we are spending an extra 1.7 million on our favorite bus company for no apparent reason). Nobody has a right to complain about the wonderful job we're doing (hiring our friends). It's all "lies and innuendos and rumors" It's just "political twists. Don't believe the truth, just believe what we tell you.
I really enjoyed how the board in one sentence stated that "tough leaders make tough choices" and then immediately put off the vote for the virtual charter school because it is controversial and then blame it on the lawyers.
This board has been the poster child for dysfunctional boards and the exact reason why the states comes in and take over a district.
It is so clear to see. In every article, when the board is quoted, every comment is about them or money. Not once do you hear about how the board is improving education. We just need to look at the test scores, not only are they not improving, we just got rid of our assistant superintendent for secondary education because the test scores have been going down.
It's very simple. The only consistent factor in all of the district buildings is the poor leadership from our administration and school board. A change must be made and it begins on April 9th. First the school board, second the superintendent and then the central office can be cleaned out and start afresh.
"Strand and Montroy are humble". Hmm, the ones with the glossy, professionally produced flyers are humble, and the ones handing out plain text on regular paper aren't?
Strand and Montroy will take the district back to the old days. They are backed by people who take education away from the children and maintenance people who steal dollars from the taxpayers
Why is tonights board candidates forum not being telecast on the district website? Where is the transparency? Doesn't the community deserve this resource? I can only assume, since the first forum showed the community just how incompetent our current board members are, they didn't want the further exposure.
I can't wait for April 9th, except for needing to retain legal council to defend the district from the lawsuit Annette Johnson claims she will be filing.
I really hate all of the political fracas going on; people inappropriately nagging their peers to go out on the campaign trail for them during their spring break, etc. It is very hard to be a teacher right now.., you have no idea the craptacular that is happening in all of our schools-how the adnministrators are torturing us....God bless us and the kids..
Duh, pay attention.... The church is sponsoring the forum, along with Total Living Network, a Christian cable channel. The Aurora East Education foundation of the district put on the last forum. Thus they posted it.
Pastor Haas , shame on you. The forum was a sham. You chose to perpetrate the lie that the challengers supported the transgender policy. Does a candidates Christian worldview matter to you?
And I attended the forum. Six candidates (out of eight) were there, and about 60 in the audience. All candidates answered the same questions (topics were: how to get Hispanic families more involved, managing the district's finances, overcrowding in our schools, choosing the next superintendent).
For the most part, the candidates were polite and comments well thought out. Annette displayed her famous temper at the end when she implied that the challengers were clueless balcony-watchers. And Zach seems to think the Board needs to get rid of Dr. Roberts ASAP instead of when his contract expires in June 2014...does he have any idea how much taxpayer money it would take to buy out a contract? Hundreds of thousands of dollars (I know because I lived in a downstate district that did that).
The only concern the incumbents and the new puppet have is how to save their retirement funds. Their locations are as far from the families that.populate this district as can be. 3 retirees representing us, really. Thats back to the old days of Herbig, Cowherd and Malaker
How much Robert's contract will be to buy out depends on how well the board negotiated it a few years ago. If they were intelligent enough to put performance clauses in it, it won't cost a penny since Dr. Roberts has been so enept. However, if the board basically wrote Dr. Roberts a blank check, it will cost about one years worth of his salary.
The question is; how much are Dr. Roberts poor decisions costing the district. The Bob Green matter alone has cost the district much more than Dr. Roberts salary. It is very clear that it will cost the district more to keep Roberts than it will to let him go.
Annette couldn't keep her condescending, bullying, intimidating temper in check even for a public forum trying to get herself re-elected. Does anybody really believe that she can work cooperatively with board members, administration and staff to create the positive force needed to move this district forward?
The board is not supposed to be a dictatorship of Annette Johnson and her minions. It is not Annette's job to attempt to run this district (especially considering she has absolutely no qualifications to do so). As long as she is on the board, nothing will improve, least of all test scores.
It was interesting watching the looks on Annette Johnson, Jerome Roberts and Adam Harding faces sitting at Cowherd alone. They looked so lost just wondering why nobody showed. They had coffee and food sitting there (who paid for that?) It must have been very embarrassing to have to make an all call and drag teachers in to their campaign event. I couldn't help but think of the miners who had to be dragged to the Romney event when he was running.
What it must be like to be Jerome Roberts and know that nobody has any faith in you. New board members and old want nothing more than to get rid of the man. This after he was forced out of his last job as well.
Of course, the only reason we still have the man as superintendent is because the current board was stupid enough to give the man a guaranteed four year contract. The community has has had to deal with his incompetence because.
It is clear that both the current board and the administration has been incompetent and dysfunctional. It is time for the district to head into a new direction.
The choices would be simple if there were only four board positions open but unfortunately, either Annette Johnson or Richard Leonard will be on the school board after the election. So the only question is which is the lesser of two evils? If Annette is reelected, there is no doubt that the board will continue to be dysfunctional. She will continue to bully everybody and embarrass the district. While Richard Leonard has no vision (and no personality), he should be able to work with the other board members to a positive end. The choice should be clear on April 9th:
Zach Montroy Kirsten Strand Marcella McIntyre-Duermit Mary Louise Peryea Richard Leonard
The board can fire him for being on the state watch list for so long just like Elgin and a few other districts did> I bet if they look hard enough they can find other things that he could be fired for>
The forum was not a sham, we saw what we came for, candidates POV on topics. Also, Roberts can be moved from his position to another, or removed if his contract was written to assure he did his job, he may not being living up to his part, therefore may be let go.
Retirees can be good board members as long as they keep involved and informed with D131. I agree, at least 3 members are far removed. They sit on the outskirts of the community without a clue what the majority of EA community members concerns are about. Before becoming board members how often were the 3 NE ladies in the schools or at events......never. Observing from the balcony is exactly what the ISBA says is the management position school boards should take to monitor their employee, the superintendent.
230 comments:
«Oldest ‹Older 201 – 230 of 230For those of you that can't make it to vote on election day remember you can early vote for all that are running. No matter who you think should win vote.
Looks like this is going to be the big Annette Johnson Campaign push this week. All three middle schools and the the big campaign rally on Friday at East High.
How can this possibly be legal. The new candidates should be contacting the Illinois Election Commision to check into the legality of these meetings. District personnel and resources should not be funding Annette's election campaign.
For the good of the district, lets hope big campaigns and big signs have been a waste of time. Strand and Montroy are humble deserving candidates. Leonard is the best of the remaining options in my POV.
beaconnews.suntimes.com/news/19222252-418/east-board-says-upcoming-elections-to-blame-for-jabs-and-digs.html
Interesting that the board can't be bothered for the third month in a row to respond to Mr. Padron's polite requests for information, so he has to use FOIA. Tonight's forum will be a grEAt opportunity to ask our School Board candidates what they plan to do to increase transparency in this district.
It was interesting this morning at Cowherd. Annette's campaign speech was supposed to begin at 7:15. By 7:30, nobody (not one person) had come to hear her propaganda. The only building personnel at the rally was the assistant principal who was assigned to host it. Not even the principal showed up.
The administration had to make announcements and twist the arms of several non-tenured teachers to have just a few people to go into the meeting.
If Annette gets this type of turnout on Tuesday, the district will definately be heading in a more positive direction. The only chance Annette has is if there are enough uninformed voters out there.
Again Johnson showed her arrogance at last nights meeting. Gonzalez needs to go as she continues to not understand what the teachers are attempting to say. Imagine Turza upset about the comments being made about Annette. DUH Her response alone should warrant her alliance with Johnson and not the community. SHAME ON THE 3 OF YOU !!!
It also will be a great time if what they are saying is right and Johnson is campaigning at the schools is brought up.
Funding and Disbursements
FY14 Employer Contributions to Teacher Retirement System – Federal Grants
Please be advised that for Fiscal Year 2014 (July 1, 2013, to June 30, 2014) the preliminary employer’s share of teachers’ retirement rate will be 35.41 percent for personnel employed with Federal grant funds. * Legislative factors may increase or decrease the rates. The contributions amounts have not been finalized. Additionally, the Early Retirement Option (ERO) may expire on June 30, 2013. If legislation is not extended for ERO, the contribution could be 9 percent, not 9.4 percent.
** The rate is equal to the state contribution rate and changes each fiscal year.
More information is available on the TRS website at http://trs.illinois.gov/subsections/employers/employerservices.htm. The percentage is now determined annually according to the funding amount set by the state legislature.
If you have specific questions regarding TRS contributions, you can direct your inquiries to the TRS
Noticed in the Beacon News that Mary Anne Turza stated “I grant you that sometimes she gets impatient and she loses her temper". An observation from one of her staunch supporters. This is old news. 131 needs "COOL CALM PATIENT" LEADERSHIP. NOT HOTHEADS AND EMOTIONAL UNSTABLE board Presidents like Annette Johnson.
Another wonderful article in the Beacon today about our District 131 School Board. It's no wonder Denise Crosby wrote the article titled "As the School Churns'. Every story about our recent school board could be called the same.
Just listen to them. Everybody is picking on us. Yes, Johnson goes around screaming at people but that's acceptable. She means well. We went with the lowest bidder for toilet paper (even though we are spending an extra 1.7 million on our favorite bus company for no apparent reason). Nobody has a right to complain about the wonderful job we're doing (hiring our friends). It's all "lies and innuendos and rumors" It's just "political twists. Don't believe the truth, just believe what we tell you.
I really enjoyed how the board in one sentence stated that "tough leaders make tough choices" and then immediately put off the vote for the virtual charter school because it is controversial and then blame it on the lawyers.
This board has been the poster child for dysfunctional boards and the exact reason why the states comes in and take over a district.
It is so clear to see. In every article, when the board is quoted, every comment is about them or money. Not once do you hear about how the board is improving education. We just need to look at the test scores, not only are they not improving, we just got rid of our assistant superintendent for secondary education because the test scores have been going down.
It's very simple. The only consistent factor in all of the district buildings is the poor leadership from our administration and school board. A change must be made and it begins on April 9th. First the school board, second the superintendent and then the central office can be cleaned out and start afresh.
"Strand and Montroy are humble". Hmm, the ones with the glossy, professionally produced flyers are humble, and the ones handing out plain text on regular paper aren't?
Strand and Montroy will take the district back to the old days. They are backed by people who take education away from the children and maintenance people who steal dollars from the taxpayers
Why is tonights board candidates forum not being telecast on the district website? Where is the transparency? Doesn't the community deserve this resource? I can only assume, since the first forum showed the community just how incompetent our current board members are, they didn't want the further exposure.
I can't wait for April 9th, except for needing to retain legal council to defend the district from the lawsuit Annette Johnson claims she will be filing.
I really hate all of the political fracas going on; people inappropriately nagging their peers to go out on the campaign trail for them during their spring break, etc. It is very hard to be a teacher right now.., you have no idea the craptacular that is happening in all of our schools-how the adnministrators are torturing us....God bless us and the kids..
You're judging someone on their character over flyers. You're an idiot.
The reason the forum was not shown via "webcast" (telecast is TV) is because this was put together by a church, not the district.
Duh, pay attention.... The church is sponsoring the forum, along with Total Living Network, a Christian cable channel.
The Aurora East Education foundation of the district put on the last forum. Thus they posted it.
Pastor Haas , shame on you. The forum was a sham. You chose to perpetrate the lie that the challengers supported the transgender policy. Does a candidates Christian worldview matter to you?
The forum is being broadcast on TLN.com.
And I attended the forum. Six candidates (out of eight) were there, and about 60 in the audience. All candidates answered the same questions (topics were: how to get Hispanic families more involved, managing the district's finances, overcrowding in our schools, choosing the next superintendent).
For the most part, the candidates were polite and comments well thought out. Annette displayed her famous temper at the end when she implied that the challengers were clueless balcony-watchers. And Zach seems to think the Board needs to get rid of Dr. Roberts ASAP instead of when his contract expires in June 2014...does he have any idea how much taxpayer money it would take to buy out a contract? Hundreds of thousands of dollars (I know because I lived in a downstate district that did that).
The only concern the incumbents and the new puppet have is how to save their retirement funds. Their locations are as far from the families that.populate this district as can be. 3 retirees representing us, really. Thats back to the old days of Herbig, Cowherd and Malaker
To: April 2, 2013 at 10:50 PM
How much Robert's contract will be to buy out depends on how well the board negotiated it a few years ago. If they were intelligent enough to put performance clauses in it, it won't cost a penny since Dr. Roberts has been so enept. However, if the board basically wrote Dr. Roberts a blank check, it will cost about one years worth of his salary.
The question is; how much are Dr. Roberts poor decisions costing the district. The Bob Green matter alone has cost the district much more than Dr. Roberts salary. It is very clear that it will cost the district more to keep Roberts than it will to let him go.
Annette couldn't keep her condescending, bullying, intimidating temper in check even for a public forum trying to get herself re-elected. Does anybody really believe that she can work cooperatively with board members, administration and staff to create the positive force needed to move this district forward?
The board is not supposed to be a dictatorship of Annette Johnson and her minions. It is not Annette's job to attempt to run this district (especially considering she has absolutely no qualifications to do so). As long as she is on the board, nothing will improve, least of all test scores.
It was interesting watching the looks on Annette Johnson, Jerome Roberts and Adam Harding faces sitting at Cowherd alone. They looked so lost just wondering why nobody showed. They had coffee and food sitting there (who paid for that?) It must have been very embarrassing to have to make an all call and drag teachers in to their campaign event. I couldn't help but think of the miners who had to be dragged to the Romney event when he was running.
Annette, just 6 days left.
What it must be like to be Jerome Roberts and know that nobody has any faith in you. New board members and old want nothing more than to get rid of the man. This after he was forced out of his last job as well.
Of course, the only reason we still have the man as superintendent is because the current board was stupid enough to give the man a guaranteed four year contract. The community has has had to deal with his incompetence because.
It is clear that both the current board and the administration has been incompetent and dysfunctional. It is time for the district to head into a new direction.
The choices would be simple if there were only four board positions open but unfortunately, either Annette Johnson or Richard Leonard will be on the school board after the election. So the only question is which is the lesser of two evils? If Annette is reelected, there is no doubt that the board will continue to be dysfunctional. She will continue to bully everybody and embarrass the district. While Richard Leonard has no vision (and no personality), he should be able to work with the other board members to a positive end. The choice should be clear on April 9th:
Zach Montroy
Kirsten Strand
Marcella McIntyre-Duermit
Mary Louise Peryea
Richard Leonard
!!!!!Get out the vote!!!!!
The board can fire him for being on the state watch list for so long just like Elgin and a few other districts did> I bet if they look hard enough they can find other things that he could be fired for>
The forum was not a sham, we saw what we came for, candidates POV on topics.
Also, Roberts can be moved from his position to another, or removed if his contract was written to assure he did his job, he may not being living up to his part, therefore may be let go.
Retirees can be good board members as long as they keep involved and informed with D131. I agree, at least 3 members are far removed. They sit on the outskirts of the community without a clue what the majority of EA community members concerns are about. Before becoming board members how often were the 3 NE ladies in the schools or at events......never.
Observing from the balcony is exactly what the ISBA says is the management position school boards should take to monitor their employee, the superintendent.
beaconnews.suntimes.com/news/19238409-418/superintendent-selection-top-priority-for-new-east-board.html
Check out this article that was posted in Patch about Alderman Rick Lawrence http://patch.com/N-gtdn. It references www.AuroraTruth.com
wow...who knew?!?!?
Who knows what qualifications are needed to be a school superintendent in the State of Illinois?
Somebody posted the link to www.auroratruth.com on the Openline blog. It was deleted.
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