Due to sporadic power outages at several buildings, all East Aurora School District 131 afterschool activities are cancelled for Thursday, April 9, 2015. As of 11:45 a.m., all schools have power. Afternoon kindergarten will go on as scheduled. The cancellation covers all events, athletic practices and contests, as well as the kindergarten registration at Oak Park and O’Donnell schools, the Dr. Lourdes Ferrer presentation at Cowherd Middle School and East Aurora High School FAFSA workshop. Oak Park and O’Donnell parents who were going to register their students for kindergarten can register at the Welcome Center at a later date. The Dr. Lourdes Ferrer “Opening Doors” presentation at Cowherd Middle School is postponed at this time. More information will be released later.
April 9th 2015 Matthew Hanley, FOIA Officer East Aurora School District 131 417 5th Street Aurora, IL 60505
Re: FOIA Request for Documents
Dear Mr. Hanley
Please provide the following:
1 Application & Resume of Superintendent Dr Michael Popp
2 E-Log Retrieval of Superintendent Dr Michael Popp from Oct 1 2014 – April 7 2015
3 All emails communication to/from between Pete Wilson (EA Attorney) and Superintendent Dr Michael Popp from Oct 1 2014 – April 7 2015
4 All invoices and reports to EA Dist 131 from consultants whom were hired by Dr Michael Popp from April 1 2014 – April 7 2015.
I understand that the Act permits a public body to charge a reasonable copying fee not to exceed the actual cost of reproduction and not including the costs of any search or review of the records. I am asking that any fees be waived per 5ILCS140/6(c).
April 9th 2015 Matthew Hanley, FOIA Officer East Aurora School District 131 417 5th Street Aurora, IL 60505
Re: FOIA Request for Documents
Dear Mr. Hanley
Please provide the following:
1 E-Log Retrieval of Assistant Superintendent of Human Resources Joan Glotzbach from Oct 1 2014 – April 7 2015
2 All emails communication to/from between Pete Wilson (EA Attorney) and Assistant Superintendent Joan Glotzbach from Oct 1 2014 – April 7 2015.
I understand that the Act permits a public body to charge a reasonable copying fee not to exceed the actual cost of reproduction and not including the costs of any search or review of the records. I am asking that any fees be waived per 5ILCS140/6(c).
"Get a life", the Freedom of Information Act is a program funded by FEDERAL taxes. Mr. Padron most definitely helps to pay for it, as does every other taxpayer.
And how does politely requesting information equate to "harassment"? Mr. Padron is simply obtaining and sharing information that he (and any other concerned citizen) DESERVES to have.
Yes, Thank you Mr. Padron! Without watchdog groups like your's public entities would not always be 100% transparent. THANKS for saving this District $ that can go to the students here! Looks like Mr. Hanley does not like processing FOIAs but has no problem helping the former BOE members write speeches! Keep them on the up and up Ralph!
The new leadership needs to understand the reason so many Central Office positions come and go is because of Glotzbach. Until someone does something about her chaos will reign over 131.
Byrd, Braddish, and Flanigan all had run ins with her and Popp is to weak to control her.
Date: April 11th 2015 To: Dr Michael Popp From: Ralph Padron Subject: Comments/Facts EA 131
Mike
The recent election has sent a very strong message to EA that a new era has arrived and the theme is “Enough is Enough”. Staff and community are cautiously optimistic and have high expectations of those elected to address and restore stability. This is the goal to remove the fear, intimidation, and ongoing personnel changes under your leadership. Please comment on the following issues:
1 Again why have you stubbornly refused to disregard my requests for a written response to my speeches at Board Meetings and emails?
2 The resignations of several administrators most recently and the past year speaks brings out the obvious question: Were they targeted by Human Resources Assistant Superintendent Joan Glotzbach for challenging/disagreeing with her decisions?
Human Resources Questions
3 With the numerous controversies this past year, why is Joan Glotzbach not held accountable for the mistakes made in the HR department?
A Is she making Nancy Bradish a scapegoat to insure her authority is not underminded? B Why would Ms Bradish be reassigned when she is so well qualified and has the respect of the teachers and staff at EA? Appears to be a power play to protect your authority and power in the Human Resources Department. C Is there a connection with the resignations of “Key” positions (administrators, principals and teachers) and the HR Asst Superintendent? D Again I bring up why Melody Ellington was not fired and allowed to continue for the scandal exposed last May? Didn’t Joan miss the key evidence which allowed Ms Ellington to get in “under the radar”. HR can not afford to make a mistake like this and others under her supervision. Why do you tolerate this? Corporate America would not allow this and she would have been terminated for the numerous mistakes made.
The same principals apply whether it is in Corporate America or Education. One major fact is that Corporate America pays taxes that enable School Districts to function. Don’t you think you should be following the same guidelines?
More on HR issues later.
4 The FOIA’s have invaluable information which need to be made available to the public for True Transparency. Your circle of advisors will maintain “Confidentiality Protection” on personnel and legal counsel as a response in my research. Your justification in withholding these documents and efforts to silence me has brought on more individuals in our network of those wanting to see EA 131 held accountable for these scandals and cover ups.
Again I am requesting a written response to the above issues which would not breach the areas of confidentiality.
"Ray,the board you joined in 2010 was very different than the first board you served on in the past and that I served on for 16 of my 18 years"
Truer words were never spoken! That School Board from 10+ years ago will always be remembered as one that supported and rubber-stamped "Serial Bully" Radakovich's personal vendettas. That School Board will be remembered as one that turned a deaf ear to hundreds of students, parents, alumni, and taxpayers.
The community has spoken: the last remaining link to the Radakovich administration/board is now GONE.
Thank goodness this is the last of the old guard BOE from hell.
On Facebook Daniel Barreiro I felt bad when I lost my seat 8 years ago but I found other ways to give back. You are already involved with our youth and that is more rewarding. Thanks for being there for the kids. Enjoy your extra time with the family. 8 hrs
"Some issues Dryden hopes to address while on the board include analyzing administrator payroll and reducing the number of administrators to create a bottom-up model that focuses on teachers rather than a top-down model focusing on administrators"
I came to comment on the same quote. In general Batavia seems to have many of the same issues 131 has had. I hope the EA board is as forward thinking as I believe Dryden to be with the bottom up approach.
A group of East High students is planning a "sleep out" on April 18th to raise awareness about homelessness. Donations will be used to help families in our district as well as Hesed House.
Dr.Popp visited Waldo Middle School on Tuesday. He spent the whole day listening to teacher's concerns. He seemed sincerely interested in what we had to say. He and I spoke about the need for a new football/soccer field at East High.
If you speak up against status quo in our district one will get fired and silenced. A fast track decision to hire a HS Principal in less than 48 hours is in the works at Central Office. Word had it the new BOE wanted to give teachers and the community input but efforts are being stopped. Most high functioning districts get community input before hiring such a important position. NOT OURS, they hired Popp with NO INPUT as well.
The new School Board members have not even been officially installed yet. They may have SUGGESTED that Dr. Popp visit schools, but they certainly did not (and could not) force him to do anything.
Dr Popp is visiting schools because he and our union are in bed together. They are only being nice to us to get the contract passed. Do you honestly think they give a da**.
I wish the students could find another way to fund this wonderful cause since GoFundMe takes a percentage out for using them. Maybe if the went to a bank they could get the full amount. Could someone just sent money for this wonderful cause they are doing?
They are trying to hire new principal before Board is sworn in so Board will have no say. Byrd is a good Principal; well-thought of generally and a 'get things done man". Of course he would be let go--he makes others look pale by comparison. They don't give a fig about our opinions they just want total control.
It is a tragedy to run Spencer Byrd out of the District. He has done great things. Popp (I won't even use the word "doctor" anymore as he doesn't deserve that title)is a puppet. He is NOT a leader. THIS is the LEGACY he wants to leave behind? You are a fake Mike. Who really pulls your strings? I think we all know that answer to that.
We need strong and intelligent leaders in key positions. NOT crazy Board presidents or inept superintendents. Spencer is a good role model and a leader. You milk-toast, poor decision making, angry people need to move along. The CPS (Chicago Public School) system is now being investigated by the federal government for their nefarious conduct and bad decisions....let's see how that plays out... http://www.nbcchicago.com/blogs/ward-room/chicago-cps-ceo-barbara-byrd-bennett-299765331.html
Dr Popp will no longer have a BOE that supports his reign of terror and intimidation. Emails will soon surface that shows the way Byrd was treated by Truckenbrod and Gloztbach. It will also show that he was copied and allowed this. Mikes problem is that Spencer has a Doctorate and Sups endorsement. This is code language for I am to smart.
Popp rushed the hiring process of a new Principal that is clueless. In 72 hours several candidates felt something was up and withdrew. Central Offices sources stated his third choice will get hired before the old board leaves. This has upset staff who always had a chance for input. A attempt has been made with a survey to staff yesterday to gain input. Sorry Mike a little to late we know who you are.
To Mike Popp and Thuckenbrock they are just a bunch of Mexicans that don't deserve a good education. Why have a good Principal that fights for the students. That is the way it is in EA.
Yes, it's been ten years since a corrupt D131 administration and School Board deprived Kevin Kaisershot of his high school teaching position, despite the protests of his students, fellow teachers, alumni, and community members. Most of those who were responsible are now gone, but a handful remain involved in our district/community. Specifically, Larry Malaker and Clayton Muhammad claimed that Mr. K had to be replaced in order for the district band program to "move to the next level" or be "more unified".
Ten years have passed since then. Any improvement in the EAHS band program should certainly be obvious by now, if indeed the administration was truly acting in students' best interests. Otherwise it is obvious that "Serial Bully" Radakovich and his cronies were simply pushing through their personal vendetta.
The latest issue of "The Enlightener" is called the Fine Arts issue, yet there is no specific mention of any grade school or middle school band or choir; it's as though only the high school music program is significant to our administration. One of the feature articles is an interview with current EAHS band director Brian Liska. The article claims that:
--The number of students in the band has nearly doubled since 2005. On the surface that may look like an improvement in the band program, HOWEVER the number of students enrolled at EAHS has also nearly doubled. So it's a tie, not an improvement over 2005.
--The marching band's performance last fall in Oswego was mentioned as a huge success. I saw the performance and agree that it was excellent. What was NOT mentioned was the fact that (for the first time) THREE adult assistants were hired to help teach the marching band. Not exactly an apples-to-apples comparison, so...another tie.
Under Mr. Liska's leadership the EAHS bands have had many successful experiences, including the UIC Jazz Festival and last summer's trip to NYC (with the EAHS Choir). Under Mr. Kaisershot's leadership the band students marched in Chicago's St. Patrick's parade, Batavia's Loyalty Day, achieved many Division I ratings at IHSA Solo & Ensemble, as well as bi-annual trips to Disney World. Again, a TIE.
So it's obvious that the EAHS band program is alive and well under Mr. Liska's leadership, just as it was for 21 years under Mr. Kaisershot. Both men are knowledgeable, hard-working teachers. But it is equally obvious that the situation ten years ago was a power play, pure and simple! Larry Malaker and Clayton Muhammad's claim that Mr. K had to be replaced to improve our band program was absolutely UNTRUE, and a cover-up for the real reason: an administration insisted upon PUNISHING a teacher for daring to stand up for his students and their parents.
Ten years later, this decision is still a black mark against D131 administration.
Ten years later the same thing has happened. Spencer Byrd is being forced out by the new serial bully Mike Popp. Teachers, building administration and students are in a uproar. We encourage speakers to come out and protest Monday night. Dont allow the Board from Hell to allow this to happen. Remember in less than a month a new board will not allow daily intimidation to take place.
--The number of students in the band has nearly doubled since 2005. On the surface that may look like an improvement in the band program, HOWEVER the number of students enrolled at EAHS has also nearly doubled. So it's a tie, not an improvement over 2005.
LIES!!!!!
The number of students at East High in 2005 according to the ISBE report card was 2,534.
The number of students currently at East High is 3667. (or this might be last years number, still, it's close)
Doubled would mean that we have 5,064 students now or back in 2005 there were only 1833. Both of which are not true. So the band nearly doubling in size, is an improvement.
--The marching band's performance last fall in Oswego was mentioned as a huge success. I saw the performance and agree that it was excellent. What was NOT mentioned was the fact that (for the first time) THREE adult assistants were hired to help teach the marching band. Not exactly an apples-to-apples comparison, so...another tie.
The three adult assistants were not hired until mid-September.
You try to make it sound like everybody but Mr. Liska had something to do with the success of this years show. What you don't know is that how crazy is it for Mr. Liska to be responsible for 150, 175, 200 students at one time by himself. Even with 4 adults that is a ratio of at least 40 or 50 to 1.
So yes, the ASSISTANTS to Mr. Liska deserve credit, but they were needed for not only help with teaching skills, but safety of the students. And Mr. Liska did a full month of teaching without anybody.
Popp, what kind of dictatorship do you think you are running? Posters were up everywhere around the High School today asking folks to come out to the BOE meeting on Monday and speak up for Spencer Byrd!
You keep the likes of Marty Feltes around forever and drive out a beloved role-model like Principal Byrd as quick as you can? You say he resigned? HA! You and others in the Admin. DROVE HIM OUT due to your personal agendas!
You and your inept BOE court-henchman Ray Hull,court jester Lou Peryea and others that do not see what the STUDENTS and STAFF want and need in a great Leader like Spencer Byrd are going to be gone as well. Hull- GONE, Peryea- GONE (thank goodness), Turza- GONE Garza- GONE. Is THIS the legacy you want to leave by sticking with this POOR DECISION Board Members? That the this board drove out one of the most positive people in our District's history as one of their final acts of cruelty?
Well, I guess you are in for one very long and LAST meeting for some of you on Monday as person after person will come forward on Spencer's behalf.
SHAME ON YOU POPP for NOT doing what is best for the students at EA High School. This will NEVER be forgotten!
Get over it, 9:01 a.m. said now there are 150 to 160 band members. Mr. Mills claims 170. Assuming a middle ground of 165, I crunched the numbers:
The percentage of EAHS students in the band in 2005 was 4.73 percent (120 out of 2534).
The percentage of EAHS students in the band in 2014 is 4.70 percent (165 out of 3510).
That's a DECLINE in percentage, not growth. February 11, 2014 at 7:14 PM
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I do not know the exact number of students in the band program in April 2015, nor the very latest statistics about EAHS student enrollment. But it does seem that the percentage of EAHS students in the band program has remained relatively constant since 2005. That's a tie, like it or not!
And it would have been SO gracious of Mr. Liska to acknowledge the fact that three adults helped with this year's marching band. A good leader shares the credit; an arrogant one takes all the glory for himself. Not calling anyone anything, but...
I don't mean to rain on your parade, but there are many students and staff who dislike Byrd. He is a bully and unprofessional. He is not a smarter than Popp or Truckenbrod, and he is not beloved. Perhaps in some pockets he is, but I think EAHS can and will do better.
I am not in the thick of things at the high school but on the sidelines. I have heard from staff and students and it seems like it could possibly be those who do not like Byrd and feel he is a bully, are those teachers who are not meeting his standards or the students who should be disciplined but have had free rein because the board wanted zero expulsion or suspensions. I admit he is not your shirt and tie, yes sir kinda guy. That doesn't mean he cannot do what needs to be done at EA. Popp stated at the board meeting much has been accomplished with Byrd in charge. East could possibly have the highest grad class ever this year. He must be doing something right. So why wouldn't they want to renew his contract......that is the real reason he is leaving. Even if they offered him a contract now, why would he want to come back after the way he has been treated. As always, and as someone stated earlier, this is another case of someone in a higher position having an ax to grind and using someones position as a way to get their revenge. Kaisershot did what he thought best for students/ families. Dr. Aird did as directed and was made a scapegoat. There are many in between, those were the ones that made the papers. Hopefully, the new board will bring business back to being accountable for all actions made by admin from financial to personnel but most importantly to educating our students.
Speak out for Spencer Monday, and no Matt Hanley, Popp and Thruckenbrod are not smarter than Spencer. He is beloved. Come speak out the reign of intimidation is over.
Many like Dr Aird, Tom Flanigan and now Spencer Byrd are the scapegoats of Glotzbach. She has cost the district millions in botched insurance, poor referance checking, poor policy decisions, poor evaluations models and a fear of intimidation. This should be her last major mistake. It is time the BOE steps up and gets rid of her.
We have had the unfortunate experience of negotiations with her lately and the women is a run away train. Popp is to weak to stop her. The new rumor is she will now get promoted to run K to 12. Dr Popp have lost the respect of the entire staff, it is time to send him packing.
The weight was listed in 131 when the community came together and sent the Board for Hell packing.
Speaking up for Spencer is sending administration and our bargaining team a message that poor working conditions and no Curiculum support will not be tolerated.
Many issues had been brought to the attendtion of administration this school year, and Thruckenbrod, Childress, Glotzbach and Popp took a deaf ear.
Congratulations to the EAHS Wind Ensemble for earning a Division I rating yesterday at IHSA Organization Festival!
Specifically, kudos go to:
--The hardworking student musicians --Their director, Mr. Liska --Parents and other family members of students, for their support --Our district's grade school and middle school band directors, for providing a musical foundation for the Wind Ensemble musicians
You can hear this award-winning group perform at the Fine Arts Festival on May 2nd.
People.....he resigned. He wasn't forced out. His intention was to be a superintendent....not a principal in a district whose name is dragged through the mud by a blog, Ralph Padron, and the likes. Good administrators don't want to stay in this district because of the reputation it gets from all of these negative sources.
Byrd was forced out and is willing to stay. He increased graduation and test scores have edged up. Everyone knows Thruckenbrid, Reyes Childress, Glozbach and Popp pushed him out.
The black cloud has been lifted no pun intended since election. Many now are reconsidering staying. Everyone is looking to the new leadership to end the reign of terror. If I am Popp I would start looking for a job.
Dear Think......he did resign. That was the option, after they told him they were NOT going to renew his contract. Do you think the teachers would be speaking out on his behalf, if he was leaving by choice?
He was making strides at the high school. that would be excellent for his resume had he had the opportunity and encouragement to continue what he started. He will be a superintendent! Another district will grab him up. Good people do not concern themselves with "negative sources." Maybe he will come back here to be supt. and finally clean house. Yeah, that's the ticket!
He was forced out, who are your sources. Many resign so they don't have terminated on their names. We have so many people come and go in HS administration it is hard to get stability. I think is a great manager, but never had Curiculum support. In theory we should get that from our Division chairs. They sit on Facebook all day and do nothing.
D131 needs to rehire him if that's possible, and put an end to the revolving door. Also, Thruckenbrod is worthless and Popp has lost all respect. This district is in more turmoil than ever before.
Good leaders in good districts do not need to be managers. They have the ability to inspire, create and bring results. With the negative culture of this district, he is better off.
April 20th 2015 Matthew Hanley, FOIA Officer East Aurora School District 131 417 5th Street Aurora, IL 60505
Re: FOIA Request for Documents Dear Mr. Hanley
1. Billing only from Mickey,Wilson, Weiler law firm from January 1 2015 – April 15th 2015 for
* FOIA’s * Robert Greene lawsuit Am requesting dollar amounts only
2. All telephone text messages between Dr Michael Popp & Joan Glotzbach From March 1st 2015 – April 20th 20105
3 All emails between Dr Michael Popp & Joan Glotzbach April 1st – April 22nd 2015.
Please notify me if the responses exceed the 50 page No Charge Limit.
I understand that the Act permits a public body to charge a reasonable copying fee not to exceed the actual cost of reproduction and not including the costs of any search or review of the records. I am asking that any fees be waived per 5ILCS140/6(c).
Friends of Alex Arroyo, an openly gay candidate running for state representative of Illinois' 84th District (which includes Aurora), hosted an event Nov. 16 at the Boystown nightspot Cocktail. Arroyo is a member of the Association of Flight Attendants-Communication Workers of America (AFA-CWA) and has served as Aurora Democratic Party chair.
If elected, he would be the fourth out gay member of the Illinois General Assembly. Photos by Susan Mattes
So one of our newly-elected School Board members is openly gay...
...That's a GOOD thing! Our district is a very diverse one, and our School Board should reflect that. We now have members who are male, female, gay, straight, Democrat, Republican, Hispanic, Caucasian, African American, and who range in age from their 20s through 60+.
Where are these good musicians coming from, anyway?
said...
About a month ago, Mr. Liska had auditions for next year's advanced bands (Wind Ensemble and Wind Symphony). When the results were posted, I noticed something interesting:
In the Wind Symphony, 25 out of 48 students attended Simmons Middle School. That's about 52%.
In the Wind Ensemble, 25 out of 45 attended Simmons. That works out to 55%.
Students come into East High from 5 possible sources:
--Waldo Middle School --Cowherd Middle School --Simmons Middle School --Magnet Academy --Somewhere else (private school such as OLGC, transfer from another district, homeschooled, etc.)
It would seem that about 20% of top performing EAHS band students would come from each source...
...yet more than HALF of these young musicians attended Simmons Middle School, under the direction of Mr. Kevin Kaisershot.
Our district should THANK Mr. Kaisershot for his hard work and dedication over the past ten years! Despite being deprived of his previous position by a corrupt administration (over the protests of the community), Mr. K has continued to do an outstanding job teaching our middle-school band students and preparing them for success in high school.
Well, what a crazy board meeting as expected! Residents were not too happy seeing their property tax Sky-Rocket from 1,200 to 1,700 and they came forth to speak about it! Ray Hull stated that the Voters Had Heard Him Loud And Clear and they had Booted Him Out! He went on to ridicule several other things about taxpayers(no one really cared because he is going to be gone anyway!)He stated that the kids were more important than taxes, even though it was said that people were going to have to move because they could no longer afford their homes; not to mention the fact that their home values had plummeted. Who's going to shoulder the burden for education then Ray?? To that Turza replied in BOE comments that if residents took better care of their homes their values would increase. There was an audible gasp in the room. How dare she? Dick Leonard briefly commented on the tax situation. Peryea pulled out a book bullying then states that she's read it from cover-to-cover(she didn't learn much, did she?). Then she proceeded to waggle her finger at the new board members. People just shook their heads. Annette Johnson talked about the Senate Bill 1 and the district's finances and her concern with the elevated taxes. Garza went on for quite a while stating she was leaving with a bitter taste in her mouth and she thought the board had done a good job. Strand pre-faced her comments by stating that what she was about say was not a counter-point to all the concerns people had mentioned during public comments. needless to say they were.
People demanded that several important decisions wait until the new board is in place. They made it know that they felt this board had failed miserably.
The front row was reserved and later we found out why. Sneaky Popp had it saved for the new principal and his family. Right by the podium. People who came to speak up for high school principal Spencer Byrd changed their minds (who wants to talk about NOT having a new principle while his wife, small child and a baby in a bassinet are right next to you??). Well played Michael, you're slick. We will see how long you stay superintendent of lies.
Mr Crespo was a teacher 2 years ago in Florida now he is running EA. Good choice current members and retiring members. Maybe all should retire together.
First you pick someone who can't past the basic skills test. then you pick a Director that was demoted in 204 with no experience to run the district. Now this all seven are a truly the BOE from HELL.
Just curious, "Where are these good musicians coming from, anyway?"....
Why did you settle on 20% from each of the 5 sources for the top level bands? Was the candidate pool from each of the 5 equal? I would find it interesting if 20% of the pool came from "somewhere else," when that would most likely be the smallest faction. Also, our schools & bands, range in size, yes?
I do not disagree with your support of K, at all, but data only works to prove a point when it is correctly derived.
In other districts where many (if not most) band students take private lessons, some of the credit for their success would go to the private instructors. But in our district VERY few students study their instrument with a private teacher, and those who do usually wait until high school.
So it is even more important in our district to have a solid foundation in middle-school band, and to give credit to directors who help our kids sharpen their skills. It takes nothing away from the high school director to acknowledge the middle-school (and for that matter, grade school) directors' contributions.
Crespo background is in fact true, two years ago he was a PE teacher. As a AP at Proviso he was Dennis Renner. Would you promote Dennis to run complex EA. This falls on Popp, Gloztbach, Thruckenbrod and Reyes Childress. they did want someone with a opinion, they wanted a yes man.
How they could have hired someone with such little experience to run EA leaves everyone shaking their heads. A vote of no confidence is the buzz around 131.
Here is hoping the new BOE is better. After what staff witnessed last night there are major concerns.
As for Johnson, she feel into district line last night telling the crowd I feel your pain but we have no money unless SB1 is passes, certainly not the toon she would sing in the past. CODE word teachers we have no MONEY for you. We wasted it on who knows what.
To last nights BOE meeting, I was there, also, and saw things a little differently than you. First, being in the back of the room or doorway, I don't think anyone would have known the new principal was there or would have known who he was. Secondly, who is Garza?? You mean Stella....she has left a bad taste in all our mouths. For her to claim 30 years working for and in our district, is an embarrassment to d131. I didn't hear some of the things you claim to have been said. I did hear Strands comments and thought they were well stated about where things will hopefully go from here. I heard Turzas comment and thought she sounded like an uppity snob. Annette kept saying to support Senate Bill 1, but never allude to exactly what her opinion was as to why she supported it. WTH is it about in a nutshell?
Annette mentioned Senate Bill 1. Funny she should mention this. At the end of the article in this link: http://chicago.suntimes.com/politics/7/71/163154/its-time-for-a-real-pension-fix-in-illinois It states: "That’s untenable. This is a crisis, and we’re teetering on the cliff. We either raise taxes and drive more of us to move away, or we change the constitution, or we change laws to control double-dipping and too-generous pension benefits approved by local school board members and other officials." Maybe she should have changed things BEFORE giving Roberts his "generous pension." She is often quick to change her position AFTER she finds out the facts.
But how do you know what middle school each of those kids came from. You would either have to know every one of them, have access to the school data base, or at least be involved with the band director at Simmons to know which ones were his.
You have a lot of information for just a community member. Perhaps you are closer to the situation than you want people to know.
How do you know what middle school the kids came from. It must be one of the following.
1) You know every single kid and their middle school history
2) You work in the district and looked up every single kid throw the district data base
3) You asked or are Mr. Kaisershot.
So yes it does matter how you got the information. I look at that list and have no idea what middle school each kid attended. You look at the list and come up with percentages.
You are in denial about who you are and I don't see one post discrediting the middle school directors. You are making things up.
Okay, I admit that I work for the district and have access to the databases. I'm also a longtime friend of Mr. Kaisershot. So what? Does that make the information any less accurate or relevant?
Can YOU produce any evidence that refutes my claim? Go ahead, we're waiting. Until then, I repeat:
More than half of the students who recently auditioned into the top two bands at EAHS attended Simmons Middle School.
I don't want to produce evidence to refute your claim. But that really goes to the crux of the problem of this blog. Your claim is TRUE until proven wrong? You never really proved it true. You just made a statement and instead of proving your statement, you are waiting for somebody else to prove you wrong.
EHS BAND IS SECOND-RATE April 19, 2010 at 7:49 AM Anonymous said...
BECAUSE OF THE MIDDLE SCHOOLS April 19, 2010 at 7:54 AM
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
You cannot have your cake and eat it too. If the middle schools (and their directors) are to blame for shortcomings in the high school program, then the middle schools (and their directors) should also share the credit for successes at the high school.
In District 204, where my kids went to high school, every band and orchestra program included the names of the grade school and middle school band & orchestra teachers. Especially in a district like ours where kids don't take private lessons, acknowledging ALL band directors' contribution to the older kids' successes would be a classy move. Heaven knows they get blamed when something goes wrong!
As always, if something is not accurate on this blog you can present your own version of the facts. So go ahead and correct the claim that more than 50% of the top band students at EAHS went to Simmons.
You say you "don't want to produce evidence"...that says it all! You have no evidence to produce, or you wouldn't be so obsessed with HOW the facts were gathered instead of whether they are true.
You are trying to distract from the real issue, which is giving credit where credit is due and sharing a little bit of the success achieved by the high school musicians with those who contributed to that success.
Sorry, Stella Gonzales. Garza came up automatically as I have a contact with that first name (it happens)! FOIA the audio cd and find out what was said for yourself. In a nutshell is a play on words, obviously. It was leaked who the new principal was earlier in the day. So people knew who it was and that is why people took their names off of the list to speak up for Spencer Byrd. Sad.
So here is the problem. Your post isn't about sharing the credit. That is how you disguise it but it is about making sure everybody knows the contributions of Kaisershot. If it was at all about sharing the credit you would have posted the percentages of the other middle schools. Maybe Simmons is at 55% but maybe (and i don't know) but there is 40% from Cowherd and then only a few from Waldo and Magnet. We don't know because your sharing the credit post is only about sharing the credit with 1 of 4 middle school directors.
Your good intentions about giving credit where credit is due seems a little disingenuous when you only ever talk about one middle school.
About the bands - my son tried out for next years band and made wind symphony. He is a drummer. He was excited because he knows all of the percussion players on the list from when he went to Simmons. He also said he saw most of the wind ensemble drum list was people he knew from Simmons. So I got out the programs I saved for 5 years from my kids band & choir concerts at Simmons and looked for names that made wind ensemble or symphony. I did see a lot of Simmons names that made the bands, not surprised that it's more than the other schools.
My son learned a lot from Mr. K, and he says he is also learning from Mr. Liska at the high school. When our kids do something good it seems pretty nasty for somebody to be so concerned about who is getting information instead of thanking a teacher who is doing an outstanding job helping our kids.
All this about Kaisershot has gone on long enough. The person or persons that keep bring it up needs to seek mental health treatment. This man is not a God like you would like to make him. What happened was sad but this is what happens in real life. He could of went to another district and got the band director job but with the tenure he wouldn't give up his time at East to do it. It is is adults that are acting like children and it must be Kaisershot's wife that can't let go. If he had any concerns about his students he should get help for his wife so she can move on with her life.
There was one band student that wrote on here about both band directors and he cared for both. You don't hear many of the students complaining in fact they just want to be in the band an have a good time.
Looking back over this thread, I see overwhelmingly positive comments about the current EAHS band program, including mentioning TWICE their recent Division I rating at organization contest. (I guess I just mentioned it a third time!)
It was only when someone tried to give the Simmons director some credit (without at all insulting the high school director) that the hateful comments came out.
Hmmm...who needs the mental health treatment? The person who politely mentioned that more than half of the top EAHS band students went to Simmons, or the person who seems to be obsessed with how that information was obtained, and refuses to acknowledge Mr. K's role in our band students' successes?
And like the previous band parent, I too have a stack of programs from when my daughter was in the band at Simmons. It is VERY easy for me (or any other parent or teacher for that matter) to compare names on those programs with the students who auditioned into the top bands at EAHS.
Maybe it would be in everyone's best interests to give credit to EVERYONE involved when our kids do something grEAt. The words "thank you" are not used often enough in our district, and definitely not by administration!
Date: April 23rd 2015 To: Dr Michael Popp From: Ralph Padron Subject: Comments/Facts EA 131
Mike
The April 20th Board Meeting “Public Comments” was dominated by the retirees bearing the brunt of seeing their property tax bill increase from $1,200.00 plus. It is tragic to say the least that these Retirees on fixed incomes must make a decision on whether to remain in Aurora due to income limitations.. They are outraged to say the least, and the points made by each speaker were valid yet continues to fall on deaf ears at EA. Let’s examine current salaries of the 3 highest paid employees.
Dr Michael Popp (Superintendent) Dist 204 salary as (Executive Dir Teaching & Learning) Base $215,800.00 $ 145,734.00 (with annuity) ($70,066.00 increase)
Pension 22,486.36 N/A Insurance 8,571.98 N/A Total $ 246,958.52
Joan Glotzbach (Asst Superintendent Human Resources) Base $ 148,625.00 Pension 10,389.12 Insurance 15,486.73 Total $ 174,500.85
Christi Tyler (Asst Superintendent Finance) Base $ 145,000.00 Pension 7,647.12 Insurance 15,109.00 Total $ 167,756.12
With teacher contract negotiations at a standstill and claims that funds are not available for their well-deserved raises, yet the spending continues as the controversies continue under your leadership.
Despite your attempt to silence and avoid responding to me, the audits continue. The Purchasing Scandals are nothing compared to the audits of 3 Major Scandals and violations to be released at the proper time.
Again am requesting a written response to the above issues which would not breach the areas of confidentiality.
The teachers contract is not at a standstill. Our union sold us down the river. Sounds like support staff and sectrettaries are only getting 2%. teachers will get about 2.5%. It is time to strike and show the district and our union we WILL NOT TAKE IT ANYMORE.
The 1st interview begins today for the Director of Building & Grounds. Let me make a prediction that Christi Tyler's friend from West Aurora, Jeff Schiller will be selected to fill this position.
And better yet Popp will rush this through as he did the new Principal for the High School.
UPDATE !!! Interview for B & G Director went very well for Jeff Schiller of West Aurora 129. Popp and Christi Tyler interviewed him to make it look professional and on the up and up. Appears to me that Tyler needs another "Puppet" to control that Dept and cover up what was done and get Popp's approval on everything. If Schilling gets hired this will make Elise Clever and Schilling 2 former West Aurora 129 staff under her control. This should make Popp feel more secure in hiding many an issue. Does anyone see anything suspicious about Popp and Tyler doing the interviewing for this position?
Go ahead and hire Jeff Schiller. The OLD Board of Ed. cannot encumber the NEW Board of Ed OR make any major decisions such as this until the new BOE members are seated. The new BOE can rescind the decision to hire Tyler's "good friend" Mr. Schiller and open the Director of Building and Grounds position up again. Let's not forget TYLER bankrupt district 129 and used questionable accounting practices here in district 131.
Dr Popp only received his Superintendent certification in 2012. Look how that turned out, and the BOE hired him without community input or staff input.
Sharing this from the Aurora Facebook page
said...
Hello , my name is Ariana M. and I am a student of East Aurora High School. I am speaking on behalf of the students attending EAHS. Many are unaware of the situation that is occurring at East Aurora High School , not having SOAP in the restrooms is a health code violation. I have been continuously asking for soap and the same answer has been said to me , NO. I believe a student asking for soap is the most easiest situation to be resolved. I have been doing research behind not properly washing your hands after using the restroom and there are chances of getting very ill. Me as a student of East Aurora High School demand soap! Please share and like this status to show them we are aware of the situation! Thank you!
Wow, you people are really worked up over the Band issue. There are bigger fish to fry. Thank Mr. K and the other band directors and instructors and move on.
April 27, 2015 Matthew Hanley, FOIA Officer East Aurora School District 131 417 5th Street Aurora, IL 60505
Re: FOIA Request for Documents
Dear Mr. Hanley
Please provide the following
1 Application & Contract for Michael Huston
2 Application & Contract for Patrick Cantore
3 Contract for Elise Clever
4 Contract for Michael Golonka
5 List of Bills for Board of Ed eeting March 3 2014 They are not posted.
I understand that the Act permits a public body to charge a reasonable copying fee not to exceed the actual cost of reproduction and not including the costs of any search or review of the records. I am asking that any fees be waived per 5ILCS140/6(c).
How is it that the administration can go on trips and misuse credit cards but our students can't have soap in the bathrooms?
This district is going under. We have residents that complain about their taxes that they are too much but I just got mine and they went down $200.00 but that means my home value had gone down. We have those that complain they pay too much and since they have no children in school why do they have to pay for them. If those residents lived in say Naperville they would probably be paying more and those residents don't complain. They know that giving students a good education benefits everyone.
We have schools that are over 75 years old and in bad condition. Over crowded classrooms and student that just don't care to get and education and some that do.
If the residents that complain about their taxes would go to the right source their Representatives of State and try to make changes of how the schools got the money to run them that might go further than going to the school board because until it changes and the residents of this community try to make parents that care about their children's education come to live in this district nothing will change.
A student at the high school smeared feces all over the boys bathroom 2nd floor freshmen center. Soap is the least of our problems. Gang presentation yesterday was a generalized power point, nothing that we could really use in day to day life.
Can someone please explain why we are paying Dr. Popp nearly the same as a top CPS administrator? He has allowed the systematic rape of the district funds, incompetence in human resources, the abuse of teachers, and allowed our students to be educated in deplorable buildings with teachers who are openly hostile against the administration that fails to understand the daily struggles in the schools. God help the BOE take a stand against such incompetence!
Perea gave excellent advice to the new board in the article "I urge you to choose your leadership wisely."
The community is watching. If the new board even considers Annette Johnson as board president, they will lose community support before they even start the job. Their job would then be impossible.
Annette was at Mike and Denise's on election night with the new candidates schmoozing the new board members and trying to become board president again. I certainly hope they saw through it.
The last thing this district needs is to relive the nightmare of daily scandals and bad press of the Annette reign of terror.
Band Students I need your help get your parents to this meeting!
EA Band Booster Meeting tomorrow night Thursday April 30th 7:00pm in the High School Band room. This is a very important meeting, new officers must be elected tomorrow night or this will be the last year of the Band Boosters. The Band Boosters have been around for very long time and without you, the parents they will be no more. Please come to this meeting and consider becoming an officer and keep the Band Boosters going.
Memo TO: Board of Education FROM: Dr. Michael Popp DATE: April 29, 2015 RE: Repurposing of Administrative Positions ____________________ _____________________________________ As I continue to restructure cabinet and other administrative positions and duties, I will be moving Matt Hanley to the position of Director of Community Relations. Matt has served our district extremely well and provides support to me and other administrators regarding the most confidential issues with which we deal.
This move and others including adding a staff member to his department will be done in a cost neutral manner as was the previous move regarding the Assistant Superintendent for Curriculum. This change will allow us a greater ability to solicit more resources for staff and students, assist in the development of more business partnerships with a focus on training students for careers, produce more local support both financial and in resources from businesses within and around our district. An additional staff member will provide more support in dealing with day to day operational issues such as FOIA responses which, as you know, have taken Mr. Hanley up to 30 hours per week. It will allow Matt to focus on both internal and external communications regarding district matters and beyond.
Date: May 1, 2015 To: Dr Michael Popp From: Ralph Padron Subject: Comments/Questions EA 131
Mike
Controversy again is at the forefront with your decisions supposedly in the best interest of the School District. Let’s examine a few:
• This week’s Board Agenda Packet includes “Repurposing of Admin Positions” “Moving Matt Hanley to the position of Director of Community Relations” could very well be stated as “Promoting” or “Created this position”.
A Would it had been prudent to await the seating of the Newly elected Board THEN make your decision public?
B Why the sense of “Urgency” for this to happen C Mr Hanley’s base salary currently is $ 87,125.00 D Director’s salary begin at $ 120,000.00 This would be equivalent to an increase of $32,875.00 plus additional pension increase
E Additional statement on your memo: “This move and others including adding a staff member to his department will be done in a cost neutral manner” Cost Neutral or additional payroll? Are the taxpayers looking at a total of $80K additional to this budget? How will teachers react considering we have heard you openly state “The district does not have the finances to give the teachers a raise”
2 This week in Springfield financing for educational is being discussed for critically needed monies to support Education.
Why is not the Superintendent of East Aurora not in attendance?
What could be so urgent and critical for Dr Popp not to attend?
I would have thought your attendance would have been a “TOP PRIORITY”
Last but not least, I received the following response dtd April 27 2015 from Mr Hanley ref: “Open letter to Dr Popp”
Mr Padron: Matt: In last week’s letter, you claim there are “efforts to silence you.” That is a curious statement, since we hear from you all the time. The reality is that there is no effort to silence you, or prevent you from accessing public information, or not respond to you.
Ralph: How many times have I requested from Mike Popp to give me a written response? No response = silence
Matt: What is actually happening is that 1,400 public employees are doing their best every day to create a healthy and safe environment where children can learn. We are focused on students. Ralph: You are intentionally trying to use education as a shield from addressing Questionable Business Practices and Cover Up of intentional violations
Matt: In last week’s email, the only information you presented (salaries of three administrators) has been on our public website. Despite this, the facts you emailed to 23 staff members and seven Board members were incorrect. There is a pattern of mistakes and misinterpretations in your communications, both via email and at Board meetings. Sending out false or misconstrued information is damaging to the District and does not help you make your points, either. Ralph: Show me my mistakes and misinterpretations. You make the allegation yet fail to mention the specifics.
Matt: In both your Board comments and your emails, you repeatedly mention a “major scandal” ahead. If you have one to talk about, go ahead. As of right now, you are attempting to make people believe something terrible is lurking, but you fail to present relevant documentation. I believe including all of these people (most who have no connection to the issues you are discussing) on your emails is an attempt to disrupt their work day and/or to impugn the reputation of people who have dedicated their lives to education.
Ralph: When I am ready to make public the "Major Scandal" evidence, I will do it on my time table not yours. Whether you want to believe it or not, it will implicate several individuals and be very damaging to their reputation as well as those covering it up.
Matt: Finally, I would hope that your comments about teacher negotiations are not an attempt to insert yourself into, or tamper with, a closed process between a union and a government body. That would be wholly inappropriate. You did not present any facts to back up your claims, so I believe it is reasonable to assume that your statements about negotiations are, at best, conjecture.
Ralph: Again you are taking statements I am making out of context, in an attempt to put words in my mouth. This District has been incredibly responsive to your questions, demands and accusations – particularly since you are neither a student in our District, the family of a student in our District, a staff member of this District or a resident of this District. Our students, our families, our staff and our residents will always take priority. You seem to have forgotten the numerous times I have mentioned, I am the spokesperson for MANY current and former employees, community members. They would come forward if not the intimidation and threats of disciplinary action for those who dare to speak.
Judge for yourself the above comments between Hanley and myself
Our district is fortunate to have someone like you who won't back down, and is willing to expose corruption. So many times I read your comments and think, "you speak for me also".
Hanley makes a good point in that what you mention are a lot of veiled threats. Come forward with what information you have instead of supposedly sitting on it. At first I admired the work that you seemed to be doing on behalf of EA citizens, but now it just seems like harassment on your part, which leads to wasted manpower and money from the district-which also hurts employee and student morale.
Matt DOES NOT qualify for a $38,000 raise plus the hiring of a additional person. What is Matt doing for the education of of students. We never see him at events, he is a public relations arm for Dr Popp. Hopefully the new BOE will undo this madness.
The BOE has made it very clear the can not give teachers a living wage increase this year because of the State yet Hanley gets a 50% jump. SHame on Dr Popp and the BOE for even considering this .
Not to mention, that he has necessitated the district having to hire one additional person to be a FOIA officer. That is a ridiculous amount of money being spent on one old man's futile attempts to destroy a school district.
When a public interest entity is held in the public eye, increased FOIAs are to BE EXPECTED. Hiring additional staff TEMPORARILY is warranted. NOT giving the FOIA officer a 30K plus raise and and assistant! Read your FOIA law before throwing the taxpayers money around!! Like him or not, Padron has more than "paid" for himself in FOIA requests. Who else is asking questions? This obvious attempt to vilify Padron by stating that Mr. Hanley needs a 30K raise to process Padron's "excessive" POIA requests (yeah, that's a veiled interpretation) is outrageous!! Taxpayers, speak up! You made your voices head by ridding us of the old and unproductive board members by voting! Don't let them try and sneak this one by you! How many more of our neighbors will have to move out of this district because they can no longer afford our ever increasing taxes!
FOIA's are expected. A typical school district will receive 1-2 a month, easily handled within an hour. Padron's goose chase has been in motion for years, and this year it is out of control. The board minutes reflect 20-50 hours a month in wasted time digging up useless documentation that proves absolutely nothing.
These veiled threats of big revelations are full of crap, just like Ralph. Get him a fishing pole, let him have a hobby.
Matt does not do the FOIAS the business office does. Matt also has a Secretary so why does he need another. This is a payoff for Popp from the old board. everyone is watching new BOE on if you continue to allow ridulous spending.
My guess is Popp will not last and be gone before the end of the year. Good hooray for the new members!
If any one of you writing here was harassed and adult-bullied on a daily basis. Came home trying not to cry in front of your family because of the stress of working at ea131 under tyrants rule. But knew you had to stay to provide for your family. Then you know that Mr. Padron was speaking these past two years for us. We were threatened with our jobs if we spoke out. So, if you didn't go through what we did you need to zip it up!!!
So Matt Hanley is getting a promotion by Popp to make himself look like this big executive. I thought Popp was going to cut back on expenses and be able to show how he is doing such a great job. And he lets this be one of the last acts of the "Board from Hell" to make sure it gets approved.
Popp is an embarrassment to the East Aurora but then again he worked at a upper level District who was glad to get rid of Him.
don't let Popp get away with this promotion to Hanley
Why did Matt Hanley NEVER put a story out of the Chicago Bears donating exercise equipment to EA. Kurt Becker announced it at a Board meeting and brought out that a East was the recipient of a NEW Hispanic program by the Bears to help these kids.
What happened Matt? You certainly dropped the ball on this one!
There are still signs for Laesh & Hatchett on RT 30 by The Doggie Diner, Alex you have one on the corner of Smith and Fifth across from the High School and Hull has one on New York St before Root St It is way past time for these to be up.
You are spot on, Go fishing. The FOIA requests that one should expect are nothing compared to what EA gets. And there is nothing in FOIA law that would restrict an entity from obtaining a person to process FOIA requests.
I don't know what you went through at EA, but unfortunately many larger districts dole out such stress and bullies/tyrants/dictators. This is why so many people probably feel that Mr. Patron is after the district-as revenge.
So it's okay for administration to mistreat employees because some other districts do it? On what planet are people expected to be silent and accept bullying as a part of their jobs?
And I don't care whether Mr. Padron (spell his name correctly!) is motivated by revenge or by sincerely wanting to help our community. My hunch is, it's probably a combination of both. I can say from experience that it is easier to forgive someone who wrongs me than someone who wrongs my family member. Mr. Padron is justifiably upset because his wife was mistreated by D131 administration (and these admins later tried to accuse HER of wrongdoing, which was proven false). Teachers and staff who have had negative experiences with those in power in this district are not likely to go away any time soon.
Like Mr Padron or not he keeps them on their toes.
As for Mr Hantley, it is embrassing that we could even think about paying him that kind of money. It shows what Dr Popp thinks of teachers and students in this district. When he came to EA his first order of business was to build a administrative center. Then he insults teachers by offering up a less than 1% raise.
It also shows what he thinks of a outstanding member of our teaching staff. I had to learn about Ms Bruno from Facebook. I would also suggest complete elimination of his position. Let Dr Popp and his secretary put out the announcements.
Is this Mrs. Padron? You just supported others' beliefs that Ralph has an ax to grind, when he says he does not. He had better come up with some beneficial evidence to support the money he is costing the district in firings, searches for new hires, new hire training, and hours of processing his ludicrous requests. I hope the new board will make him happy. After all, WE, the district taxpayers, voted them in. It's not another conspiracy theory or cronyism (which he seems to base everything on).
Not only am I not Mrs. Padron, I have never even met Mr. (or Mrs.) Padron. I am simply a community member who appreciates the truth being exposed, by any means necessary. And as far as the money is concerned, the cost of FOIAs by the SEVERAL individuals who have requested them over the past few months (not just Mr. Padron!) are insignificant compared to the huge increase in Mr. Hanley's salary.
Your point has been taken into consideration, with the major difference being that Mr. Hanley can probably show evidence of accomplishment; which the FOIA'd documents up until now haven't seemed to do (or someone is not divulging info that they have discovered). I'm not saying things shouldn't be questioned or that everyone is doing an errorless job, but it seems that Mr. Padron (and others-although he is easily at the forefront of requests) is wasting the district's/city's time, money, and making people pissed off without much, if anything, to show for it.
Many of the FOIAs requested by Mr. Padron were related to Marty Feltes and probably contributed to Feltes' termination. One of my friends worked in the maintenance building and is very happy to see him gone. My friend says that Feltes treated him and other staff like garbage, including turning off the heat in the maintenance building last February for the employees while sitting in his warm cushy office on the phone for hours on end.
And there's this article: http://www.chicagotribune.com/suburbs/aurora-beacon-news/news/ct-abn-east-board-repair-st-0206-20150205-story.html
"Padron found that in some cases the district was purchasing supplies from companies other than those the district had exclusively contracted — which prompted the district and the school board to approve contract extensions this week with two companies to make up for lost supply orders"
Those FOIAs might cost a little money - but Mr. Padron also SAVES our district money. Not to mention exposing things that certain people in the central office might want to sweep under the rug.
I think electing Johnson was a great move. Hopefully Popp will resign and they can go onto picking a new leader.
The District needs a real leader and it is apparent giving Handley a $40,000 increase is slap to every hard working teacher. I am sure if Johnson was President that would have not been allowed.
Sad day for EA. The commentor above is correct, Johnson would not have allowed a raise to Hanley and she will not be labor friendly to the union either. She back pats and hand shakes whomever she needs as an ally at the time. Those who voted for her will feel her wrath the first time they disagree or vote against her. I voted for a couple of those new members, I could kick myself already. The lesser of the evils seemed to be the lesser informed. Anyone who had an ounce of information about what has been going on in the district, would not have voted Annette as president. Unless, there is an underlying agenda to encourage Popp to leave. Then she would be the ticket on that railroad.
If that is why they elected Johnson, then that shows the new board will not put up with BS. Popp needs to go ! It shows his priorities and they are not student driven. He is paying Hanley to create good press about Himself.
It is a new day in EA and 80% of the district is happy!
Dear Good News Day, I am not sure how many people you have spoken with, but in my circle within my neighborhood and my nearby schools, I have not spoken with anyone who was happy about the president choice....not one!
Date: May 6, 2015 To: Dr Michael Popp From: Ralph Padron Subject: FOIA’s allowed this to be discovered Facts of Heater Exchangers Controversy
Dr Popp
This letter is to notify you and the Board of Education concerning some very serious violations and/or criminal acts regarding “Heat Exchangers”.
The Purchase Orders in question are 150010 152284 152285
• Why were 2 of these PO’s issued after the work was done • Why was 1 PO allowed to proceed with no Board Approval • All 3 PO’s had no Board Approval, No Public Bidding, • Were these rightfully classified “Emergency” • How did they go unchallenged yet were approved and paid • Who was responsible to insure this would not happen
Matt Hanley has notified me that I have reached the limit in submitting FOIA’s per FOIA Law timeline. Do I have any options in researching this very serious matter?
Matt Hanley has determined I have reached the limit with FOIA’s being submitted thus will not be receiving any further unless reviewed by the Attorney’s. Do I have any other options in obtaining further documents to expose blatant violations and the wasteful spending of Taxpayer Dollars? If this is the scenario Then why was it necessary to promote him and hire another individual to do FOIA’s?
Since enforcing State Laws and Policies is being applied in this situation and would be consistent in all your responsibilities, why were so many of my findings ignored and not acted upon. The list is very long and the violations indisputably black and white. Evidence has been gathered via FOIA’s.
The “Redacted E-Mail Controversy” still under review by the Attorney General’s Office is centered around the subject “Heat Exchangers”.
I have attached multiple documents to support my findings as a result of researching FOIA requests I have obtained the past several months This is the “Tip of the Iceberg” with the “Heat Exchangers” . I again am requesting a written response to the above. . Respectfully Ralph Padron
In my neighborhood everyone is happy, but of course I am a senior paying the majority of the tax bill for 131. We also voted to bad your neighbors did not
Taxpayer 1 if you don't like what you pay in taxes move somewhere else. You are the ones that decided to live where you do and you thought since it was Aurora your taxes would be lower but you pay for what your homes are worth. If you lived in Naperville you would probably be paying more in taxes. In Naperville they want their students to have decent schools and get an education.
Johnson is not a good fit she is a walking time bomb and for these new ones that voted for her should know how the community feels.
You may have expensive house but poor grammar.
said...
Taxpayer1, Your neighborhood has not been a part of Aurora that long, so you have very little investment compared to those of us, who have lived here all of our lives. That community you live in, is seniors who thought they got a good deal buying there now you want to cry about your 300k house tax bill going up 1200+ additional dollars. We all pay for all services the community taxes pay for, whether we use them or not. Whether we call the police, the firemen, or use the parks, your taxes still go for the costs. I vote and I am sure many of my neighbors did, also. But if you look at the elections results in ALL wards, not many people voted in any of the wards compared to registered voters. For a "senior" your thought process is rather immature. Especially, if you think a school board member can keep your taxes from being raised.
You're kidding, right? Are heat exchangers right in being classified as an emergency? If you recall, winter hit early this past fall. When they turned on the boilers in the high school, many of the in-room units were not functioning. As a result some classrooms reached extremely cold temps. My classroom was so cold that students wore coats and gloves. My own hands got so cold that at the end of the day, they were stiff and sore.
If it hadn't been for the intervention of our hardworking custodial staff who fixed each unit, using parts ordered, I assume, in an emergency manner, those conditions could have continued.
People of Aurora, look at what this pathetic man is doing to us. He is causing you to question such basic human necessities as heat for CHILDREN. If you really care so little for the welfare of CHILDREN, then please stay away from our district. Students and teachers have enough worries without sick, evil people like Ralph Padron further dehumanizing us.
Mr Padron, you need prayer. God have mercy on you.
Mr. Padron is not trying to deprive CHILDREN (or ADULTS, for that matter!) of heat. He is simply questioning multiple expenditures and procedures in our district. Mr. Padron has REPEATEDLY requested information in writing from our central office, and his requests have been ignored...hence, the many FOIAs. If you look at the Board minutes, you will see that Mr. Padron is only one of several people who filed FOIAs last month; some were granted, some denied; most would not have been filed in the first place had the information been given when initially requested.
You call Mr. Padron "pathetic", "sick", and "evil". Really?? On what planet is politely and persistently requesting information pathetic, sick, or evil? It almost looks like YOU have something to hide, if you're so upset about someone exposing how our tax dollars are spent.
I would like to join team Padron. Why are so many people, central office especially, making such a big deal about the FOIAs? The only reason I can see it being bothersome, is when you have to try and create a document to satisfy his request, without actually giving him the info he has requested. Otherwise, just copy and send should be a non issue.
Our maintenance department did not get to work on the heat units. Over one million was paid out last summer not winter to Feltes cronies not EA maintenance staff. Many of us brought this to the attendtion of Dr Popp who was to busy kissing BOE members butts.
You are correct after all the money was wasted we had to fix work done by outsiders. Tyler and Popp knew this but nothing was done to charge the outsiders back. Parts that the district paid for was left on the floors just thrown around. Thanks to Mr Padron Feltes was finally fired. The question still remains why work was given out? Summer is not an emergency. Do you know his cronies had keys to our buildings and the outsiders never had finger prints. District money was spent that should have gone to YOUR raise.
As for you Ms Johnson you started the questions of why money was wasted and we hope now that Leonard appears to be in your camp will you still question this? Do not let us down
Get the facts, thank you for clarifying what truly happened and in more ways than this one incident. One additional fact people have either forgotten or are overlooking....Ms. Johnson was part of the Leonard and Feltes buddy buddy trio. She was right in there, albeit keeping a low profile prodding Leonard to get outsiders to do the work. Her attitude is anti Union. She has many faces depending on who is in front of her and what they want to hear.
Date: May 7, 2015 To: Joan Glotzbach From: Ralph Padron Subject: Questionable Hiring
Dear Joan
The December 1st 2014 Personnel Report Stated Hiring of:
Michael Golonka B&G-Supervisor $60,500.00 pro-rated
Questions arise immediately upon reviewing his application
Previous employer “Sts Peter & Paul Catholic Church” in Cary IL @ Employed a staff of 3 custodians & 1 Facilities Manager @ Has 1 Building @ Compared with East Aurora, this is quite a disparity
@ Salary was $ 34,000.00 @ EA Salary is $ 60,500.00
$ 25,500.00 Increase Instantly
Mr Golonka is now making more money than the majority of licensed teachers. There is something wrong with this scenario and an insult to many staff at East Aurora.
These disparities are alarming thus
1 Do his qualifications match up with the position he was hired for 2 Were other applicants more qualified, if not why not re-post the position 3 Who conducted the interviews and screening process 4 Does Mr Golonka have a relative at Bldg & Grnds
Upon reviewing this application and the Job Description, it appears Mr Golonka is underqualified for this position. A lesser position appears more appropriate for his experience. Please review or guide me to receive a response for this inquiry.
I do understand that “Personnel Confidentiality” cannot be compromised.
However I am requesting that this inquiry be investigated for the above concerns.
Can't believe how lazy our administration is. Ever since Principal Byrd was let go, he's been even less visible. I didn't think that was possible. Talk about lack of integrity. Our DC's are so unapproachable and not communicative. I cannot remember how many email, and even face to face, requests have gone unanswered. And when they are seen in the hallways, it's like they are going out of their way to answer our questions. It's their damn job; that's why they are getting paid six figures! Plus the way some of them treat the students is sad. I thought berating and yelling at students was inappropriate. We would get marked down for that on our evaluations if we did half the stuff they get away with. Our AD is nowhere to be found. He cannot do his job, plain and simple. I will not resort to name calling but he is so mean to people, he lies and exaggerates too. Possibly one of the worst hires by this district. The new board should just clean house and hire an entire new administration. Our school would be 100% better off for it. Cannot wait until I'm tenured so I can start to speak up and not hide for fear of retaliation.
I can't believe the article in tonight's Beacon. It is a slap in the face to every hard working teacher. Really, Gloztbach is now in charge of Secondary and Elementary. The women can't even run HR. Handley, will now have an assistant, for what? To add insult to injury Handley then gets a 50% raise. Popp will now add a Teaching and Learning Sup. Really? More money down the drain.
You're right about Byrd - I am sad to see him go, but becoming MIA in the final days is immature behavior.
As for DCs - I find my DC, and many others, quite approachable, kind, and responsive to my needs & questions. Maybe not all are like that, but please do not lump ALL DCs into the same pile.
What you SHOULD be pissed off about is this garbage at the central office - I find Mr. Hanley to be a friendly guy, but the fact that he's now getting around $125,000 (previously $87,000, which is still crazy!) when teachers are paid lower than other area districts is preposterous.
Matt Hanley also has paid TRS, so that puts him at about $135,000. His salary INCREASE is greater than a first year teacher. Spencer was at the Kane County Educator of the year also. I do not see Handley at anything in the evenings it shows the little regard Dr Popp has for teachers.
We will watch the new BOE and see how they will respond.
Preposterous, is a understatement. We need to strike to get respect. I talked with Dr Popp at Waldo, and was willing to give him a chance, He came accross as sincere. He talked about how most of his time is spent lobbying the State, and I was willing to take less. Now, I feel my trust in his leadership has been violated. Here is hoping the new BOE cleans house.
The Matt Handly issue is a kick in the teeth. If TRS is added in that puts him at over $50,000.
Central News is a higher percent in raises but it will get taken away off the back side with higher insurance costs. We need to review the entire contract and read all the changes. If the negotiating team is foolish enough to get us a contract by school lets out we need to vote NO.
Dr Popp what is wrong with you. do you not realize support staff has many of the same duties teachers have preformed in the past? Dr Popp do you not realize teachers with a MS degree are paid $15,000 less? I agree, BOE clean house, Start with Handly, Glozbach, Reyes Childress, and Brusek.
Please start the process to firing the Superintendent from Hell.
How the heck are these individuals getting $30,000 salary increases at the Service Center when they won't even okay a 2% raise for teachers who work their asses off in the trenches on a daily basis? This is beyond criminal. Why on earth would Hanley need an assistant? If he gave Ralph the copies he was asking for, instead of obfuscating , deleting and covering up, he'd have plenty of time. Taking pictures ? wow, what a heavy workload. And let's not forget the daily mail blast. A taxing job, indeed.
Matt does not do the FOIA's the business office pulls the records. This a scam, and we are looking for the new board members to put a stop to it.
Matt got a $50,000 increase it was 40k plus TRS. Teachers do not get TRS in our district. Support staff works their a**'s off tutoring, changing diapers, lifting, and teaching students. Many students are aggressive support staff gets hit, spit at, cussed at, and threatened every day. We are only part time so insurance takes are checks. The union screwed us every year. It is TIME TO STRIKE. If Intherm will not speak up we need a recall vote her fat a** is so far up Joans skinny a** it stinks
The board better fire Handley and show they mean business. Popp is unethical and corrupt. It time to call for Strands resignation shame on you your husband is a teacher and you know what we do.
Please refrain from calling people names. If you want to be treated with respect, afford that respect to others, even if you don't like or disagree with them. And before the comments begin, I am a teacher, as Sara is a teacher. Let's not have union members fighting each other.
Sara is selling us down the river. Sara has taken union members out of the room, and held secret meetings with administration. Handleys one time raise is greater than a teachers yearly raise with a Masters. If you want to get dumped fine, but I have rights, and Sara is not speaking up. She needs to do us a favor and resign.
Date: May 11, 2015 To: Dr Michael Popp From: Ralph Padron Subject: Administrative Reorganization
Mike:
Upon reading your explanation of these changes, several questions arise on what necessitated this. Let’s look at how those vacancies were created. Why have “Key Individuals” departed or reassigned.
Tom Flanigan resigned You hired him, yet he is leaving, WHY?
Michele Brown resigned What is the reason for this
Rehman Ali resigned Nov 2014 This was sudden and immediate, What caused this
Nancy Bradish being demoted to Asst Principal Nancy brought credibility, experience, and respect from her peers. Previously a principal there is something very strange about this reassignment.
Spencer Byrd resigned March 2015 He was not given an extension contract yet he was well respected by his peers and many staff members and students attempted to have him rehired yet this fell upon deaf ears. Does credibility, raving reviews and support by the HS staff mean anything? Evidently not in the Superintendent’s Office.
Matt Hanley gets promoted or is it rewarded with a 40K + salary package increase. It must be noted first that the state of Illinois is broke and cutbacks are a must. Why have you proceeded with this decision and disregarded the Financial Crisis at hand? You are justifying and expecting the Taxpayers, Board of Ed, and Community to support this. What is even more deplorable is you did this intentionally before the current Board was seated knowing that they would have rejected this.
Joan Glotzbach’s area of responsibility and authority has expanded to include having Directors of secondary and elementary programs will now report to her. Did you take into consideration of those very Serious Mistakes she has made costing EA enormous amounts of money. Legal fees and time wasted could have been avoided if Joan would have done her homework on several issues she failed on.
Beatrice Reyes Childress job description now includes overseeing Technology. Does she have a Technology background warranting a step forward in this area?
Appears to MANY that you empowered those whom you can rely on to support and not challenge any of your decisions yet you still disregard the input of the Public, Staff and others. Again the atmosphere of despair, fear, and intimidation is the climate you have created.
I ask this question to the Board of Education and Community:
Based on Dr Michael Popp’s performance 1st year as Superintendent Would you hire him today in this same position?
The answer to this can be found from the results of the most recent election
4 New Board Members elected (2 Incumbents voted out) Message given: Vote of NO CONFIDENCE to Dr Popp and the Past Board. This is factual and undeniable.
The community has had enough of the WASTEFUL SPENDING & INCOMPETENCE at EA
I will conclude with;
Your intentional avoidance of not responding to my investigation , from which I have evidence obtained via FOIA’s, and have exposed publicly the corruption in the Purchasing, Hiring & Illegal activity at the Building & Grounds Dept which you have been aware of.
Obviously you are abusing your position and authority in choosing not to respond to the exposure of Financial Waste and Policy violations.
This certainly proves that you do not practice Transparency as required by law.
Dr Popp should get fired. Central O is emailing teachers that they will get punished if they come to the BOE meetings. If we speak our names will get noted. That is a MAJOR issue since our Union will not defend us and Danielson is stacked against us. The Curriculum is non existent and standards have not been established.
Matt Handley was a slap in face.
Joan Glozabach can barely function and is behind most of failings with staff evaluations.
Childress is a joke, paid to run technology that she knows nothing about. What a easy job for her. Prediction they will hire 10 people to do her job.
Another Asst Sup for Curriculum. Here we go again.
Hopefully, the new BOE will take action but I will not hold my breath
If teachers are told they will be be singled out for coming to board meetings, they need to seek higher authority. Either within their union with another Union or lawyer. Didn't Carla H. move up from 131 local to being a regional rep.? Can you trust going to her? If not plan a meeting elsewhere or seek other support people to get your rights.
I wish I were in your department as mine likes to sit in her office, stuff her face with food, while being on her phone all day. Then when she comes out it's like she has to tell everyone just how busy she is and complain about all the meetings she has to go to. Then when we get those weekly updates it looks just a laundry list of things that could take about 20 minutes to complete but they act like they just solved world hunger! Consider yourself lucky. Good leaders inspire action in the people they lead. I think too many of ours inspire us to wish for the summer so we can come up for some air and think for ourselves. Our attitudes are so poor, I believe, because of them. We need fresh faces. A new start with new DC's (including an AD) that actually care for us and the kids. All they care about are the paychecks (remember they get 6 figures), district credit cards, no classroom responsibility and only a 10 month working requirement.
I have been researching the employment history of Patrick Cantore in the Bldg & Grnds the past month.
Here are my findings
• Employed by Pitt Ohio Express from May 2011 thru October 2011. See attached Lawsuit * Note his appeal for unemployment benefits was declined by the Appellate Court of Illinois on May 2 2013 . * See attached Lawsuit
• Listed employer as "The Clare" from March 2012 - March 2013.
• Listed employer as Symphony Health Care from April 2013 - current (July 2013)
• Applied for employment with LIncoln School Dist 156 on July 9 2013.
* His application did not include his employment with Pitt Ohio Express in 2011 * Began on July 15 2013 per contract * Terminated on June 23 2014 (see attached letter of termination from Dr Darryl Taylor Superintendent)
• Currently employed at East Aurora 131. No further info available
I have attempted to obtain info on Mr Cantore via FOIA however have been denied due to reaching the FOIA limit. What can be done for me to obtain the documents which will continue to bring out publicly more wrongdoings at EA?
Crimes committed yet Dr Popp wants to stop me from investigating.
Why must I be the one discovering the incompetence by Joan Glotzbach in doing background checks? Ernest Clark, Melody Ellington, Michael Golanka, and now Patrick Cantore and the list goes on.
There is a pattern that has surfaced and that is Feltes, Rana, Golanka, and Cantore are connected .
Who did the interviews for these positions? This question alone opens up a large variety of possible “Rigged Hirings”
I find it ironic that I have been attempting to obtain this information at East Aurora and the FOIA via Lincoln School Dist 156 was the key in exposing this. Application and follow up from HR at EA under Joan Glotzbach is very concerning on what else is still out there. Are there criminals employed working around the students and what purchases are being illegal and unethical. I believe I have exposed this.
This brings me to the questions I have for Board President Annette Johnson and other Board Members.
• When I exposed the Melody Ellington scenario which is identical to this There was no discipline but she was allowed to finish her contract. Her position eliminated was the response given to me.
• WILL YOU TAKE DISCIPLINARY ACTION? Several of you Board Members work in Corporate America and are asking you How would this be handled and what would be the response to this pattern of mistakes.
• I don’t think they would promote the HR Manager and give her additional authority over others thus creating an atmosphere of Fear.
The voters of Aurora elected you and expect these issues to come to a halt.
Your handling of this and pending violations are what you must make decisions on and not allow the Superintendent to further “Downplay, Make Excuses, and Cover Up” these violations.
Will this be another era of NO ACCOUNTABILITY or will it be one of getting the job finally done.
I am available to meet with anyone concerning this. All I ask is act responsibly in the best interests of the community and children.
You can not trust Hettinger or Intherm they have given the heads up to Popp many times. Teachers have been headed off many times about speaking this year. It was only after we talked with our union that Popp or others from his administration would come after us.
I am not a fan of Rauners but in the case of our Union I respect his position on opting out of the Union.
Good work, Ralph. I wish we had people at the central office who cared about our district. It will definitely be interesting to see which way this Board moves forward. Again, the Annette camp presently seems to have the majority. So she will have no one to blame but herself if business as usual continues.
217 comments:
1 – 200 of 217 Newer› Newest»From the D131 website:
Due to sporadic power outages at several buildings, all East Aurora School District 131 afterschool activities are cancelled for Thursday, April 9, 2015.
As of 11:45 a.m., all schools have power. Afternoon kindergarten will go on as scheduled.
The cancellation covers all events, athletic practices and contests, as well as the kindergarten registration at Oak Park and O’Donnell schools, the Dr. Lourdes Ferrer presentation at Cowherd Middle School and East Aurora High School FAFSA workshop.
Oak Park and O’Donnell parents who were going to register their students for kindergarten can register at the Welcome Center at a later date.
The Dr. Lourdes Ferrer “Opening Doors” presentation at Cowherd Middle School is postponed at this time. More information will be released later.
April 9th 2015
Matthew Hanley, FOIA Officer
East Aurora School District 131
417 5th Street
Aurora, IL 60505
Re: FOIA Request for Documents
Dear Mr. Hanley
Please provide the following:
1 Application & Resume of Superintendent Dr Michael Popp
2 E-Log Retrieval of Superintendent Dr Michael Popp from Oct 1 2014 – April 7 2015
3 All emails communication to/from between Pete Wilson (EA Attorney) and Superintendent Dr Michael Popp from Oct 1 2014 – April 7 2015
4 All invoices and reports to EA Dist 131 from consultants whom were hired by
Dr Michael Popp from April 1 2014 – April 7 2015.
I understand that the Act permits a public body to charge a reasonable copying fee not to exceed the actual cost of reproduction and not including the costs of any search or review of the records. I am asking that any fees be waived per 5ILCS140/6(c).
Respectfully,
Ralph Padron
April 9th 2015
Matthew Hanley, FOIA Officer
East Aurora School District 131
417 5th Street
Aurora, IL 60505
Re: FOIA Request for Documents
Dear Mr. Hanley
Please provide the following:
1 E-Log Retrieval of Assistant Superintendent of Human Resources Joan Glotzbach from Oct 1 2014 – April 7 2015
2 All emails communication to/from between Pete Wilson (EA Attorney) and Assistant Superintendent Joan Glotzbach from Oct 1 2014 – April 7 2015.
I understand that the Act permits a public body to charge a reasonable copying fee not to exceed the actual cost of reproduction and not including the costs of any search or review of the records. I am asking that any fees be waived per 5ILCS140/6(c).
Respectfully,
Ralph Padron
http://www.chicagotribune.com/suburbs/aurora-beacon-news/news/ct-abn-east-aurora-summer-projects-st-0410-20150409-story.html
At what point does your crap become harassment? You waste tax payer money with this! Taxes that you are not paying to OUR district. Go away!
Who is not paying their state taxes?
http://www.kcchronicle.com/2014/11/21/tales-from-the-motherhood-seizing-the-day-with-john-dryden/aux7ps2/
http://www.kcchronicle.com/2015/04/08/dryden-lowe-win-election-to-batavia-school-board/atmxtfs/
"Get a life", the Freedom of Information Act is a program funded by FEDERAL taxes. Mr. Padron most definitely helps to pay for it, as does every other taxpayer.
And how does politely requesting information equate to "harassment"? Mr. Padron is simply obtaining and sharing information that he (and any other concerned citizen) DESERVES to have.
Thank you, Mr. Padron!
Mr Padrons FOIAs exposed Marty Feltes and stopped more stealing from going on. If not for Padron millions of tax payer dollars would have been wasted.
Sounds like Popp had a melt down today he does not want the public to know of his little qualifications for the job he holds.
Well at least the voters spoke.
Yes, Thank you Mr. Padron! Without watchdog groups like your's public entities would not always be 100% transparent. THANKS for saving this District $ that can go to the students here! Looks like Mr. Hanley does not like processing FOIAs but has no problem helping the former BOE members write speeches! Keep them on the up and up Ralph!
http://www.chicagotribune.com/business/ct-imet-0412-biz-20150410-story.html#page=1
Check this out. This is the investment firm that Christi Tyler and the board voted in.
He is wasting tax payer money in a community HE DOES NOT LIVE IN. End your wild poop chase. He uncovers nothing.
The new leadership needs to understand the reason so many Central Office positions come and go is because of Glotzbach. Until someone does something about her chaos will reign over 131.
Byrd, Braddish, and Flanigan all had run ins with her and Popp is to weak to control her.
Ralph is a true American and his questions will go away when the truth is told.
http://www.chicagotribune.com/suburbs/aurora-beacon-news/news/ct-abn-east-aurora-security-staff-st-0412-20150410-story.html
http://www.chicagotribune.com/suburbs/aurora-beacon-news/news/ct-abn-east-aurora-staff-changes-st-0412-20150410-story.html
There are quite a few job openings.
http://www.d131.org/employment.asp
Oh, there will be A LOT more in the near future!!
Date: April 11th 2015
To: Dr Michael Popp
From: Ralph Padron
Subject: Comments/Facts EA 131
Mike
The recent election has sent a very strong message to EA that a new era has arrived and the theme is “Enough is Enough”. Staff and community are cautiously optimistic and have high expectations of those elected to address and restore stability. This is the goal to remove the fear, intimidation, and ongoing personnel changes under your leadership. Please comment on the following issues:
1 Again why have you stubbornly refused to disregard my requests for a written response to my speeches at Board Meetings and emails?
2 The resignations of several administrators most recently and the past year speaks brings out the obvious question: Were they targeted by Human Resources Assistant Superintendent Joan Glotzbach for challenging/disagreeing with her decisions?
Human Resources Questions
3 With the numerous controversies this past year, why is Joan Glotzbach not held accountable for the mistakes made in the HR department?
A Is she making Nancy Bradish a scapegoat to insure her authority is not underminded?
B Why would Ms Bradish be reassigned when she is so well qualified and has the respect of the teachers and staff at EA? Appears to be a power play to protect your authority and power in the Human Resources Department.
C Is there a connection with the resignations of “Key” positions (administrators, principals and teachers) and the HR Asst Superintendent?
D Again I bring up why Melody Ellington was not fired and allowed to continue for the scandal exposed last May? Didn’t Joan miss the key evidence which allowed Ms Ellington to get in “under the radar”. HR can not afford to make a mistake like this and others under her supervision. Why do you tolerate this? Corporate America would not allow this and she would have been terminated for the numerous mistakes made.
The same principals apply whether it is in Corporate America or Education. One major fact is that Corporate America pays taxes that enable School Districts to function. Don’t you think you should be following the same guidelines?
More on HR issues later.
4 The FOIA’s have invaluable information which need to be made available to the public for True Transparency. Your circle of advisors will maintain “Confidentiality Protection” on personnel and legal counsel as a response in my research. Your justification in withholding these documents and efforts to silence me has brought on more individuals in our network of those wanting to see EA 131 held accountable for these scandals and cover ups.
Again I am requesting a written response to the above issues which would not breach the areas of confidentiality.
Respectfully
Ralph Padron
"Ray,the board you joined in 2010 was very different than the first board you served on in the past and that I served on for 16 of my 18 years"
Truer words were never spoken! That School Board from 10+ years ago will always be remembered as one that supported and rubber-stamped "Serial Bully" Radakovich's personal vendettas. That School Board will be remembered as one that turned a deaf ear to hundreds of students, parents, alumni, and taxpayers.
The community has spoken: the last remaining link to the Radakovich administration/board is now GONE.
Keep shaking the ropes of justice Ralph.
Another district loser
Thank goodness this is the last of the old guard BOE from hell.
On Facebook
Daniel Barreiro I felt bad when I lost my seat 8 years ago but I found other ways to give back. You are already involved with our youth and that is more rewarding. Thanks for being there for the kids. Enjoy your extra time with the family.
8 hrs
http://www.chicagotribune.com/suburbs/aurora-beacon-news/news/ct-abn-tutu-st-0413-20150411-story.html
Carol Farnum passed away yesterday.
She graciously gave her time and energy to our district for many years and truly cared about our community.
Rest in peace, Mrs. Farnum!
Hope does spring eternal for EA, I hope our union is smart enough to realize we now have friends on the BOE.
http://www.chicagotribune.com/suburbs/batavia-geneva-st-charles/news/ct-tri-batavia-teacher-elected-school-board-tl-0416-20150411-story.html
Quote from the article:
"Some issues Dryden hopes to address while on the board include analyzing administrator payroll and reducing the number of administrators to create a bottom-up model that focuses on teachers rather than a top-down model focusing on administrators"
I came to comment on the same quote. In general Batavia seems to have many of the same issues 131 has had. I hope the EA board is as forward thinking as I believe Dryden to be with the bottom up approach.
No BOE could be as bad as the one that is retiring.
Educators, administrators, parents, and students speak out:
http://www.pantagraph.com/news/local/education/common-core-parcc-criticized-at-town-hall-meeting/article_286e1583-c343-5594-9ef5-2d0afcb61c92.html
Interesting article on PARCC. Thank you for sharing.
A group of East High students is planning a "sleep out" on April 18th to raise awareness about homelessness. Donations will be used to help families in our district as well as Hesed House.
http://www.gofundme.com/sleepout2015
Funny, Matt Hanley does not publish the Citizens Financial Committee meetings and times. Why is this group so special? What are they hiding?
Dr.Popp visited Waldo Middle School on Tuesday. He spent the whole day listening to teacher's concerns. He seemed sincerely interested in what we had to say.
He and I spoke about the need for a new football/soccer field at East High.
If you speak up against status quo in our district one will get fired and silenced. A fast track decision to hire a HS Principal in less than 48 hours is in the works at Central Office. Word had it the new BOE wanted to give teachers and the community input but efforts are being stopped. Most high functioning districts get community input before hiring such a important position. NOT OURS, they hired Popp with NO INPUT as well.
Dr Popp was forced to visit the schools by the new board
The new School Board members have not even been officially installed yet. They may have SUGGESTED that Dr. Popp visit schools, but they certainly did not (and could not) force him to do anything.
Dr Popp is visiting schools because he and our union are in bed together. They are only being nice to us to get the contract passed. Do you honestly think they give a da**.
I wish the students could find another way to fund this wonderful cause since GoFundMe takes a percentage out for using them. Maybe if the went to a bank they could get the full amount. Could someone just sent money for this wonderful cause they are doing?
They are trying to hire new principal before Board is sworn in so Board will have no say. Byrd is a good Principal; well-thought of generally and a 'get things done man". Of course he would be let go--he makes others look pale by comparison. They don't give a fig about our opinions they just want total control.
Here's a link to 26 pages of recent articles about our district:
https://v3.boardbook.org/Public/PublicItemDownload.aspx?ik=36840901
It is a tragedy to run Spencer Byrd out of the District. He has done great things. Popp (I won't even use the word "doctor" anymore as he doesn't deserve that title)is a puppet. He is NOT a leader. THIS is the LEGACY he wants to leave behind? You are a fake Mike. Who really pulls your strings? I think we all know that answer to that.
We need strong and intelligent leaders in key positions. NOT crazy Board presidents or inept superintendents. Spencer is a good role model and a leader. You milk-toast, poor decision making, angry people need to move along. The CPS (Chicago Public School) system is now being investigated by the federal government for their nefarious conduct and bad decisions....let's see how that plays out...
http://www.nbcchicago.com/blogs/ward-room/chicago-cps-ceo-barbara-byrd-bennett-299765331.html
Dr Popp will no longer have a BOE that supports his reign of terror and intimidation. Emails will soon surface that shows the way Byrd was treated by Truckenbrod and Gloztbach. It will also show that he was copied and allowed this. Mikes problem is that Spencer has a Doctorate and Sups endorsement. This is code language for I am to smart.
Popp rushed the hiring process of a new Principal that is clueless. In 72 hours several candidates felt something was up and withdrew. Central Offices sources stated his third choice will get hired before the old board leaves. This has upset staff who always had a chance for input. A attempt has been made with a survey to staff yesterday to gain input. Sorry Mike a little to late we know who you are.
To Mike Popp and Thuckenbrock they are just a bunch of Mexicans that don't deserve a good education. Why have a good Principal that fights for the students. That is the way it is in EA.
About the Throwback Thursday 10 years ago--
Yes, it's been ten years since a corrupt D131 administration and School Board deprived Kevin Kaisershot of his high school teaching position, despite the protests of his students, fellow teachers, alumni, and community members. Most of those who were responsible are now gone, but a handful remain involved in our district/community. Specifically, Larry Malaker and Clayton Muhammad claimed that Mr. K had to be replaced in order for the district band program to "move to the next level" or be "more unified".
Ten years have passed since then. Any improvement in the EAHS band program should certainly be obvious by now, if indeed the administration was truly acting in students' best interests. Otherwise it is obvious that "Serial Bully" Radakovich and his cronies were simply pushing through their personal vendetta.
The latest issue of "The Enlightener" is called the Fine Arts issue, yet there is no specific mention of any grade school or middle school band or choir; it's as though only the high school music program is significant to our administration. One of the feature articles is an interview with current EAHS band director Brian Liska. The article claims that:
--The number of students in the band has nearly doubled since 2005. On the surface that may look like an improvement in the band program, HOWEVER the number of students enrolled at EAHS has also nearly doubled. So it's a tie, not an improvement over 2005.
--The marching band's performance last fall in Oswego was mentioned as a huge success. I saw the performance and agree that it was excellent. What was NOT mentioned was the fact that (for the first time) THREE adult assistants were hired to help teach the marching band. Not exactly an apples-to-apples comparison, so...another tie.
Under Mr. Liska's leadership the EAHS bands have had many successful experiences, including the UIC Jazz Festival and last summer's trip to NYC (with the EAHS Choir). Under Mr. Kaisershot's leadership the band students marched in Chicago's St. Patrick's parade, Batavia's Loyalty Day, achieved many Division I ratings at IHSA Solo & Ensemble, as well as bi-annual trips to Disney World. Again, a TIE.
So it's obvious that the EAHS band program is alive and well under Mr. Liska's leadership, just as it was for 21 years under Mr. Kaisershot. Both men are knowledgeable, hard-working teachers. But it is equally obvious that the situation ten years ago was a power play, pure and simple! Larry Malaker and Clayton Muhammad's claim that Mr. K had to be replaced to improve our band program was absolutely UNTRUE, and a cover-up for the real reason: an administration insisted upon PUNISHING a teacher for daring to stand up for his students and their parents.
Ten years later, this decision is still a black mark against D131 administration.
:(
Ten years later the same thing has happened. Spencer Byrd is being forced out by the new serial bully Mike Popp. Teachers, building administration and students are in a uproar. We encourage speakers to come out and protest Monday night. Dont allow the Board from Hell to allow this to happen. Remember in less than a month a new board will not allow daily intimidation to take place.
--The number of students in the band has nearly doubled since 2005. On the surface that may look like an improvement in the band program, HOWEVER the number of students enrolled at EAHS has also nearly doubled. So it's a tie, not an improvement over 2005.
LIES!!!!!
The number of students at East High in 2005 according to the ISBE report card was 2,534.
The number of students currently at East High is 3667. (or this might be last years number, still, it's close)
Doubled would mean that we have 5,064 students now or back in 2005 there were only 1833. Both of which are not true. So the band nearly doubling in size, is an improvement.
Don't believe everything you read on this blog.
--The marching band's performance last fall in Oswego was mentioned as a huge success. I saw the performance and agree that it was excellent. What was NOT mentioned was the fact that (for the first time) THREE adult assistants were hired to help teach the marching band. Not exactly an apples-to-apples comparison, so...another tie.
The three adult assistants were not hired until mid-September.
You try to make it sound like everybody but Mr. Liska had something to do with the success of this years show. What you don't know is that how crazy is it for Mr. Liska to be responsible for 150, 175, 200 students at one time by himself. Even with 4 adults that is a ratio of at least 40 or 50 to 1.
So yes, the ASSISTANTS to Mr. Liska deserve credit, but they were needed for not only help with teaching skills, but safety of the students. And Mr. Liska did a full month of teaching without anybody.
Bend the truth much.
Popp, what kind of dictatorship do you think you are running? Posters were up everywhere around the High School today asking folks to come out to the BOE meeting on Monday and speak up for Spencer Byrd!
You keep the likes of Marty Feltes around forever and drive out a beloved role-model like Principal Byrd as quick as you can? You say he resigned? HA! You and others in the Admin. DROVE HIM OUT due to your personal agendas!
You and your inept BOE court-henchman Ray Hull,court jester Lou Peryea and others that do not see what the STUDENTS and STAFF want and need in a great Leader like Spencer Byrd are going to be gone as well. Hull- GONE, Peryea- GONE (thank goodness), Turza- GONE Garza- GONE. Is THIS the legacy you want to leave by sticking with this POOR DECISION Board Members? That the this board drove out one of the most positive people in our District's history as one of their final acts of cruelty?
Well, I guess you are in for one very long and LAST meeting for some of you on Monday as person after person will come forward on Spencer's behalf.
SHAME ON YOU POPP for NOT doing what is best for the students at EA High School. This will NEVER be forgotten!
This is from February of last year:
Let's do the math said...
Get over it, 9:01 a.m. said now there are 150 to 160 band members. Mr. Mills claims 170. Assuming a middle ground of 165, I crunched the numbers:
The percentage of EAHS students in the band in 2005 was 4.73 percent (120 out of 2534).
The percentage of EAHS students in the band in 2014 is 4.70 percent (165 out of 3510).
That's a DECLINE in percentage, not growth.
February 11, 2014 at 7:14 PM
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I do not know the exact number of students in the band program in April 2015, nor the very latest statistics about EAHS student enrollment. But it does seem that the percentage of EAHS students in the band program has remained relatively constant since 2005. That's a tie, like it or not!
And it would have been SO gracious of Mr. Liska to acknowledge the fact that three adults helped with this year's marching band. A good leader shares the credit; an arrogant one takes all the glory for himself. Not calling anyone anything, but...
Hmmmm...
Protest, Protest, Protest
Democracy has been restored to EA.
COME TO THE MEETING AND WEAR RED
I don't mean to rain on your parade, but there are many students and staff who dislike Byrd. He is a bully and unprofessional. He is not a smarter than Popp or Truckenbrod, and he is not beloved. Perhaps in some pockets he is, but I think EAHS can and will do better.
I am not in the thick of things at the high school but on the sidelines. I have heard from staff and students and it seems like it could possibly be those who do not like Byrd and feel he is a bully, are those teachers who are not meeting his standards or the students who should be disciplined but have had free rein because the board wanted zero expulsion or suspensions. I admit he is not your shirt and tie, yes sir kinda guy. That doesn't mean he cannot do what needs to be done at EA. Popp stated at the board meeting much has been accomplished with Byrd in charge. East could possibly have the highest grad class ever this year. He must be doing something right. So why wouldn't they want to renew his contract......that is the real reason he is leaving. Even if they offered him a contract now, why would he want to come back after the way he has been treated. As always, and as someone stated earlier, this is another case of someone in a higher position having an ax to grind and using someones position as a way to get their revenge. Kaisershot did what he thought best for students/ families. Dr. Aird did as directed and was made a scapegoat. There are many in between, those were the ones that made the papers. Hopefully, the new board will bring business back to being accountable for all actions made by admin from financial to personnel but most importantly to educating our students.
Ah, more bitter Board members responding above. Probably Peryea or Hull! Get over it! You are GONE. Stop trying to protect your precious Popp.
Popp is upset because Byrd is far more educated then he is.
I say, Bryd for new Superintendent!
I think you will have a BIG surprise when you see who is coming to speak Monday night!
Have a restful weekend! (Isn't that how Mike signs off?)
Speak out for Spencer Monday, and no Matt Hanley, Popp and Thruckenbrod are not smarter than Spencer. He is beloved. Come speak out the reign of intimidation is over.
Oh! Look at all the school admins and staff going to jail for cheating public school systems.
Those cuffs look very uncomfortable!
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/04/02/us/verdict-reached-in-atlanta-school-testing-trial.html?_r=0
http://chicago.suntimes.com/chicago-politics/7/71/527944/cps-ceo-barbara-byrd-bennett-stepping-now
http://crimeblog.dallasnews.com/2015/04/former-plano-isd-employee-sentenced-to-prison-ordered-to-repay-millions-he-stole-from-district.html/
Many like Dr Aird, Tom Flanigan and now Spencer Byrd are the scapegoats of Glotzbach. She has cost the district millions in botched insurance, poor referance checking, poor policy decisions, poor evaluations models and a fear of intimidation. This should be her last major mistake. It is time the BOE steps up and gets rid of her.
We have had the unfortunate experience of negotiations with her lately and the women is a run away train. Popp is to weak to stop her. The new rumor is she will now get promoted to run K to 12. Dr Popp have lost the respect of the entire staff, it is time to send him packing.
The weight was listed in 131 when the community came together and sent the Board for Hell packing.
http://www.chicagotribune.com/suburbs/aurora-beacon-news/news/ct-abn-funding-cuts-restored-st-0419-20150417-story.html
Speaking up for Spencer is sending administration and our bargaining team a message that poor working conditions and no Curiculum support will not be tolerated.
Many issues had been brought to the attendtion of administration this school year, and Thruckenbrod, Childress, Glotzbach and Popp took a deaf ear.
Let's be heard Monday evening.
Congratulations to the EAHS Wind Ensemble for earning a Division I rating yesterday at IHSA Organization Festival!
Specifically, kudos go to:
--The hardworking student musicians
--Their director, Mr. Liska
--Parents and other family members of students, for their support
--Our district's grade school and middle school band directors, for providing a musical foundation for the Wind Ensemble musicians
You can hear this award-winning group perform at the Fine Arts Festival on May 2nd.
Great job, BandCats!!
People.....he resigned. He wasn't forced out. His intention was to be a superintendent....not a principal in a district whose name is dragged through the mud by a blog, Ralph Padron, and the likes. Good administrators don't want to stay in this district because of the reputation it gets from all of these negative sources.
It's career suicide.
Byrd was forced out and is willing to stay. He increased graduation and test scores have edged up. Everyone knows Thruckenbrid, Reyes Childress, Glozbach and Popp pushed him out.
The black cloud has been lifted no pun intended since election. Many now are reconsidering staying. Everyone is looking to the new leadership to end the reign of terror. If I am Popp I would start looking for a job.
Dear Think......he did resign. That was the option, after they told him they were NOT going to renew his contract. Do you think the teachers would be speaking out on his behalf, if he was leaving by choice?
He was making strides at the high school. that would be excellent for his resume had he had the opportunity and encouragement to continue what he started. He will be a superintendent! Another district will grab him up. Good people do not concern themselves with "negative sources." Maybe he will come back here to be supt. and finally clean house. Yeah, that's the ticket!
"Think about it". You are 100% WRONG. Stayed tuned!
He was forced out, who are your sources. Many resign so they don't have terminated on their names. We have so many people come and go in HS administration it is hard to get stability. I think is a great manager, but never had Curiculum support. In theory we should get that from our Division chairs. They sit on Facebook all day and do nothing.
D131 needs to rehire him if that's possible, and put an end to the revolving door. Also, Thruckenbrod is worthless and Popp has lost all respect. This district is in more turmoil than ever before.
Sticky fingers
Correction
I think he is a great building manager, that is what the good leaders do.
Good leaders in good districts do not need to be managers. They have the ability to inspire, create and bring results. With the negative culture of this district, he is better off.
Students at East High slept outside Saturday night to raise awareness about homelessness, and also raised more than $10,000.00!
Our students ROCK!
https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.560047057470552.1073741873.239754232833171&type=1
April 20th 2015
Matthew Hanley, FOIA Officer
East Aurora School District 131
417 5th Street
Aurora, IL 60505
Re: FOIA Request for Documents
Dear Mr. Hanley
1. Billing only from Mickey,Wilson, Weiler law firm from January 1 2015 – April 15th 2015 for
* FOIA’s
* Robert Greene lawsuit
Am requesting dollar amounts only
2. All telephone text messages between Dr Michael Popp & Joan Glotzbach
From March 1st 2015 – April 20th 20105
3 All emails between Dr Michael Popp & Joan Glotzbach April 1st – April 22nd 2015.
Please notify me if the responses exceed the 50 page No Charge Limit.
I understand that the Act permits a public body to charge a reasonable copying fee not to exceed the actual cost of reproduction and not including the costs of any search or review of the records. I am asking that any fees be waived per 5ILCS140/6(c).
Respectfully,
Ralph Padron
Friends of Alex Arroyo, an openly gay candidate running for state representative of Illinois' 84th District (which includes Aurora), hosted an event Nov. 16 at the Boystown nightspot Cocktail.
Arroyo is a member of the Association of Flight Attendants-Communication Workers of America (AFA-CWA) and has served as Aurora Democratic Party chair.
If elected, he would be the fourth out gay member of the Illinois General Assembly. Photos by Susan Mattes
STOP! you are a moron!
Thanks for sharing a positive story!
So one of our newly-elected School Board members is openly gay...
...That's a GOOD thing! Our district is a very diverse one, and our School Board should reflect that. We now have members who are male, female, gay, straight, Democrat, Republican, Hispanic, Caucasian, African American, and who range in age from their 20s through 60+.
Good choice, D131 voters!
http://www.d131.org/newsDetail.asp?id=3330&guid=
http://www.chicagotribune.com/suburbs/aurora-beacon-news/news/ct-abn-east-principal-st-0422-20150421-story.html
In case you missed the earlier post...
http://www.d131.org/newsDetail.asp?id=3329&guid=
About a month ago, Mr. Liska had auditions for next year's advanced bands (Wind Ensemble and Wind Symphony). When the results were posted, I noticed something interesting:
In the Wind Symphony, 25 out of 48 students attended Simmons Middle School. That's about 52%.
In the Wind Ensemble, 25 out of 45 attended Simmons. That works out to 55%.
Students come into East High from 5 possible sources:
--Waldo Middle School
--Cowherd Middle School
--Simmons Middle School
--Magnet Academy
--Somewhere else (private school such as OLGC, transfer from another district, homeschooled, etc.)
It would seem that about 20% of top performing EAHS band students would come from each source...
...yet more than HALF of these young musicians attended Simmons Middle School, under the direction of Mr. Kevin Kaisershot.
Our district should THANK Mr. Kaisershot for his hard work and dedication over the past ten years! Despite being deprived of his previous position by a corrupt administration (over the protests of the community), Mr. K has continued to do an outstanding job teaching our middle-school band students and preparing them for success in high school.
http://www.chicagotribune.com/suburbs/aurora-beacon-news/news/ct-abn-east-aurora-sleep-out-st-0421-20150421-story.html
Well, what a crazy board meeting as expected! Residents were not too happy seeing their property tax Sky-Rocket from 1,200 to 1,700 and they came forth to speak about it!
Ray Hull stated that the Voters Had Heard Him Loud And Clear and they had Booted Him Out! He went on to ridicule several other things about taxpayers(no one really cared because he is going to be gone anyway!)He stated that the kids were more important than taxes, even though it was said that people were going to have to move because they could no longer afford their homes; not to mention the fact that their home values had plummeted. Who's going to shoulder the burden for education then Ray??
To that Turza replied in BOE comments that if residents took better care of their homes their values would increase. There was an audible gasp in the room. How dare she?
Dick Leonard briefly commented on the tax situation.
Peryea pulled out a book bullying then states that she's read it from cover-to-cover(she didn't learn much, did she?). Then she proceeded to waggle her finger at the new board members. People just shook their heads.
Annette Johnson talked about the Senate Bill 1 and the district's finances and her concern with the elevated taxes. Garza went on for quite a while stating she was leaving with a bitter taste in her mouth and she thought the board had done a good job. Strand pre-faced her comments by stating that what she was about say was not a counter-point to all the concerns people had mentioned during public comments. needless to say they were.
People demanded that several important decisions wait until the new board is in place. They made it know that they felt this board had failed miserably.
The front row was reserved and later we found out why. Sneaky Popp had it saved for the new principal and his family. Right by the podium. People who came to speak up for high school principal Spencer Byrd changed their minds (who wants to talk about NOT having a new principle while his wife, small child and a baby in a bassinet are right next to you??). Well played Michael, you're slick.
We will see how long you stay superintendent of lies.
Mr Crespo was a teacher 2 years ago in Florida now he is running EA. Good choice current members and retiring members. Maybe all should retire together.
First you pick someone who can't past the basic skills test. then you pick a Director that was demoted in 204 with no experience to run the district. Now this all seven are a truly the BOE from HELL.
Where are these good musicians coming from, anyway?
Very interesting "Facts" where would a person, such as yourself, get information like that. I don't believe you.
Just curious, "Where are these good musicians coming from, anyway?"....
Why did you settle on 20% from each of the 5 sources for the top level bands? Was the candidate pool from each of the 5 equal? I would find it interesting if 20% of the pool came from "somewhere else," when that would most likely be the smallest faction. Also, our schools & bands, range in size, yes?
I do not disagree with your support of K, at all, but data only works to prove a point when it is correctly derived.
In other districts where many (if not most) band students take private lessons, some of the credit for their success would go to the private instructors. But in our district VERY few students study their instrument with a private teacher, and those who do usually wait until high school.
So it is even more important in our district to have a solid foundation in middle-school band, and to give credit to directors who help our kids sharpen their skills. It takes nothing away from the high school director to acknowledge the middle-school (and for that matter, grade school) directors' contributions.
Take a bow...you ALL deserve it!
Crespo background is in fact true, two years ago he was a PE teacher. As a AP at Proviso he was Dennis Renner. Would you promote Dennis to run complex EA. This falls on Popp, Gloztbach, Thruckenbrod and Reyes Childress. they did want someone with a opinion, they wanted a yes man.
How they could have hired someone with such little experience to run EA leaves everyone shaking their heads. A vote of no confidence is the buzz around 131.
Here is hoping the new BOE is better. After what staff witnessed last night there are major concerns.
As for Johnson, she feel into district line last night telling the crowd I feel your pain but we have no money unless SB1 is passes, certainly not the toon she would sing in the past. CODE word teachers we have no MONEY for you. We wasted it on who knows what.
To last nights BOE meeting, I was there, also, and saw things a little differently than you. First, being in the back of the room or doorway, I don't think anyone would have known the new principal was there or would have known who he was.
Secondly, who is Garza?? You mean Stella....she has left a bad taste in all our mouths. For her to claim 30 years working for and in our district, is an embarrassment to d131.
I didn't hear some of the things you claim to have been said. I did hear Strands comments and thought they were well stated about where things will hopefully go from here.
I heard Turzas comment and thought she sounded like an uppity snob.
Annette kept saying to support Senate Bill 1, but never allude to exactly what her opinion was as to why she supported it. WTH is it about in a nutshell?
Annette mentioned Senate Bill 1. Funny she should mention this. At the end of the article in this link:
http://chicago.suntimes.com/politics/7/71/163154/its-time-for-a-real-pension-fix-in-illinois
It states:
"That’s untenable. This is a crisis, and we’re teetering on the cliff. We either raise taxes and drive more of us to move away, or we change the constitution, or we change laws to control double-dipping and too-generous pension benefits approved by local school board members and other officials."
Maybe she should have changed things BEFORE giving Roberts his "generous pension." She is often quick to change her position AFTER she finds out the facts.
http://www.chicagotribune.com/suburbs/aurora-beacon-news/opinion/ct-abn-crosby-forum-st-0422-20150422-story.html
Thanks for your honesty! It is appreciated on this blog!
But how do you know what middle school each of those kids came from. You would either have to know every one of them, have access to the school data base, or at least be involved with the band director at Simmons to know which ones were his.
You have a lot of information for just a community member. Perhaps you are closer to the situation than you want people to know.
Nobody asked where you got the list from. WE ASKED how do you know what middle school they went to?
Who is "WE"? Is there a mouse in your pocket?
And it does not matter how the information was obtained. What is important is whether or not it is TRUE.
Even after ten years' time, denial and distraction is still some people's reaction when certain FACTS are presented.
No no no, you are in denial.
How do you know what middle school the kids came from. It must be one of the following.
1) You know every single kid and their middle school history
2) You work in the district and looked up every single kid throw the district data base
3) You asked or are Mr. Kaisershot.
So yes it does matter how you got the information. I look at that list and have no idea what middle school each kid attended. You look at the list and come up with percentages.
You are in denial about who you are and I don't see one post discrediting the middle school directors. You are making things up.
Okay, I admit that I work for the district and have access to the databases. I'm also a longtime friend of Mr. Kaisershot. So what? Does that make the information any less accurate or relevant?
Can YOU produce any evidence that refutes my claim? Go ahead, we're waiting. Until then, I repeat:
More than half of the students who recently auditioned into the top two bands at EAHS attended Simmons Middle School.
No, the claim is fine, but only matters if it is true. I don't really care. But I just want to make sure I got this right.
1) You went on facebook, got the list from the band page
2) Looked up every student on the school data base and wrote down their middle school.
3) Did the math and figured out the percentages
Obsess much? What are the percentages from the other middle schools. Or did you not care about those?
I hope you didn't do this while at work, because that would be a miss-use of company property and the taxpayers money.
I don't want to produce evidence to refute your claim. But that really goes to the crux of the problem of this blog. Your claim is TRUE until proven wrong? You never really proved it true. You just made a statement and instead of proving your statement, you are waiting for somebody else to prove you wrong.
Here's a couple of comments from 5 years ago:
EHS BAND IS SECOND-RATE
April 19, 2010 at 7:49 AM
Anonymous said...
BECAUSE OF THE MIDDLE SCHOOLS
April 19, 2010 at 7:54 AM
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
You cannot have your cake and eat it too. If the middle schools (and their directors) are to blame for shortcomings in the high school program, then the middle schools (and their directors) should also share the credit for successes at the high school.
In District 204, where my kids went to high school, every band and orchestra program included the names of the grade school and middle school band & orchestra teachers. Especially in a district like ours where kids don't take private lessons, acknowledging ALL band directors' contribution to the older kids' successes would be a classy move. Heaven knows they get blamed when something goes wrong!
The Fine Arts Festival is on May 2nd:
http://www.d131.org/newsDetail.asp?id=3338&guid=
As always, if something is not accurate on this blog you can present your own version of the facts. So go ahead and correct the claim that more than 50% of the top band students at EAHS went to Simmons.
You say you "don't want to produce evidence"...that says it all! You have no evidence to produce, or you wouldn't be so obsessed with HOW the facts were gathered instead of whether they are true.
You are trying to distract from the real issue, which is giving credit where credit is due and sharing a little bit of the success achieved by the high school musicians with those who contributed to that success.
Sorry, Stella Gonzales. Garza came up automatically as I have a contact with that first name (it happens)! FOIA the audio cd and find out what was said for yourself. In a nutshell is a play on words, obviously. It was leaked who the new principal was earlier in the day. So people knew who it was and that is why people took their names off of the list to speak up for Spencer Byrd. Sad.
So here is the problem. Your post isn't about sharing the credit. That is how you disguise it but it is about making sure everybody knows the contributions of Kaisershot. If it was at all about sharing the credit you would have posted the percentages of the other middle schools. Maybe Simmons is at 55% but maybe (and i don't know) but there is 40% from Cowherd and then only a few from Waldo and Magnet. We don't know because your sharing the credit post is only about sharing the credit with 1 of 4 middle school directors.
Your good intentions about giving credit where credit is due seems a little disingenuous when you only ever talk about one middle school.
About the bands - my son tried out for next years band and made wind symphony. He is a drummer. He was excited because he knows all of the percussion players on the list from when he went to Simmons. He also said he saw most of the wind ensemble drum list was people he knew from Simmons. So I got out the programs I saved for 5 years from my kids band & choir concerts at Simmons and looked for names that made wind ensemble or symphony. I did see a lot of Simmons names that made the bands, not surprised that it's more than the other schools.
My son learned a lot from Mr. K, and he says he is also learning from Mr. Liska at the high school. When our kids do something good it seems pretty nasty for somebody to be so concerned about who is getting information instead of thanking a teacher who is doing an outstanding job helping our kids.
All this about Kaisershot has gone on long enough. The person or persons that keep bring it up needs to seek mental health treatment. This man is not a God like you would like to make him. What happened was sad but this is what happens in real life. He could of went to another district and got the band director job but with the tenure he wouldn't give up his time at East to do it. It is is adults that are acting like children and it must be Kaisershot's wife that can't let go. If he had any concerns about his students he should get help for his wife so she can move on with her life.
There was one band student that wrote on here about both band directors and he cared for both. You don't hear many of the students complaining in fact they just want to be in the band an have a good time.
Looking back over this thread, I see overwhelmingly positive comments about the current EAHS band program, including mentioning TWICE their recent Division I rating at organization contest. (I guess I just mentioned it a third time!)
It was only when someone tried to give the Simmons director some credit (without at all insulting the high school director) that the hateful comments came out.
Hmmm...who needs the mental health treatment? The person who politely mentioned that more than half of the top EAHS band students went to Simmons, or the person who seems to be obsessed with how that information was obtained, and refuses to acknowledge Mr. K's role in our band students' successes?
And like the previous band parent, I too have a stack of programs from when my daughter was in the band at Simmons. It is VERY easy for me (or any other parent or teacher for that matter) to compare names on those programs with the students who auditioned into the top bands at EAHS.
Maybe it would be in everyone's best interests to give credit to EVERYONE involved when our kids do something grEAt. The words "thank you" are not used often enough in our district, and definitely not by administration!
http://tablet.austinweeklynews.com/News/Articles/4-20-2015/When-will-the-CPS-inspector-general-investigate-AUSL%3F/
Seems neighboring communities have problems with bidding and buddies of the board being an issue in over spending.
Date: April 23rd 2015
To: Dr Michael Popp
From: Ralph Padron
Subject: Comments/Facts EA 131
Mike
The April 20th Board Meeting “Public Comments” was dominated by the retirees bearing the brunt of seeing their property tax bill increase from $1,200.00 plus. It is tragic to say the least that these Retirees on fixed incomes must make a decision on whether to remain in Aurora due to income limitations.. They are outraged to say the least, and the points made by each speaker were valid yet continues to fall on deaf ears at EA. Let’s examine current salaries of the 3 highest paid employees.
Dr Michael Popp
(Superintendent) Dist 204 salary as (Executive Dir Teaching & Learning)
Base $215,800.00 $ 145,734.00 (with annuity)
($70,066.00 increase)
Pension 22,486.36 N/A
Insurance 8,571.98 N/A
Total $ 246,958.52
Joan Glotzbach (Asst Superintendent Human Resources)
Base $ 148,625.00
Pension 10,389.12
Insurance 15,486.73
Total $ 174,500.85
Christi Tyler (Asst Superintendent Finance)
Base $ 145,000.00
Pension 7,647.12
Insurance 15,109.00
Total $ 167,756.12
With teacher contract negotiations at a standstill and claims that funds are not available for their well-deserved raises, yet the spending continues as the controversies continue under your leadership.
Despite your attempt to silence and avoid responding to me, the audits continue.
The Purchasing Scandals are nothing compared to the audits of 3 Major Scandals and violations to be released at the proper time.
Again am requesting a written response to the above issues which would not breach the areas of confidentiality.
Respectfully
Ralph Padron
You are a dummy. You ask for a response, but you do not have a question.
The teachers contract is not at a standstill. Our union sold us down the river. Sounds like support staff and sectrettaries are only getting 2%. teachers will get about 2.5%. It is time to strike and show the district and our union we WILL NOT TAKE IT ANYMORE.
Get a hobby, indeed. Or better, make a real difference by mentoring a kid.
People like you are the problem not the solution- there is no "union" if you are a member than you are the union- so did you sell yourself?
The 1st interview begins today for the Director of Building & Grounds. Let me make a prediction that Christi Tyler's friend from West Aurora, Jeff Schiller will be selected to fill this position.
And better yet Popp will rush this through as he did the new Principal for the High School.
Jeff Schiler and Christy Tyler had a very close relationship. Highly questionable
UPDATE !!! Interview for B & G Director went very well for Jeff Schiller of West Aurora 129. Popp and Christi Tyler interviewed him to make it look professional and on the up and up. Appears to me that Tyler needs another "Puppet" to control that Dept and cover up what was done and get Popp's approval on everything. If Schilling gets hired this will make Elise Clever and Schilling 2 former West Aurora 129 staff under her control. This should make Popp feel more secure in hiding many an issue. Does anyone see anything suspicious about Popp and Tyler doing the interviewing for this position?
http://www.chicagotribune.com/suburbs/aurora-beacon-news/news/ct-abn-east-board-delays-contracts-st-0426-20150424-story.html
Go ahead and hire Jeff Schiller. The OLD Board of Ed. cannot encumber the NEW Board of Ed OR make any major decisions such as this until the new BOE members are seated.
The new BOE can rescind the decision to hire Tyler's "good friend" Mr. Schiller and open the Director of Building and Grounds position up again. Let's not forget TYLER bankrupt district 129 and used questionable accounting practices here in district 131.
New B& G :if this is true then why can't they also hire a principal that everyone agrees upon?
The district press release stated that the new East High Principal, Anthony Crespo has three years of administrative experience, none as a principal.
The ISBE website shows that Anthony Crespo has had an administrative endorsement for less than two years.
http://webprod.isbe.net/ELISInquiry/NormalPages/EducatorCredentials.aspx
Either way, he is going to be way over his head in the East High Principal position.
I wish him all the best but it really makes a community wonder about the decisions being made at the top.
Dr Popp only received his Superintendent certification in 2012. Look how that turned out, and the BOE hired him without community input or staff input.
Hello , my name is Ariana M. and I am a student of East Aurora High School. I am speaking on behalf of the students attending EAHS.
Many are unaware of the situation that is occurring at East Aurora High School , not having SOAP in the restrooms is a health code violation. I have been continuously asking for soap and the same answer has been said to me , NO. I believe a student asking for soap is the most easiest situation to be resolved. I have been doing research behind not properly washing your hands after using the restroom and there are chances of getting very ill. Me as a student of East Aurora High School demand soap! Please share and like this status to show them we are aware of the situation! Thank you!
Love the replies to this one. Right on.
Wow, you people are really worked up over the Band issue. There are bigger fish to fry. Thank Mr. K and the other band directors and instructors and move on.
April 27, 2015
Matthew Hanley, FOIA Officer
East Aurora School District 131
417 5th Street
Aurora, IL 60505
Re: FOIA Request for Documents
Dear Mr. Hanley
Please provide the following
1 Application & Contract for Michael Huston
2 Application & Contract for Patrick Cantore
3 Contract for Elise Clever
4 Contract for Michael Golonka
5 List of Bills for Board of Ed eeting March 3 2014
They are not posted.
I understand that the Act permits a public body to charge a reasonable copying fee not to exceed the actual cost of reproduction and not including the costs of any search or review of the records. I am asking that any fees be waived per 5ILCS140/6(c).
Respectfully,
Ralph Padron
How is it that the administration can go on trips and misuse credit cards but our students can't have soap in the bathrooms?
This district is going under. We have residents that complain about their taxes that they are too much but I just got mine and they went down $200.00 but that means my home value had gone down. We have those that complain they pay too much and since they have no children in school why do they have to pay for them. If those residents lived in say Naperville they would probably be paying more and those residents don't complain. They know that giving students a good education benefits everyone.
We have schools that are over 75 years old and in bad condition. Over crowded classrooms and student that just don't care to get and education and some that do.
If the residents that complain about their taxes would go to the right source their Representatives of State and try to make changes of how the schools got the money to run them that might go further than going to the school board because until it changes and the residents of this community try to make parents that care about their children's education come to live in this district nothing will change.
A student at the high school smeared feces all over the boys bathroom 2nd floor freshmen center. Soap is the least of our problems. Gang presentation yesterday was a generalized power point, nothing that we could really use in day to day life.
http://www.chicagotribune.com/suburbs/aurora-beacon-news/news/ct-abn-east-board-says-goodbye-st-0428-20150427-story.html
Can someone please explain why we are paying Dr. Popp nearly the same as a top CPS administrator? He has allowed the systematic rape of the district funds, incompetence in human resources, the abuse of teachers, and allowed our students to be educated in deplorable buildings with teachers who are openly hostile against the administration that fails to understand the daily struggles in the schools. God help the BOE take a stand against such incompetence!
Union meeting today after the of BS we heard it's time to STRIKE.
Perea gave excellent advice to the new board in the article "I urge you to choose your leadership wisely."
The community is watching. If the new board even considers Annette Johnson as board president, they will lose community support before they even start the job. Their job would then be impossible.
Annette was at Mike and Denise's on election night with the new candidates schmoozing the new board members and trying to become board president again. I certainly hope they saw through it.
The last thing this district needs is to relive the nightmare of daily scandals and bad press of the Annette reign of terror.
From the EAHS Band Facebook site:
(posted by Mr. Mills)
Band Students I need your help get your parents to this meeting!
EA Band Booster Meeting tomorrow night Thursday April 30th 7:00pm in the High School Band room. This is a very important meeting, new officers must be elected tomorrow night or this will be the last year of the Band Boosters. The Band Boosters have been around for very long time and without you, the parents they will be no more. Please come to this meeting and consider becoming an officer and keep the Band Boosters going.
Here's a link to 26 pages of recent articles about our district:
https://v3.boardbook.org/Public/PublicItemDownload.aspx?ik=36908455
Memo
TO:
Board of Education
FROM:
Dr. Michael Popp
DATE:
April 29, 2015
RE:
Repurposing of Administrative Positions
____________________
_____________________________________
As I continue to restructure cabinet and other administrative positions and
duties, I will be moving Matt Hanley to the position of Director of Community Relations. Matt has served our district extremely well and provides support to
me and other administrators regarding the most confidential issues with which
we deal.
This move and others including adding a staff member to his department will be done in a cost neutral manner as was the previous move regarding the Assistant
Superintendent for Curriculum.
This change will allow us a greater ability to solicit more resources for staff and
students, assist in the development of more business partnerships with a focus
on training students for careers, produce more local support both financial and in resources from businesses within and around our district. An additional staff
member will provide more support in dealing with day to day operational issues such as FOIA responses which, as you know, have taken Mr. Hanley up to 30
hours per week. It will allow Matt to focus on both internal and external
communications regarding district matters and beyond.
Lets get this straight, Handley gets a raise for doing less work.
Sounds fair to me, if the new BOE allows this they will loss all creditability. Staff is not sure what Handley does all but feed Popps ego.
Teachers better get a FAT raise this year if they have that much money to burn.
Part 1
Date: May 1, 2015
To: Dr Michael Popp
From: Ralph Padron
Subject: Comments/Questions EA 131
Mike
Controversy again is at the forefront with your decisions supposedly in the best interest of the School District. Let’s examine a few:
• This week’s Board Agenda Packet includes “Repurposing of Admin Positions”
“Moving Matt Hanley to the position of Director of Community Relations” could very well be stated as “Promoting” or “Created this position”.
A Would it had been prudent to await the seating of the Newly elected Board THEN make your decision public?
B Why the sense of “Urgency” for this to happen
C Mr Hanley’s base salary currently is $ 87,125.00
D Director’s salary begin at $ 120,000.00
This would be equivalent to an increase of $32,875.00 plus additional pension increase
E Additional statement on your memo: “This move and others including adding a staff member to his department will be done in a cost neutral manner”
Cost Neutral or additional payroll?
Are the taxpayers looking at a total of $80K additional to this budget?
How will teachers react considering we have heard you openly state
“The district does not have the finances to give the teachers a raise”
2 This week in Springfield financing for educational is being discussed for critically needed monies to support Education.
Why is not the Superintendent of East Aurora not in attendance?
What could be so urgent and critical for Dr Popp not to attend?
I would have thought your attendance would have been a “TOP PRIORITY”
PART 2
Last but not least, I received the following response dtd April 27 2015 from Mr Hanley ref: “Open letter to Dr Popp”
Mr Padron:
Matt: In last week’s letter, you claim there are “efforts to silence you.” That is a curious statement, since we hear from you all the time. The reality is that there is no effort to silence you, or prevent you from accessing public information, or not respond to you.
Ralph: How many times have I requested from Mike Popp to give me a written response? No response = silence
Matt: What is actually happening is that 1,400 public employees are doing their best every day to create a healthy and safe environment where children can learn. We are focused on students.
Ralph: You are intentionally trying to use education as a shield from addressing Questionable Business Practices and Cover Up of intentional violations
Matt: In last week’s email, the only information you presented (salaries of three administrators) has been on our public website. Despite this, the facts you emailed to 23 staff members and seven Board members were incorrect. There is a pattern of mistakes and misinterpretations in your communications, both via email and at Board meetings. Sending out false or misconstrued information is damaging to the District and does not help you make your points, either.
Ralph: Show me my mistakes and misinterpretations. You make the allegation yet fail to mention the specifics.
Matt: In both your Board comments and your emails, you repeatedly mention a “major scandal” ahead. If you have one to talk about, go ahead. As of right now, you are attempting to make people believe something terrible is lurking, but you fail to present relevant documentation. I believe including all of these people (most who have no connection to the issues you are discussing) on your emails is an attempt to disrupt their work day and/or to impugn the reputation of people who have dedicated their lives to education.
Ralph: When I am ready to make public the "Major Scandal" evidence, I will do it on my time table not yours. Whether you want to believe it or not, it will implicate several individuals and be very damaging to their reputation as well as those covering it up.
Matt: Finally, I would hope that your comments about teacher negotiations are not an attempt to insert yourself into, or tamper with, a closed process between a union and a government body. That would be wholly inappropriate. You did not present any facts to back up your claims, so I believe it is reasonable to assume that your statements about negotiations are, at best, conjecture.
Ralph: Again you are taking statements I am making out of context, in an attempt to put words in my mouth.
This District has been incredibly responsive to your questions, demands and accusations – particularly since you are neither a student in our District, the family of a student in our District, a staff member of this District or a resident of this District. Our students, our families, our staff and our residents will always take priority.
You seem to have forgotten the numerous times I have mentioned, I am the spokesperson for MANY current and former employees, community members. They would come forward if not the intimidation and threats of disciplinary action for those who dare to speak.
Judge for yourself the above comments between Hanley and myself
My cousin told me that someone urinated in the soap dispenser of the men's bathroom at Cowherd Middle School. Yuck!
Way to go, Hanley! Ralph, you look like a fool, AGAIN!
Our district is fortunate to have someone like you who won't back down, and is willing to expose corruption. So many times I read your comments and think, "you speak for me also".
Keep up the good fight!
Hanley makes a good point in that what you mention are a lot of veiled threats. Come forward with what information you have instead of supposedly sitting on it.
At first I admired the work that you seemed to be doing on behalf of EA citizens, but now it just seems like harassment on your part, which leads to wasted manpower and money from the district-which also hurts employee and student morale.
Matt DOES NOT qualify for a $38,000 raise plus the hiring of a additional person. What is Matt doing for the education of of students. We never see him at events, he is a public relations arm for Dr Popp. Hopefully the new BOE will undo this madness.
The BOE has made it very clear the can not give teachers a living wage increase this year because of the State yet Hanley gets a 50% jump. SHame on Dr Popp and the BOE for even considering this .
Not to mention, that he has necessitated the district having to hire one additional person to be a FOIA officer. That is a ridiculous amount of money being spent on one old man's futile attempts to destroy a school district.
When a public interest entity is held in the public eye, increased FOIAs are to BE EXPECTED. Hiring additional staff TEMPORARILY is warranted. NOT giving the FOIA officer a 30K plus raise and and assistant! Read your FOIA law before throwing the taxpayers money around!!
Like him or not, Padron has more than "paid" for himself in FOIA requests. Who else is asking questions?
This obvious attempt to vilify Padron by stating that Mr. Hanley needs a 30K raise to process Padron's "excessive" POIA requests (yeah, that's a veiled interpretation) is outrageous!!
Taxpayers, speak up! You made your voices head by ridding us of the old and unproductive board members by voting! Don't let them try and sneak this one by you! How many more of our neighbors will have to move out of this district because they can no longer afford our ever increasing taxes!
FOIA's are expected. A typical school district will receive 1-2 a month, easily handled within an hour. Padron's goose chase has been in motion for years, and this year it is out of control. The board minutes reflect 20-50 hours a month in wasted time digging up useless documentation that proves absolutely nothing.
These veiled threats of big revelations are full of crap, just like Ralph. Get him a fishing pole, let him have a hobby.
Did you audiotape a conversation with him? Where are these comments from?
Matt does not do the FOIAS the business office does. Matt also has a Secretary so why does he need another. This is a payoff for Popp from the old board. everyone is watching new BOE on if you continue to allow ridulous spending.
My guess is Popp will not last and be gone before the end of the year. Good hooray for the new members!
If any one of you writing here was harassed and adult-bullied on a daily basis. Came home trying not to cry in front of your family because of the stress of working at ea131 under tyrants rule. But knew you had to stay to provide for your family. Then you know that Mr. Padron was speaking these past two years for us. We were threatened with our jobs if we spoke out. So, if you didn't go through what we did you need to zip it up!!!
So Matt Hanley is getting a promotion by Popp to make himself look like this big executive. I thought Popp was going to cut back on expenses and be able to show how he is doing such a great job. And he lets this be one of the last acts of the "Board from Hell" to make sure it gets approved.
Popp is an embarrassment to the East Aurora but then again he worked at a upper level District who was glad to get rid of Him.
don't let Popp get away with this promotion to Hanley
Why did Matt Hanley NEVER put a story out of the Chicago Bears donating exercise equipment to EA. Kurt Becker announced it at a Board meeting and brought out that a East was the recipient of a NEW Hispanic program by the Bears to help these kids.
What happened Matt? You certainly dropped the ball on this one!
There are still signs for Laesh & Hatchett on RT 30 by The Doggie Diner, Alex you have one on the corner of Smith and Fifth across from the High School and Hull has one on New York St before Root St It is way past time for these to be up.
Matt never announced Suzy Bruno won educator of the year. Some public relations but let's pay him $120,000
You are spot on, Go fishing. The FOIA requests that one should expect are nothing compared to what EA gets.
And there is nothing in FOIA law that would restrict an entity from obtaining a person to process FOIA requests.
I don't know what you went through at EA, but unfortunately many larger districts dole out such stress and bullies/tyrants/dictators. This is why so many people probably feel that Mr. Patron is after the district-as revenge.
So it's okay for administration to mistreat employees because some other districts do it? On what planet are people expected to be silent and accept bullying as a part of their jobs?
And I don't care whether Mr. Padron (spell his name correctly!) is motivated by revenge or by sincerely wanting to help our community. My hunch is, it's probably a combination of both. I can say from experience that it is easier to forgive someone who wrongs me than someone who wrongs my family member. Mr. Padron is justifiably upset because his wife was mistreated by D131 administration (and these admins later tried to accuse HER of wrongdoing, which was proven false). Teachers and staff who have had negative experiences with those in power in this district are not likely to go away any time soon.
Like Mr Padron or not he keeps them on their toes.
As for Mr Hantley, it is embrassing that we could even think about paying him that kind of money. It shows what Dr Popp thinks of teachers and students in this district. When he came to EA his first order of business was to build a administrative center. Then he insults teachers by offering up a less than 1% raise.
It also shows what he thinks of a outstanding member of our teaching staff. I had to learn about Ms Bruno from Facebook. I would also suggest complete elimination of his position. Let Dr Popp and his secretary put out the announcements.
Is this Mrs. Padron? You just supported others' beliefs that Ralph has an ax to grind, when he says he does not. He had better come up with some beneficial evidence to support the money he is costing the district in firings, searches for new hires, new hire training, and hours of processing his ludicrous requests. I hope the new board will make him happy. After all, WE, the district taxpayers, voted them in. It's not another conspiracy theory or cronyism (which he seems to base everything on).
Not only am I not Mrs. Padron, I have never even met Mr. (or Mrs.) Padron. I am simply a community member who appreciates the truth being exposed, by any means necessary. And as far as the money is concerned, the cost of FOIAs by the SEVERAL individuals who have requested them over the past few months (not just Mr. Padron!) are insignificant compared to the huge increase in Mr. Hanley's salary.
Your point has been taken into consideration, with the major difference being that Mr. Hanley can probably show evidence of accomplishment; which the FOIA'd documents up until now haven't seemed to do (or someone is not divulging info that they have discovered). I'm not saying things shouldn't be questioned or that everyone is doing an errorless job, but it seems that Mr. Padron (and others-although he is easily at the forefront of requests) is wasting the district's/city's time, money, and making people pissed off without much, if anything, to show for it.
You do know that employees and whistleblowers are protected from employer retaliation, right?
Many of the FOIAs requested by Mr. Padron were related to Marty Feltes and probably contributed to Feltes' termination. One of my friends worked in the maintenance building and is very happy to see him gone. My friend says that Feltes treated him and other staff like garbage, including turning off the heat in the maintenance building last February for the employees while sitting in his warm cushy office on the phone for hours on end.
And there's this article:
http://www.chicagotribune.com/suburbs/aurora-beacon-news/news/ct-abn-east-board-repair-st-0206-20150205-story.html
"Padron found that in some cases the district was purchasing supplies from companies other than those the district had exclusively contracted — which prompted the district and the school board to approve contract extensions this week with two companies to make up for lost supply orders"
Those FOIAs might cost a little money - but Mr. Padron also SAVES our district money. Not to mention exposing things that certain people in the central office might want to sweep under the rug.
http://www.chicagotribune.com/suburbs/aurora-beacon-news/sports/ct-abn-boys-tennis-east-aurora-st-0505-20150504-story.html
The first act of the new school board was to make Annette Johnson the school board president again.
They have lost the respect and support of the community with their very first vote.
Same old EA131. Totally Incompetent Leadership.
Two great coaches. Dedicated to EA and the students. thank you Coach Skelley and Gerhard.
http://www.chicagotribune.com/suburbs/aurora-beacon-news/news/ct-abn-east-board-president-st-0505-20150504-story.html
I think electing Johnson was a great move. Hopefully Popp will resign and they can go onto picking a new leader.
The District needs a real leader and it is apparent giving Handley a $40,000 increase is slap to every hard working teacher. I am sure if Johnson was President that would have not been allowed.
Good Lord! WHY?
Sad day for EA. The commentor above is correct, Johnson would not have allowed a raise to Hanley and she will not be labor friendly to the union either. She back pats and hand shakes whomever she needs as an ally at the time. Those who voted for her will feel her wrath the first time they disagree or vote against her.
I voted for a couple of those new members, I could kick myself already. The lesser of the evils seemed to be the lesser informed. Anyone who had an ounce of information about what has been going on in the district, would not have voted Annette as president.
Unless, there is an underlying agenda to encourage Popp to leave. Then she would be the ticket on that railroad.
If that is why they elected Johnson, then that shows the new board will not put up with BS. Popp needs to go ! It shows his priorities and they are not student driven. He is paying Hanley to create good press about Himself.
It is a new day in EA and 80% of the district is happy!
Dear Good News Day, I am not sure how many people you have spoken with, but in my circle within my neighborhood and my nearby schools, I have not spoken with anyone who was happy about the president choice....not one!
Date: May 6, 2015
To: Dr Michael Popp
From: Ralph Padron
Subject: FOIA’s allowed this to be discovered Facts of Heater Exchangers Controversy
Dr Popp
This letter is to notify you and the Board of Education concerning some very serious violations and/or criminal acts regarding “Heat Exchangers”.
The Purchase Orders in question are 150010 152284 152285
• Why were 2 of these PO’s issued after the work was done
• Why was 1 PO allowed to proceed with no Board Approval
• All 3 PO’s had no Board Approval, No Public Bidding,
• Were these rightfully classified “Emergency”
• How did they go unchallenged yet were approved and paid
• Who was responsible to insure this would not happen
Matt Hanley has notified me that I have reached the limit in submitting FOIA’s per FOIA Law timeline. Do I have any options in researching this very serious matter?
Matt Hanley has determined I have reached the limit with FOIA’s being submitted thus will not be receiving any further unless reviewed by the Attorney’s. Do I have any other options in obtaining further documents to expose blatant violations and the wasteful spending of Taxpayer Dollars?
If this is the scenario
Then why was it necessary to promote him and hire another individual to do FOIA’s?
Since enforcing State Laws and Policies is being applied in this situation and would be consistent in all your responsibilities, why were so many of my findings ignored and not acted upon. The list is very long and the violations indisputably black and white. Evidence has been gathered via FOIA’s.
The “Redacted E-Mail Controversy” still under review by the Attorney General’s Office is centered around the subject “Heat Exchangers”.
I have attached multiple documents to support my findings as a result of researching FOIA requests I have obtained the past several months This is the “Tip of the Iceberg” with the “Heat Exchangers”
.
I again am requesting a written response to the above.
.
Respectfully
Ralph Padron
In my neighborhood everyone is happy, but of course I am a senior paying the majority of the tax bill for 131. We also voted to bad your neighbors did not
Taxpayer 1 if you don't like what you pay in taxes move somewhere else. You are the ones that decided to live where you do and you thought since it was Aurora your taxes would be lower but you pay for what your homes are worth. If you lived in Naperville you would probably be paying more in taxes. In Naperville they want their students to have decent schools and get an education.
Johnson is not a good fit she is a walking time bomb and for these new ones that voted for her should know how the community feels.
Taxpayer1,
Your neighborhood has not been a part of Aurora that long, so you have very little investment compared to those of us, who have lived here all of our lives. That community you live in, is seniors who thought they got a good deal buying there now you want to cry about your 300k house tax bill going up 1200+ additional dollars. We all pay for all services the community taxes pay for, whether we use them or not. Whether we call the police, the firemen, or use the parks, your taxes still go for the costs. I vote and I am sure many of my neighbors did, also. But if you look at the elections results in ALL wards, not many people voted in any of the wards compared to registered voters. For a "senior" your thought process is rather immature. Especially, if you think a school board member can keep your taxes from being raised.
You're kidding, right? Are heat exchangers right in being classified as an emergency? If you recall, winter hit early this past fall. When they turned on the boilers in the high school, many of the in-room units were not functioning. As a result some classrooms reached extremely cold temps. My classroom was so cold that students wore coats and gloves. My own hands got so cold that at the end of the day, they were stiff and sore.
If it hadn't been for the intervention of our hardworking custodial staff who fixed each unit, using parts ordered, I assume, in an emergency manner, those conditions could have continued.
People of Aurora, look at what this pathetic man is doing to us. He is causing you to question such basic human necessities as heat for CHILDREN. If you really care so little for the welfare of CHILDREN, then please stay away from our district. Students and teachers have enough worries without sick, evil people like Ralph Padron further dehumanizing us.
Mr Padron, you need prayer. God have mercy on you.
http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1N1-10A6080E05416799.html
Finally, people are seeing this man for what he is!!!!!!! Thank you!!!!!
Mr. Padron is not trying to deprive CHILDREN (or ADULTS, for that matter!) of heat. He is simply questioning multiple expenditures and procedures in our district. Mr. Padron has REPEATEDLY requested information in writing from our central office, and his requests have been ignored...hence, the many FOIAs. If you look at the Board minutes, you will see that Mr. Padron is only one of several people who filed FOIAs last month; some were granted, some denied; most would not have been filed in the first place had the information been given when initially requested.
You call Mr. Padron "pathetic", "sick", and "evil". Really?? On what planet is politely and persistently requesting information pathetic, sick, or evil? It almost looks like YOU have something to hide, if you're so upset about someone exposing how our tax dollars are spent.
And we ALL need prayer. God have mercy on us ALL.
I would like to join team Padron. Why are so many people, central office especially, making such a big deal about the FOIAs? The only reason I can see it being bothersome, is when you have to try and create a document to satisfy his request, without actually giving him the info he has requested. Otherwise, just copy and send should be a non issue.
Get the facts HS teacher
Our maintenance department did not get to work on the heat units. Over one million was paid out last summer not winter to Feltes cronies not EA maintenance staff. Many of us brought this to the attendtion of Dr Popp who was to busy kissing BOE members butts.
You are correct after all the money was wasted we had to fix work done by outsiders. Tyler and Popp knew this but nothing was done to charge the outsiders back. Parts that the district paid for was left on the floors just thrown around. Thanks to Mr Padron Feltes was finally fired. The question still remains why work was given out? Summer is not an emergency. Do you know his cronies had keys to our buildings and the
outsiders never had finger prints. District money was spent that should have gone to YOUR raise.
As for you Ms Johnson you started the questions of why money was wasted and we hope now that Leonard appears to be in your camp will you still question this? Do not let us down
Get the facts, thank you for clarifying what truly happened and in more ways than this one incident. One additional fact people have either forgotten or are overlooking....Ms. Johnson was part of the Leonard and Feltes buddy buddy trio. She was right in there, albeit keeping a low profile prodding Leonard to get outsiders to do the work. Her attitude is anti Union. She has many faces depending on who is in front of her and what they want to hear.
http://www.chicagotribune.com/suburbs/aurora-beacon-news/opinion/ct-abn-crosby-east-st-0508-20150508-story.html
Date: May 7, 2015
To: Joan Glotzbach
From: Ralph Padron
Subject: Questionable Hiring
Dear Joan
The December 1st 2014 Personnel Report Stated Hiring of:
Michael Golonka B&G-Supervisor $60,500.00 pro-rated
Questions arise immediately upon reviewing his application
Previous employer “Sts Peter & Paul Catholic Church” in Cary IL
@ Employed a staff of 3 custodians & 1 Facilities Manager
@ Has 1 Building
@ Compared with East Aurora, this is quite a disparity
@ Salary was $ 34,000.00
@ EA Salary is $ 60,500.00
$ 25,500.00 Increase Instantly
Mr Golonka is now making more money than the majority of licensed teachers.
There is something wrong with this scenario and an insult to many staff at East Aurora.
These disparities are alarming thus
1 Do his qualifications match up with the position he was hired for
2 Were other applicants more qualified, if not why not re-post the position
3 Who conducted the interviews and screening process
4 Does Mr Golonka have a relative at Bldg & Grnds
Upon reviewing this application and the Job Description, it appears Mr Golonka is underqualified for this position. A lesser position appears more appropriate for his experience.
Please review or guide me to receive a response for this inquiry.
I do understand that “Personnel Confidentiality” cannot be compromised.
However I am requesting that this inquiry be investigated for the above concerns.
http://www.chicagotribune.com/suburbs/aurora-beacon-news/news/ct-abn-aurora-opt-outs-st-0508-20150507-story.html#page=2
Can't believe how lazy our administration is. Ever since Principal Byrd was let go, he's been even less visible. I didn't think that was possible. Talk about lack of integrity. Our DC's are so unapproachable and not communicative. I cannot remember how many email, and even face to face, requests have gone unanswered. And when they are seen in the hallways, it's like they are going out of their way to answer our questions. It's their damn job; that's why they are getting paid six figures! Plus the way some of them treat the students is sad. I thought berating and yelling at students was inappropriate. We would get marked down for that on our evaluations if we did half the stuff they get away with. Our AD is nowhere to be found. He cannot do his job, plain and simple. I will not resort to name calling but he is so mean to people, he lies and exaggerates too. Possibly one of the worst hires by this district. The new board should just clean house and hire an entire new administration. Our school would be 100% better off for it. Cannot wait until I'm tenured so I can start to speak up and not hide for fear of retaliation.
http://www.chicagotribune.com/suburbs/aurora-beacon-news/news/ct-abn-east-aurora-administrators-st-0510-20150508-story.html
I can't believe the article in tonight's Beacon. It is a slap in the face to every hard working teacher. Really, Gloztbach is now in charge of Secondary and Elementary. The women can't even run HR. Handley, will now have an assistant, for what? To add insult to injury Handley then gets a 50% raise. Popp will now add a Teaching and Learning Sup. Really? More money down the drain.
Our Union better deliver or we need to STRIKE.
HS Failins.....
You're right about Byrd - I am sad to see him go, but becoming MIA in the final days is immature behavior.
As for DCs - I find my DC, and many others, quite approachable, kind, and responsive to my needs & questions. Maybe not all are like that, but please do not lump ALL DCs into the same pile.
What you SHOULD be pissed off about is this garbage at the central office - I find Mr. Hanley to be a friendly guy, but the fact that he's now getting around $125,000 (previously $87,000, which is still crazy!) when teachers are paid lower than other area districts is preposterous.
Matt Hanley also has paid TRS, so that puts him at about $135,000. His salary INCREASE is greater than a first year teacher. Spencer was at the Kane County Educator of the year also. I do not see Handley at anything in the evenings it shows the little regard Dr Popp has for teachers.
We will watch the new BOE and see how they will respond.
Preposterous, is a understatement. We need to strike to get respect. I talked with Dr Popp at Waldo, and was willing to give him a chance, He came accross as sincere. He talked about how most of his time is spent lobbying the State, and I was willing to take less. Now, I feel my trust in his leadership has been violated. Here is hoping the new BOE cleans house.
The Matt Handly issue is a kick in the teeth. If TRS is added in that puts him at over $50,000.
Central News is a higher percent in raises but it will get taken away off the back side with higher insurance costs. We need to review the entire contract and read all the changes. If the negotiating team is foolish enough to get us a contract by school lets out we need to vote NO.
Dr Popp what is wrong with you. do you not realize
support staff has many of the same duties teachers
have preformed in the past? Dr Popp do you not realize teachers with a MS degree are paid $15,000 less? I agree, BOE clean house, Start with Handly, Glozbach, Reyes Childress, and Brusek.
Please start the process to firing the Superintendent from Hell.
How the heck are these individuals getting $30,000 salary increases at the Service Center when they won't even okay a 2% raise for teachers who work their asses off in the trenches on a daily basis? This is beyond criminal. Why on earth would Hanley need an assistant? If he gave Ralph the copies he was asking for, instead of obfuscating , deleting and covering up, he'd have plenty of time. Taking pictures ? wow, what a heavy workload. And let's not forget the daily mail blast. A taxing job, indeed.
Matt does not do the FOIA's the business office pulls the records. This a scam, and we are looking for the new board members to put a stop to it.
Matt got a $50,000 increase it was 40k plus TRS. Teachers do not get TRS in our district. Support staff works their a**'s off tutoring, changing diapers, lifting, and teaching students. Many students are aggressive support staff gets hit, spit at, cussed at, and threatened every day. We are only part time so insurance takes are checks. The union screwed us every year. It is TIME TO STRIKE. If Intherm will not speak up we need a recall vote her fat a** is so far up Joans skinny a** it stinks
The board better fire Handley and show they mean business. Popp is unethical and corrupt. It time to call for Strands resignation shame on you your husband is a teacher and you know what we do.
Please refrain from calling people names. If you want to be treated with respect, afford that respect to others, even if you don't like or disagree with them. And before the comments begin, I am a teacher, as Sara is a teacher. Let's not have union members fighting each other.
Sara is selling us down the river. Sara has taken union members out of the room, and held secret meetings with administration. Handleys one time raise is greater than a teachers yearly raise with a Masters. If you want to get dumped fine, but I have rights, and Sara is not speaking up. She needs to do us a favor and resign.
Date: May 11, 2015
To: Dr Michael Popp
From: Ralph Padron
Subject: Administrative Reorganization
Mike:
Upon reading your explanation of these changes, several questions arise on what necessitated this. Let’s look at how those vacancies were created. Why have “Key Individuals” departed or reassigned.
Tom Flanigan resigned
You hired him, yet he is leaving, WHY?
Michele Brown resigned
What is the reason for this
Rehman Ali resigned Nov 2014
This was sudden and immediate, What caused this
Nancy Bradish being demoted to Asst Principal
Nancy brought credibility, experience, and respect from her peers. Previously a principal there is something very strange about this reassignment.
Spencer Byrd resigned March 2015
He was not given an extension contract yet he was well respected by his peers and many staff members and students attempted to have him rehired yet this fell upon deaf ears.
Does credibility, raving reviews and support by the HS staff mean anything? Evidently not in the Superintendent’s Office.
Matt Hanley gets promoted or is it rewarded with a 40K + salary package increase.
It must be noted first that the state of Illinois is broke and cutbacks are a must. Why have you proceeded with this decision and disregarded the Financial Crisis at hand?
You are justifying and expecting the Taxpayers, Board of Ed, and Community to support this.
What is even more deplorable is you did this intentionally before the current Board was seated knowing that they would have rejected this.
Joan Glotzbach’s area of responsibility and authority has expanded to include having Directors of secondary and elementary programs will now report to her. Did you take into consideration of those very Serious Mistakes she has made costing EA enormous amounts of money. Legal fees and time wasted could have been avoided if Joan would have done her homework on several issues she failed on.
Beatrice Reyes Childress job description now includes overseeing Technology. Does she have a Technology background warranting a step forward in this area?
Appears to MANY that you empowered those whom you can rely on to support and not challenge any of your decisions yet you still disregard the input of the Public, Staff and others. Again the atmosphere of despair, fear, and intimidation is the climate you have created.
I ask this question to the Board of Education and Community:
Based on Dr Michael Popp’s performance 1st year as Superintendent
Would you hire him today in this same position?
The answer to this can be found from the results of the most recent election
4 New Board Members elected (2 Incumbents voted out)
Message given: Vote of NO CONFIDENCE to Dr Popp and the Past Board.
This is factual and undeniable.
The community has had enough of the WASTEFUL SPENDING & INCOMPETENCE at EA
I will conclude with;
Your intentional avoidance of not responding to my investigation , from which I have evidence obtained via FOIA’s, and have exposed publicly the corruption in the Purchasing, Hiring & Illegal activity at the Building & Grounds Dept which you have been aware of.
Obviously you are abusing your position and authority in choosing not to respond to the exposure of Financial Waste and Policy violations.
This certainly proves that you do not practice Transparency as required by law.
Respectfully
Ralph Padron
Dr Popp should get fired. Central O is emailing teachers that they will get punished if they come to the BOE meetings. If we speak our names will get noted. That is a MAJOR issue since our Union will not defend us and Danielson is stacked against us. The Curriculum is non existent and standards have not been established.
Matt Handley was a slap in face.
Joan Glozabach can barely function and is behind most of failings with staff evaluations.
Childress is a joke, paid to run technology that she knows nothing about. What a easy job for her. Prediction they will hire 10 people to do her job.
Another Asst Sup for Curriculum.
Here we go again.
Hopefully, the new BOE will take action but I will not hold my breath
If teachers are told they will be be singled out for coming to board meetings, they need to seek higher authority. Either within their union with another Union or lawyer.
Didn't Carla H. move up from 131 local to being a regional rep.? Can you trust going to her? If not plan a meeting elsewhere or seek other support people to get your rights.
I wish I were in your department as mine likes to sit in her office, stuff her face with food, while being on her phone all day. Then when she comes out it's like she has to tell everyone just how busy she is and complain about all the meetings she has to go to. Then when we get those weekly updates it looks just a laundry list of things that could take about 20 minutes to complete but they act like they just solved world hunger! Consider yourself lucky. Good leaders inspire action in the people they lead. I think too many of ours inspire us to wish for the summer so we can come up for some air and think for ourselves. Our attitudes are so poor, I believe, because of them. We need fresh faces. A new start with new DC's (including an AD) that actually care for us and the kids. All they care about are the paychecks (remember they get 6 figures), district credit cards, no classroom responsibility and only a 10 month working requirement.
Save those emails threatening your right to speak! That is evidence that may be used at a later time.
May 11, 2015
Good Afternoon Board of Ed
I have been researching the employment history of Patrick Cantore in the Bldg & Grnds the past month.
Here are my findings
• Employed by Pitt Ohio Express from May 2011 thru October 2011. See attached Lawsuit * Note his appeal for unemployment benefits was declined by the Appellate Court of Illinois on May 2 2013 .
* See attached Lawsuit
• Listed employer as "The Clare" from March 2012 - March 2013.
• Listed employer as Symphony Health Care from April 2013 - current (July 2013)
• Applied for employment with LIncoln School Dist 156 on July 9 2013.
* His application did not include his employment with Pitt Ohio Express in 2011
* Began on July 15 2013 per contract
* Terminated on June 23 2014
(see attached letter of termination from Dr Darryl Taylor Superintendent)
• Currently employed at East Aurora 131. No further info available
I have attempted to obtain info on Mr Cantore via FOIA however have been denied due to reaching the FOIA limit. What can be done for me to obtain the documents which will continue to bring out publicly more wrongdoings at EA?
Crimes committed yet Dr Popp wants to stop me from investigating.
Why must I be the one discovering the incompetence by Joan Glotzbach in doing background checks? Ernest Clark, Melody Ellington, Michael Golanka, and now
Patrick Cantore and the list goes on.
There is a pattern that has surfaced and that is
Feltes, Rana, Golanka, and Cantore are connected .
Who did the interviews for these positions?
This question alone opens up a large variety of possible “Rigged Hirings”
I find it ironic that I have been attempting to obtain this information at East Aurora and the FOIA via Lincoln School Dist 156 was the key in exposing this.
Application and follow up from HR at EA under Joan Glotzbach is very concerning on what else is still out there. Are there criminals employed working around the students and what purchases are being illegal and unethical. I believe I have exposed this.
This brings me to the questions I have for Board President Annette Johnson and other Board Members.
• When I exposed the Melody Ellington scenario which is identical to this
There was no discipline but she was allowed to finish her contract. Her position eliminated was the response given to me.
• WILL YOU TAKE DISCIPLINARY ACTION?
Several of you Board Members work in Corporate America and are asking you
How would this be handled and what would be the response to this pattern of mistakes.
• I don’t think they would promote the HR Manager and give her additional authority over others thus creating an atmosphere of Fear.
The voters of Aurora elected you and expect these issues to come to a halt.
Your handling of this and pending violations are what you must make decisions on and not allow the Superintendent to further “Downplay, Make Excuses, and Cover Up” these violations.
Will this be another era of NO ACCOUNTABILITY or will it be one of getting the job finally done.
I am available to meet with anyone concerning this.
All I ask is act responsibly in the best interests of the community and children.
Respectfully
Ralph Padron
You can not trust Hettinger or Intherm they have given the heads up to Popp many times. Teachers have been headed off many times about speaking this year. It was only after we talked with our union that Popp or others from his administration would come after us.
I am not a fan of Rauners but in the case of our Union I respect his position on opting out of the Union.
Good work, Ralph. I wish we had people at the central office who cared about our district. It will definitely be interesting to see which way this Board moves forward. Again, the Annette camp presently seems to have the majority. So she will have no one to blame but herself if business as usual continues.
How many mistakes is Joan Gloztbach going to be given a pass on? If Padron can find this information why not Joan
It is time for the NEW BOE to send her packing.
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