May this year be happy, healthy, and successful for all!
182 comments:
Tax payer 1
said...
What is the Director of the Buildings and Grounds Department doing? The Buildings and Grounds Director authorized overtime for the maintenance men to on plow snow on Christmas Day for TRIPLE TIME!! Didn't he know the schools are out for Christmas break and Tuesday December 26th was a regular work day. The maintenance men could for plowed on the 26th. They start as 6:00 am. This error in management cost the school district thousands in wasted overtime. Who is running the show over there?.
For all that know the district it looks like the Merle Ken Darby show are at it again in 2018. The 26th was not a work day it was a paid by holiday in our district. Merle should know we are paid double time and we had a holiday tournament so snow needed to be plowed. If anyone should be looking into something maybe Johnson should ask about the big loss the district takes on the holiday tournament. Maybe Darby should look around and see nobody was at the tournament. Maybe it's time for Merle to plow faster he has been telling workers to slow down. Alberto runs the department with accountability and that is the real problem Ken will never get his full time job and Merle will be forced to work
What is this about Ken Darby (a sitting board member) wanting to be the Director of Buildings and Grounds? Way would anyone make that accusation without proof? This is very concerning since the department had one director forced out and the other resigning after staying a few months. Now it seems they are going after the new director of buildings and grounds. The school Board needs to look in to what is happening with the Buildings and Grounds Department to see if there is any interference from a school board member. This cannot be tolerated and if it is the Superintendent should step in.
Taxpayer 1, I understand your concern about paying three times the usual rates for snow removal on Christmas Day. But if someone had slipped on an unplowed sidewalk or street on school property, they could have sued our district for hundreds of thousands of dollars. Chalk it up to bad luck, that snow had to be removed on a holiday...it HAD to be done as soon as possible!
Date: Jan 3 2017 Subject: Snow Removal Timeline: Dec 24 25 26 2017
1 All work tickets for BG employees for these 3 days 2 summary of work performed with time taken to do this work 3 Pay summary on each work ticket 4 Verification that work was performed
Am specifically looking for OT COST List of all schools and time taken to remove snow
Give it a rest , Ralph. How many years have you been talking about the next big thing you are going to uncover? I used to be a fan, but you have been a disappointment. The only thing you have to show is your improved skills at FOIA requests. The ones I have seen recently aren't even big discoveries, but possibly just fishing expeditions.
Number one if you did not shovel your snow you are not going to get sued for that act of God. The same as if it was raining and you stepped in a puddle of water on the sidewalk and fell. The thing I am talking about is poor management . So for example the 26th was also a holiday and there was an event at the high school. You did NOT have to have the entire maintenance and custodial crew come in for triple time overtime. You could have had just the few staff you needed to clear the high school (the rest of the district was closed) and had the rest of the crew come in on the 27th to do the rest of the district at their regular rate of pay. This management error cost the district thousands. No name calling just another fact of poor management. These type of incidents should be looked at for future decisions. That's how we save money.
It's NOT like stepping in a puddle of water!
said...
Actually, some municipalities do have laws on the books requiring property owners to remove snow and ice from sidewalks. Here's an example from Chicago:
“Every owner, lessee, tenant, occupant or other person having charge of any building or lot of ground abutting upon any public way or public space shall remove the snow and ice from the sidewalk...” It is everyone's responsibility to make sure the sidewalks are clear of snow and ice"
The going rate at the City is calculated at $40 per hour, or $60 per hour if the snow falls on a holiday. I know the school district does not have 130 miles of sidewalks and parking lots. While I have never agreed with all of Mr Patrons tactics this is a outrage. It begs for privatizing snow plowing. Somebody was doctoring timecards. It is hard for me to believe Herren worked 11 hours on Christmas everyone wants to spend time with family.
Well, if it cost around $8,000 in just the direct labor cost, we lose all the way around, big time. There are all the other indirect labor costs, machinery operating costs, and equipment purchase allocations, etc. that have to be assigned to one snowfall. This type of work needs to be outsourced immediately. At the same time, there are a lot of custodial functions that just beg to be outsourced. - Normal room and hall cleaning for example.- I cannot remember a time in the past 30 years that we have had a competent custodial staff. The old guys actually knew what they were doing and had the best interest of the district in mind when they worked. It was that generation that asked what they owed to society, not what they could take for themselves as it appears to be the case today as the unions are way out of line.
As far as the "Act of God" statutes; they are disappearing faster than humans in a zombie movie. (The what can I "take" from everyone else mentality.
Ralph is technically correct that the workers are entitled to their contractual pay. However, being entitled to something because of a misguided contract does not make it right or fair to the people who actually pay the bills. aka the taxpayers.
It really is time to make some decisions as to what services can be performed more productively by outside vendors. And we should not stop at just the custodial department.
Many of us do are jobs and do not screw the system. The problem is Medina is always off with other political interests and Herren is running the union. The contract allows only people like Herren to get picked for snow plowing others are never given a chance. We are all willing to work hard and should be given a chance. Herren has a reputation of going home while on district time. It's time to gut the contract and allow others to work.
Which board member is looking for a kickback. It's the only explanation that has credibility. Every time we privatize a service in this district, we end up paying significantly more for the same service.
I recall the attack on B&G about their Menard's trips several years ago. So we had to outsource many of the things that B&G used to do. Here's an example. Let's take an electrical outlet that needed to be added or moved. It used to cost the district the time of the Menards trip for the parts and the work, approximately $100. Now we outsource this service but first we go through an extensive approval process. The staff member requests the service by filling out a school dude form (Tech department had to create and maintain the school dude forms, another cost). It must be approved by the school administration and building fireman, B&G, sometimes finance and even Central Office Admin (Already hundreds of dollars in administrative costs before somebody makes the call to the outsourced provider). Now the outsource provider sends the bill for moving the outlet. Due to the prevailing wage law, this provider will charge the district between $1000-$2000 to move an outlet. We are talking a cost that could exceed $2000 for the same outlet that used to cost $100 for B&G to provide.
Building maintenance used to set mousetraps. This was a negligible cost. Now we outsource this to exterminators. They charge the district $125 for each trap they set. Remarkably, they do not remove the activated traps. Our building maintenance still need to dispose of traps when they are full.
It's a general rule that these outsourced providers double and even triple their normal costs when working with school districts. The real question here is why is somebody pushing an agenda that they know will cost the district (and taxpayers)significantly more money? Again, who's getting the kickbacks?
I only wish I could get paid 11 hours for shoveling snow but my work at the SSC is monitored.
The district does not use someone to change a light fixture the maintenance department does that. Trips to Menards are back on and getting out of control. The limit of bidding was raised to $5000 and we have a purchasing person that has already saved over $100,000 since she started. We have always had a pest service so I am not sure what you are speaking of. They bid it every few years.
The debate with Albert is sad I would hate to see our maintenance people run off another Director. Just do your jobs starting Merle when we see you at SSC we run because we don't want our supervisors to think we are just gossiping. A conversation with with him is at least 30 minutes on the clock.
Maybe Mr Patron can donate some time and do a work ticket audit.
The Dec 25th cost for snow removal was as follows Sidewalks $ 3,227.63 71 hrs Plowing $ 4,650.01 72.25 hrs Total $ 7,877.64 143.25 hrs
Dec 26th sidewalks $ 670.32 12.25 hrs
Total Dec 25 &26 $ 8,547.96 155.50 hrs w/IMRF $ 9,351.47
Merle Herren summary 11 hours @ $ 64.36 per hr total $ 707.96
Was there a summary report containing the following info 1 What was total snowfall 2 Why were 4 plows assigned to East High 3 Why did it take 16.25 hrs for sidewalks @ East High 4 Who made the decision to bring in 22 employees for the 25th 5 Could the work been done on a non holiday since school was on vacation 6 Was there a summary sheet turned in by each emp summarizing how long it took at each building 7 How will this cost affect the budget for this school year 8 Is there a report for Scott Osman truck breakdown & Merle Herren turning off the Fire Alarm 9 Was the Supervisor (Mike Huston?) on top of the activity during this time 10 The organizing of this snow removal is shameful and needs verification before autorizing payment to those suspicious hours for work performed 11 The new equipment recently purchased was approved to avoid this abuse
Looks to me that this was very excessive and abusive in many forms. I will have a follow up FOIA requesting this and additional info
Appears that certain individuals took advantage of this scenario to their benefit Outrage by the community summarizes this event. Will Outsourcing of Snow Removal be revisited as a result of this Please address this publicly in addition to a written response
There have been no changes to today's crew. Alberto has done nothing about the employees who abused overtime. Yes the problem is our contract but those of us who work hard are not rewarded. Here is a thought outsource snow plowing and let those of us who work do the sidewalks. Sidewalks will be done with no overtime today.
Roberto the Buildings and Grounds Director is afraid of the union and has allowed the union to revert back to running the department. One of the B&G supervisors told me Roberto is incompetent and does not even have the valid custodial bid done. The Custodial bid expired June 30, 2017. So I don't know how they are purchasing supplies. Bea in charge of B&G, she is responsible. Is there anyone watching the other bids in the buildings and grounds department that have expired. Where is McDonald ? What was the outcome of Dr. McDonald and Dr. Hoyda over charging the district for their time. That issue got swept under the rug.
It is so cute when you write about things you don't understand. You are not stupid, you just have bad luck when you try to think.
If it took all those hours just to shovel snow, it would take a B & G employee 100 times longer to perform any task that is outsourced. We would not lose money on outsourcing.
Next time, shock us and write something intelligent.
Have been received numerous responses concerning Cost of the Dec 25 2017 Snow Removal especially the excessive time and cost to the taxpayers.
These are the individuals need to be audited and viewed from the camera video's SIDEWALKJS Luis Salas Fireperson Manuel Esparza Lead Groundsperson Alejandor Ramos Custodian Ramon Moreno Custodian
SNOW PLOWING Frank Mendoza Fireperson Jesus Medina Fireperson Scott Osman Fireperson
1 Cost is Outrageous and obvious many padded their hours 2 What will be done if cameras support this was another scam in the OT HOURS 3 If this is the "Leadership" of the Union, is this the example they are displaying in representing the Union and D131 4 This Scam justifies Outsourcing the Snow Removal for starters 5 Will the BOE take action and insist this be corrected and hold those guilty accountable 6 Will D131 begin pursuing outsourcing and keep public updated 7 Can this issue be discussed publicly at the next BOE
I have been strongly urged to bring this issue out at the next BOE meeting however I have confidence the Superintendents will do the Right Thing and not let this go unresolved
Will several BOE members(shall I name them) deflect the issue and defend those guilty.
I ask this matter be a top priority The Taxpayers will be given updates as this Scam is investigated
Age of spin – Snow Plowing Drama in East Aurora District 131 - Part 1
Over Christmas break, I watched Dave Chappell’s “Age of Spin” comedy performance. It made me think about all of the propaganda, misinformation, spin, lies, and double-talk in District 131 that have become normalized. One of my New Year’s resolutions was to challenge the lies and the propaganda machine in D131 as well as the propaganda coming from the Whitehouse; they are very similar.
This blog and Ralph Padron have been tools of the D131 propagandist. I am an elected official, and like every board member, I have to face public criticism and the political smear that goes along with politics, but staff members come to D131 with the expectation of being treated like professionals. The propaganda and lies bother me the most when they are used to manipulate board members into causing reputation and career damage to staff members. I will also do my best to challenge the lies about board members and point out the patterns that I have observed during my time on the board.
The propaganda and lies make it difficult for board members to know, “what is true?” as we weigh district decisions.
If something seems outlandish on here, the question that I would encourage all blog users to ask, is, “Can you back that up?” I would also encourage board members to push back and make the propagandist defend the allegations about staff and other board members with facts.
I noticed that at least one person on this blog is cutting and pasting board comments and newspaper articles to defend his or her statements. That is a good practice, and that person probably has more credibility than the mudslingers.
The latest Padron attack makes it seem that our maintenance staff is running up an unnecessarily high bill by plowing snow on Christmas (because I’m sure they would rather be plowing instead of being home with their families). Padron’s e-mail subject reads, “Outrage of Snowplowing Cost Dec 24 2017.”
I asked the administration for some facts about the snow plowing, and I interviewed one of the people who plows snow. This is the administration’s response:
We have recently responded to a FOIA request with regards to custodians working on Christmas Day. In reviewing the situation, we wanted to share the following:
The decision was made to plow on December 25 for the following reasons:
1. The temperature was going to be dropping for the following days/week. There was concern that if the snow had frozen over, it would have made the clearing of the lots/sidewalks even more challenging, and possibly at a higher labor cost (more labor intensive to clear with ice).
2. December 26 was also an observed holiday. The contract states we have the day before Christmas as a holiday. Since that day was a Sunday, the observed holiday moved to Tuesday, December 26.
3. We had a basketball tournament on December 26, and the high school needed to be cleared for the tournament.
In hindsight, had we waited until December 26 early in the morning, (although it would have been double time for working on a holiday) we may have avoided some of the concerns.
Age of spin – Snow Plowing Drama in East Aurora District 131 - Part 2 In my discussion with one of the plow drivers, I also learned that the new configuration of the high school entrance means that they need an extra plow to remove the snow. This plow driver said that while they were still working, people were entering the building on Dec. 26th. This corroborates the above statement that an event was to be held at the high school the day after Christmas. Finally, this person said that they were simply following the direction of their bosses by plowing when they plowed. A side note here: It is no secret that District 131 has had high turnover in our B&G leadership, and it is completely acceptable that our newest department leader has not ironed out all the bugs during the unpredictable winter weather. They have to use their best judgement and plow forward (get it).
If it matters, my older brother plows snow and had the responsibility of clearing the beautiful Christmas powder from a local grade school and high school. I know that he was working the night of the holiday snowfall until 6:30 AM, and his last job was plowing and salting the schools.
So you can believe Ralph’s conspiracy that our maintenance staff is trying to rip off the taxpayers and that one staff member, whose name is mentioned frequently in Ralph’s e-mail, is somehow responsible, or you can believe that we had a need to remove the snow, and many public schools were doing the exact same thing over Christmas.
My position on snow plowing is to stand firmly behind our administration and support the decisions made by our B&G leadership and staff. I firmly oppose the privatization and outsourcing of plowing services, and I am thankful that our staff answered the call to work on this important family holiday.
Here are some questions that you should be asking yourself: 1) It is clear that Ralph has an inside contact who leaked information to him. What is the leaker’s agenda? 2) Why has Ralph singled out one person in his e-mail to board members? In the past, when Ralph singles out one person, that person’s name eventually reaches the board in executive session. 3) What is the Padron pattern and his role in the propaganda machine? 4) Has Ralph Padron ever plowed snow? 5) What is the motivation of
Although many have alleged my posting here, this is my first posting on this blog. If I post, I will always self-identify, and as a public official, you can call me anytime (630.878.7454) if you hear any smear that you want to discuss. I can’t promise to research or correct everything as this is very time consuming, but I will work to do a better job. This is such an abnormal school district. I am sorry that our staff has to put up with this unnecessary drama.
Many staff and board members have cautioned against reading the blog or challenging Padron. We’ve tried the appeasement approach, and D131 is still riddled with lies and propaganda. I am trying something different. I also fully expect that lies and smear about myself will only be amplified as I continue to press for a full superintendent search process that includes internal and external candidates.
We need a cultural change in D131. Our current culture of destruction and "gotcha" need to be replaced with a culture of teamwork. As a board member I will do my best to be part of that change and let our next superintendent know that Ralph Padron is free to exercise his first amendment rights, but quite frankly, he and his opinion are persona non grata.
John Laesch you are propagandist. You main interest is in getting votes for some future election and you could care less about the staff or children. This is a ploy to solicate donations nothing more.
The parking lot at East is the same as any strip mall, so if the worker is not qualified we need to find others that can get the job done. The waste of school district time and money subtracted valuable resources meaning dollars from our other staff.
Mr Laesch there are facts you are not aware of. Prior to working at the District I had five years of plow experience but I have not been able to get an opportunity to plow. There is no rotation or job assignment based on qualifications. We always assign plow work to Union reps only. This is a black mark not only on the new Director but the department. With 22 people working and the amount of time spent I makes us look like we don't work hard.
When the facts come out and it is shown that the maintenance workers did their job as ordered by administration, Ralph Padron should be sued. The Union should lead the legal fight against him for his defamatory and libelous comments on this blog. Maybe if he lost his fancy Naperville home, he would think twice before destroying the lives of good people trying to do their job as best they can. I’m sure during that investigation, they could uncover the conspiracy between Ralph and Annette.
I agree with Admins decision on the plowing. I also, agree about the Ralph and Annette conspiracy. Annette has given Ralph the idea he is important and valuable (to her) so he continues to do her dirty work, which is to make union workers (b&g and teachers) look bad whenever possible. Even if it requires false claims or stretching the truth. Hindsight, you will always find better options. Some decisions have to be made promptly and in the best interest of the district. When dealing with weather and things out of human control, it is a 50-50 shot on what will be the best choice. Making it more difficult is the folks who are lying in waiting to jump on the opportunity to call someone out when the choice was not the best. Bad....majorly bad choices.... have been made by many admin and boards of the past and recent past in EA. Since the Board has chosen a president who tries to have her hands in every aspect of the business of the district, things have only gotten worse. Job descriptions exist to outline who, how and when. When there is outside interference....consistently! ....it is an obvious cause for the efficient processes to be disrupted. It creates a breakdown in communication through the rank and file.
I agree with John about the jobs remaining with the district employees. As for the person with 5 years snow plow experience. If it is not in your job description, or if this is a union position and your are not a member, there as reason you cannot just come to work in EA and expect to be rotated into a job that you were not hired to perform. We have teachers with admin qualifications, but that doesn't mean they can take turns being the principal.
Ralph is a pot stirrer. Every time his pal is stewing about something, he gets sent to stir the pot. He is always posting "more to come." More comes but his stewing pot has no substance. If he and Annette put as much effort into actually working WITH all employees in the district to improve all aspects of our district, it would be time spent that would have some value.
I appreciate Board members and all staff who continue to do the best they are able in spite of all the disruption. Thank you!
I am going to assume that you work in District 131 and I want to say that I appreciate your service and hard work. Until someone proves differently, I will also assume that all of our staff work hard and give the district their best.
As a board member, it is not our job to get involved in the scheduling issues with district employees, but I hope that you can raise your concerns through union leadership or district administration.
The board does get involved in the union contract, but I did not participate in those discussions during the past negotiations nor have I looked at the contract.
It is not clear to me if you are advocating for privatized plowing or not, but if you are a firm believer in this, and you are not plowing snow for the district, perhaps you could still make money plowing for others in the private sector. It sounds like you have the necessary experience. I have plowed snow in the past, but I think that the unpredictable weather is too much of a gamble for me to own a plow truck.
I knew that my posting here would invite this kind of controversy and I am ready for it.
You questione my intent for seeking this office. Here is my response.
I took this volunteer job on the East Aurora School Board because I saw the current board president and the past board president embroiled in a public controversy that involved “yo mama insults.” Stephanie Lulay with the Beacon News reported on it in 2012. This is a link to the openline version of the exchange. I hope you take time to listen to the audio.
I attended my first board meeting after this article and it seemed that there was room for improvement. Since taking office in 2015, I have learned that Ray Hull was right on a number of accounts and the racial undertones underscored by Johnson's reference to “the projects” and conservative hate displayed that night reflect her true self. She seems only concerned about herself as a taxpayer who is footing the bill for poor people. The overwhelming majority of EA students come from families living in high poverty.
What kind of message is Johnson sending to the families we serve when she says, “While you were living in public housing, my mom was paying those taxes.”
Taxpyer 1, as someone who is concerned about taxes, do you agree with Johnson’s statements below? Secondly, you have questioned my intent on the board. Have you questioned Johnson’s intent on the board? I mean, she makes it pretty clear in this exchange with Hull. And what do you think of her calling Hull a “loser?” Who at the national level does that sound like?
My second response to Taxpayer1 will be in my next post. This blog only allows 4090 characters so my responses might not be fluid. Also, I can see this going on all day so I will do my best to respond, but can’t promise that I can keep up. I expect the attacks to keep on rolling in.
East Aurora School Board President Annette Johnson, an Aurora business owner, and board member Ray Hull, head of the city of Aurora’s water and sewer department, engaged in a bitter war of words at the afternoon meeting on Dec. 6.
Although several heated exchanges took place in the two-hour public committee session, in the last few minutes of the meeting, the two took intensely personal jabs at each other. Following a disagreement about janitorial bids, Johnson and Hull took a detour from the Buildings and Grounds Committee agenda:
“I guess you work for me at the city because I pay your wages through my taxes,” Johnson said. “While you were living in public housing, my mom was paying those taxes.” Hull responded: “How do you like that big ol’ house by yourself over there? What do you hug at night, your pillow or your mannequin?” Later, Johnson said: “This man... he wants to be me.”
Hull: “I love the projects. Me and (East Aurora spokesman) Clayton (Muhammad) was right next to each other in those same projects.”
Johnson: “Yup, while I was paying those taxes.”
Hull: “My mother was paying rent, too, and your mother might have been a slumlord, for all I know. Just like you.”
Johnson goes on to say that Hull lacks intelligence and is a loser, while Hull says that Johnson is mean, nasty, bipolar and “crazy as a roller.”
“Mr. Hull is just a loser, quite frankly,” Johnson said.
Hull fires back: “Your mama was a loser, and your daddy was, too. And you’re one, too.” East Superintendent Jerome Roberts and board member Anita Lewis attempted to curb the fighting at the meeting.
“Why don’t you guys go out to supper?” Lewis said. “What does this have to do with me sitting here for buildings and grounds?” But the fighting continued.
Johnson: “Mr. Hull had his degree paid for by me, Mrs. Taxpayer. Listen to this man, attacking my dead mother.”
Hull: “And you talking about me being a loser. Go find someone to marry... You didn’t pay nothing for me, honey.”
During a discussion with staff earlier in the meeting, Hull called Johnson a bully. “No one is having an antagonistic situation except you, you came into this room looking for a fight, and you’re going to get one from me,” Johnson said to Hull. “You can bully everyone in this room. You can bully these boys but you won’t bully me,” Hull said. “You’re not going to tell me anything.”
At one point, a school district staff member came into the room, asking if she could close the door because of the loud quarrel. “No. It’s a public meeting,” Hull replied.
Hull said Thursday the fight that escalated out of control was a “symptom of a much bigger problem.”
“It’s a symptom of a dysfunctional board. This is certainly not the only incident that’s been ugly,” he said.
Johnson called the incident a “blow out” fight. “It’s been one thing after another (with the board) and it just caught me on the wrong day,” Johnson said. Both Johnson and Hull said they regret parts of the argument.
“I rolled in the mud with (Johnson). I made a choice. I never would have said anything about her mother if she didn’t say mine was a freeloader,” Hull said. “I know I let God down with my behavior.”
Johnson said Hull’s words came on the anniversary of her mother’s death. Hull said his mother died when he was 19. Apologies aside, both board members said they don’t agree with the other’s management style.
Johnson said Hull “gets more into defending individual (East staffers) than looking at the bigger picture. “He’s hard to work with,” Johnson said.
Hull said he cannot “stand by and watch (Johnson) abuse staff.”
“The board — we don’t work as a team. It’s like Annette Johnson and the Pips. It’s her show,” he said.
John Laesch is at it again with attacking Annette Johnson. Annette may at times be to passionate but she has done a lot for our district. John on the other hand only comes to meeting when he feels it is time to create chaos. Annette is a strong women who stands up to John and does not take his abuse.
I have known John for years and he can't exist unless he attacking someone. This abuse is always limited to women.
Let's not loss site the district should always find the most cost effective ways to work. The money saved educates our children. It's interesting for all union members to note John does not think our schools our good enough for his step children they actually attend a private school. John has no problem outsourcing their education and remember this is a person who says YOU ARE CAPABLE. DONT BELIEVE HIS LIES.
Annette Johnson should get a order of protection against John Laesch. John is getting worse. Padron has had informants in the Buildings department for years. We never complained when he helped us expose Feltes or Demire. I will never believe he is involved with Annette on this. Was it not Ralph who would pick at Annette over insurance?
John instead the conspiracy theories examine the facts. There is at least one supervisor who wanted the Director position we all know he is a friend of Ralph and does not want Albert to be successful. The reality is Albert also picked Jorge as AD of grounds. Merle and Albert are good friends and seen often talking for hours. We can all expect the in fighting to continue. Albert is protected by Bea. Everybody in 131 knows Bea is Annettes pet. Why would Annette allow Ralph to work against Bea. This is all about one supervisor and his ego. Address this and you will address the daily soap opera we work with.
Ray Hull and Johnson are friends, I attend services with him and his comment is Annette worked to change the district and He supports her. He feels they have been both been made victims by the news media and administration who have not always forthright. Patron has attacked them both biblically and in the public. What has Patron done to Laesch? The administration never ran the snow plowing Andy Fare did and kept employees honest. It is no surprise that everything hit the fan for the first snow plow Andy did not run after retirement.
Both Ray and Annette have made a difference in many children's lives. MR Laesch it's not always about you. Why not do something for a child.
Triple time??!! Where the hell do you get your facts from?! And by the way they were off work on Tuesday too for the holiday! And the reason they had to plow was because there were tournaments on Tuesday morning! Get your facts together before you open your mouth!
You are full of it if you are stating that Annette and Ray are friends. I went to most of the board meetings when they were on together and the hatred between them was palpable. Here is the real truth. The board has been dysfunctional for many years. The only consistent factor in ALL the districts dysfunctional relationships has been Annette Johnson. She has not been able to work with board members, administrations (yes plural) unions, community groups (except the decomposing Stonegate Crowd). The district will never move forward as long as Annette Johnson is running everything. John Laesch is just the latest in a long line of feuds that Annette Johnson has had.
First, let me respond to Paula Martinez. Thank you so much for having the courage to use your name on this blog. It gives you credibility in what you are saying. And, you are making the same point about the plowing that I did - there is more to the story than that which Mr. Padron is saying. It is designed to look like a scandal, yet he omits facts about the basketball tournament the next day and the fact that those were overtime days also.
I will be posting another piece about Padron's deliberate omissions and missing facts.
You are on target about who/ what the real problem is. You can always tell who has gone against AJ recently, they seem to become the blog subject. She pretends to dislike the blog, but it is apparent she is the one who uses it the most to attempt to discredit others. She has had disagreements with nearly everyone she has had to work with at some point in time. Being board president is her claim to fame. Without it she has nothing.
I live in Hulls neighborhood and teach in 131, and yes he did have a sign in his yard for only Johnson during the last school race.
The district has improved under Annette and past boards in the last six years. Laesch is a person few respect in the district. I believe this is a flawed attempt on his part to defend excessive waste. We have money today because luxuries like this have been cut out.
Most of the administration is better but you would have to question why anyone would make their workers work on a Christmas. I will assume they did make triple time. I am sure double time was paid for work plus the holiday. That is poor administration. It also appears some workers put down extra time. Again, what about all the administration we should ask did they leave their families and work on Christmas. Everyone talks about parking lots freezing over. Again, does our administration not view whether forecasted? By the time students came back to work snow had melted.
We are asked to improve our performance and I will not listen to other departments excuses as a taxpayer and staff member.
As taxpayer in 131 and a staff member who has a child attend 131 schools I would like to clarify why we have no respect for you.
First, the tape against Johnson was several years back and in that tape she was complaining about waste. Staff knows the tape was a discussion private discussion that Glotzbach and Aird illegally recorded.
The blame for the lack of 131 progress can be laid at their doorstep. She is a hero to many for leading the charge to get rid of them. If you took the time to understand John look at their record.
Aird had her favorites and she was more concerned about her social agenda than moving the district forward. She also asked staff to gender identity students and if you did not comply with her agenda staff was under daily retaliation. She had a hit list.
Glotzbach was no different retaliation was her motto. Staff had no input. Her replacement ( Megazzini)is fair and always open to input. Glotzbach was also responsible for poor record keeping and millions lost in insurance.
It was Annette who took the hard punches on the insurance and that alone changed the financial climate for staff.
I also feel if you really believed we are a great staff your step child would attend our schools. It is certainly your right to send them to the school of your choice but it's clear Mr Laesch you do not trust us. It is clear you have no accomplishments but attacking someone who does not deserve it.
If you look closely at this blog the pattern is clear. I am glad Mr Laesch decided to take a stand on here, the people who post the most garbage on this blog sling mud at him regularly. Whether the violent exchange with Annette happened long ago is not the issue. The issue is that she behaved that way and it is part of the pattern. This school district has wonderful teachers and students but administration is often the problem. The biggest problem EA has is its weak school board that allows a bully like Annette to create constant chaos and drama. Many of us see you AJ. We see your posts and what you do. Your fans are as blind as Trump's, the students of EA and the teachers deserve stability and sanity. Stop the attacks on staff and anyone who you decide isn't on your team.
If you want to talk about facts then that is a good idea. John Laesch had not been mentioned on the posts for a long time. Why now? Why does he respond now. One post says step children go to private school, but there is only one step child in Illinois. The other child did not move to Illinois when his mother, John's new wife, moved to Illinois to marry John Laesch. She posted that no mother would want her child to be subjected to the bashing on the blog, and while this may be true, what mother would separate her children so far - Illinois and Texas. More to that story I am sure but hard to say what a mother should subject her children to when you have already left one behind. John Laesch has been a long time political person and much of what he says or does will always have the political angle.
Anonymous 1: why don't you post your real name so I can dig up information about your life and your loved ones and post it on here? My husband ran for the school board, not me, but people like you with no class show your low character by pulling me in and attacking me through my children. I hope you feel proud of yourself, coward. I am proud of myself, my husband, and my children, and nothing you or any other weak person hiding behind a keyboard can say about me will change it.
We can all bet John is on to this because he is involved in politics. Jessie Vargas is the person John should blame he has the most experience and has had snow meeting at the HS. He should have coordinated the plowing at East because he is responsible for the campus. Everyone here knows Jessie is not a fan of the group on Hill Ave he has made that clear.
I work at the HS and watched John use his position on the BOE to advance his political causes and create chaos. He had meetings with some of us and promised us he would support Spencer Byrd only to back stab Spencer and turn emails over to Popp.
Crespo now becomes Principal and again some of us trust him and give him information. OUR emails again end up in Popps hands. He was well aware Crespo would photograph custodians but did nothing to defend their rights.
Crespo then gets moved to the EAEC and Laesch has meetings with him and harasses district admin about the way he was treated. Ask yourself why was he pro Crespo? It was because Crespo encouraged students to vote the Been.
Laesch also leaves many questions about his view of EA and us as teachers. Why would you not want your step children to experience all of the diversity EA has to offer. He often professed his support of minority causes. It shows it is a act.
Jennifer I feel sorry for you and those who know the real John know your honeymoon will soon be over. He is a complete narcissist who believes in only himself. Ask yourself why someone who is single with no real ties to Aurora would have not put you first and moved to Texas. Your children should always come first. They are living apart and at least one was forced to leave her friends behind. Your son is missing the daily guidance of a strong women. I would post my name but like several who know John they are afraid to speak up against him or face the attacks other face. I will share this when John was coming back from Texas he confided that your relationship would not work and he would break up with you if you did not move. This type of behavior is why John few supporters and his treatment of not putting you first shows he has no class.
This FOIA is a result of several conversations today requesting I personally do an in depth investigation of this event.
The $ 9,000.00 + cost is equivalent to 1 homeowner's property taxes in areas of Aurora
Date: Jan 16 2018 Subject: Dec 24 2017 Snow Removal 1 Video Copies of all buildings to include sidewalks & parking lots 2 Time sheet reports of all employees whom worked 3 Pay check summary of those whom worked this would be the pay period of Dec 24 2018 4 Approval of OT for payment 5 Fire Alarm Report for Johnson School 6 Truck Towing and repair report for Scott Osman
Dec 29 2017 Snow Removal Summary The FOIA speaks for itself total cost $ 5,849.95 $ 6,400.00 with IMRF
Again will need camera video to validate the following
Luis Salas 11 hrs - sidewalks Plowing & hours Merle Herren 13.75 Frank Menoza 9 Jesus Medina 7.5 Scott Osman 9.75 Zachary D'Ercola 12.75 Gregory Coulouris 12.25
Does BG Director (Albert Tijerina) question any of these hours
The plowing make no sense 65 hours really they all need to be fired. If teachers did this and taught at this pace we would be fired. I knew our maintenance department was bad news but this is nuts!
Date: Jan 18 2018 Subject: Gates School Water Damage
Please provide the following
1 Report of this incident 2 Photos 3 Status of rooms damaged 4 Estimate cost of replacement of damaged educational tools 5 B & G director report/ Notification (emails or documents) to District of this damage 6 Notification to parents 7 Fireman (Sergio Sanchez) checklist of rooms being inspected before the damage occured
FOIA REQUEST Date: Jan 18 2018 Subject: Snow Removal Timeline: Dec 1 2017 - Dec 23 2017 January 1 - Jan 18 2018 All reports to include costs and time of any snow removal
Applications, Resume, Contracts Job Description Alberto Tijerino Zachary DErcola
The Gates water damage was avoidable. Staff have been warning the district for years about the freezing problem in the computer lab. It was just a matter of time before the pipes burst and did significant damage. If Ralph was to FOIA something, he should FOIA all emails to building and grounds directors at least back to Nestor Garcia and see that the district had been warned for years that this was going to happen. But hell, B&G directors only give a damn what their budget looks like that year. Who cares if the districts has to pay millions later.
I work at Gates school our current person Sanchez who makes more than the teachers is worthless. The building is never maintained and they have hired additional people to help him. The administration is no better. They simply forgot to turn on the heat and blamed teachers. Please ask yourself why for two weeks did Sanchez not open up the door and check on the room. He also never opened the band room door. The teacher came back to find his room destroyed now the carpets are moldy and the districts response is they are fine.
Ralph can be asked to FOIA all he wants. He can claim people are requesting him to do these. I don't care. But I wish he would keep it to himself until he actually has something substantial. Also, don't share until he can say Joe Blow was fired due to my FOIA. Or "the board found problems resulting due to mismanagement." But until their are some consequences paid by someone for anything that is supposedly done wrong, due to his "investigations, Ralph is just spitting in the wind.
I really think it is common sense that there should be no raises for anyone in the district. Union employees should have their step raises eliminated and only a 1.5% COLA given for the next 3 years. There should also be no vacation time awarded for teachers other than the days off in the student calendar year. Should have some merit based bonuses included on the upcoming talks, but other than that it is time to use that critical thinking skill and stop unsustainable spending.
In looking at the results over the last 5 years, looks like Popp was not the idiot the teachers said he was. Graduation rates went up! Seems his treat the kids as if they are as good as any district around here paid off.
Looks like Mike Popp just can not give up. The graduation rates rose under Byrd and Kosek. It seems like Popp, Handley, Glotzbach and Pardon just can not go away.
I agree about the grad rates. Those at the high school made that happen...in spite of all the dysfunction at the SSC. Then they get rid of the guy helping to make it happen. I wish Byrd would come back and be Supt.
Date: January 22 2018 Subject: East High Stadium Timeline: Jan 13 2018
Security camera video & card swipe for entry into the garage at East High Stadium Employee Card Swipe record for Garage and any door entrances within and accessing stadium 12:01 am - 07:00 am time period
Gregory Coulouris-Application, Resume
Overtime Summary July 1 2017 - Jan 22 2018 Luis Salas Merle Herren Jeff Strah Scott Osmon Greg Coularis Zachary Dercola Sergio Sanchez Manuel Esparza Ramon Moreno
How about the nonstop bells at the high school. You have one set of bells and than another set starts which is as loud as an air raid drill. These go off evey 24 minutes. The kids are very agitated by these bells and they totally disrupt all instruction. This has been going on for weeks now. You can't tell me they couldn't have someone fix this problem in a day or two. Total incompetence.
From: R Padron Sent: Friday, January 26, 2018 7:57:03 AM
Subject: WITHDRAWAL OF ALL FOIA's IN HOUSE Good Morning
I am requesting that all FOIA's presently in house be withdrawn. Due to the progress of these areas, I am comfortable that corrective action will be taken resulting in a stronger School district
Why does the district have so many teachers half days? Do they not come trained, I lost a day of pay. I better not hear they are demanding a big raise.
Quit your pitching! Are you new to having a child in school? Half days have been going on for a very long while.
This is nothing new. Our teachers are dedicated and educated. Added training is required in many jobs.
If it is a day for training, it could very well be for -" how to handle difficult parents."
Sometimes they are required to be off during the day to accommodate parent conference schedules at night, for parents who work during the day. I worked full time during the 25 years I had children in school. The teachers are with your children each day, during more of their waking hours than you. Suck it up buttercup. Rather than pitch a fit, why not do like many of us.....and use that time to enjoy some extra time with your children.
You sound misinformed. One teachers don't make the schedule. 2. If these teachers demand a raise so what. I believe as taxpayers in this district you should invest in those who teach our kids. Some of the good teachers my kids had when they were younger are no longer around because this district couldn't compete with their neighbors as far as pay. 3. Is the most important thing and that's do your part as a parent and help enforce what these teachers are teaching and get more involved with the district. You'll see it either for what you thought it was or you will have a better perspective. One thing for sure I would be able to take your criticism seriously if you were more involved.
What a great day for teacher training. Beatrice told the teachers at the Benevides Kindergarten not to go to the school board and speak. What is she afraid they might say?
I attended the same training and did not hear her say that. It sounds like Gentile is out spreading stories. I did hear some Magnet staff members do not want some of the proposed changes to happen. Apparently they do not want to get transferred to Oak Park. Most of us know the Magnet teachers like Jennifer could never teach a real class in 131.
Isn't half a day the normal day for a teacher? They are only in front of kids for only 5 hours to begin with. So, if they have to stick around for a full day, they are probably not used to that.
Why not use the weekends and summer for "training" and at no additional pay. Our snowflake teachers should suck it up and actually teach during the school year. Could be the start of a trend that may catch on. Maybe the students would get better results also. No. more. money. No. more. raises. Results first.
Wow 4 wins and 8 losses so far this season. Sure glad Annette Johnson, Dr. McDonald and Marina Kosak got rid of Coach Jeffries to make the team better. What a joke. Every time the board and admin “Improve” things, the kids suffer.
The district tested 3200 water fountains and only 500 came back with no measurable lead. That means 2700 fountains had measurable lead levels. I’m reminded of the commercial that aired lately where vendor offers people water with acceptable levels of lead. Not one person would drink it. Yet in District 131 we give it to children unable to understand and make informed decisions about the ramifications of drinking this dangerous liquid.
Lead builds up in your tissues over long periods of time. Your body can not remove it naturally. It builds and builds until it begins to impair brain function. This certainly explains a lot of the decisions made by the adults in the East Aurora community.
Nothing changes in East Aurora. Just cover it up, sweep it under the rug. Don’t do anything that may cost the taxpayers money. Screw these little black and brown kids. They all come from S#|+hole countries anyway.
Reality is Trevon Brown was transferring to West Aurora to receive better coaching and play for a winning program. Trevon was related to Jefferies but his father wanted no part of Jefferies. He considers Jefferies and his program undisplined.
If Jefferies would have coached the program we would have had zero victories. A major improvement is the study club Robinson is running. Athletes will have a better chance to compete academically.
Kosek needs to continue to push Jefferies out he still comes to work when he feels like it. She also needs to watch the Badminton team. Some past students are talking.
It is my understanding we had Union representation on the calender committee. If this is any example of what our leadership has been working on for we are screwed with negotiations. VERY UPSET ALONG WITH EVERYONE AT EAHS. DID ANYONE CONSIDER MOST BUILDING ARE NOT AIR CONDITIONED. OUR ENTIRE LEADERSHIP TEAM SITS IN AIR CONDITIONED CLASSROOMS OR OFFICES. IT SHOWS WHAT THEY THINK OF US
The committee also had a number of high school teachers who found starting the school year earlier important enough to join the committee and have their voices heard. As usual, people like you do nothing except complain on an anonymous blog. Here’s a hint for you, you are the union. If you are not happy with the decisions being made, get off your half moons and get your voice heard. If you want fair representation on negotiations, get everyone off the tears and stand together. This is always the issue in East Aurora, people standing around pointing fingers instead of demanding the change they want.
The fact is the team should have no victories. Ricky Robinson has been playing ineligible players. The AD and principal know this has been going on but they do nothing because they know that Robinson is protected by Beatrice Reyes-Childress and Annette Johnson. It’s a shame because the kids he is starting do nothing. They don’t even come to practice most days. Many of the players have quit the team because they were sick of doing all the right things like coming to practice regularly and passing their classes yet being overlooked on game day for those who are failing and only show up on game day. Why are politics always put ahead of the children of East Aurora?
Hello all Sources are telling me no disciplinary action (suspension or termination) is happening to
1 Manny Esparza (security violation (s) at East High 2 Sergio Sanchez Gates Elementary turning heat off resulting in damage to classrooms and materials. SERGIO BLAMES THE TEACHERS!
Both employees are boasting about the lack of discipline
I entrusted those in command to handle these matters and expected termination due to the severity of the violations. Need I go into detail about the security violation with Manny Esparza especially with the level of violence at schools in the USA.
This is all heresay at this point of no action taken.
I understand that D131 cannot share personnel information with these 2 men however the fact that both are still working speaks for itself.
I do not expect any response verifying or denying the above however I will not sit back and accept the decision if true.
Here is a response from a prominent Carillon resident "Ralph, Stay on this what caused the damage broken water pipe? "
Will continue to update the Carillon Group and others that there is no action taken as of yet.
Oh, poor, poor Ralph. Your "sources" and Carillon Group and Annette are making you their minion. Use your talent and time for something that may actually be productive......for yourself or your family. So much time and energy being used and it is always -no corrective action, no consequences. Give it a rest Mr. Padron.
Ralph Padron is on his own with this one. Pardon and Vargas are attacking hard working maintenance people. Talk about hate, Padrons informant is Vargas. Vargas applied for both positions but is so bad nobody will promote him. Pardon needs to go away but with Vargas working @ 131 he is like this years flu it keeps coming back.
Upon studying the recent FOIA response, it appears Jorge has begun utilizing Warehouse Direct for many a purchase. I am preparing a report showing many a discrepancy and violations.
Example: 1 Purchase Orders with a new Vendor. 2 What happened to the previous vendors 3 Were they given the opportunity to quote on these items 4 Bid Stringing - there are more issues
Unique Products (St Charles Vendor) 1 Many service calls to repair Scrubbers (Small Engine repairs) 2 Did not EA promote Joseph Blasing to do this type of work. 3 Why does BG call Unique for this work 4 I compared total cost, time , materials, and TRAVEL TIME 5 No doubt Mr Blasing is MORE THAN QUALIFIED to do these repairs.
THE PURCHASE ORDERS WERE CREATED AFTER WORK WAS PERFORMED AND INVOICED IS THIS NEW PROTOCOL
Even if Purchasing for BG is centralized at the Business Office are these employees given a free pass?
When will 131 stop investing good money in a bad investment
I wish I could just stop discovering these issues however the employees proved they could not be trusted.
Ralph not everyone who has a job in BNG can not be trusted. Maybe you should tell the truth about Jessie Vargas. Jessie has his own scams going on at the HS. During his time many tools went missing from construction sites. The funny thing is security cameras were taped over. Only one person has that excess. So while you ruin everybodies name look into your friend Jessie. Also everyone should ask why every time somebody gets promoted and Jessie does not we have to go through calling everyone else dishonest.
PS Ralph ask why sound equipment disappeared? Pull all the missing reports on computers until the district setup security on the devices. See Ralph everyone is dishonest according to your world.
The classrooms at Brooks elementary in Stonebridge (204) are not air conditioned either quit whining . Most every school that is at least 20 yrs old don’t have Central ac
So help me out . Jeffries had no winning seasons since Boatwright graduated. He beat west 1 x in 14 seasons. He never made an adjustment that mattered other screaming . Now assistant coaches who were safe under Coach J. R blogging cause they may be out of position next year. Coach Robinson was handed this group of players that J and his sophomore coaches had last year. The best 7 players are playing on game night. The best player and point guard transferred because his relative lost his job.This isn’t about participation trophies for all players. You play your way on to the floor. The team actually runs plays now , something they weren’t used to. Coach J strategy was playground b ball. 4 wins is 2 more than Becker had in 6 years on the gridiron. The boys are in every game and are a true point guard and scorer away from a major turnaround . The bad news is that point guard is not on the soph squad. Every varsity player played for the current coaches either on freshmen or sophomore team and we know they won conference at both levels until Robinson got screwed them up.
Robinson has setup a study skills clubs with a local non profit. Grades are important to him. The story that he is playing ineligible is simply that a story and a lie. Robinson visits staff about students and instills discipline in them. That was not true of Jefferies.
The charge of ineligible players is false for the following reason:
Eligibility is decided by the AD office and they do not look the other way. There are to many naysayers that would report Williams in a minute. Torres is also not a big Robinson fan and folks around the PE department
Date: Feb 5 2018 Subject: Jorge Villagomez Timeline: Sept 1 2017 - Feb 5 2018
Application, Resume, Contract, Job Description Emails to/from Jorge Villagomez, Alberto Tijerina & Warehouse Direct E LOG OF JORGE
1 Vendors visiting B G (Alberto & Jorge) Sept 1 2017 - Jan 31 218 Alberto mentioned in a meeting with Mark McDonal & myself, 5 specific vendors who gave presentations related to janitorial products
2 Public Posting of Floor Mat Bid 3 All Open Purchase Orders as of Feb 5 2018
Ralph knock off the crap. You know damn well that no employee in District 131 has the authority to purchase anything unilaterally. There’s a process with many approvals needed before anything is purchased. The building fireman has to approve purchases, as well as the building principal. It then goes to Central Office where directors / assistant superintendents have to give their OK. It then goes to finance for their approval. If it’s a significant amount, it will need the superintendents and board approval. Even if it is not a significant amount, it is still reviewed by the superintendents and board on a monthly basis.
You need to quit waking the dead in Stonegate by making all sorts of false allegations against hard working people. You have become a disgrace.
First I must state that Shields is a 1st class Auditor and I have the utmost respect for her ability.
The following info is SECOND HAND info from a source whom is very reliable. Stated publicly at the recent B G meeting the reason new vendors replaced long time vendors was they "RAISED PRICES".
Comments/Questions Have Ms Shields Produce documents, quotes, emails supporting her statement. I see a pattern that statements like this can be made without supporting documentation. My concerns have always been supported with FOIA documents.
I have spoken in great length with longtime vendors Mayfair Hotel & Supply and Valdes LLC concerning this. They were NEVER contacted to quote on the Purchases in question in fact could have saved money if they were given the opportunity. Call them yourself
Dr McDonald assured me that purchasing would be done exclusively by the Business Office which is a step in the right direction finally. Hopefully this is in effect immediately
I mentioned to Mayfair & Valdes to contact the Business Office to have the opportunity to quote on upcoming purchases
Both companies were victims of the Dave Rana purchasing scandal and very helpful in exposing the scam.
Also requested they speak at the next BOE meeting as both did in previous years. I will FOIA Elizabeth Shields documents supporting her statements
So your argument is that Mayfair & Valdes could have been giving the district better prices for the past many years but they have been deliberately overcharging the district because of their (or others) greed. And now somehow a district employee who found a company selling the same product for a better price is wrong for not going back to the companies that have been screwing the district and be fair to them??? Sounds to me that Rana should be given a medal for saving the district money. The only person who could have a problem with this is somebody who is losing their kickbacks. You need to quit acting as Annette’s attack dog. Enough is enough.
Special Tuesday, February 13, 2018 5:00 PM School Service Center - 417 Fifth Street, Aurora, IL I. Roll Call II. Action Items: A. Motion to Approve a Letter of Agreement with Hazard Young Attea and Associates to Conduct the Remaining Steps as Proposed in the Superintendent Search Proposal Submitted to the Board on September 22, 2017 III. Discussion on Superintendent Search A. Next Steps - Dr. Peter Flynn/K. Giles IV. Executive Session for the Purpose of Discussing the Appointment, Employment and Dismissal of a Specific Employee V. Public Comments/Questions VI. Adjournment
Special Tuesday, February 13, 2018 6:30 PM School Service Center - 417 Fifth Street, Aurora, IL I. Roll Call II. Discussion on Goal Setting - Laura Martinez (IASB) III. Public Comments/Questions IV. Adjournment
Ralph is the attack dog of Jessie Vargas. After many attempts poor Jessie did not get the job of Director again. Jessie then calls Ralph and anyone who attempts to report facts is attacked. The SB needs to have the law firm send Ralph a letter that he is not allowed to destroy employees. The SB needs to stop this troll.
First of all I commend Dr McDonald acknowledging that a mistake was made in the awarding of this bid to All American Paper. I strongly suspect it was Elizabeth Shields.
Questions/Comments
1 What warranted this be put out to Public Bid and who determined that. 2 Why was bid not awarded to the lowest bidder (Conserv Flag & Mats) a difference of $ 13K 3 Were they informed of not being awarded the bid despite being the lowest bidder 4 Whom determined that all buildings needed new floormats whereas in the past they were purchased as needed 5 What is the timeline of mats previously purchased in all buildings and who was the vendor 6 All American Paper was awarded the Bid. I find it suspicious that a company from Alberto's previous School Dist St Charles knew about this bid and is now doing business in janitorial supplies. They emerged out of nowhere. Wonder if Alberto had something to do with them. 7 Why was this Bid allowed to proceed. Appears that needs an explanation by someone in the Business Office.
I am strugging with contacting Conserv Flag & Mats of this scandal however I must do so if I am to be consistent in contacting those whom were done an injustice. Something is very suspicious here requiring FOIA's to answer these questions. Emails will be interesting
No need to follow up, Ralph. It really is not that "scandalous" don't waste your or our time.
I don't find it that unusual that a person in a position at a new employer, would not or could not be in touch with previous contacts or vendors. If they did well in that job, I would think they would have working relationships with many people on several levels. So, Ralph, quit "wondering about them emerging out of nowhere." It is called "doing business."
Are we ever going to deal with the violence in our schools? The West Side has gotten some criticism recently because they deal with violence in their schools. A simple fight and students are expelled. Result? Very little violence in their schools.
How about the East Side? There are fights, even riots in our buildings daily (even multiple times in a day) and the board and administration here do nothing. Just at East High in the past week there have been fights every day. Twice this week children have been beaten unconscious. We’ve had a riot with at least a dozen kids fighting. We even had a kid bearing another using brass knuckles. What does the admin here do? Nothing. They just try to sweep it all under the rug. It’s the same thing they do with everything, just bury it, skew the data, don’t report it and the numbers will look good for them. To he!! With the kids.
It’s the parents responsibility to discipline children at home. It’s admins job to discipline children at school. Moreover, it’s administrations job to maintain a learning atmosphere at school. What we need is for the good students and parents to start filing lawsuits for educational malpractice. If it starts costing the district millions of dollars, Annette will lead the charge. Children are entitled to an education and if administration is unwilling or unable to do their job, they should step down. Admin on the West Side has the cajones to do their job, why not on the East Side.
Just heard about the high school shooting in Florida--such a travesty- supposedly shooter was a 21 year old who was obsessed with guns and had been in alternative school. When will schools learn that metal detectors are mandatory in this climate of gangs, guns and mental illness? Wanding will do nothing. How can a school spend 90 million on eyewash and zero on safety, paying PPA's next to nothing. We are short staffed at East High on PPA's and Deans. We need metal detectors, and more safety staff making a living wage. Aren't our lives worth it?
Here’s a thought... Instead of treating 4000 students as though they are criminals and violating their fourth amendment rights against illegal search and seizure (this would not have stopped somebody entering the school while shooting), why don’t we deal with criminal elements within our school society.
This 19 year old student in Florida was expelled for being a danger to those around him. He had a long record of being antisocial and disruptive. Even the students around him stated that he would be the one they would expect to commit such an act. WHY was he allowed to own a weapon???
There was a long list of signs that this individual was mentally unstable. Yet, did you hear the superintendent down in Florida? We can not discuss student matters, we must protect this students rights. BS, the administrators down there should be held responsible for allowing this to happen.
We need to start protecting the rights of students in the school who go there to get an education. They should not be afraid to go to school. They should not be bullied. They should not have their education disturbed by the same a$$holes day in and day out.
In every other sector of society, if somebody is acting antisocial, they are removed from that society. Only in schools are the innocent subjected to criminals on a daily basis. Only in schools are children beaten only to have their abusers back in their classrooms a day later. Only in schools do we abuse the rights of the innocent to protect the rights of the guilty.
I’d like to spread the blame to many factors but the reality is that all these decisions are made by administration and in some cases board members. All the other adults in schools have no power in discipline situations. To the contrary, teachers and aides are also subjected to these daily abuses. Send a kid to the office and they are sent right back creating even bigger disruptions. We’ve had teachers who have been verbally and physically assaulted by students. Sexual harassment has been all too common by students toward adults and administrators do nothing.
Nothing is going to change as long as administrators bury these situations under the rug to make their stats look good. It’s not just an East Aurora problem but it’s certainly a significant issue on the East Side.
I love it when the cry bully teachers just wash their hands in dealing with students in need. Many times students who are having issues never get referred to a social worker they just dump massive amounts of students in the office. Most of the time records are not documented by the teacher as to problem patterns with students. Senate Bill 100 forces schools to keep a documented profile of a students displine records. Teachers play a big role and if records are not maintained itbis impossible for administration react.
In the case of Florida, blame this one on Jeb Bush when he took professional teacher and social worker licensure out of the State. The move was to reduce costs. Florida schools are massive and students do not have alternative options.
Yes the system is broken and get right down to it big pharma also plays a major role. Mass killers have had a pattern of prescription drugs going badly.
When are teachers supposed to document the all the actions of the 200+ students that they see every day? Unlike other professions, there is no time for this. We have to take time away from the other students every time we write a referral on a student only to have the administration combine it with twenty other referrals the student got that day to receive a lunch detention or have them throw them directly into the garbage. You mention referring students to the social worker but when there’s only one social worker for 1000+ students, you begin to realize that the district wants to SAY we provide social services for students but in reality, it doesn’t happen for most.
While you are throwing blame around, don’t forget that Trump and the republicans passed legislation last year to make it easier for the mentally ill to obtain weapons. While we are on legislative issues, did you see what republicans in the House of Representatives were doing yesterday while we were all focused on Florida? They were passing legislation that would take disabled persons rights away by destroying the ADA (Americans With Disabilities Act). Hundreds of disabled people were arrested. Republicans nationwide have cut billions from social service and mental health programs. The presidents recently released budget calls for more cuts to schools and social programs so he can build a wall to keep us safe (or republicans safe from those who won’t vote for them).
You are right that there is blame to go around but administrators have the most direct control of student behavior issues in schools.
Good Morning all Received last Custodial/Janitorial Bid FOIA yesterday pg 10 specifically states "The term of the contract shall remain through June 30 2016"
Feb 20 2018 BOE Packet. see below https://v3.boardbook.org/Public/PublicItemDownload.aspx?ik=41997547
"Mr. Tijerina informed the Committee the recent bids for Custodial Supplies were rejected due to insufficient bid submission by vendors." Was not the bid rejected due to proprietary of items which Mr Tijerna admitted authoring at a most recent meeting
"The bid is currently in the rewriting process and will be rebid as soon as possible. Ms Shields informed the Committee that the current contract with vendors expired on June 30, 2017."
This is false ( see attached 2015 Bid) It was June 30 2016
She stated where prices have not changed, we have stayed with the same vendor. Where prices have increased, comparable quotes have been obtained prior to ordering. Ms. Johnson would like purchases looked at due to change in suppliers. Mr. Darby requested pricing for what is being purchased at the present time in comparison to the cost of the past contracts. Mr. Darby inquired as to why the contracts were not taken care of before expiration.
AGAIN FALSE as I have spoken with 2 EA vendors (Valdes & Mayfair Hotel Supply) who were not contacted to quote purchases
B & G has been without a janitorial contract bid for 20 months Ref: attached 2015 Bid Note the language on pg 15 16 17 Did someone consider using this format in order to put this Bid out. Everything is there making it simple and detailed This was a no Brainer to implement the Bid immediately. Alex DiMare was Director during this time. Is it not the Business Office responsibility to keep all contracts updated.
What is Mike Prombo's position on this? and shouldn't Ms Shields been on top of this
Again the Business Office and B&G cannot be trusted for an honest answer Excuses and blame on others is the culture.
I should not be the one catching these violations repeatedly Guess I will have to FOIA the answers of Ms Shields and Mr Tijerina
Please point these false statements out at the Feb 20 BOE meeting
Not all 200 hundred students need to get documented and while a social worker may have 1000 students in a building they only see a handful. There is more socializing going on in the Social work department than social work. Teachers and administration need to work together. It may be a students last chance.
On Tuesday, the board will approve the STEAM/STEM schools. I still do not understand how they will not have the same education for all of the students. Is this fair for the students? Get ready for writing curriculum over the Summer. They plan and make so many quick choices but don't really plan it well in EA! How is the Dual Language going? Data would be nice. What did they use to measure growth in students language? What curriculum did they use? So many initiatives being implemented too fast!
I agree anonymous1. Every few years they "improve" things, saying it takes a few years to see the results. Before there is a chance for a pass or fail outcome determined, they are changing things again. Our children and our teachers are like the lab rats in the admin and boards attempts to prove themselves. Thank God for our teachers who are able to function successfully in an atmosphere of dysfunction.
The teachers of 131 create a atmosphere of dysfunction. Children coming out of BKC show student growth levels of the Illinois State average.
Here is the difference.
The BKC upon its establishment was able to interview district teachers that applied and reject the one's that did not qualify. They then filled the remaining positions with outside hires. That is not the case in other schools within the district. Other schools in 131 still have unqualified staff that was hired in the late 90's and early 2000's because other district paid more. These same teachers have showed no growth or backward decline. Thus their buildings show no growth.
They are now attempting to do this with three other schools in our district. This will be great for students who have attended the bottom feeder schools in our district. It will not be great for the other schools that will now inherit teachers that can not teach to the level of the BKC curriculum.
Hopefully in ten more years upon retirement of group 131 will get better. Don't hold your breath cancer spreads and many of these bottomfeeders hurt new and enthusic staff because they don't embrace positive change or keep up with modern day teaching methods
Tuesday 's BOE agenda IX Bldg & Grounds C Action Items 4 Motion to Reject all the Custodial Supply Bids of Jan 24 2018
Recently I met with Dr McDonald, Elizabeth Shields, and Alberto Tijerina discussing various B&G issues. I objected that the proposed bid contained many PROPRIETARY Supplies which was a deviation from past Bids in that UNIVERSAL products would be eliminated. Despite rationalization from Alberto to go PROPRIETARY I brought out it appeared this would be geared toward awarding the Bid to a vendor brought in from St Charles School district (Warehouse Direct)
FOIA Responses confirms that Whse Direct is now a major BG Vendor thus they would monopolize the Bid if approved. Upon discussion Dr McDonald stated that UNIVERSAL Products would be included thus overruling LANGUAGE in specifying Certain Brands only be used.
Rejection Letter Submitted by Alberto Tijerina states
Recommendation " My recommendation to the Board is to reject the January 24, 2018 bid results and wait for the new bid results. The reason we are rebidding is that we want to open the bid to universal equipment for paper products as well as chemical products since the original bid did not produce enough responses for chemicals"
The decision to reject the Bid WAS NOT because "original bid did not produce enough responses for chemicals" The truth is Alberto intentionally excluded "Universal Products" on the bid.
1 Did the Business Office "Catch This" Incorrect response from Mr Tijerina Obviously NOT despite Elizabeth Shields being present for this discussion 2 Again this is suspicious and another apparent COVER UP by the Business Office 3 How long will this be tolerated in allowing unqualified individuals to continue working in high paying positions paid for by the Taxpayers 4 Why is the Purchasing Agent not involved in this Bid
I am so tired of the teacher bashing that some of you engage in. You refuse to take in a plethora of socio-economic, political and other factors that enter into whether a student is successful or not. First and foremost are whether that student's parents are literate, graduated from high school themselves ad read to the child while a toddler.At the high school most teachers could easily work anywhere else and actually choose to work with this population of students , myself included. If the administration would stop dumping new initiatives on us every year and allow us to teach, you would see those results. I have 3 degrees from Ivy-league schools and field offers all of the time.Know your facts before you spread your venom.
I read "Here We Go Again's " comments and I am very concerned. It is obvious that the posting is from a School Board Member or a District Administer, gagging from the vernacular used. I take exception to the term " bottom feeder schools". We have bottom feeder school in our district, if so are we ok with that? My degree is in business, not education, so I am not sure what "bottom Feeder" means as it relates to schools. The job of the School Board and the District Administers is to improve the quality of the output of a process by identifying and removing the causes of defects and minimizing variability amongst schools. They should be using quality management methods, mainly empirical, statistical methods, and create a special infrastructure of people within the organization who are experts in these methods. I believe the problem lies in the antiquated management style of the school board and district administration. The Superintendent should know achieving sustained quality improvement requires commitment from the entire organization, particularly from top-level management. I am not satisfied with having "bottom feeder schools" in my district, nor should the school board, administers and community. This is not an expectable style of management . Regard's Kathleen Gonzales
At last night's board meeting Dr McDonald acknowledged 2 mistakes made by the Business Office pertaining to B&G Bids. Ken Darby stated that B&G fixes their mistakes. Glad to hear that.
Here is another mistake centering around Jorge Villagomez. He lied on his application. Evidence was gathered from comparing his application to his resume (obtained via FOIA) Response from Dist 117 verifying he NEVER was an employee but worked for an Outsource Company assigned to D117
Questions 1 Why was this not verifed on his original application 2 He was promoted in a few months to a salary approximately $ 85K 3 Many staff and teachers do not make close to this amount
Application Closing statement states that FALSE INFORMATION given is grounds for dismissal
Here is the proof of a big mistake Calling on the BG Committee to fix this mistake
A recent FOIA response I was able to discover this very interesting Open Order Report totaling $ 37,421,538.60 This report is critical to the Financial Report in its accuracy of the District Finances. 1 This total is only for the Bldg & Grounds Dept. Do other Depts have this same problem discrepancy FOIA's will give us the answer
2 Construction PO's are still open which have already been completed. Have they been paid or still pending? 3 Open Order Reports are examined on a regular basis in corporate America and it is mandatory they be 100% accurate. Does EA D131 have that practice/policy? Obviously NOT This is toally unacceptable in any School District or Business. People are fired because of this.
4 I suggest you hold Mr Prombo & Elizabeth Shields accountable for these misleading reports resulting in chaos.
Talk about embarrassing. East West boys basketball score: West 60 East 41. Even more embarrassing is how nobody’s going to games. They can’t even fill the stands for an East West game. Their record is 4 wins and 19 losses. Aren’t we all so happy that Annette Johnson and Mark McDonald came in to improve the program? Everytime these idiots who know nothing about how things are in the real world attempt to improve things, they always destroy the program. Did anybody really believe that bringing in a non educator from outside the building with no connection to our students was going to improve anything? How many times is this community going to allow this same story to play out? Just like our food ball program, all PR and few wins.
Administration also “improved our band program this year. I’m waiting to see where the numbers go. Remember, we had well over 300 kids in the high school program at the beginning of this year. We just spent millions of dollars building a state of the art facility for the band. I have no issue spending the money if the program will be supported but the changes that admin is making is destroying the program from the bottom up. It’s just a matter of time before the new fine art facility will be a ghost town.
When will this community ever stand up for themselves?
Correction: The team record is 5 wins and 22 losses. All scores have not been reported to Max Preps as it should be. According to Max Preps ( which doesn’t have all the teams losses reported) East Aurora is ranked 465th in the state and 11785th in the nation. Translation: bottom of the barrel. How embarrassing.
Totally agree with the bag. We have a Board that is all about show boating. "Former Bears Player," state of the art football stadium, new this, new that, spent millions! I want to see teachers with state of the art tools to work with and students with high ranking performance. Teach those who want to learn and quit trying to please all the special interest voters. We do have an outstanding NJROTC program. One of the things that was well established before Johnson and the revolving superintendents came on. Proving EA students can excel when the admin works with those on the front lines, that know our students best.
Wow when has East beaten West in the last 15 years and suddenly it is the new coaches fault? The star player of the team was moving to the West side to join a competive team anyways so long story short we had a mentoring group work with our boys on developing skills on an off the court something that would have never been done with Jefferies. Robinson will bui.d on tradition and suscess will be soon come to EA.
I would like to thank Darby and Johnson for creating EA Pride.
In the last month Ralph Pardon has cost our District business office 40 plus hours of pulling records. What has he saved the District? He is feeding a bunch of seniors fake news. What the real news is that he is wasting their tax dollars on foolish witch hunts. We have their email addresses and will be setting them straight.
Just read the story about West High spike in expulsions. They didn’t give a number but it debunks the lies told on this blog that West expels all troublemakers. Last year they had one ,1, uno expulsion. So r we to believe they had one troublemaker all last year. How many have easy expeled in the last 1.5 years
"Mr. Tijerina informed the Committee the recent bids for Custodial Supplies were rejected due to insufficient bid submission by vendors. The bid is currently in the rewriting process and will be rebid as soon as possible. Ralph: Should have been done already What is the delay
Ms. Shields informed the Committee that the current contract with vendors expired on June 30, 2017. Ralph: Only off 1 year 2016 was expiration
She stated where prices have not changed, we have stayed with the same vendor. Ralph: NOT TRUE
Where prices have increased, comparable quotes have been obtained prior to ordering. Ralph: FOIA RESPONSES PROVE OTHERWISE
Ms. Johnson would like purchases looked at due to change in suppliers. Ralph: WHY Were ALBERTO & JORGE CHANGING SUPPLIERS and not in communication with those previous suppliers?
Mr. Darby requested pricing for what is being purchased at the present time in comparison to the cost of the past contracts. " Ralph: HAS THIS BEEN PROVIDED? IF SO, THIS IS WHAT I AM INTERESTED IN. AGAIN THIS WILL PROVE THE COVER-UP AND CORRUPTION WITH BG PURCHASING
PLEASE PROVE ME WRONG, IF NOT QUIT PROTECTING ALBERTO & JORGE IN THE WASTEFULNESS OF TAX DOLLARS !!
Last but not least, where is the Business Office in all of this Purchasing Responsibility Evidently Mike Prombo & Elizabeth Shields are given immunity from doing their jobs regarding Purchasing
Another day at EA and BG Committee needs to stop allowing the excuses to continue and do some "house cleaning"
In addition Mike Prombo and Elizabeth Shields need to be fired as a result of this and many other issues
District employees have a responsibility to the district, NOT to its vendors. If they find new vendors who will give the district a better price for services, then they should be going with the lower prices. This sounds like somebody is pissed they could be losing their kickbacks from preferred vendors. Ralph should be investigating why we are protecting the vendors overcharging the district and who is getting kickbacks. He should not be harassing good employees being responsible with Public Tax Dollars.
Ralph needs to go away. We all know that his friend Jessie Vargas got moved back to the Hill and is angry. In other news Fat Louie was told to stay in the warehouse and not drive around. This means Fat Louie can not run his landscaping business and steal district equipment anymore. Yes Ralph B&G has finally got a supervisor that is willing to take on your minions.
In other wasted time the Central Office needed to show Ralph how to read. Pulling FILES and reading for Ralph is the real waste of money for the district.
I would like to say good bye, also, to Ralph. He is such a drama king. Retire, already and stop trying to be acknowledged for something you cannot substantiate. "Corruption and cover up" can be intriguing news. Not when you use the phrase every time you create a FOIA request and find nothing of real value. Go home, Ralph. Enjoy life and quit trying to dig dirt where there is none. You are now listening to and targeting the wrong people and discredited yourself by doing so. Put down your pen and your righteous attitude and go home.
Kevin Kaisershot continues to be the gift that keeps on giving, even after his retirement. Now he’s getting national recognition for his career achievements from the University of Nebraska. You can bet people are Googling him and reading all about how our district’s administration treated him back in 2005.
Harmon, Barreiro, Muhammad, and Malaker may be the only ones still involved in our district from 2005, but they’re not the only people in the community who should be embarrassed. The superintendent from that era, “Serial Bully” Radakovich, lives in Stonebridge with his (third?) wife. Marin Gonzalez lives on the west side, where her hubby is on the D129 School Board. And “Peyton Place” Postlewaite has moved to Arizona but still keeps up with district news and connections.
After a convincing win at West Aurora in their sectional quest it shows why East needed to fire Wendal Jefferies. While West developed players East did not. I am glad East is trying improve standards.
One win in the worst season the school has had in decades somehow justifies the bullying of Jeffries out of his job? Who the he!! are you kidding? Annette Johnson and Kurt Becker wanted Jeffries out and Beatrice Reyes-Childress used the opportunity to spread a little nepotism, getting her family member assigned as the coach despite his lack of qualifications. It’s just the latest in a long line of disgraces by this board and administration. For every step this district moves forward, it takes two back.
They are rebuilding a program and Jefferies even with the superior play of Boatwright never made it downstate. It was time for a coach that would rebuild basketball in the team. Jefferies was certainly not that. I am confused was Becker not let go also so why did Johnson not save him? There are also six other BOE members how voted him out. I thank them for continuing to make the tough decisions.
I don’t know where this claim of going “downstate” is coming from? You are stating it as though East Aurora is competing for the state championship. East Aurora is ranked 438th in the state. They are ranked 153rd out of 175 teams in class 4A. And they are ranked 10,823rd in the nation. This is a community that has prided itself on great basketball over the years. This fall from grace is an embarrassment. The board and administration should be ashamed of the poor leadership they have demonstrated. Everytime any program in this district shows any achievements, the board and administration are there to quash it.
The program had the same results with Jefferies and was always ranked last expect for the Boatwright days. Boatright and his family will tell you Jefferies was a horrible coach and wasted Ryan's talent. One good player in 15 years and he did not develop him as a player. Robinson inherited a team that never was taught to play just wait folks like everything else the program will get better.
Another mass fight with injuries at East High School on Friday. Fights are happening daily at East. Two gangs rumbled on Friday. 25-30 kids trying to kill each other. Two people carried out on stretchers to waiting ambulances including the assistant principal Fernando Nieto.
We spend countless hours and dollars on school security preparing for the one in a million chance of a school shooter but do nothing about the real dangers facing our children and staff every day.
The high school is in chaos and nothing is being done because Marina Kosak and the district leadership would rather cover up the crisis to save her job. The teachers union has attempted to address the discipline issues in our buildings but the Central Office just turns a deaf ear.
As always, it’s our students who suffer due to poor leadership in District 131.
Will you please stop the "straw man, false flag, red herring" argument that anything wrong is the "leadership's fault. Gets very old and is obviously incorrect. Believe me, everyone knows the conditions at East High. We all are painfully aware that it is a shithole. When you have the insanity of that Illinois Senate Bill 100 which almost demands that no one be suspended or expelled from school for totally unacceptable behavior, what do you expect. Until ALL teachers actually have the balls to stand up to the sphincter muscle kids you will never have control over their behavior. Cut the crap of "the union" tries to solve the problem with the central office. Unions are incapable of solving problems as they use the outdated "us against admin" mentality for everything they touch. That mentality may have worked sometimes back in 1918 but this is 2018. The teachers and staff are a large part of the problem. But I don't think you can understand that as you have mistaken going to college for actually having an education. We all know as the years have passed that college degrees are becoming as worthless as high school diplomas since they have become easier and easier to obtain. (A situation similar to "if everyone is special, then no one is special.")
Until you, teachers, staff, administration, the board, the police, and the vast majority of the students stand up to the troublemakers this will continue. Call them out, point them out both at school and at their homes. Have them arrested, committed and/or suspended. And maybe removed from their homes if necessary. Change only comes from outside the system. The system created the "don't toss the kids out of school crap".The system created passing kids and graduating kids even if they don't deserve it.-What kind of idiots could even promote such nonsense!!! You have to start being educators and educate........Unlike the politically motivated crap with the campus walkouts last week that just wasted time, you can actually do something here that really will make a difference and everyone's life will be the better for it. You can actually make a difference and change this abomination. But this will take real courage. I mean honest to god courage. Are you really ready to be educators?????
Tim, you make some valid points and excellent comments. Yet some of your own could be categorized as straw man, red herring. Not being able to suspend or expel IS outrageous, but we have had admin who have suspended students unjustly in the past. Another person made a comment about "cover up, to save their jobs." That is exactly what happened a few years ago. Students and some admin were being thrown under the bus, frequently, to save jobs of those at the top to make it look like admin was working hard and running a tight ship. What they basically were doing was herding scapegoats to bear the burden until certain individuals could retire with an air of undeserved accomplishment. In that way, EA has been perceived as a "shithole" as you call it. "A fish rots from the head down," as the saying goes. Unions, in general, have lost some steam over the years. Especially, those who use the old "them vs us" mentality. I am an outsider observing from the sidelines, and what I hear coming from our teachers, though, is more about doing the right thing vs doing nothing.
I will help you hold the banner for everyone standing up to the troublemakers. I am all for the "good old days" of truancy being punishable in court and a student or parent going to jail for the student not attending class. Also, I am in agreement with students being expelled and or going to a youth facility for chronic truancy or behavior problems. I believe these are family issues. They should carry the burden of finding help for their child. The teachers and classmates should not have to "deal with it" on a daily basis. I believe our educators are educating to the best of their ability with the support they are given. Admin and the board make the final call on students who should be receiving some type of consequence or outside support for behavior that goes outside the guidelines outlined in policy, procedures and in the handbook that every student should be receiving every year. So Tim Burr, it is back to finger pointing at the Admin. They should be writing and enforcing the rules to create the learning atmosphere that our students and teachers deserve. The teachers are already showing courage to stick with 131 and find ways to teach the students who want to learn, in spite of the lack of support from admin. That is the true abomination, as you call it. That teachers and students have to work twice as hard to succeed in the classrooms our district admin and board have allowed to evolve. By not creating nor enforcing what the BOE and admin have the power to do, they have failed and continue to fail making our district a better place.
You obviously have no idea what education is like in this day and age. First off, Senate Bill 100 does not demand that no one is suspended or expelled. It states that if schools suspend or expel students, they must provide extra support services. It’s the administrators of District 131 that would try to have you believe that they can’t suspend kids. It again makes their numbers look better. They suspend nobody and promote everybody regardless. The educators have fought administration on this pass everybody policy. We can’t discipline students. We can’t retain students. There is no motivation left for students to behave and do their work unless it comes from the parents.
You claim that the teachers do not have the balls to stand up to “sphincter muscle kids”. This is incorrect, the teachers have the balls, the administration does not. The problem is NOT that the teachers won’t stand up to these kids but that the administration makes it impossible for the teachers to discipline students. In fact, the administration interferes with teachers standing up to the troublemakers daily. I have seen dozens of times in my career where teachers were brought to the office with their union reps for addressing issues with kids, even fired. I have seen teachers written up for writing too many referrals… for raising their voice… for looking at a child crossways… for lifting their arm and telling a student to stop… for breaking up a fight,,, for not breaking up a fight… and God forbid a teacher touched a student. Any time a student or parent complains against a teacher, the teacher is dragged down to the office by the principal and reprimanded. In short, it’s the administration that sets the tone and conditions for East High to remain a shithole. If the administration would do their overpriced jobs and stand up to the few difficult students and parents, we would be able to educate children.
Anybody who assumes that education is anything like it was when they went to school 20, 30 or 40 years ago, here’s a hint, it’s nothing like that. Teachers are completely handcuffed by administration, school boards and the state. We are not allowed to do anything that would have anyone complain or damage somebody’s self esteem.
It’s a simple equation, anything that you see happening on a systemwide basis started and ended at the top. There are no exceptions.
One PPA at EHS was caught drunk and the other PPA was arrested for body slamming a student yet Judy Durham is defending them. That's what gives our union a bad name.
Your issue is with State and Federal law, not with Judy Durham. The law requires the union to represent all its members. Everyone is afforded due process. Unions don’t choose who they represent and who they don’t. If you knew what you were talking about, you would have known these basic facts. I’m sure IF you were a union member, you would want the union representing you if you had been accused of wrongdoing. And with how many times members have been falsely accused by a vindictive administrator, your day may come sooner than you think.
Judy Durham and hs building reps decided to have a union meeting during contractual hours on Tuesday. How does it feel taxpayers that you paid for union nonsense led by the incompetent Judy Durham......Gerry is too scared to kick her off the leadership team. It’s sad and pathetic. Does Judy really think teachers are gonna go on strike so she and other non skilled positions without degrees can be paid 25-30 bucks an hour?!?
Taxpayers should know...sounds like Fil Torres starting his crap again. He’s probably hoping that if he can get Judy out, that he can get back on the team and again be a direct source of information to Annette Johnson. He did everything he could last negotiation cycle to screw over the membership for his own personal gain.
When are the union members going to figure out that it’s when they stand together that they succeed? When you stood together last time and voted NO... they had to come back with better offers. Quit accepting crap from the board. Stand together.
Judy is a hack who does not want to get a degree but paid like she has one. We are paying very high dues and Gerry better not screw us over for support staff. He has not asked about a financial proposal yet. Gerry has run up legal bills without worrying about teachers in the MS column while he listens to Judy. Judy walks around with a coffee cup all day doing nothing. The district should eliminate her position she will not be missed.
The issue is that the district wants para-professions that are top notch but only want to pay them $12 an hour no matter how many years of service and dedication they give our community. Why would anybody want to do that job in the shithole known as East High (or anywhere else in the district) when they can walk in Aldi’s And start at $13 an hour for no pressure mindless work and work their way up. Or, go to Home Depot and start at $15 an hour or Cosco at $17. District 131 has to join the real world and realize that people need to be paid a fair living wage.
Maybe if we paid the teachers a real salary, we could keep them. Half of the teachers in District 131 have been with the district for less than five years. Two thirds for less than ten. We are never going to retain talented teachers as long as we pay them and treat them like crap. Is there any wonder why we have a teacher retention crisis in this nation?
The really is staff has not been leaving since wages have gotten better. Sarah Intherim, and others like Phil Torres negociated the contract. Annette Johnson has been on boards that have paid the teachers well. We still have a ways to go but until our State is serious about paying school districts like 131 we have to be realistic.
Support staff/Secretaries are paid much higher wages in 131 and until teachers catch up or the State pays us more you may just have to take the job at Aldi.
There were no negotiations under Sarah. There was the same thing that had always been done. The board said here it is, take it or leave it and the union said “OK”. That’s why the first offer last cycle was 0.3%. When insurance was figured in, it was a pay cut. If Sarah was representing us, she would have told the board to cram their offer where the sun doesn’t shine until they came with a fair offer.
Phil Torres didn’t negotiate or represent the teachers and staff. Phil would spend his days during working hours, talking directly with Annette Johnson on his cell phone. I’m sure it would be enlightening to FOIA Phil’s and Annette’s phone records at that time and see how many phone calls were made between the two of them.
Phil didn’t represent us, he conspired against us for his own personal gain.
Phil did a pretty good job if he was talking to Annette Johnson. I received a 12% raise. I also think secretary/support needs a COLA increase only until teachers are paid what other district get.
I also think the district needs to be fair about our increases and stop making excuses about the State. Johnson should trim the fat out of the district budget and she knows what I am talking about.
You got the raise you did because 1) How significantly underpaid you are and 2) Most staff stood together against the board and voted NO to one insulting offer after another. Don’t forget that. You want a fair contract, you must stand together and demand it.
Look at Virginia teachers. It’s illegal to strike in Virginia. Every teacher at the state capitol on strike could have been fired but then who would teach. They stood together against must harder odds than you face and won. So can you. Your leaders are not the union, you all are. If you stand together, you can’t be stopped.
I have read the emails Phil sent to other union leadership about lobbying for more money for teachers. That is the job of a union leader and you have to ask why Gerry is not doing the same. Phil never asked about himself and what was troubling was that the district under the leadership of Popp was spying on the union. Why does Judy Durham a big supporter of the former bullies Anthony Crespo and Popp not find that a problem. The reality is that the last contract honored teachers and three years later I am making 18% more. Many of us support Annette Johnson because we do not feel it was possible without her.
Judy Durham is paid 25% more than her counterparts in other districts and I WILL NOT WALK THE STRIKE LINES for that. I will walk the strike lines for teachers because we are still underpaid.
Gerry needs to be more on top of the way the district spends money and like the past leadership develop relationships. He needs to ask the district to stop spending away our raises and BOE members need to hold administration accountable.
News flash, without support staff nothing would get done. They do all the crappy work the teachers and admin don’t won’t to do or are not willing to do. The clerical and maintenance are support staff as well regardless if they have separate contracts. Clerical r the backbone in HR. Think of how you whine if something is wrong with your insurance. Maybe y’all get cheap insurance like the retirees had for decades, oh I’m sorry that was in the teachers favor. Oh yeah they handle payroll too. Support staff deal with peed off parents/ unruly students. Maintenance keeps the buildings up and running so y’all whiners can have a building to come to. News flash support staff handle their jobs better than the whiners on this blog. Judy must be doing something right cause you’re talking about her. The district can give teachers 50% increases and the district rating won’t change. I forgot that’s the parents and admins fault. Maybe it’s crooked Hillary’s Russia or Obama’s fault.
As a taxpayer, i am concerned with real news. Judy held a union meeting during contractual time, which is illegal and a contract violation. Judy and her supporters immediately attacked and distracted a la trump to take the focus off of her holding a union meeting while staff was being paid by the district. Per usual this blog can’t sick to facts and just slings mud when someone they like has been proven incompetent with facts. All staff that attended that illegal meeting should give their pay back for that hour or whatever it was since they were not working and they were scheming and planning how to attack the board for negotiations. All union reps and leaders who attended and planned that meeting should be fired from their posts in the union.
As for the idiot claiming support staff runs the school, you are easily replaceable and are confusing easily trained robot positions with highly skilled certified positions. Oh no who will talk to parents?!? Who will handle payroll?! The district can easily outsource payroll. Be careful what you wish for. And stop overvaluing your worth in the world. I’d love to hear what you offer to the district rating as a support staff person.
The schools may need support staff but it is like anything else we also need waitresses, landscapes and cleaning people. Jobs pay different wages because of your education. The lawyer has told her as much but so like a child she wants to organize chaos. Like others have stated I will not go on strike for support staff. If the district does not recognize years of experience as a teacher I will go on strike.
Go ahead and strike it won’t change anything except you lose wages you’ll never make up. Also if you work for East because the other districts wouldn’t hire you out of college because you was not the head of the class. Once you’ve get broken in at east then you can leave. Once our taxpayers have paid for your masters degree then you move on. However you know that more money is still starting over so you stick around and make everyone else miserable . Unions in every profession meet on the employers time. Hell yall allow the president to not be in the classroom, Sarah and those since her was full time union rep. Go ahead and walk out who cares . Our parents are too busy trying to make ends meet cause they don’t have it as good
The new union leadership is a joke. It is run by Judy Durham who runs Gerry. They are defending TA's that beat up kids in Sped classrooms and others that come to work blasted or commit acts of public exposure. That's our union today a real class act.
The superintendent position is just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to openings in District 131. Just a quick look at the Human Resources web page shows these positions posted:
It’s a wonder that any education can get accomplished when you consider how many thousands of students these vacancies affect. I am sure that considering these facts, there are some on here who will still state that the teachers and staff in District 131 are overpaid. Here’s a hint, when you underpay your employees and treat them like crap, this is exactly what you can expect, staff leaving in flocks and nobody except those with no other choice temporarily filling their positions. This is exactly why over half of the staff in District 131 is not tenured. Everyone who can is looking for the door as soon as possible. I don’t ever expect to see the administration treat the teachers and staff with respect but the least they can do is pay them a fair wage.
Employees in the Master column received a 8 to 20% percent raise last contract but Gerry is to busy spending our union dues on a overpriced lawyer. Under Gerry Union dues have increased to rank and file we will soon run out of money in our Union account and pay for Gerrys follies for years to come. The reality is Gerry and his incompetence has not submitted a financial proposal to the District administration. Judy Durham is claiming ME TOO and they are paid a fair wage. It's time teachers demand what is theirs and if Gerry does not right the ship he should get voted out in May.
Thank you for your opinion Annette. I see you’re still pretending to be disgruntled staff members.
It must be burning Annette Johnson up that for the first time the teachers and staff are represented by somebody looking out for their interests. Yes I did receive an 8% increase in my salary over three years. That’s not really a raise, it’s a cost of living adjustment. However, Annette is hoping that we’ll forget her comments and actions on insurance. She stated “fine they want more money, we’ll just F#{€ them on the insurance end”. The next week Annette walked into the Insurance Committee meeting and demanded $1.2 million in insurance premium increases. That amounted to a nearly 300% insurance cost increase when state wide insurance premiums rose just 7%. And Sara Imthurn just let it go through. No negotiations, no fight, nothing. Nobody was representing us then.
I have no problem paying a little more for union dues when those dues are going for legal representation that is looking out for me and the rest of staff. The increase amounted to the same as two cups of coffee per month (One cup for support staff). A very little price to pay for a lawyer. The only problem I have with dues is that more than 90% of my dues goes to AFT604 and they do nothing to represent us. What we should do is drop AFT604 and keep all that money in District to pay for a whole team of lawyers to represent us.
Apparently somebody wants us to forget all the backroom deals (dozens of MOU’s) between Annette Johnson and Sarah Imthurn. That was the reason Sara was voted out and the staff demanded that we get a lawyer for the current negotiations.
For the first time in the history of District 131, there are real negotiations going on. This is the first time that we have had competent legal assistance representing the teachers and staff. Except for the few people who were benefiting personally by screwing over the rank and file. Everyone I know is thrilled by the changes that we’ve seen the past two years.
What are you talking about? My insurance has not increased only my dues Gerry. Gerry, what has happened to transparency. We remember when your band of nitwits would hijack the union meeting and demand information on negociations. To date Gerry we have heard nothing and our contract will soon expire. So much for backroom deals.
Was there a pre negotiation meeting or meetings to discuss union demands? Assuming you met there is no need to leak or filter out negotiation details. Rumors run rampant just like now I.e back room deals. What happens if a big economic matters reach the Stonegate mafia. They will hijack the board members then game on. It’s negotiations but u wouldn’t understand because you’ve never stepped up to get involved u stand on the side and criticize those doing the lifting
Does any one have information on the bricks that we bought awhile ago but do not see them anywhere in the new stadium? When will they go up? If not, please refund our money.
Like most universities, the University of Nebraska honors outstanding graduates with awards of recognition. This year's Alumni Achievement Award honoree is none other than Kevin Kaisershot.
This is a prestigious award, given yearly to an alum who has achieved recognition in his/her field and who proudly represents the University. No surprise from Kevin's many friends and supporters...but a potential embarrassment to those who deprived him of his high school teaching position 13 years ago.
Thanks to the wonders of the internet, it is very easy to search a name and read all about a situation like Mr. K's treatment by District 131.
Certain people in Aurora should be feeling rather uncomfortable right now!
I ordered my brick last August. There was great weather in August, September and October, even November wasn’t that bad. I’ve seen construction workers out for the past couple of months. In fact, there was very little snow this winter. I don’t get this cold weather crap. Get the bricks installed already.
You wouldn't even notice at EAHS-- The kids are in the halls all day long and they can do whatever the heck they want. There is no discipline at East High, because the current upper administration only cares about numbers & appearances to the district admin and the school board...not the actual day to day functioning of the school. Kids fight, come back the next day. Kids don't have consequences for tardiness, truancy, etc, etc, etc. -- they set the system up to fail in every documented respect, and then when they actually have to do some discipline, its next to nothing and they hide behind sb 100. But hey, as long as the numbers look good, who cares whats really going on day to day.-- yours truly, a clerical staff member who knows!
Marching band controls the schedule at the HS. Recently a student qualified for the Sectional tournament. The student was not allowed to practice because of marching band, so much for letting your doubles partner down. The student was in tears because of the pressure of the band. Liska has been supported by the Board for years. The HS administration defends him because of board member Darby.
Stovall is protected by Reyes Childress and we have now lost two top A/P's. Reyes Childress is protected by Johnson so anotherwards we are screwed.
Yes folks the roof is really falling as the HS. Literally and figuratively.
182 comments:
What is the Director of the Buildings and Grounds Department doing? The Buildings and Grounds Director authorized overtime for the maintenance men to on plow snow on Christmas Day for TRIPLE TIME!! Didn't he know the schools are out for Christmas break and Tuesday December 26th was a regular work day. The maintenance men could for plowed on the 26th. They start as 6:00 am. This error in management cost the school district thousands in wasted overtime. Who is running the show over there?.
For all that know the district it looks like the Merle Ken Darby show are at it again in 2018. The 26th was not a work day it was a paid by holiday in our district. Merle should know we are paid double time and we had a holiday tournament so snow needed to be plowed. If anyone should be looking into something maybe Johnson should ask about the big loss the district takes on the holiday tournament. Maybe Darby should look around and see nobody was at the tournament. Maybe it's time for Merle to plow faster he has been telling workers to slow down. Alberto runs the department with accountability and that is the real problem Ken will never get his full time job and Merle will be forced to work
What is this about Ken Darby (a sitting board member) wanting to be the Director of Buildings and Grounds? Way would anyone make that accusation without proof? This is very concerning since the department had one director forced out and the other resigning after staying a few months. Now it seems they are going after the new director of buildings and grounds. The school Board needs to look in to what is happening with the Buildings and Grounds Department to see if there is any interference from a school board member. This cannot be tolerated and if it is the Superintendent should step in.
Taxpayer 1, I understand your concern about paying three times the usual rates for snow removal on Christmas Day. But if someone had slipped on an unplowed sidewalk or street on school property, they could have sued our district for hundreds of thousands of dollars. Chalk it up to bad luck, that snow had to be removed on a holiday...it HAD to be done as soon as possible!
Date: Jan 3 2017
Subject: Snow Removal
Timeline: Dec 24 25 26 2017
1 All work tickets for BG employees for these 3 days
2 summary of work performed with time taken to do this work
3 Pay summary on each work ticket
4 Verification that work was performed
Am specifically looking for
OT COST
List of all schools and time taken to remove snow
Please email results
Give it a rest , Ralph. How many years have you been talking about the next big thing you are going to uncover?
I used to be a fan, but you have been a disappointment. The only thing you have to show is your improved skills at FOIA requests.
The ones I have seen recently aren't even big discoveries, but possibly just fishing expeditions.
Number one if you did not shovel your snow you are not going to get sued for that act of God. The same as if it was raining and you stepped in a puddle of water on the sidewalk and fell. The thing I am talking about is poor management . So for example the 26th was also a holiday and there was an event at the high school. You did NOT have to have the entire maintenance and custodial crew come in for triple time overtime. You could have had just the few staff you needed to clear the high school (the rest of the district was closed) and had the rest of the crew come in on the 27th to do the rest of the district at their regular rate of pay. This management error cost the district thousands. No name calling just another fact of poor management. These type of incidents should be looked at for future decisions. That's how we save money.
Actually, some municipalities do have laws on the books requiring property owners to remove snow and ice from sidewalks. Here's an example from Chicago:
“Every owner, lessee, tenant, occupant or other person having charge of any building or lot of ground abutting upon any public way or public space shall remove the snow and ice from the sidewalk...” It is everyone's responsibility to make sure the sidewalks are clear of snow and ice"
And this website may be helpful:
https://www.lawyers.com/legal-info/personal-injury/slip-and-fall/laws-may-require-property-owners-to-remove-snow.html
Recieved FOIA response on Snow Plow removal Christmas Day
Preliminary Factual finidings
Sidewalks snow removal
$ 3,227.63
Snow Plowing
$ 4,650.01
TOTAL $ 7,877.64
Merle Herren turned in 11 hrs worked
Total pd $ 707.96
In addition all 22 employees received Holiday Pay
which they were all ENTITLED to.
The going rate at the City is calculated at $40 per hour, or $60 per hour if the snow falls on a holiday. I know the school district does not have 130 miles of sidewalks and parking lots. While I have never agreed with all of Mr Patrons tactics this is a outrage. It begs for privatizing snow plowing. Somebody was doctoring timecards. It is hard for me to believe Herren worked 11 hours on Christmas everyone wants to spend time with family.
Guess it is time.....
Well, if it cost around $8,000 in just the direct labor cost, we lose all the way around, big time. There are all the other indirect labor costs, machinery operating costs, and equipment purchase allocations, etc. that have to be assigned to one snowfall. This type of work needs to be outsourced immediately. At the same time, there are a lot of custodial functions that just beg to be outsourced. - Normal room and hall cleaning for example.- I cannot remember a time in the past 30 years that we have had a competent custodial staff. The old guys actually knew what they were doing and had the best interest of the district in mind when they worked. It was that generation that asked what they owed to society, not what they could take for themselves as it appears to be the case today as the unions are way out of line.
As far as the "Act of God" statutes; they are disappearing faster than humans in a zombie movie. (The what can I "take" from everyone else mentality.
Ralph is technically correct that the workers are entitled to their contractual pay. However, being entitled to something because of a misguided contract does not make it right or fair to the people who actually pay the bills. aka the taxpayers.
It really is time to make some decisions as to what services can be performed more productively by outside vendors. And we should not stop at just the custodial department.
Many of us do are jobs and do not screw the system. The problem is Medina is always off with other political interests and Herren is running the union. The contract allows only people like Herren to get picked for snow plowing others are never given a chance. We are all willing to work hard and should be given a chance. Herren has a reputation of going home while on district time. It's time to gut the contract and allow others to work.
Blog person please post not sure if it will
Which board member is looking for a kickback. It's the only explanation that has credibility. Every time we privatize a service in this district, we end up paying significantly more for the same service.
I recall the attack on B&G about their Menard's trips several years ago. So we had to outsource many of the things that B&G used to do. Here's an example. Let's take an electrical outlet that needed to be added or moved. It used to cost the district the time of the Menards trip for the parts and the work, approximately $100. Now we outsource this service but first we go through an extensive approval process. The staff member requests the service by filling out a school dude form (Tech department had to create and maintain the school dude forms, another cost). It must be approved by the school administration and building fireman, B&G, sometimes finance and even Central Office Admin (Already hundreds of dollars in administrative costs before somebody makes the call to the outsourced provider). Now the outsource provider sends the bill for moving the outlet. Due to the prevailing wage law, this provider will charge the district between $1000-$2000 to move an outlet. We are talking a cost that could exceed $2000 for the same outlet that used to cost $100 for B&G to provide.
Building maintenance used to set mousetraps. This was a negligible cost. Now we outsource this to exterminators. They charge the district $125 for each trap they set. Remarkably, they do not remove the activated traps. Our building maintenance still need to dispose of traps when they are full.
It's a general rule that these outsourced providers double and even triple their normal costs when working with school districts. The real question here is why is somebody pushing an agenda that they know will cost the district (and taxpayers)significantly more money? Again, who's getting the kickbacks?
I only wish I could get paid 11 hours for shoveling snow but my work at the SSC is monitored.
The district does not use someone to change a light fixture the maintenance department does that. Trips to Menards are back on and getting out of control. The limit of bidding was raised to $5000 and we have a purchasing person that has already saved over $100,000 since she started. We have always had a pest service so I am not sure what you are speaking of. They bid it every few years.
The debate with Albert is sad I would hate to see our maintenance people run off another Director. Just do your jobs starting Merle when we see you at SSC we run because we don't want our supervisors to think we are just gossiping. A conversation with with him is at least 30 minutes on the clock.
Maybe Mr Patron can donate some time and do a work ticket audit.
To: BOE & Superintendents
The Dec 25th cost for snow removal was as follows
Sidewalks $ 3,227.63 71 hrs
Plowing $ 4,650.01 72.25 hrs
Total $ 7,877.64 143.25 hrs
Dec 26th sidewalks $ 670.32 12.25 hrs
Total Dec 25 &26
$ 8,547.96 155.50 hrs
w/IMRF $ 9,351.47
Merle Herren summary
11 hours @ $ 64.36 per hr
total $ 707.96
Was there a summary report containing the following info
1 What was total snowfall
2 Why were 4 plows assigned to East High
3 Why did it take 16.25 hrs for sidewalks @ East High
4 Who made the decision to bring in 22 employees for the 25th
5 Could the work been done on a non holiday since school was on vacation
6 Was there a summary sheet turned in by each emp summarizing how long it took at each building
7 How will this cost affect the budget for this school year
8 Is there a report for Scott Osman truck breakdown & Merle Herren turning off the Fire Alarm
9 Was the Supervisor (Mike Huston?) on top of the activity during this time
10 The organizing of this snow removal is shameful and needs verification before autorizing
payment to those suspicious hours for work performed
11 The new equipment recently purchased was approved to avoid this abuse
Looks to me that this was very excessive and abusive in many forms.
I will have a follow up FOIA requesting this and additional info
Appears that certain individuals took advantage of this scenario to their benefit
Outrage by the community summarizes this event.
Will Outsourcing of Snow Removal be revisited as a result of this
Please address this publicly in addition to a written response
Thank you in advance
Ralph
There have been no changes to today's crew. Alberto has done nothing about the employees who abused overtime. Yes the problem is our contract but those of us who work hard are not rewarded. Here is a thought outsource snow plowing and let those of us who work do the sidewalks. Sidewalks will be done with no overtime today.
Please post
Roberto the Buildings and Grounds Director is afraid of the union and has allowed the union to revert back to running the department. One of the B&G supervisors told me Roberto is incompetent and does not even have the valid custodial bid done. The Custodial bid expired June 30, 2017. So I don't know how they are purchasing supplies. Bea in charge of B&G, she is responsible. Is there anyone watching the other bids in the buildings and grounds department that have expired. Where is McDonald ? What was the outcome of Dr. McDonald and Dr. Hoyda over charging the district for their time. That issue got swept under the rug.
To Corruption Reigns Supreme:
It is so cute when you write about things you don't understand. You are not stupid, you just have bad luck when you try to think.
If it took all those hours just to shovel snow, it would take a B & G employee 100 times longer to perform any task that is outsourced. We would not lose money on outsourcing.
Next time, shock us and write something intelligent.
Good Morning Supt D131
Have been received numerous responses concerning Cost of the Dec 25 2017 Snow Removal
especially the excessive time and cost to the taxpayers.
These are the individuals need to be audited and viewed from the camera video's
SIDEWALKJS
Luis Salas Fireperson
Manuel Esparza Lead Groundsperson
Alejandor Ramos Custodian
Ramon Moreno Custodian
SNOW PLOWING
Frank Mendoza Fireperson
Jesus Medina Fireperson
Scott Osman Fireperson
Jeffrey Strah Maintenance
Merle Herren Maintenance
Stewart Tesnow Maintenance
Zachary D'Ercola Maintenance
Gregory Coulouris Maintenance
Complaints from Taxpayers
1 Cost is Outrageous and obvious many padded their hours
2 What will be done if cameras support this was another scam in the OT HOURS
3 If this is the "Leadership" of the Union, is this the example they are displaying in representing the Union and D131
4 This Scam justifies Outsourcing the Snow Removal for starters
5 Will the BOE take action and insist this be corrected and hold those guilty accountable
6 Will D131 begin pursuing outsourcing and keep public updated
7 Can this issue be discussed publicly at the next BOE
I have been strongly urged to bring this issue out at the next BOE meeting however I have confidence the Superintendents will do the Right Thing and not let this go unresolved
Will several BOE members(shall I name them) deflect the issue and defend those guilty.
I ask this matter be a top priority
The Taxpayers will be given updates as this Scam is investigated
Thank you
Age of spin – Snow Plowing Drama in East Aurora District 131 - Part 1
Over Christmas break, I watched Dave Chappell’s “Age of Spin” comedy performance. It made me think about all of the propaganda, misinformation, spin, lies, and double-talk in District 131 that have become normalized. One of my New Year’s resolutions was to challenge the lies and the propaganda machine in D131 as well as the propaganda coming from the Whitehouse; they are very similar.
This blog and Ralph Padron have been tools of the D131 propagandist. I am an elected official, and like every board member, I have to face public criticism and the political smear that goes along with politics, but staff members come to D131 with the expectation of being treated like professionals. The propaganda and lies bother me the most when they are used to manipulate board members into causing reputation and career damage to staff members. I will also do my best to challenge the lies about board members and point out the patterns that I have observed during my time on the board.
The propaganda and lies make it difficult for board members to know, “what is true?” as we weigh district decisions.
If something seems outlandish on here, the question that I would encourage all blog users to ask, is, “Can you back that up?” I would also encourage board members to push back and make the propagandist defend the allegations about staff and other board members with facts.
I noticed that at least one person on this blog is cutting and pasting board comments and newspaper articles to defend his or her statements. That is a good practice, and that person probably has more credibility than the mudslingers.
The latest Padron attack makes it seem that our maintenance staff is running up an unnecessarily high bill by plowing snow on Christmas (because I’m sure they would rather be plowing instead of being home with their families). Padron’s e-mail subject reads, “Outrage of Snowplowing Cost Dec 24 2017.”
I asked the administration for some facts about the snow plowing, and I interviewed one of the people who plows snow. This is the administration’s response:
We have recently responded to a FOIA request with regards to custodians working on Christmas Day. In reviewing the situation, we wanted to share the following:
The decision was made to plow on December 25 for the following reasons:
1. The temperature was going to be dropping for the following days/week. There was concern that if the snow had frozen over, it would have made the clearing of the lots/sidewalks even more challenging, and possibly at a higher labor cost (more labor intensive to clear with ice).
2. December 26 was also an observed holiday. The contract states we have the day before Christmas as a holiday. Since that day was a Sunday, the observed holiday moved to Tuesday, December 26.
3. We had a basketball tournament on December 26, and the high school needed to be cleared for the tournament.
In hindsight, had we waited until December 26 early in the morning, (although it would have been double time for working on a holiday) we may have avoided some of the concerns.
Age of spin – Snow Plowing Drama in East Aurora District 131 - Part 2
In my discussion with one of the plow drivers, I also learned that the new configuration of the high school entrance means that they need an extra plow to remove the snow. This plow driver said that while they were still working, people were entering the building on Dec. 26th. This corroborates the above statement that an event was to be held at the high school the day after Christmas. Finally, this person said that they were simply following the direction of their bosses by plowing when they plowed. A side note here: It is no secret that District 131 has had high turnover in our B&G leadership, and it is completely acceptable that our newest department leader has not ironed out all the bugs during the unpredictable winter weather. They have to use their best judgement and plow forward (get it).
If it matters, my older brother plows snow and had the responsibility of clearing the beautiful Christmas powder from a local grade school and high school. I know that he was working the night of the holiday snowfall until 6:30 AM, and his last job was plowing and salting the schools.
So you can believe Ralph’s conspiracy that our maintenance staff is trying to rip off the taxpayers and that one staff member, whose name is mentioned frequently in Ralph’s e-mail, is somehow responsible, or you can believe that we had a need to remove the snow, and many public schools were doing the exact same thing over Christmas.
My position on snow plowing is to stand firmly behind our administration and support the decisions made by our B&G leadership and staff. I firmly oppose the privatization and outsourcing of plowing services, and I am thankful that our staff answered the call to work on this important family holiday.
Here are some questions that you should be asking yourself:
1) It is clear that Ralph has an inside contact who leaked information to him. What is the leaker’s agenda?
2) Why has Ralph singled out one person in his e-mail to board members? In the past, when Ralph singles out one person, that person’s name eventually reaches the board in executive session.
3) What is the Padron pattern and his role in the propaganda machine?
4) Has Ralph Padron ever plowed snow?
5) What is the motivation of
Although many have alleged my posting here, this is my first posting on this blog. If I post, I will always self-identify, and as a public official, you can call me anytime (630.878.7454) if you hear any smear that you want to discuss. I can’t promise to research or correct everything as this is very time consuming, but I will work to do a better job. This is such an abnormal school district. I am sorry that our staff has to put up with this unnecessary drama.
Many staff and board members have cautioned against reading the blog or challenging Padron. We’ve tried the appeasement approach, and D131 is still riddled with lies and propaganda. I am trying something different. I also fully expect that lies and smear about myself will only be amplified as I continue to press for a full superintendent search process that includes internal and external candidates.
We need a cultural change in D131. Our current culture of destruction and "gotcha" need to be replaced with a culture of teamwork. As a board member I will do my best to be part of that change and let our next superintendent know that Ralph Padron is free to exercise his first amendment rights, but quite frankly, he and his opinion are persona non grata.
John Laesch you are propagandist. You main interest is in getting votes for some future election and you could care less about the staff or children. This is a ploy to solicate donations nothing more.
The parking lot at East is the same as any strip mall, so if the worker is not qualified we need to find others that can get the job done. The waste of school district time and money subtracted valuable resources meaning dollars from our other staff.
Mr Laesch there are facts you are not aware of. Prior to working at the District I had five years of plow experience but I have not been able to get an opportunity to plow. There is no rotation or job assignment based on qualifications. We always assign plow work to Union reps only. This is a black mark not only on the new Director but the department. With 22 people working and the amount of time spent I makes us look like we don't work hard.
When the facts come out and it is shown that the maintenance workers did their job as ordered by administration, Ralph Padron should be sued. The Union should lead the legal fight against him for his defamatory and libelous comments on this blog. Maybe if he lost his fancy Naperville home, he would think twice before destroying the lives of good people trying to do their job as best they can. I’m sure during that investigation, they could uncover the conspiracy between Ralph and Annette.
I agree with Admins decision on the plowing. I also, agree about the Ralph and Annette conspiracy. Annette has given Ralph the idea he is important and valuable (to her) so he continues to do her dirty work, which is to make union workers (b&g and teachers) look bad whenever possible. Even if it requires false claims or stretching the truth.
Hindsight, you will always find better options. Some decisions have to be made promptly and in the best interest of the district. When dealing with weather and things out of human control, it is a 50-50 shot on what will be the best choice. Making it more difficult is the folks who are lying in waiting to jump on the opportunity to call someone out when the choice was not the best.
Bad....majorly bad choices.... have been made by many admin and boards of the past and recent past in EA. Since the Board has chosen a president who tries to have her hands in every aspect of the business of the district, things have only gotten worse.
Job descriptions exist to outline who, how and when. When there is outside interference....consistently! ....it is an obvious cause for the efficient processes to be disrupted. It creates a breakdown in communication through the rank and file.
I agree with John about the jobs remaining with the district employees. As for the person with 5 years snow plow experience. If it is not in your job description, or if this is a union position and your are not a member, there as reason you cannot just come to work in EA and expect to be rotated into a job that you were not hired to perform. We have teachers with admin qualifications, but that doesn't mean they can take turns being the principal.
Ralph is a pot stirrer. Every time his pal is stewing about something, he gets sent to stir the pot. He is always posting "more to come." More comes but his stewing pot has no substance.
If he and Annette put as much effort into actually working WITH all employees in the district to improve all aspects of our district, it would be time spent that would have some value.
I appreciate Board members and all staff who continue to do the best they are able in spite of all the disruption.
Thank you!
Responding to Works Hard:
I am going to assume that you work in District 131 and I want to say that I appreciate your service and hard work. Until someone proves differently, I will also assume that all of our staff work hard and give the district their best.
As a board member, it is not our job to get involved in the scheduling issues with district employees, but I hope that you can raise your concerns through union leadership or district administration.
The board does get involved in the union contract, but I did not participate in those discussions during the past negotiations nor have I looked at the contract.
It is not clear to me if you are advocating for privatized plowing or not, but if you are a firm believer in this, and you are not plowing snow for the district, perhaps you could still make money plowing for others in the private sector. It sounds like you have the necessary experience. I have plowed snow in the past, but I think that the unpredictable weather is too much of a gamble for me to own a plow truck.
Thank you again for your service to the district.
Respectfully,
John Laesch
First Response to Taxpayer1:
I knew that my posting here would invite this kind of controversy and I am ready for it.
You questione my intent for seeking this office. Here is my response.
I took this volunteer job on the East Aurora School Board because I saw the current board president and the past board president embroiled in a public controversy that involved “yo mama insults.” Stephanie Lulay with the Beacon News reported on it in 2012. This is a link to the openline version of the exchange. I hope you take time to listen to the audio.
http://openline.blogspot.com/2012/12/east-aurora-school-district-131-drama.html
I attended my first board meeting after this article and it seemed that there was room for improvement. Since taking office in 2015, I have learned that Ray Hull was right on a number of accounts and the racial undertones underscored by Johnson's reference to “the projects” and conservative hate displayed that night reflect her true self. She seems only concerned about herself as a taxpayer who is footing the bill for poor people. The overwhelming majority of EA students come from families living in high poverty.
What kind of message is Johnson sending to the families we serve when she says, “While you were living in public housing, my mom was paying those taxes.”
Taxpyer 1, as someone who is concerned about taxes, do you agree with Johnson’s statements below? Secondly, you have questioned my intent on the board. Have you questioned Johnson’s intent on the board? I mean, she makes it pretty clear in this exchange with Hull. And what do you think of her calling Hull a “loser?” Who at the national level does that sound like?
My second response to Taxpayer1 will be in my next post. This blog only allows 4090 characters so my responses might not be fluid. Also, I can see this going on all day so I will do my best to respond, but can’t promise that I can keep up. I expect the attacks to keep on rolling in.
Second response to Taxpayer1:
This is cut-and-pasted from the openline blog - again, listen to the audio.
http://openline.blogspot.com/2012/12/east-aurora-school-district-131-drama.html
Stephanie Lulay reports:
East Aurora School Board President Annette Johnson, an Aurora business owner, and board member Ray Hull, head of the city of Aurora’s water and sewer department, engaged in a bitter war of words at the afternoon meeting on Dec. 6.
Although several heated exchanges took place in the two-hour public committee session, in the last few minutes of the meeting, the two took intensely personal jabs at each other.
Following a disagreement about janitorial bids, Johnson and Hull took a detour from the Buildings and Grounds Committee agenda:
“I guess you work for me at the city because I pay your wages through my taxes,” Johnson said. “While you were living in public housing, my mom was paying those taxes.”
Hull responded: “How do you like that big ol’ house by yourself over there? What do you hug at night, your pillow or your mannequin?”
Later, Johnson said: “This man... he wants to be me.”
Hull: “I love the projects. Me and (East Aurora spokesman) Clayton (Muhammad) was right next to each other in those same projects.”
Johnson: “Yup, while I was paying those taxes.”
Hull: “My mother was paying rent, too, and your mother might have been a slumlord, for all I know. Just like you.”
Johnson goes on to say that Hull lacks intelligence and is a loser, while Hull says that Johnson is mean, nasty, bipolar and “crazy as a roller.”
“Mr. Hull is just a loser, quite frankly,” Johnson said.
Hull fires back: “Your mama was a loser, and your daddy was, too. And you’re one, too.”
East Superintendent Jerome Roberts and board member Anita Lewis attempted to curb the fighting at the meeting.
“Why don’t you guys go out to supper?” Lewis said. “What does this have to do with me sitting here for buildings and grounds?”
But the fighting continued.
Johnson: “Mr. Hull had his degree paid for by me, Mrs. Taxpayer. Listen to this man, attacking my dead mother.”
Hull: “And you talking about me being a loser. Go find someone to marry... You didn’t pay nothing for me, honey.”
During a discussion with staff earlier in the meeting, Hull called Johnson a bully.
“No one is having an antagonistic situation except you, you came into this room looking for a fight, and you’re going to get one from me,” Johnson said to Hull.
“You can bully everyone in this room. You can bully these boys but you won’t bully me,” Hull said. “You’re not going to tell me anything.”
At one point, a school district staff member came into the room, asking if she could close the door because of the loud quarrel.
“No. It’s a public meeting,” Hull replied.
Hull said Thursday the fight that escalated out of control was a “symptom of a much bigger problem.”
“It’s a symptom of a dysfunctional board. This is certainly not the only incident that’s been ugly,” he said.
Johnson called the incident a “blow out” fight.
“It’s been one thing after another (with the board) and it just caught me on the wrong day,” Johnson said.
Both Johnson and Hull said they regret parts of the argument.
“I rolled in the mud with (Johnson). I made a choice. I never would have said anything about her mother if she didn’t say mine was a freeloader,” Hull said. “I know I let God down with my behavior.”
Johnson said Hull’s words came on the anniversary of her mother’s death. Hull said his mother died when he was 19.
Apologies aside, both board members said they don’t agree with the other’s management style.
Johnson said Hull “gets more into defending individual (East staffers) than looking at the bigger picture.
“He’s hard to work with,” Johnson said.
Hull said he cannot “stand by and watch (Johnson) abuse staff.”
“The board — we don’t work as a team. It’s like Annette Johnson and the Pips. It’s her show,” he said.
John Laesch is at it again with attacking Annette Johnson. Annette may at times be to passionate but she has done a lot for our district. John on the other hand only comes to meeting when he feels it is time to create chaos. Annette is a strong women who stands up to John and does not take his abuse.
I have known John for years and he can't exist unless he attacking someone. This abuse is always limited to women.
Let's not loss site the district should always find the most cost effective ways to work. The money saved educates our children. It's interesting for all union members to note John does not think our schools our good enough for his step children they actually attend a private school. John has no problem outsourcing their education and remember this is a person who says YOU ARE CAPABLE. DONT BELIEVE HIS LIES.
Annette Johnson should get a order of protection against John Laesch. John is getting worse. Padron has had informants in the Buildings department for years. We never complained when he helped us expose Feltes or Demire. I will never believe he is involved with Annette on this. Was it not Ralph who would pick at Annette over insurance?
John instead the conspiracy theories examine the facts. There is at least one supervisor who wanted the Director position we all know he is a friend of Ralph and does not want Albert to be successful. The reality is Albert also picked Jorge as AD of grounds. Merle and Albert are good friends and seen often talking for hours. We can all expect the in fighting to continue. Albert is protected by Bea. Everybody in 131 knows Bea is Annettes pet. Why would Annette allow Ralph to work against Bea. This is all about one supervisor and his ego. Address this and you will address the daily soap opera we work with.
Ray Hull and Johnson are friends, I attend services with him and his comment is Annette worked to change the district and He supports her. He feels they have been both been made victims by the news media and administration who have not always forthright. Patron has attacked them both biblically and in the public. What has Patron done to Laesch? The administration never ran the snow plowing Andy Fare did and kept employees honest. It is no surprise that everything hit the fan for the first snow plow Andy did not run after retirement.
Both Ray and Annette have made a difference in many children's lives. MR Laesch it's not always about you. Why not do something for a child.
Triple time??!! Where the hell do you get your facts from?! And by the way they were off work on Tuesday too for the holiday! And the reason they had to plow was because there were tournaments on Tuesday morning! Get your facts together before you open your mouth!
And nobody got paid triple time!
Here's a link to 8 pages of recent articles about our district:
https://v3.boardbook.org/Public/PublicItemDownload.aspx?ik=41810223
To: The Truth
You are full of it if you are stating that Annette and Ray are friends. I went to most of the board meetings when they were on together and the hatred between them was palpable. Here is the real truth. The board has been dysfunctional for many years. The only consistent factor in ALL the districts dysfunctional relationships has been Annette Johnson. She has not been able to work with board members, administrations (yes plural) unions, community groups (except the decomposing Stonegate Crowd). The district will never move forward as long as Annette Johnson is running everything. John Laesch is just the latest in a long line of feuds that Annette Johnson has had.
First, let me respond to Paula Martinez. Thank you so much for having the courage to use your name on this blog. It gives you credibility in what you are saying. And, you are making the same point about the plowing that I did - there is more to the story than that which Mr. Padron is saying. It is designed to look like a scandal, yet he omits facts about the basketball tournament the next day and the fact that those were overtime days also.
I will be posting another piece about Padron's deliberate omissions and missing facts.
You are on target about who/ what the real problem is. You can always tell who has gone against AJ recently, they seem to become the blog subject. She pretends to dislike the blog, but it is apparent she is the one who uses it the most to attempt to discredit others. She has had disagreements with nearly everyone she has had to work with at some point in time. Being board president is her claim to fame. Without it she has nothing.
I live in Hulls neighborhood and teach in 131, and yes he did have a sign in his yard for only Johnson during the last school race.
The district has improved under Annette and past boards in the last six years. Laesch is a person few respect in the district. I believe this is a flawed attempt on his part to defend excessive waste. We have money today because luxuries like this have been cut out.
Most of the administration is better but you would have to question why anyone would make their workers work on a Christmas. I will assume they did make triple time. I am sure double time was paid for work plus the holiday. That is poor administration. It also appears some workers put down extra time. Again, what about all the administration we should ask did they leave their families and work on Christmas. Everyone talks about parking lots freezing over. Again, does our administration not view whether forecasted? By the time students came back to work snow had melted.
We are asked to improve our performance and I will not listen to other departments excuses as a taxpayer and staff member.
A letter to John Laesch
As taxpayer in 131 and a staff member who has a child attend 131 schools I would like to clarify why we have no respect for you.
First, the tape against Johnson was several years back and in that tape she was complaining about waste. Staff knows the tape was a discussion private discussion that Glotzbach and Aird illegally recorded.
The blame for the lack of 131 progress can be laid at their doorstep. She is a hero to many for leading the charge to get rid of them. If you took the time to understand John look at their record.
Aird had her favorites and she was more concerned about her social agenda than moving the district forward. She also asked staff to gender identity students and if you did not comply with her agenda staff was under daily retaliation. She had a hit list.
Glotzbach was no different retaliation was her motto. Staff had no input. Her replacement ( Megazzini)is fair and always open to input. Glotzbach was also responsible for poor record keeping and millions lost in insurance.
It was Annette who took the hard punches on the insurance and that alone changed the financial climate for staff.
I also feel if you really believed we are a great staff your step child would attend our schools. It is certainly your right to send them to the school of your choice but it's clear Mr Laesch you do not trust us. It is clear you have no accomplishments but attacking someone who does not deserve it.
If you look closely at this blog the pattern is clear. I am glad Mr Laesch decided to take a stand on here, the people who post the most garbage on this blog sling mud at him regularly. Whether the violent exchange with Annette happened long ago is not the issue. The issue is that she behaved that way and it is part of the pattern. This school district has wonderful teachers and students but administration is often the problem. The biggest problem EA has is its weak school board that allows a bully like Annette to create constant chaos and drama. Many of us see you AJ. We see your posts and what you do. Your fans are as blind as Trump's, the students of EA and the teachers deserve stability and sanity. Stop the attacks on staff and anyone who you decide isn't on your team.
If you want to talk about facts then that is a good idea. John Laesch had not been mentioned on the posts for a long time. Why now? Why does he respond now. One post says step children go to private school, but there is only one step child in Illinois. The other child did not move to Illinois when his mother, John's new wife, moved to Illinois to marry John Laesch. She posted that no mother would want her child to be subjected to the bashing on the blog, and while this may be true, what mother would separate her children so far - Illinois and Texas. More to that story I am sure but hard to say what a mother should subject her children to when you have already left one behind. John Laesch has been a long time political person and much of what he says or does will always have the political angle.
Anonymous 1: why don't you post your real name so I can dig up information about your life and your loved ones and post it on here? My husband ran for the school board, not me, but people like you with no class show your low character by pulling me in and attacking me through my children. I hope you feel proud of yourself, coward. I am proud of myself, my husband, and my children, and nothing you or any other weak person hiding behind a keyboard can say about me will change it.
We can all bet John is on to this because he is involved in politics. Jessie Vargas is the person John should blame he has the most experience and has had snow meeting at the HS. He should have coordinated the plowing at East because he is responsible for the campus. Everyone here knows Jessie is not a fan of the group on Hill Ave he has made that clear.
I work at the HS and watched John use his position on the BOE to advance his political causes and create chaos. He had meetings with some of us and promised us he would support Spencer Byrd only to back stab Spencer and turn emails over to Popp.
Crespo now becomes Principal and again some of us trust him and give him information. OUR emails again end up in Popps hands. He was well aware Crespo would photograph custodians but did nothing to defend their rights.
Crespo then gets moved to the EAEC and Laesch has meetings with him and harasses district admin about the way he was treated. Ask yourself why was he pro Crespo? It was because Crespo encouraged students to vote the Been.
Laesch also leaves many questions about his view of EA and us as teachers. Why would you not want your step children to experience all of the diversity EA has to offer. He often professed his support of minority causes. It shows it is a act.
Jennifer I feel sorry for you and those who know the real John know your honeymoon will soon be over. He is a complete narcissist who believes in only himself. Ask yourself why someone who is single with no real ties to Aurora would have not put you first and moved to Texas. Your children should always come first. They are living apart and at least one was forced to leave her friends behind. Your son is missing the daily guidance of a strong women. I would post my name but like several who know John they are afraid to speak up against him or face the attacks other face. I will share this when John was coming back from Texas he confided that your relationship would not work and he would break up with you if you did not move. This type of behavior is why John few supporters and his treatment of not putting you first shows he has no class.
This FOIA is a result of several conversations today requesting I personally do an in depth investigation of this event.
The $ 9,000.00 + cost is equivalent to 1 homeowner's property taxes in areas of Aurora
Date: Jan 16 2018
Subject: Dec 24 2017 Snow Removal
1 Video Copies of all buildings to include sidewalks & parking lots
2 Time sheet reports of all employees whom worked
3 Pay check summary of those whom worked this would be the pay period of Dec 24 2018
4 Approval of OT for payment
5 Fire Alarm Report for Johnson School
6 Truck Towing and repair report for Scott Osman
Thank you
Dec 29 2017 Snow Removal Summary
The FOIA speaks for itself
total cost
$ 5,849.95
$ 6,400.00 with IMRF
Again will need camera video to validate the following
Luis Salas 11 hrs - sidewalks
Plowing & hours
Merle Herren 13.75
Frank Menoza 9
Jesus Medina 7.5
Scott Osman 9.75
Zachary D'Ercola 12.75
Gregory Coulouris 12.25
Does BG Director (Albert Tijerina) question any of these hours
http://www.chicagotribune.com/suburbs/aurora-beacon-news/news/ct-abn-east-aurora-stadium-st-0118-20180117-story.html
Interesting.....
The hours for shoveling make absolutely no sense. Wonder what the hours for shoveling were for this past Monday.
The plowing make no sense 65 hours really they all need to be fired. If teachers did this and taught at this pace we would be fired. I knew our maintenance department was bad news but this is nuts!
Date: Jan 18 2018
Subject: Gates School Water Damage
Please provide the following
1 Report of this incident
2 Photos
3 Status of rooms damaged
4 Estimate cost of replacement of damaged educational tools
5 B & G director report/ Notification (emails or documents) to District of this damage
6 Notification to parents
7 Fireman (Sergio Sanchez) checklist of rooms being inspected before the damage occured
thank you
FOIA REQUEST
Date: Jan 18 2018
Subject: Snow Removal
Timeline: Dec 1 2017 - Dec 23 2017 January 1 - Jan 18 2018
All reports to include costs and time of any snow removal
Applications, Resume, Contracts Job Description
Alberto Tijerino
Zachary DErcola
Thank you
The Gates water damage was avoidable. Staff have been warning the district for years about the freezing problem in the computer lab. It was just a matter of time before the pipes burst and did significant damage. If Ralph was to FOIA something, he should FOIA all emails to building and grounds directors at least back to Nestor Garcia and see that the district had been warned for years that this was going to happen. But hell, B&G directors only give a damn what their budget looks like that year. Who cares if the districts has to pay millions later.
I work at Gates school our current person Sanchez who makes more than the teachers is worthless. The building is never maintained and they have hired additional people to help him. The administration is no better. They simply forgot to turn on the heat and blamed teachers. Please ask yourself why for two weeks did Sanchez not open up the door and check on the room. He also never opened the band room door. The teacher came back to find his room destroyed now the carpets are moldy and the districts response is they are fine.
Ralph can be asked to FOIA all he wants. He can claim people are requesting him to do these.
I don't care. But I wish he would keep it to himself until he actually has something substantial.
Also, don't share until he can say Joe Blow was fired due to my FOIA. Or "the board found problems resulting due to mismanagement."
But until their are some consequences paid by someone for anything that is supposedly done wrong, due to his "investigations, Ralph is just spitting in the wind.
http://www.chicagotribune.com/suburbs/aurora-beacon-news/news/ct-abn-east-aurora-undocumented-resolution-st-0118-20180118-story.html
http://www.chicagotribune.com/suburbs/aurora-beacon-news/news/ct-abn-east-aurora-stem-steam-st-0122-20180119-story.html
http://www.chicagotribune.com/suburbs/aurora-beacon-news/news/ct-abn-east-aurora-water-testing-st-0122-20180119-story.html
I really think it is common sense that there should be no raises for anyone in the district. Union employees should have their step raises eliminated and only a 1.5% COLA given for the next 3 years. There should also be no vacation time awarded for teachers other than the days off in the student calendar year. Should have some merit based bonuses included on the upcoming talks, but other than that it is time to use that critical thinking skill and stop unsustainable spending.
In looking at the results over the last 5 years, looks like Popp was not the idiot the teachers said he was. Graduation rates went up! Seems his treat the kids as if they are as good as any district around here paid off.
Looks like Mike Popp just can not give up. The graduation rates rose under Byrd and Kosek. It seems like Popp, Handley, Glotzbach and Pardon just can not go away.
I agree about the grad rates. Those at the high school made that happen...in spite of all the dysfunction at the SSC. Then they get rid of the guy helping to make it happen.
I wish Byrd would come back and be Supt.
Date: January 22 2018
Subject: East High Stadium
Timeline: Jan 13 2018
Security camera video & card swipe for entry into the garage at East High Stadium
Employee Card Swipe record for Garage and any door entrances within and accessing stadium
12:01 am - 07:00 am time period
Gregory Coulouris-Application, Resume
Overtime Summary July 1 2017 - Jan 22 2018
Luis Salas
Merle Herren
Jeff Strah
Scott Osmon
Greg Coularis
Zachary Dercola
Sergio Sanchez
Manuel Esparza
Ramon Moreno
http://www.chicagotribune.com/suburbs/aurora-beacon-news/news/ct-abn-aurora-taxes-st-0125-20180124-story.html
How about the nonstop bells at the high school. You have one set of bells and than another set starts which is as loud as an air raid drill. These go off evey 24 minutes. The kids are very agitated by these bells and they totally disrupt all instruction. This has been going on for weeks now. You can't tell me they couldn't have someone fix this problem in a day or two. Total incompetence.
From: R Padron
Sent: Friday, January 26, 2018 7:57:03 AM
Subject: WITHDRAWAL OF ALL FOIA's IN HOUSE
Good Morning
I am requesting that all FOIA's presently in house be withdrawn.
Due to the progress of these areas, I am comfortable that corrective action
will be taken resulting in a stronger School district
Thank you very much
Ralph
Why does the district have so many teachers half days? Do they not come trained, I lost a day of pay. I better not hear they are demanding a big raise.
Quit your pitching!
Are you new to having a child in school?
Half days have been going on for a very long while.
This is nothing new.
Our teachers are dedicated and educated. Added training is required in many jobs.
If it is a day for training, it could very well be for -" how to handle difficult parents."
Sometimes they are required to be off during the day to accommodate parent conference schedules at night, for parents who work during the day.
I worked full time during the 25 years I had children in school. The teachers are with your children each day, during more of their waking hours than you. Suck it up buttercup. Rather than pitch a fit, why not do like many of us.....and use that time to enjoy some extra time with your children.
You sound misinformed. One teachers don't make the schedule. 2. If these teachers demand a raise so what. I believe as taxpayers in this district you should invest in those who teach our kids. Some of the good teachers my kids had when they were younger are no longer around because this district couldn't compete with their neighbors as far as pay. 3. Is the most important thing and that's do your part as a parent and help enforce what these teachers are teaching and get more involved with the district. You'll see it either for what you thought it was or you will have a better perspective. One thing for sure I would be able to take your criticism seriously if you were more involved.
What a great day for teacher training. Beatrice told the teachers at the Benevides Kindergarten not to go to the school board and speak. What is she afraid they might say?
I attended the same training and did not hear her say that. It sounds like Gentile is out spreading stories. I did hear some Magnet staff members do not want some of the proposed changes to happen. Apparently they do not want to get transferred to Oak Park. Most of us know the Magnet teachers like Jennifer could never teach a real class in 131.
Isn't half a day the normal day for a teacher? They are only in front of kids for only 5 hours to begin with. So, if they have to stick around for a full day, they are probably not used to that.
Why not use the weekends and summer for "training" and at no additional pay. Our snowflake teachers should suck it up and actually teach during the school year. Could be the start of a trend that may catch on. Maybe the students would get better results also. No. more. money. No. more. raises. Results first.
Wow 4 wins and 8 losses so far this season. Sure glad Annette Johnson, Dr. McDonald and Marina Kosak got rid of Coach Jeffries to make the team better. What a joke. Every time the board and admin “Improve” things, the kids suffer.
The district tested 3200 water fountains and only 500 came back with no measurable lead. That means 2700 fountains had measurable lead levels. I’m reminded of the commercial that aired lately where vendor offers people water with acceptable levels of lead. Not one person would drink it. Yet in District 131 we give it to children unable to understand and make informed decisions about the ramifications of drinking this dangerous liquid.
Lead builds up in your tissues over long periods of time. Your body can not remove it naturally. It builds and builds until it begins to impair brain function. This certainly explains a lot of the decisions made by the adults in the East Aurora community.
Nothing changes in East Aurora. Just cover it up, sweep it under the rug. Don’t do anything that may cost the taxpayers money. Screw these little black and brown kids. They all come from S#|+hole countries anyway.
Reality is Trevon Brown was transferring to West Aurora to receive better coaching and play for a winning program. Trevon was related to Jefferies but his father wanted no part of Jefferies. He considers Jefferies and his program undisplined.
If Jefferies would have coached the program we would have had zero victories. A major improvement is the study club Robinson is running. Athletes will have a better chance to compete academically.
Kosek needs to continue to push Jefferies out he still comes to work when he feels like it. She also needs to watch the Badminton team. Some past students are talking.
It is my understanding we had Union representation on the calender committee. If this is any example of what our leadership has been working on for we are screwed with negotiations. VERY UPSET ALONG WITH EVERYONE AT EAHS. DID ANYONE CONSIDER MOST BUILDING ARE NOT AIR CONDITIONED. OUR ENTIRE LEADERSHIP TEAM SITS IN AIR CONDITIONED CLASSROOMS OR OFFICES. IT SHOWS WHAT THEY THINK OF US
To: Screwed Again
The committee also had a number of high school teachers who found starting the school year earlier important enough to join the committee and have their voices heard. As usual, people like you do nothing except complain on an anonymous blog. Here’s a hint for you, you are the union. If you are not happy with the decisions being made, get off your half moons and get your voice heard. If you want fair representation on negotiations, get everyone off the tears and stand together. This is always the issue in East Aurora, people standing around pointing fingers instead of demanding the change they want.
To: Reality Check
The fact is the team should have no victories. Ricky Robinson has been playing ineligible players. The AD and principal know this has been going on but they do nothing because they know that Robinson is protected by Beatrice Reyes-Childress and Annette Johnson. It’s a shame because the kids he is starting do nothing. They don’t even come to practice most days. Many of the players have quit the team because they were sick of doing all the right things like coming to practice regularly and passing their classes yet being overlooked on game day for those who are failing and only show up on game day. Why are politics always put ahead of the children of East Aurora?
http://www.chicagotribune.com/suburbs/aurora-beacon-news/news/ct-abn-east-aurora-dual-language-meeting-st-0202-20180201-story.html
Hello all
Sources are telling me no disciplinary action (suspension or termination) is happening to
1 Manny Esparza (security violation (s) at East High
2 Sergio Sanchez Gates Elementary turning heat off resulting in damage to classrooms and materials. SERGIO BLAMES THE TEACHERS!
Both employees are boasting about the lack of discipline
I entrusted those in command to handle these matters and expected termination due to the severity of the violations. Need I go into detail about the security violation with Manny Esparza especially with the level of violence at schools in the USA.
This is all heresay at this point of no action taken.
I understand that D131 cannot share personnel information with these 2 men however
the fact that both are still working speaks for itself.
I do not expect any response verifying or denying the above however I will not sit back and accept the decision if true.
Here is a response from a prominent Carillon resident
"Ralph,
Stay on this what caused the damage broken water pipe? "
Will continue to update the Carillon Group and others that there is no action taken as of yet.
Oh, poor, poor Ralph. Your "sources" and Carillon Group and Annette are making you their minion. Use your talent and time for something that may actually be productive......for yourself or your family.
So much time and energy being used and it is always -no corrective action, no consequences.
Give it a rest Mr. Padron.
The new John Laesch strategy is blame everything on Annette. The man is so full of hate he can't stand himself.
Ralph Padron is on his own with this one. Pardon and Vargas are attacking hard working maintenance people. Talk about hate, Padrons informant is Vargas. Vargas applied for both positions but is so bad nobody will promote him. Pardon needs to go away but with Vargas working @ 131 he is like this years flu it keeps coming back.
Subject: Jorge Villagomez
Upon studying the recent FOIA response, it appears Jorge has begun utilizing Warehouse Direct for many a purchase.
I am preparing a report showing many a discrepancy and violations.
Example:
1 Purchase Orders with a new Vendor.
2 What happened to the previous vendors
3 Were they given the opportunity to quote on these items
4 Bid Stringing - there are more issues
Unique Products (St Charles Vendor)
1 Many service calls to repair Scrubbers (Small Engine repairs)
2 Did not EA promote Joseph Blasing to do this type of work.
3 Why does BG call Unique for this work
4 I compared total cost, time , materials, and TRAVEL TIME
5 No doubt Mr Blasing is MORE THAN QUALIFIED to do these repairs.
THE PURCHASE ORDERS WERE CREATED AFTER WORK WAS PERFORMED AND INVOICED
IS THIS NEW PROTOCOL
Even if Purchasing for BG is centralized at the Business Office
are these employees given a free pass?
When will 131 stop investing good money in a bad investment
I wish I could just stop discovering these issues however the employees
proved they could not be trusted.
Ralph not everyone who has a job in BNG can not be trusted. Maybe you should tell the truth about Jessie Vargas. Jessie has his own scams going on at the HS. During his time many tools went missing from construction sites. The funny thing is security cameras were taped over. Only one person has that excess. So while you ruin everybodies name look into your friend Jessie. Also everyone should ask why every time somebody gets promoted and Jessie does not we have to go through calling everyone else dishonest.
PS Ralph ask why sound equipment disappeared? Pull all the missing reports on computers until the district setup security on the devices. See Ralph everyone is dishonest according to your world.
The classrooms at Brooks elementary in Stonebridge (204) are not air conditioned either quit whining . Most every school that is at least 20 yrs old don’t have Central ac
So help me out . Jeffries had no winning seasons since Boatwright graduated. He beat west 1 x in 14 seasons. He never made an adjustment that mattered other screaming . Now assistant coaches who were safe under Coach J. R blogging cause they may be out of position next year. Coach Robinson was handed this group of players that J and his sophomore coaches had last year. The best 7 players are playing on game night. The best player and point guard transferred because his relative lost his job.This isn’t about participation trophies for all players. You play your way on to the floor. The team actually runs plays now , something they weren’t used to. Coach J strategy was playground b ball. 4 wins is 2 more than Becker had in 6 years on the gridiron. The boys are in every game and are a true point guard and scorer away from a major turnaround . The bad news is that point guard is not on the soph squad. Every varsity player played for the current coaches either on freshmen or sophomore team and we know they won conference at both levels until Robinson got screwed them up.
Robinson has setup a study skills clubs with a local non profit. Grades are important to him. The story that he is playing ineligible is simply that a story and a lie. Robinson visits staff about students and instills discipline in them. That was not true of Jefferies.
The charge of ineligible players is false for the following reason:
Eligibility is decided by the AD office and they do not look the other way. There are to many naysayers that would report Williams in a minute. Torres is also not a big Robinson fan and folks around the PE department
Date: Feb 5 2018
Subject: Jorge Villagomez
Timeline: Sept 1 2017 - Feb 5 2018
Application, Resume, Contract, Job Description
Emails to/from Jorge Villagomez, Alberto Tijerina & Warehouse Direct
E LOG OF JORGE
1 Vendors visiting B G (Alberto & Jorge) Sept 1 2017 - Jan 31 218
Alberto mentioned in a meeting with Mark McDonal & myself, 5 specific vendors who gave presentations related to janitorial products
2 Public Posting of Floor Mat Bid
3 All Open Purchase Orders as of Feb 5 2018
Chairman Ken Darby
I am requesting you investigate the blatant violationa concerning PO's to Unique Products ref pgs 81 - 104 of attached FOIA response
All PO dates are JULY 30 2018
Invoices are dated in 2017
Work was performed in 2017
What is Alberto's response to this
Small Engine Dept was created to do this type of work
Can someone notify Albert & Jorge this Dept can perform this work
PO Date School Chgs
184675 Jan 30-18 Brady $ 745.50
184676 Jan 30-18 Allen 2,069.81
184677 Jan 30-18 Cowherd 1,246.23
184678 Jan 30-18
Simmons 1,057.26
Krug 2,055.58
Bardwell 189.00
184679 Jan 30-18 Oak Park $ 1,525.20
184680 Jan 30 18 Oak Park $ 461.16
Certainly appears that Alberto Tijerina is protected
Ralph knock off the crap. You know damn well that no employee in District 131 has the authority to purchase anything unilaterally. There’s a process with many approvals needed before anything is purchased. The building fireman has to approve purchases, as well as the building principal. It then goes to Central Office where directors / assistant superintendents have to give their OK. It then goes to finance for their approval. If it’s a significant amount, it will need the superintendents and board approval. Even if it is not a significant amount, it is still reviewed by the superintendents and board on a monthly basis.
You need to quit waking the dead in Stonegate by making all sorts of false allegations against hard working people. You have become a disgrace.
Good Morning All
First I must state that Shields is a 1st class Auditor and I have the utmost respect for her ability.
The following info is SECOND HAND info from a source whom is very reliable.
Stated publicly at the recent B G meeting the reason new vendors replaced long time vendors was they "RAISED PRICES".
Comments/Questions
Have Ms Shields Produce documents, quotes, emails supporting her statement.
I see a pattern that statements like this can be made without supporting documentation.
My concerns have always been supported with FOIA documents.
I have spoken in great length with longtime vendors Mayfair Hotel & Supply and Valdes LLC concerning this.
They were NEVER contacted to quote on the Purchases in question in fact could have saved money if they were given the opportunity. Call them yourself
Dr McDonald assured me that purchasing would be done exclusively by the Business Office which is a step in the right direction finally. Hopefully this is in effect immediately
I mentioned to Mayfair & Valdes to contact the Business Office to have the opportunity to quote on upcoming purchases
Both companies were victims of the Dave Rana purchasing scandal and very helpful in exposing the scam.
Also requested they speak at the next BOE meeting as both did in previous years.
I will FOIA Elizabeth Shields documents supporting her statements
Ralph
So your argument is that Mayfair & Valdes could have been giving the district better prices for the past many years but they have been deliberately overcharging the district because of their (or others) greed. And now somehow a district employee who found a company selling the same product for a better price is wrong for not going back to the companies that have been screwing the district and be fair to them??? Sounds to me that Rana should be given a medal for saving the district money. The only person who could have a problem with this is somebody who is losing their kickbacks. You need to quit acting as Annette’s attack dog. Enough is enough.
Two upcoming School Board meetings:
Special
Tuesday, February 13, 2018 5:00 PM
School Service Center - 417 Fifth Street, Aurora, IL
I. Roll Call
II. Action Items:
A. Motion to Approve a Letter of Agreement with Hazard Young Attea and Associates to Conduct the Remaining Steps as Proposed in the Superintendent Search Proposal Submitted to the Board on September 22, 2017
III. Discussion on Superintendent Search
A. Next Steps - Dr. Peter Flynn/K. Giles
IV. Executive Session for the Purpose of Discussing the Appointment, Employment and Dismissal of a Specific Employee
V. Public Comments/Questions
VI. Adjournment
Special
Tuesday, February 13, 2018 6:30 PM
School Service Center - 417 Fifth Street, Aurora, IL
I. Roll Call
II. Discussion on Goal Setting - Laura Martinez (IASB)
III. Public Comments/Questions
IV. Adjournment
Ralph is the attack dog of Jessie Vargas. After many attempts poor Jessie did not get the job of Director again. Jessie then calls Ralph and anyone who attempts to report facts is attacked. The SB needs to have the law firm send Ralph a letter that he is not allowed to destroy employees. The SB needs to stop this troll.
Greetings
First of all I commend Dr McDonald acknowledging that a mistake was made in the awarding of this bid to All American Paper. I strongly suspect it was Elizabeth Shields.
Questions/Comments
1 What warranted this be put out to Public Bid and who determined that.
2 Why was bid not awarded to the lowest bidder (Conserv Flag & Mats) a difference of $ 13K
3 Were they informed of not being awarded the bid despite being the lowest bidder
4 Whom determined that all buildings needed new floormats whereas in the past they were purchased as needed
5 What is the timeline of mats previously purchased in all buildings and who was the vendor
6 All American Paper was awarded the Bid. I find it suspicious that a company from Alberto's previous School Dist St Charles knew about this bid and is now doing business in janitorial supplies. They emerged out of nowhere. Wonder if Alberto had something to do with them.
7 Why was this Bid allowed to proceed. Appears that needs an explanation by someone in the Business Office.
I am strugging with contacting Conserv Flag & Mats of this scandal however I must do so if I am to be consistent in contacting those whom were done an injustice.
Something is very suspicious here requiring FOIA's to answer these questions. Emails will be interesting
Will follow up once I receive FOIA response
No need to follow up, Ralph. It really is not that "scandalous" don't waste your or our time.
I don't find it that unusual that a person in a position at a new employer, would not or could not be in touch with previous contacts or vendors.
If they did well in that job, I would think they would have working relationships with many people on several levels.
So, Ralph, quit "wondering about them emerging out of nowhere."
It is called "doing business."
Are we ever going to deal with the violence in our schools? The West Side has gotten some criticism recently because they deal with violence in their schools. A simple fight and students are expelled. Result? Very little violence in their schools.
How about the East Side? There are fights, even riots in our buildings daily (even multiple times in a day) and the board and administration here do nothing. Just at East High in the past week there have been fights every day. Twice this week children have been beaten unconscious. We’ve had a riot with at least a dozen kids fighting. We even had a kid bearing another using brass knuckles. What does the admin here do? Nothing. They just try to sweep it all under the rug. It’s the same thing they do with everything, just bury it, skew the data, don’t report it and the numbers will look good for them. To he!! With the kids.
Have Ralph Patron FOIA it... It funny you blame admin and not parents.
It’s the parents responsibility to discipline children at home. It’s admins job to discipline children at school. Moreover, it’s administrations job to maintain a learning atmosphere at school. What we need is for the good students and parents to start filing lawsuits for educational malpractice. If it starts costing the district millions of dollars, Annette will lead the charge. Children are entitled to an education and if administration is unwilling or unable to do their job, they should step down. Admin on the West Side has the cajones to do their job, why not on the East Side.
http://www.chicagotribune.com/suburbs/aurora-beacon-news/news/ct-abn-aurora-black-history-st-0216-20180215-story.html
Just heard about the high school shooting in Florida--such a travesty- supposedly shooter was a 21 year old who was obsessed with guns and had been in alternative school. When will schools learn that metal detectors are mandatory in this climate of gangs, guns and mental illness? Wanding will do nothing. How can a school spend 90 million on eyewash and zero on safety, paying PPA's next to nothing. We are short staffed at East High on PPA's and Deans. We need metal detectors, and more safety staff making a living wage. Aren't our lives worth it?
A metal detector is not going to stop anyone with a gun. The former student in Florida was expelled and it did not stop him.
Here’s a thought... Instead of treating 4000 students as though they are criminals and violating their fourth amendment rights against illegal search and seizure (this would not have stopped somebody entering the school while shooting), why don’t we deal with criminal elements within our school society.
This 19 year old student in Florida was expelled for being a danger to those around him. He had a long record of being antisocial and disruptive. Even the students around him stated that he would be the one they would expect to commit such an act. WHY was he allowed to own a weapon???
There was a long list of signs that this individual was mentally unstable. Yet, did you hear the superintendent down in Florida? We can not discuss student matters, we must protect this students rights. BS, the administrators down there should be held responsible for allowing this to happen.
We need to start protecting the rights of students in the school who go there to get an education. They should not be afraid to go to school. They should not be bullied. They should not have their education disturbed by the same a$$holes day in and day out.
In every other sector of society, if somebody is acting antisocial, they are removed from that society. Only in schools are the innocent subjected to criminals on a daily basis. Only in schools are children beaten only to have their abusers back in their classrooms a day later. Only in schools do we abuse the rights of the innocent to protect the rights of the guilty.
I’d like to spread the blame to many factors but the reality is that all these decisions are made by administration and in some cases board members. All the other adults in schools have no power in discipline situations. To the contrary, teachers and aides are also subjected to these daily abuses. Send a kid to the office and they are sent right back creating even bigger disruptions. We’ve had teachers who have been verbally and physically assaulted by students. Sexual harassment has been all too common by students toward adults and administrators do nothing.
Nothing is going to change as long as administrators bury these situations under the rug to make their stats look good. It’s not just an East Aurora problem but it’s certainly a significant issue on the East Side.
I love it when the cry bully teachers just wash their hands in dealing with students in need. Many times students who are having issues never get referred to a social worker they just dump massive amounts of students in the office. Most of the time records are not documented by the teacher as to problem patterns with students. Senate Bill 100 forces schools to keep a documented profile of a students displine records. Teachers play a big role and if records are not maintained itbis impossible for administration react.
In the case of Florida, blame this one on Jeb Bush when he took professional teacher and social worker licensure out of the State. The move was to reduce costs. Florida schools are massive and students do not have alternative options.
Yes the system is broken and get right down to it big pharma also plays a major role. Mass killers have had a pattern of prescription drugs going badly.
When are teachers supposed to document the all the actions of the 200+ students that they see every day? Unlike other professions, there is no time for this. We have to take time away from the other students every time we write a referral on a student only to have the administration combine it with twenty other referrals the student got that day to receive a lunch detention or have them throw them directly into the garbage. You mention referring students to the social worker but when there’s only one social worker for 1000+ students, you begin to realize that the district wants to SAY we provide social services for students but in reality, it doesn’t happen for most.
While you are throwing blame around, don’t forget that Trump and the republicans passed legislation last year to make it easier for the mentally ill to obtain weapons. While we are on legislative issues, did you see what republicans in the House of Representatives were doing yesterday while we were all focused on Florida? They were passing legislation that would take disabled persons rights away by destroying the ADA (Americans With Disabilities Act). Hundreds of disabled people were arrested. Republicans nationwide have cut billions from social service and mental health programs. The presidents recently released budget calls for more cuts to schools and social programs so he can build a wall to keep us safe (or republicans safe from those who won’t vote for them).
You are right that there is blame to go around but administrators have the most direct control of student behavior issues in schools.
Good Morning all
Received last Custodial/Janitorial Bid FOIA yesterday
pg 10 specifically states
"The term of the contract shall remain through June 30 2016"
Feb 20 2018 BOE Packet. see below
https://v3.boardbook.org/Public/PublicItemDownload.aspx?ik=41997547
"Mr. Tijerina informed the Committee the recent bids for Custodial Supplies were rejected due to insufficient bid submission by vendors."
Was not the bid rejected due to proprietary of items which Mr Tijerna admitted authoring at a most recent meeting
"The bid is currently in the rewriting process and will be rebid as soon as possible.
Ms Shields informed the Committee that the current contract with vendors expired on June 30, 2017."
This is false ( see attached 2015 Bid)
It was June 30 2016
She stated where prices have not changed, we have stayed with the same vendor.
Where prices have increased, comparable quotes have been obtained prior to ordering. Ms. Johnson would like purchases looked at due to change in suppliers. Mr. Darby requested pricing for what is being purchased at the present time in comparison to the cost of the past contracts. Mr. Darby inquired as to why the contracts were not taken care of before expiration.
AGAIN FALSE as I have spoken with 2 EA vendors (Valdes & Mayfair Hotel Supply) who were not contacted to quote purchases
B & G has been without a janitorial contract bid for 20 months Ref: attached 2015 Bid
Note the language on pg 15 16 17
Did someone consider using this format in order to put this Bid out. Everything is there making it simple and detailed
This was a no Brainer to implement the Bid immediately. Alex DiMare was Director during this time.
Is it not the Business Office responsibility to keep all contracts updated.
What is Mike Prombo's position on this?
and shouldn't Ms Shields been on top of this
Again the Business Office and B&G cannot be trusted for an honest answer
Excuses and blame on others is the culture.
I should not be the one catching these violations repeatedly
Guess I will have to FOIA the answers of Ms Shields and Mr Tijerina
Please point these false statements out at the Feb 20 BOE meeting
Do I need to speak at this meeting?
thank you
Not all 200 hundred students need to get documented and while a social worker may have 1000 students in a building they only see a handful. There is more socializing going on in the Social work department than social work. Teachers and administration need to work together. It may be a students last chance.
http://www.chicagotribune.com/suburbs/aurora-beacon-news/news/ct-abn-east-aurora-high-school-addition-st-0216-20180216-story.html
http://www.chicagotribune.com/suburbs/aurora-beacon-news/news/ct-abn-east-aurora-graduation-st-0219-20180216-story.html
Here's a link to 32 pages of recent articles about our district:
https://v3.boardbook.org/Public/PublicItemDownload.aspx?ik=41997629
On Tuesday, the board will approve the STEAM/STEM schools. I still do not understand how they will not have the same education for all of the students. Is this fair for the students? Get ready for writing curriculum over the Summer. They plan and make so many quick choices but don't really plan it well in EA! How is the Dual Language going? Data would be nice. What did they use to measure growth in students language? What curriculum did they use? So many initiatives being implemented too fast!
I agree anonymous1. Every few years they "improve" things, saying it takes a few years to see the results. Before there is a chance for a pass or fail outcome determined, they are changing things again. Our children and our teachers are like the lab rats in the admin and boards attempts to prove themselves. Thank God for our teachers who are able to function successfully in an atmosphere of dysfunction.
The teachers of 131 create a atmosphere of dysfunction. Children coming out of BKC show student growth levels of the Illinois State average.
Here is the difference.
The BKC upon its establishment was able to interview district teachers that applied and reject the one's that did not qualify. They then filled the remaining positions with outside hires. That is not the case in other schools within the district. Other schools in 131 still have unqualified staff that was hired in the late 90's and early 2000's because other district paid more. These same teachers have showed no growth or backward decline. Thus their buildings show no growth.
They are now attempting to do this with three other schools in our district. This will be great for students who have attended the bottom feeder schools in our district. It will not be great for the other schools that will now inherit teachers that can not teach to the level of the BKC curriculum.
Hopefully in ten more years upon retirement of group 131 will get better. Don't hold your breath cancer spreads and many of these bottomfeeders hurt new and enthusic staff because they don't embrace positive change or keep up with modern day teaching methods
Greetings
Tuesday 's BOE agenda
IX Bldg & Grounds
C Action Items
4 Motion to Reject all the Custodial Supply Bids of Jan 24 2018
Recently I met with Dr McDonald, Elizabeth Shields, and Alberto Tijerina discussing various B&G issues. I objected that the proposed bid contained many PROPRIETARY Supplies which was a deviation from past Bids in that UNIVERSAL products would be eliminated. Despite rationalization from Alberto to go PROPRIETARY I brought out it appeared this would be geared toward awarding the Bid to a vendor brought in from St Charles School district (Warehouse Direct)
FOIA Responses confirms that Whse Direct is now a major BG Vendor thus they would monopolize the Bid if approved. Upon discussion Dr McDonald stated that UNIVERSAL Products would be included thus overruling LANGUAGE in specifying Certain Brands only be used.
Rejection Letter Submitted by Alberto Tijerina states
Recommendation
" My recommendation to the Board is to reject the January 24, 2018 bid results and wait for the new bid results. The reason we are rebidding is that we want to open the bid to universal equipment for paper products as well as chemical products since the original bid did not produce enough responses for chemicals"
The decision to reject the Bid WAS NOT because "original bid did not produce enough responses for chemicals" The truth is Alberto intentionally excluded "Universal Products" on the bid.
1 Did the Business Office "Catch This" Incorrect response from Mr Tijerina
Obviously NOT despite Elizabeth Shields being present for this discussion
2 Again this is suspicious and another apparent COVER UP by the Business Office
3 How long will this be tolerated in allowing unqualified individuals to continue working in high paying positions paid for by the Taxpayers
4 Why is the Purchasing Agent not involved in this Bid
Again "Shame on those responsible for this"
I am so tired of the teacher bashing that some of you engage in. You refuse to take in a plethora of socio-economic, political and other factors that enter into whether a student is successful or not. First and foremost are whether that student's parents are literate, graduated from high school themselves ad read to the child while a toddler.At the high school most teachers could easily work anywhere else and actually choose to work with this population of students , myself included. If the administration would stop dumping new initiatives on us every year and allow us to teach, you would see those results. I have 3 degrees from Ivy-league schools and field offers all of the time.Know your facts before you spread your venom.
I read "Here We Go Again's " comments and I am very concerned. It is obvious that the posting is from a School Board Member or a District Administer, gagging from the vernacular used. I take exception to the term " bottom feeder schools". We have bottom feeder school in our district, if so are we ok with that? My degree is in business, not education, so I am not sure what "bottom Feeder" means as it relates to schools.
The job of the School Board and the District Administers is to improve the quality of the output of a process by identifying and removing the causes of defects and minimizing variability amongst schools. They should be using quality management methods, mainly empirical, statistical methods, and create a special infrastructure of people within the organization who are experts in these methods.
I believe the problem lies in the antiquated management style of the school board and district administration. The Superintendent should know achieving sustained quality improvement requires commitment from the entire organization, particularly from top-level management.
I am not satisfied with having "bottom feeder schools" in my district, nor should the school board, administers and community. This is not an expectable style of management .
Regard's
Kathleen Gonzales
http://www.chicagotribune.com/suburbs/aurora-beacon-news/opinion/ct-abn-crosby-east-chess-st-0221-20180220-column.html
To B&G Committee Members
At last night's board meeting Dr McDonald acknowledged 2 mistakes made by the Business Office pertaining to B&G Bids.
Ken Darby stated that B&G fixes their mistakes. Glad to hear that.
Here is another mistake centering around Jorge Villagomez. He lied on his application.
Evidence was gathered from comparing his application to his resume (obtained via FOIA)
Response from Dist 117 verifying he NEVER was an employee but worked for an Outsource Company assigned to D117
Questions
1 Why was this not verifed on his original application
2 He was promoted in a few months to a salary approximately $ 85K
3 Many staff and teachers do not make close to this amount
Application Closing statement states that FALSE INFORMATION given is grounds for dismissal
Here is the proof of a big mistake
Calling on the BG Committee to fix this mistake
Please respond
Good Morning
A recent FOIA response I was able to discover this very interesting Open Order Report
totaling $ 37,421,538.60 This report is critical to the Financial Report in its accuracy of the District Finances.
1 This total is only for the Bldg & Grounds Dept.
Do other Depts have this same problem discrepancy
FOIA's will give us the answer
2 Construction PO's are still open which have already been completed. Have they been paid or still pending?
3 Open Order Reports are examined on a regular basis in corporate America and it is mandatory they be 100% accurate. Does EA D131 have that practice/policy? Obviously NOT
This is toally unacceptable in any School District or Business. People are fired because of this.
4 I suggest you hold Mr Prombo & Elizabeth Shields accountable for these misleading reports resulting in chaos.
Please respond
Ralph Padron do have have anything better to do with your life?
Talk about embarrassing. East West boys basketball score: West 60 East 41. Even more embarrassing is how nobody’s going to games. They can’t even fill the stands for an East West game. Their record is 4 wins and 19 losses. Aren’t we all so happy that Annette Johnson and Mark McDonald came in to improve the program? Everytime these idiots who know nothing about how things are in the real world attempt to improve things, they always destroy the program. Did anybody really believe that bringing in a non educator from outside the building with no connection to our students was going to improve anything? How many times is this community going to allow this same story to play out? Just like our food ball program, all PR and few wins.
Administration also “improved our band program this year. I’m waiting to see where the numbers go. Remember, we had well over 300 kids in the high school program at the beginning of this year. We just spent millions of dollars building a state of the art facility for the band. I have no issue spending the money if the program will be supported but the changes that admin is making is destroying the program from the bottom up. It’s just a matter of time before the new fine art facility will be a ghost town.
When will this community ever stand up for themselves?
Correction: The team record is 5 wins and 22 losses. All scores have not been reported to Max Preps as it should be. According to Max Preps ( which doesn’t have all the teams losses reported) East Aurora is ranked 465th in the state and 11785th in the nation. Translation: bottom of the barrel. How embarrassing.
Totally agree with the bag. We have a Board that is all about show boating. "Former Bears Player," state of the art football stadium, new this, new that, spent millions! I want to see teachers with state of the art tools to work with and students with high ranking performance. Teach those who want to learn and quit trying to please all the special interest voters. We do have an outstanding NJROTC program. One of the things that was well established before Johnson and the revolving superintendents came on. Proving EA students can excel when the admin works with those on the front lines, that know our students best.
Wow when has East beaten West in the last 15 years and suddenly it is the new coaches fault? The star player of the team was moving to the West side to join a competive team anyways so long story short we had a mentoring group work with our boys on developing skills on an off the court something that would have never been done with Jefferies. Robinson will bui.d on tradition and suscess will be soon come to EA.
I would like to thank Darby and Johnson for creating EA Pride.
In the last month Ralph Pardon has cost our District business office 40 plus hours of pulling records. What has he saved the District? He is feeding a bunch of seniors fake news. What the real news is that he is wasting their tax dollars on foolish witch hunts. We have their email addresses and will be setting them straight.
http://www.chicagotribune.com/suburbs/aurora-beacon-news/news/ct-abn-african-american-history-st-0226-20180225-story.html
Just read the story about West High spike in expulsions. They didn’t give a number but it debunks the lies told on this blog that West expels all troublemakers. Last year they had one ,1, uno expulsion. So r we to believe they had one troublemaker all last year. How many have easy expeled in the last 1.5 years
Re: Feb 6 2018 Minutes BG Meeting
"Mr. Tijerina informed the Committee the recent bids for Custodial Supplies were rejected due to insufficient bid submission by vendors. The bid is currently in the rewriting process and will be rebid as soon as possible.
Ralph: Should have been done already What is the delay
Ms. Shields informed the Committee that the current contract with vendors expired on June 30, 2017.
Ralph: Only off 1 year 2016 was expiration
She stated where prices have not changed, we have stayed with the same vendor.
Ralph: NOT TRUE
Where prices have increased, comparable quotes have been obtained prior to ordering.
Ralph: FOIA RESPONSES PROVE OTHERWISE
Ms. Johnson would like purchases looked at due to change in suppliers.
Ralph: WHY Were ALBERTO & JORGE CHANGING SUPPLIERS and not in communication with those previous suppliers?
Mr. Darby requested pricing for what is being purchased at the present time in comparison to the cost of the past contracts. "
Ralph: HAS THIS BEEN PROVIDED? IF SO, THIS IS WHAT I AM INTERESTED IN.
AGAIN THIS WILL PROVE THE COVER-UP AND CORRUPTION WITH BG PURCHASING
PLEASE PROVE ME WRONG, IF NOT QUIT PROTECTING ALBERTO & JORGE IN THE WASTEFULNESS OF TAX DOLLARS !!
Last but not least, where is the Business Office in all of this Purchasing Responsibility
Evidently Mike Prombo & Elizabeth Shields are given immunity from doing their jobs regarding Purchasing
Another day at EA and BG Committee needs to stop allowing the excuses to continue and do some "house cleaning"
In addition Mike Prombo and Elizabeth Shields need to be fired as a result of this and many other issues
Please respond
District employees have a responsibility to the district, NOT to its vendors. If they find new vendors who will give the district a better price for services, then they should be going with the lower prices. This sounds like somebody is pissed they could be losing their kickbacks from preferred vendors. Ralph should be investigating why we are protecting the vendors overcharging the district and who is getting kickbacks. He should not be harassing good employees being responsible with Public Tax Dollars.
http://newsroom.unl.edu/announce/artsatunl/7629/43514
Wow--way to go Mr. K!!
Ralph needs to go away. We all know that his friend Jessie Vargas got moved back to the Hill and is angry. In other news Fat Louie was told to stay in the warehouse and not drive around. This means Fat Louie can not run his landscaping business and steal district equipment anymore. Yes Ralph B&G has finally got a supervisor that is willing to take on your minions.
In other wasted time the Central Office needed to show Ralph how to read. Pulling FILES and reading for Ralph is the real waste of money for the district.
I would like to say good bye, also, to Ralph. He is such a drama king. Retire, already and stop trying to be acknowledged for something you cannot substantiate. "Corruption and cover up" can be intriguing news. Not when you use the phrase every time you create a FOIA request and find nothing of real value.
Go home, Ralph. Enjoy life and quit trying to dig dirt where there is none. You are now listening to and targeting the wrong people and discredited yourself by doing so. Put down your pen and your righteous attitude and go home.
Kevin Kaisershot continues to be the gift that keeps on giving, even after his retirement. Now he’s getting national recognition for his career achievements from the University of Nebraska. You can bet people are Googling him and reading all about how our district’s administration treated him back in 2005.
Time to eat crow, indeed.
Harmon, Barreiro, Muhammad, and Malaker may be the only ones still involved in our district from 2005, but they’re not the only people in the community who should be embarrassed. The superintendent from that era, “Serial Bully” Radakovich, lives in Stonebridge with his (third?) wife. Marin Gonzalez lives on the west side, where her hubby is on the D129 School Board. And “Peyton Place” Postlewaite has moved to Arizona but still keeps up with district news and connections.
Marin Gonzalez is divorced and lives in Chicago. She is a principal of a Middle School.
After a convincing win at West Aurora in their sectional quest it shows why East needed to fire Wendal Jefferies. While West developed players East did not. I am glad East is trying improve standards.
http://www.chicagotribune.com/suburbs/aurora-beacon-news/news/ct-abn-aurora-student-walkout-activities-st-0311-20180309-story.html
http://www.chicagotribune.com/suburbs/aurora-beacon-news/news/ct-abn-east-aurora-stadium-naming-st-0311-20180309-story.html
To: Tomcat
One win in the worst season the school has had in decades somehow justifies the bullying of Jeffries out of his job? Who the he!! are you kidding? Annette Johnson and Kurt Becker wanted Jeffries out and Beatrice Reyes-Childress used the opportunity to spread a little nepotism, getting her family member assigned as the coach despite his lack of qualifications. It’s just the latest in a long line of disgraces by this board and administration. For every step this district moves forward, it takes two back.
They are rebuilding a program and Jefferies even with the superior play of Boatwright never made it downstate. It was time for a coach that would rebuild basketball in the team. Jefferies was certainly not that. I am confused was Becker not let go also so why did Johnson not save him? There are also six other BOE members how voted him out. I thank them for continuing to make the tough decisions.
I don’t know where this claim of going “downstate” is coming from? You are stating it as though East Aurora is competing for the state championship. East Aurora is ranked 438th in the state. They are ranked 153rd out of 175 teams in class 4A. And they are ranked 10,823rd in the nation. This is a community that has prided itself on great basketball over the years. This fall from grace is an embarrassment. The board and administration should be ashamed of the poor leadership they have demonstrated. Everytime any program in this district shows any achievements, the board and administration are there to quash it.
The program had the same results with Jefferies and was always ranked last expect for the Boatwright days. Boatright and his family will tell you Jefferies was a horrible coach and wasted Ryan's talent. One good player in 15 years and he did not develop him as a player. Robinson inherited a team that never was taught to play just wait folks like everything else the program will get better.
Another mass fight with injuries at East High School on Friday. Fights are happening daily at East. Two gangs rumbled on Friday. 25-30 kids trying to kill each other. Two people carried out on stretchers to waiting ambulances including the assistant principal Fernando Nieto.
We spend countless hours and dollars on school security preparing for the one in a million chance of a school shooter but do nothing about the real dangers facing our children and staff every day.
The high school is in chaos and nothing is being done because Marina Kosak and the district leadership would rather cover up the crisis to save her job. The teachers union has attempted to address the discipline issues in our buildings but the Central Office just turns a deaf ear.
As always, it’s our students who suffer due to poor leadership in District 131.
Dear Another One Bites the Dust:
Will you please stop the "straw man, false flag, red herring" argument that anything wrong is the "leadership's fault. Gets very old and is obviously incorrect. Believe me, everyone knows the conditions at East High. We all are painfully aware that it is a shithole. When you have the insanity of that Illinois Senate Bill 100 which almost demands that no one be suspended or expelled from school for totally unacceptable behavior, what do you expect. Until ALL teachers actually have the balls to stand up to the sphincter muscle kids you will never have control over their behavior. Cut the crap of "the union" tries to solve the problem with the central office. Unions are incapable of solving problems as they use the outdated "us against admin" mentality for everything they touch. That mentality may have worked sometimes back in 1918 but this is 2018. The teachers and staff are a large part of the problem. But I don't think you can understand that as you have mistaken going to college for actually having an education. We all know as the years have passed that college degrees are becoming as worthless as high school diplomas since they have become easier and easier to obtain. (A situation similar to "if everyone is special, then no one is special.")
Until you, teachers, staff, administration, the board, the police, and the vast majority of the students stand up to the troublemakers this will continue. Call them out, point them out both at school and at their homes. Have them arrested, committed and/or suspended. And maybe removed from their homes if necessary. Change only comes from outside the system. The system created the "don't toss the kids out of school crap".The system created passing kids and graduating kids even if they don't deserve it.-What kind of idiots could even promote such nonsense!!! You have to start being educators and educate........Unlike the politically motivated crap with the campus walkouts last week that just wasted time, you can actually do something here that really will make a difference and everyone's life will be the better for it. You can actually make a difference and change this abomination. But this will take real courage. I mean honest to god courage. Are you really ready to be educators?????
Tim, you make some valid points and excellent comments. Yet some of your own could be categorized as straw man, red herring.
Not being able to suspend or expel IS outrageous, but we have had admin who have suspended students unjustly in the past. Another person made a comment about "cover up, to save their jobs." That is exactly what happened a few years ago. Students and some admin were being thrown under the bus, frequently, to save jobs of those at the top to make it look like admin was working hard and running a tight ship. What they basically were doing was herding scapegoats to bear the burden until certain individuals could retire with an air of undeserved accomplishment. In that way, EA has been perceived as a "shithole" as you call it. "A fish rots from the head down," as the saying goes.
Unions, in general, have lost some steam over the years. Especially, those who use the old "them vs us" mentality. I am an outsider observing from the sidelines, and what I hear coming from our teachers, though, is more about doing the right thing vs doing nothing.
I will help you hold the banner for everyone standing up to the troublemakers. I am all for the "good old days" of truancy being punishable in court and a student or parent going to jail for the student not attending class. Also, I am in agreement with students being expelled and or going to a youth facility for chronic truancy or behavior problems. I believe these are family issues. They should carry the burden of finding help for their child. The teachers and classmates should not have to "deal with it" on a daily basis.
I believe our educators are educating to the best of their ability with the support they are given. Admin and the board make the final call on students who should be receiving some type of consequence or outside support for behavior that goes outside the guidelines outlined in policy, procedures and in the handbook that every student should be receiving every year.
So Tim Burr, it is back to finger pointing at the Admin. They should be writing and enforcing the rules to create the learning atmosphere that our students and teachers deserve.
The teachers are already showing courage to stick with 131 and find ways to teach the students who want to learn, in spite of the lack of support from admin. That is the true abomination, as you call it. That teachers and students have to work twice as hard to succeed in the classrooms our district admin and board have allowed to evolve. By not creating nor enforcing what the BOE and admin have the power to do, they have failed and continue to fail making our district a better place.
To: Tim Burr
You obviously have no idea what education is like in this day and age. First off, Senate Bill 100 does not demand that no one is suspended or expelled. It states that if schools suspend or expel students, they must provide extra support services. It’s the administrators of District 131 that would try to have you believe that they can’t suspend kids. It again makes their numbers look better. They suspend nobody and promote everybody regardless. The educators have fought administration on this pass everybody policy. We can’t discipline students. We can’t retain students. There is no motivation left for students to behave and do their work unless it comes from the parents.
You claim that the teachers do not have the balls to stand up to “sphincter muscle kids”. This is incorrect, the teachers have the balls, the administration does not. The problem is NOT that the teachers won’t stand up to these kids but that the administration makes it impossible for the teachers to discipline students. In fact, the administration interferes with teachers standing up to the troublemakers daily. I have seen dozens of times in my career where teachers were brought to the office with their union reps for addressing issues with kids, even fired. I have seen teachers written up for writing too many referrals… for raising their voice… for looking at a child crossways… for lifting their arm and telling a student to stop… for breaking up a fight,,, for not breaking up a fight… and God forbid a teacher touched a student. Any time a student or parent complains against a teacher, the teacher is dragged down to the office by the principal and reprimanded. In short, it’s the administration that sets the tone and conditions for East High to remain a shithole. If the administration would do their overpriced jobs and stand up to the few difficult students and parents, we would be able to educate children.
Anybody who assumes that education is anything like it was when they went to school 20, 30 or 40 years ago, here’s a hint, it’s nothing like that. Teachers are completely handcuffed by administration, school boards and the state. We are not allowed to do anything that would have anyone complain or damage somebody’s self esteem.
It’s a simple equation, anything that you see happening on a systemwide basis started and ended at the top. There are no exceptions.
One PPA at EHS was caught drunk and the other PPA was arrested for body slamming a student yet Judy Durham is defending them. That's what gives our union a bad name.
To: Just sayin
Your issue is with State and Federal law, not with Judy Durham. The law requires the union to represent all its members. Everyone is afforded due process. Unions don’t choose who they represent and who they don’t. If you knew what you were talking about, you would have known these basic facts. I’m sure IF you were a union member, you would want the union representing you if you had been accused of wrongdoing. And with how many times members have been falsely accused by a vindictive administrator, your day may come sooner than you think.
http://www.chicagotribune.com/suburbs/aurora-beacon-news/news/ct-abn-east-aurora-sex-assault-charges-st-0322-20180321-story.html
Judy Durham and hs building reps decided to have a union meeting during contractual hours on Tuesday. How does it feel taxpayers that you paid for union nonsense led by the incompetent Judy Durham......Gerry is too scared to kick her off the leadership team. It’s sad and pathetic. Does Judy really think teachers are gonna go on strike so she and other non skilled positions without degrees can be paid 25-30 bucks an hour?!?
Taxpayers should know...sounds like Fil Torres starting his crap again. He’s probably hoping that if he can get Judy out, that he can get back on the team and again be a direct source of information to Annette Johnson. He did everything he could last negotiation cycle to screw over the membership for his own personal gain.
When are the union members going to figure out that it’s when they stand together that they succeed? When you stood together last time and voted NO... they had to come back with better offers. Quit accepting crap from the board. Stand together.
Judy is a hack who does not want to get a degree but paid like she has one. We are paying very high dues and Gerry better not screw us over for support staff. He has not asked about a financial proposal yet. Gerry has run up legal bills without worrying about teachers in the MS column while he listens to Judy. Judy walks around with a coffee cup all day doing nothing. The district should eliminate her position she will not be missed.
The issue is that the district wants para-professions that are top notch but only want to pay them $12 an hour no matter how many years of service and dedication they give our community. Why would anybody want to do that job in the shithole known as East High (or anywhere else in the district) when they can walk in Aldi’s And start at $13 an hour for no pressure mindless work and work their way up. Or, go to Home Depot and start at $15 an hour or Cosco at $17. District 131 has to join the real world and realize that people need to be paid a fair living wage.
Maybe if we paid the teachers a real salary, we could keep them. Half of the teachers in District 131 have been with the district for less than five years. Two thirds for less than ten. We are never going to retain talented teachers as long as we pay them and treat them like crap. Is there any wonder why we have a teacher retention crisis in this nation?
The really is staff has not been leaving since wages have gotten better. Sarah Intherim, and others like Phil Torres negociated the contract. Annette Johnson has been on boards that have paid the teachers well. We still have a ways to go but until our State is serious about paying school districts like 131 we have to be realistic.
Support staff/Secretaries are paid much higher wages in 131 and until teachers catch up or the State pays us more you may just have to take the job at Aldi.
There were no negotiations under Sarah. There was the same thing that had always been done. The board said here it is, take it or leave it and the union said “OK”. That’s why the first offer last cycle was 0.3%. When insurance was figured in, it was a pay cut. If Sarah was representing us, she would have told the board to cram their offer where the sun doesn’t shine until they came with a fair offer.
Phil Torres didn’t negotiate or represent the teachers and staff. Phil would spend his days during working hours, talking directly with Annette Johnson on his cell phone. I’m sure it would be enlightening to FOIA Phil’s and Annette’s phone records at that time and see how many phone calls were made between the two of them.
Phil didn’t represent us, he conspired against us for his own personal gain.
Phil did a pretty good job if he was talking to Annette Johnson. I received a 12% raise. I also think secretary/support needs a COLA increase only until teachers are paid what other district get.
I also think the district needs to be fair about our increases and stop making excuses about the State. Johnson should trim the fat out of the district budget and she knows what I am talking about.
To: Let's ask Phil
You got the raise you did because 1) How significantly underpaid you are and 2) Most staff stood together against the board and voted NO to one insulting offer after another. Don’t forget that. You want a fair contract, you must stand together and demand it.
Look at Virginia teachers. It’s illegal to strike in Virginia. Every teacher at the state capitol on strike could have been fired but then who would teach. They stood together against must harder odds than you face and won. So can you. Your leaders are not the union, you all are. If you stand together, you can’t be stopped.
I have read the emails Phil sent to other union leadership about lobbying for more money for teachers. That is the job of a union leader and you have to ask why Gerry is not doing the same. Phil never asked about himself and what was troubling was that the district under the leadership of Popp was spying on the union. Why does Judy Durham a big supporter of the former bullies Anthony Crespo and Popp not find that a problem. The reality is that the last contract honored teachers and three years later I am making 18% more. Many of us support Annette Johnson because we do not feel it was possible without her.
Judy Durham is paid 25% more than her counterparts in other districts and I WILL NOT WALK THE STRIKE LINES for that. I will walk the strike lines for teachers because we are still underpaid.
Gerry needs to be more on top of the way the district spends money and like the past leadership develop relationships. He needs to ask the district to stop spending away our raises and BOE members need to hold administration accountable.
News flash, without support staff nothing would get done. They do all the crappy work the teachers and admin don’t won’t to do or are not willing to do. The clerical and maintenance are support staff as well regardless if they have separate contracts. Clerical r the backbone in HR. Think of how you whine if something is wrong with your insurance. Maybe y’all get cheap insurance like the retirees had for decades, oh I’m sorry that was in the teachers favor. Oh yeah they handle payroll too. Support staff deal with peed off parents/ unruly students. Maintenance keeps the buildings up and running so y’all whiners can have a building to come to. News flash support staff handle their jobs better than the whiners on this blog. Judy must be doing something right cause you’re talking about her. The district can give teachers 50% increases and the district rating won’t change. I forgot that’s the parents and admins fault. Maybe it’s crooked Hillary’s Russia or Obama’s fault.
As a taxpayer, i am concerned with real news. Judy held a union meeting during contractual time, which is illegal and a contract violation. Judy and her supporters immediately attacked and distracted a la trump to take the focus off of her holding a union meeting while staff was being paid by the district. Per usual this blog can’t sick to facts and just slings mud when someone they like has been proven incompetent with facts. All staff that attended that illegal meeting should give their pay back for that hour or whatever it was since they were not working and they were scheming and planning how to attack the board for negotiations. All union reps and leaders who attended and planned that meeting should be fired from their posts in the union.
As for the idiot claiming support staff runs the school, you are easily replaceable and are confusing easily trained robot positions with highly skilled certified positions. Oh no who will talk to parents?!? Who will handle payroll?! The district can easily outsource payroll. Be careful what you wish for. And stop overvaluing your worth in the world. I’d love to hear what you offer to the district rating as a support staff person.
The schools may need support staff but it is like anything else we also need waitresses, landscapes and cleaning people. Jobs pay different wages because of your education. The lawyer has told her as much but so like a child she wants to organize chaos. Like others have stated I will not go on strike for support staff. If the district does not recognize years of experience as a teacher I will go on strike.
http://www.chicagotribune.com/suburbs/aurora-beacon-news/news/ct-abn-aurora-commission-st-0329-20180328-story.html
Here's a link to 43 pages of recent articles about our district:
https://v3.boardbook.org/Public/PublicItemDownload.aspx?ik=42217784
Go ahead and strike it won’t change anything except you lose wages you’ll never make up. Also if you work for East because the other districts wouldn’t hire you out of college because you was not the head of the class. Once you’ve get broken in at east then you can leave. Once our taxpayers have paid for your masters degree then you move on. However you know that more money is still starting over so you stick around and make everyone else miserable . Unions in every profession meet on the employers time. Hell yall allow the president to not be in the classroom, Sarah and those since her was full time union rep. Go ahead and walk out who cares . Our parents are too busy trying to make ends meet cause they don’t have it as good
The new union leadership is a joke. It is run by Judy Durham who runs Gerry. They are defending TA's that beat up kids in Sped classrooms and others that come to work blasted or commit acts of public exposure. That's our union today a real class act.
Superintendent candidate interviews are this Friday afternoon and Saturday morning.
The superintendent position is just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to openings in District 131. Just a quick look at the Human Resources web page shows these positions posted:
32 Certified External Positions
47 Certified Internal Positions
52 Non-Certified Positions
7 Administrative Positions
52 Summer School Positions
It’s a wonder that any education can get accomplished when you consider how many thousands of students these vacancies affect. I am sure that considering these facts, there are some on here who will still state that the teachers and staff in District 131 are overpaid. Here’s a hint, when you underpay your employees and treat them like crap, this is exactly what you can expect, staff leaving in flocks and nobody except those with no other choice temporarily filling their positions. This is exactly why over half of the staff in District 131 is not tenured. Everyone who can is looking for the door as soon as possible. I don’t ever expect to see the administration treat the teachers and staff with respect but the least they can do is pay them a fair wage.
Employees in the Master column received a 8 to 20% percent raise last contract but Gerry is to busy spending our union dues on a overpriced lawyer. Under Gerry Union dues have increased to rank and file we will soon run out of money in our Union account and pay for Gerrys follies for years to come. The reality is Gerry and his incompetence has not submitted a financial proposal to the District administration. Judy Durham is claiming ME TOO and they are paid a fair wage. It's time teachers demand what is theirs and if Gerry does not right the ship he should get voted out in May.
To: It time we demand our rights
Thank you for your opinion Annette. I see you’re still pretending to be disgruntled staff members.
It must be burning Annette Johnson up that for the first time the teachers and staff are represented by somebody looking out for their interests. Yes I did receive an 8% increase in my salary over three years. That’s not really a raise, it’s a cost of living adjustment. However, Annette is hoping that we’ll forget her comments and actions on insurance. She stated “fine they want more money, we’ll just F#{€ them on the insurance end”. The next week Annette walked into the Insurance Committee meeting and demanded $1.2 million in insurance premium increases. That amounted to a nearly 300% insurance cost increase when state wide insurance premiums rose just 7%. And Sara Imthurn just let it go through. No negotiations, no fight, nothing. Nobody was representing us then.
I have no problem paying a little more for union dues when those dues are going for legal representation that is looking out for me and the rest of staff. The increase amounted to the same as two cups of coffee per month (One cup for support staff). A very little price to pay for a lawyer. The only problem I have with dues is that more than 90% of my dues goes to AFT604 and they do nothing to represent us. What we should do is drop AFT604 and keep all that money in District to pay for a whole team of lawyers to represent us.
Apparently somebody wants us to forget all the backroom deals (dozens of MOU’s) between Annette Johnson and Sarah Imthurn. That was the reason Sara was voted out and the staff demanded that we get a lawyer for the current negotiations.
For the first time in the history of District 131, there are real negotiations going on. This is the first time that we have had competent legal assistance representing the teachers and staff. Except for the few people who were benefiting personally by screwing over the rank and file. Everyone I know is thrilled by the changes that we’ve seen the past two years.
What are you talking about? My insurance has not increased only my dues Gerry. Gerry, what has happened to transparency. We remember when your band of nitwits would hijack the union meeting and demand information on negociations. To date Gerry we have heard nothing and our contract will soon expire. So much for backroom deals.
Here's a link to 11 pages of recent articles about our district:
https://v3.boardbook.org/Public/PublicItemDownload.aspx?ik=42303781
http://www.chicagotribune.com/suburbs/aurora-beacon-news/news/ct-abn-east-aurora-survivor-lit-immigration-walk-st-0413-story.html
Was there a pre negotiation meeting or meetings to discuss union demands?
Assuming you met there is no need to leak or filter out negotiation details. Rumors run rampant just like now I.e back room deals. What happens if a big economic matters reach the Stonegate mafia. They will hijack the board members then game on. It’s negotiations but u wouldn’t understand because you’ve never stepped up to get involved u stand on the side and criticize those doing the lifting
http://www.chicagotribune.com/suburbs/aurora-beacon-news/news/ct-abn-aurora-walk-st-0416-story.html
Does any one have information on the bricks that we bought awhile ago but do not see them anywhere in the new stadium? When will they go up? If not, please refund our money.
http://www.chicagotribune.com/suburbs/aurora-beacon-news/news/ct-abn-east-aurora-njrotc-jeopardy-st-0417-story.html
Like most universities, the University of Nebraska honors outstanding graduates with awards of recognition. This year's Alumni Achievement Award honoree is none other than Kevin Kaisershot.
This is a prestigious award, given yearly to an alum who has achieved recognition in his/her field and who proudly represents the University. No surprise from Kevin's many friends and supporters...but a potential embarrassment to those who deprived him of his high school teaching position 13 years ago.
Thanks to the wonders of the internet, it is very easy to search a name and read all about a situation like Mr. K's treatment by District 131.
Certain people in Aurora should be feeling rather uncomfortable right now!
The bricks are victim of cold whether. They can not be installed until the ground warms up.
I ordered my brick last August. There was great weather in August, September and October, even November wasn’t that bad. I’ve seen construction workers out for the past couple of months. In fact, there was very little snow this winter. I don’t get this cold weather crap. Get the bricks installed already.
Ground moves when it is frozen. As for last fall they needed to gather orders installing and printing a few bricks is not relalistic.
You wouldn't even notice at EAHS-- The kids are in the halls all day long and they can do whatever the heck they want. There is no discipline at East High, because the current upper administration only cares about numbers & appearances to the district admin and the school board...not the actual day to day functioning of the school. Kids fight, come back the next day. Kids don't have consequences for tardiness, truancy, etc, etc, etc. -- they set the system up to fail in every documented respect, and then when they actually have to do some discipline, its next to nothing and they hide behind sb 100. But hey, as long as the numbers look good, who cares whats really going on day to day.-- yours truly, a clerical staff member who knows!
Marching band controls the schedule at the HS. Recently a student qualified for the Sectional tournament. The student was not allowed to practice because of marching band, so much for letting your doubles partner down. The student was in tears because of the pressure of the band. Liska has been supported by the Board for years. The HS administration defends him because of board member Darby.
Stovall is protected by Reyes Childress and we have now lost two top A/P's. Reyes Childress is protected by Johnson so anotherwards we are screwed.
Yes folks the roof is really falling as the HS. Literally and figuratively.
Here's a link to 21 pages of recent articles about our district:
https://v3.boardbook.org/Public/PublicItemDownload.aspx?ik=42419864
Superintendent interviews are scheduled for next Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday evenings at 7:00 p.m. at the Service Center.
The public is invited to attend and ask questions.
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