City of Aurora Aurora Education Commission met Aug. 7.
Here is the minutes provided by the commission:
1. Open Session – Call to Order | Dr. Jeff Craig, Chair
2. Roll Call
3. Motion to accept the June 2019 meeting minutes
1st. | Phil Linquest
2nd. | Patricia Rooney
4. Executive Report(s):
Chair | J. Craig
Report back to the group about the presentation to city council
We were well received
Vice Chair | C. Sobek No Report
Treasurer | L. Johnson clarification on rollover and interest
Secretary | S. Harrison letterhead update
5. Public Comment
Chris Regona, City of Aurora
Community Development Manager | Consolidated Work Plan
5 year planning process 2020-2024
Nonprofits public service
Infrastructure improvements
Homeowner assistance | rental housing assistance
Expected to receive $12M in federal funding
- Public forum and hearing to determine highest priorities
- Will be submitting to city council by the fall.
- Focus groups are being scheduled for community feedback
6. OLD BUSINESS
Motion | Nominate AEC Secretary for 2020 term
Vote: yah =13
Vote: nah = 0
Sandra Harrison will remain in the role of secretary
1st. Dr. Sullivan
2nd. Dr. Sparlin
Motion | Nominate AEC Treasurer for 2020 term
Lynor Johnson will remain in the role of treasurer
1. Lisa Hitchens
Vote: yah = 13
Vote: nah = 0
7. NEW BUSINESS
AEC welcomes new representative Mark Chavez, Provost at College of Dupage (COD)
City council is scheduled to vote by September
Dr. Craig: Where do we go from here? What do we prioritize?
AEC is be receptacle of information that might flow through ongoing systems
• School Safety and Security
• Census Reporting
WE SHOULD FOCUS ON THE ONE THING WE WANT TO LEND OUR EXPERTISE TO AEC is a conduit for information sharing NOT compliance and oversight
8. DISCUSSION
Dr. Craig opened with (agenda item) where the commission goes from here.
• Developing forthcoming projects & collaboratives, AEC can lend expertise
• Can we work with higher education to ensure screening (0-4) information is in alignment with higher education?
• Challenge is having trained certified workforce to address the needs of youth and families.
Higher education can help by screening for and preparing a skilled workforce.
• Making cost effective resource tools like apps available to youth and families to support high need communities.
• Continue the conversation about safety and security to ensure all educational institutions are represented.
o We’ve all learned that during a crisis, everyone is coming and inconsistentlanguage puts more people at risk.
o How do we continue to support our youth and families to respond effectively and keep everyone safe.
o NISSA table talks about safety are growing in community
Dupage/Kane ROE NISSA trying to put a plan together (update)
• How do we include a prevention plan for social emotional learning (SEL) with school safety and also dealing with race and diversity and hate?
Careful not to conflate the mental health aspect when discussing violence in school safety.
• As with school safety, education must streamline language for understanding among youth and families
How do we include other major issues that impact education?
- Food insecurities
- Social emotional learning
- Mental health needs
SD 129 has partnered with Mutual Ground to centralize SEL services
Resource | Dr. Sparlin
Newly formed School Community Resource Collaborative: To help students succeed to their highest potential by connecting them and their families to vital resources in the community. Assistance is provided to remove barriers to their academic and non-academic success.
https://www.sd308.org/SCRC
The best contact for joining in the discussion or to be part of an upcoming meeting, is to email: scrc@sd308.org
Resource | Dr. Sullivan
Collaborative Youth Team of Illinois (CYT)
The Collaborative Youth Team (CYT) is a coalition of 30 youth-serving organizations and agencies working together to promote and advocate the health and well-being of children, youth and families in our community. With KidsMatter serving as facilitator, the CYT includes various constituencies including social services, education, recreation, community groups, and law enforcement.
Preparing youth for education and today’s workforce
- Preparing students for current and future jobs
- Joint internship approach (Pathways Prosperity hope) creating something centralized.
Dr. Sobek shared details of a presentation on student debt and affordability to Congressmen Foster and Congress Underwood that talked about the current skills gap and what is needed
- There is a lack of understanding how education connects to job preparation
- Is there something we can do to help our communities understand ?
Companies like Apple are bypassing higher education all together and deciding to provide training for current jobs right out of high school.
- Still big focus on the traditional 4 year pathway.
- Parents are struggling to understand the financial component for higher education (student vs. private) loans.
- How skill development ties into current and future jobs
Portrait of a graduate focus on awareness of skills needed for tomorrow’s job.
Creativity
Innovation
Communication
Citizenship
Flexibility and Adaptability
Accountability
DK: Can we explore AEC as a portal that is
the central hub for all AEC information
JC Summary:
School safety | talking to school safety teams to create commonality
Social Emotional Learning | AEC will flow through
Using the Portrait of … model to help families prepare for workforce and post-secondary education
Sub-groups to push action items
- Talk to other groups that might help us construct the questions (create a central group)
Subcommittee to evaluate who to bring in
Christine Sobek
Lisa Hitchens
Jeff Craig
Dhevi Kandasmy
Key point: AUDIENCE
When we talk about having these conversations who do we envision speaking to?
7. August Announcements
- LITE is hiring www.liteleaders.org
- SEL resource
https://www.mawilearning.com
- Congratulations to SPARK for Augustus Foundation funding
- Aurora University Celebrating Arts and Ideas, upcoming event focused on the stigma of mental health
- 211 as a community resource | looking at the report to identify gaps
- Dhevi will reach out to Dr. Holloway about creating a centralized portal for information
8. Motion to adjourn | 3:37 pm
https://www.aurora-il.org/AgendaCenter/ViewFile/Minutes/_08072019-1927
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