Aurora East USD 131 officials report construction delays at Waldo gym, lay out bids and emergency repairs

At a meeting of the Aurora East USD 131 Board of Education (date not specified), district staff reported a series of facilities updates that include construction delays at Waldo Elementary School’s gymnasium, bid timelines for the Career Technical Center and an emergency hot‑water tank replacement at East Aurora High School.

The most immediate issue discussed was Waldo’s gymnasium project, where varnishing and floor top coats prompted remote learning this week. Dr. Jennifer Norell (role/title not specified in the transcript) said the district would “go full remote, Wednesday through Friday of this week” so staff and students would not be exposed to fumes; she said the days will “still count as a day of school.” District staff said one remote day already occurred and three more are scheduled this week, for a total of four remote days while crews finish the floor.

Board discussion focused on the gym’s appearance and the project timeline. A board member described the condition of the gym walls as “terrible” and said, “This is unacceptable that our kids have to be in a gymnasium like this.” That board member said they would tour district buildings and follow up with staff.

District staff and the contractor reported the delay stemmed from a rotten subfloor discovered after work began; staff said edge testing had not revealed the mid-floor rot. The contractors had applied two coats of finish and were painting lines; staff said a 24‑hour cure period is required between the last coats, and that the contractor planned to finish sanding/finishing so the gym would be usable the following week. Bleachers are expected to be delivered around Presidents’ Day weekend.

Steve Magazzini (role/title not specified in the transcript) provided several other facilities updates. He said the Career Technical Center bid package 1 (site work and core shell) is scheduled to be opened on Feb. 20, and a second bid package is expected to be released in mid‑March. Magazzini also reported that bids for asbestos abatement at East Aurora High School and O’Donnell — described as removal of mastic around windows tied to a window replacement project — were in the board packet and would return for action at the next board meeting.

On HVAC, Dr. Norell explained the district’s five‑year capital improvement plan includes rooftop unit (RTU) replacements that were intentionally excluded from the original 2019 HVAC contract when those units still had useful life. “We were aware that in 5 years, potentially we would have to replace those,” she said, and added the replacements are now budgeted in the five‑year plan so they can be accounted for in future fiscal years (FY25 and FY26 were mentioned).

Magazzini said the district also submitted bids under the E‑Rate program for network racks, a Palo Alto license renewal and battery backups. He said the district has “been very successful utilizing e rate and getting percentages up to 80–90% of reimbursement” and that the district will not begin work until the E‑Rate review and approval are complete.

Staff reported an emergency repair need at East Aurora High School: a leaking, corroded hot‑water storage tank. Magazzini said the replacement cost is $48,000 and that the district has the procurement authority to be exempt from competitive bidding for this emergency repair. He said, “The hot water tank is needed through the building in order to make sure that the food is being provided, so we wanna move forward with this emergency repair.” Board members present voiced no objection in the discussion recorded in the transcript.

Finally, staff noted ongoing adjustments to how work orders are categorized, separating delivery items from engineering work; attachments in the packet were said to break out previously requested items by category.

The board did not record a formal vote on any of the items in the provided transcript excerpt; several items were described as “next action at the next board meeting” or pending external approvals (for example, E‑Rate).