Dear Editor:

In an effort to clarify some of the Silver School Board's actions at its most recent meeting, this freelancer called Frances Vasquez, board president, at a later date, asking her about some of the financial issues that she had voted against, as the reasons remained unclear. Near the end of the conversation, I added some older issues that I still had questions about. She answered in more detail and may have shed light on some loose ends.

On her negative vote for the consent agenda, she said some of the purchases she had objected to were expenses for office equipment; of the three she had questioned, two were over $2000 and the third was a lesser price. With the present finances being so tight, she believed items like this seemed inappropriate.

The problem of an administrator going to the national school board convention and the school paying for the travel expenses, while the budget was so restricted, was another example of inappropriate behavior, she said.

The difference between incremental (extra duty earnings) and regular salaries drew her objection, she said, because in one instance, moving the incremental amount in with regular salary moved that figure out of salary schedule range, and it appeared that some individuals were given more consideration than others. It was inequitable. Decisions such as this should be reviewed before being accepted and their impact on the remainder of the budget studied.

I asked about the large expense of upgrading technology earlier; as I had done a story on the topic about year ago, and Ben Potts, media coordinator, had defended the upgrades on grounds of student need, preparation for the mandatory PARCC testing coming up, and serious security requirements, especially for school business and record-keeping gaps.

Vasquez said she couldn't speak to that; it was before she came on the board, and she didn't know much about that. She thought the improvements should have been spaced over a greater time period to avoid impacting the budget the way it did, but she also respected the expertise and authority Potts had. His professional opinion was good.

Regarding the €œmillion dollars € the community had alluded to and made much of in the year or two earlier, she said she had never made such a statement, there were absolutely no quotes from her on the issue. Never. Some people may have correlated that to the problem of lowered cash reserves and expenditure of funds, but never her.

I also asked about the accusation that board members had abused the Open Meetings Act, which had reportedly been sent to the state Attorney General's office. By now there must be some resolution on that. She said she was told that the administration and board had responded to those complaints, and that a letter had been sent to them, online, she thought, and that there were copies of such a letter. As it was online, she hadn't seen it, had no further information. Others would surely have that.

At that point, Vasquez asked to conclude the interview. I had two other questions but time ran out.

Later I learned that the district did have the attorney general's determination on hand. I got that from the office and it is attached below this letter, as it relates to information in this article.

It has been my intent to give some of these unanswered questions a better explanation, as it is the business of media to inform with whatever facts are available, rather than leave people guessing as to the facts, or worse, taking the words and opinions of others, as facts without any investigation.

I hope Vasquez and other board members, as well as administrators, will continue to supply firm facts in the future, as this particular area (Grant County) has been prone to accepting €œinformation € without proving its validity and simply passing it on for others to believe. This prevents good decision-making and has proved disastrous on too many occasions. Facts are extremely important. Proving them creates much extra work, but unproven €œinformation € should not be passed on by anyone.

Margaret Hopper
Silver City

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