By Margaret Hopper

The Cobre School Board met on Monday, September 22, 2014 at the district office in Bayard. The closed session began at 6:03 p.m. where they discussed limited personnel (new hiring), student identifiable information, goals for the superintendent and the district's finances, according to board president Toy Sepulveda. The public session began at 7:12 with all board members present.

Superintendent Robert Mendoza asked the board to approve the resolution and proclamation of district elections and the capital improvements tax election, items to be voted on in early February. A second resolution would authorize and direct the election procedures. The board approved both and at the end of the meeting members signed all the documents for that process to begin.

Under finances, there was the review of bills from August and a number of budget adjustment requests (BARs) as well as an initial budget and debt service adjustment request. The August check total amounted to $891,117.40

The six operational fund adjustments were $75,070 from instruction funds, salaries and expenses and $49,579 from instructional funds, unemployment compensations, to be redistributed to contracted speech therapists for $109,992; contracted psychologists and counselors in the amount of $31,920; salary expenses of $34,737; other support services, $18,000. A second category of adjustments, to create an initial budget, involved $100 for county tax collection costs and $9,900 debt service reserves for a total of $10,000. The board approved them all.

Mendoza informed the board of recent retirements in the district. Dolores Castrillo was present to receive her plaque and speak with the board. She had 26 years teaching at various schools. Others not present included Lucille Salas, 22 years at Central; Sarah Piñeda had 17 years with the high school. Lenora Langley finished 21 years at Snell; Monica Muller had 22 years at Snell; Rhonda Tapscott had 29 years with Hurley and her final year at the Administrative Office.

Mary Stoecker and Michelle Giese gave the board a written report and visual presentation reviewing the years since 2006, when the Fitness And Nutrition Community Group (FANC) began working with students in grades K, 4, 7 and 10 to bring fitness strategies to the district. Stoecker noted that Type 2 Diabetes and hypertension were serious threats to the health of local students. Eating better foods would help greatly, but students often didn't eat properly.

As of last year, they implemented plans to have elementary students exercise before they ate at noon, hoping the kids would eat better and reducing the off-target behaviors by the change of routine.

FANC has worked hard to get parents and community involved in the program. Giese said it meets monthly and parents are a prime focus to help make changes in the nutrition program. BMI, or Body Mass Index, is a tool used to alert parents when children are at risk for health problems in the future. Unfortunately, many of the problems are coming in the present, and for the Type 2 Diabetes, once children have it, they keep the problem for life. The group sends a letter to parents of those in the four target groups and helps get, for those who need it, referrals for medical help and follow-up plans.

Mendoza informed the board of fundraising requests by three groups; Safe School Ambassadors, Key Club and the Hero Program. Fall break this year will be between October 3 and 6. The State of New Mexico had sent out the school grades, and according to Mendoza, they ranged widely.

He had Jose Carrillo give background information on the state's grades for the schools and introduced Michael Koury, San Lorenzo principal, and Frank Quarrell, high school principal, who told what they had done to create an atmosphere of academic growth, as their schools had high grades from the state.

Carrillo told about the point system of elementary and middle schools, and that a different set of points worked in the high school. Koury told how he personally tailored the contacts with students and parents to focus attention on good work being done, and what the positive reinforcements were doing at San Lorenzo. Each child had two packets made up with flash cards tailor-made to facts the child needed; both were identical, as one packet went home for family help, the other was used by staff at school. Quick 5-minute practices would give personal attention to that child's needs.

Quarrell told about the after-school tutoring, the critical PARCC tests coming early next spring, and the need for instruction in the higher thinking skills the test would require on the essay questions.

Mendoza said the principals of schools who scored poorly according to state standards would be analyzing the problems and implementing remedies to bring about academic growth in their schools. These principals would be reporting to the board at later dates.

Leticia Rodriguez, student representative, said she wanted to invite the board to visit more often at the high school and become actively involved with students. She mentioned an appreciation event for the cafeteria staff for the improvements in the menus, and possibly other events.

In a response to her invitation, Frank Cordova explained that they could not attend events as a group, as anytime three or more board members were together the state said that constituted a quorum and upset the rules. If the board attended events, it would have to be as one person or no more than two together to avoid these legal problems. But her point was well taken. Perhaps they could individually visit the schools more often, if they were cautious in not being together.

Sepulveda noted that at the next board meeting they should have the letter drafted for parents of students involved with the BMI screening. The meeting adjourned at 8:16 p.m.

The next meeting is scheduled for October 13 at Central Elementary.