Editor's Note: This is part 1 of two parts on the school board candidates forum

By Mary Alice Murphy

At a Cobre and Silver schools board member candidate forum Sunday afternoon, all but two candidates were present. Absent were candidates Anthony Gutierrez and Mike McMillan, vying for the Silver School Board District 5 seat. McMillan was appointed to fill out Debbie Eggleston's unexpired term, but resigned so as not to show conflict of interest when his wife was seeking a position with the schools. She now works for Silver Schools, so the conflict no longer arises. When he resigned, Gutierrez was appointed to the seat, which he still holds. The two are running to fill the position for the next four years.

Gabby Begay, Western New Mexico University student government member, served as moderator for the forum, which was sponsored by WNMU Student Government, WNMU J. Cloyd Miller Library, Grant County Democratic Party and the Republican Party of Grant County.

She told the candidates they had two-to-three minutes to introduce themselves to the audience.

Hector Carrillo, candidate for Cobre School Board position 5, said he is a lifelong resident of Grant County. "I work with the Sheriff's Office, am a trustee for the village of Santa Clara, and president of Copper Little League, which has more than 400 kids, ages 3-17. I interact with them from April into the fall. They are the reason I want to be the voice for the youth on the school board."

Trent Petty, seeking to retain his District 3 seat on the Silver School Board, said he is a 30-year resident of Grant County, and he and his wife raised their five children in the Silver schools. "We now have grandchildren in the Silver schools." He said he has served on the Silver City-Grant County Chamber of Commerce board and has received his leadership New Mexico certification. "My commitment is to the community and our children."

Frances Gonzales, challenger for Cobre School Board position 4, said she was raised in the Mining District. She said she has concerns about fiscal responsibility and some of the budget expenditures, as well as about transparency. "We need transparency, so the parents can contact us. We need to collaborate with our legislators and the university and with Silver Schools. We test a lot and are not looking at the human factor. I'm happy with bills in the Legislature to address issues."

Frances Vasquez, challenging Petty for Silver School Board District 3, said she is a lifelong resident of Grant County. "I worked at Silver Schools for 20 years and retired four years ago. I believe public education is a great equalizer. I applaud the staff and students. I have concerns of things during the past two years. Improving the budget is paramount. When you have a project, you must plan for it appropriately. There were special taxes allocated in House Bill 33 to pay for tangible purchase, such as computers. I ask for transparency. The reserves are low, enrollment is dropping, oil-and-gas prices are dropping, and copper prices are plummeting. Education is in crisis. Standardized tests are controversial. Our school board can be an advocate for students. Respect and value of staff is expected."

Frank Cordova, seeking to keep his Cobre District 4 position, said he has been on the School Board for 28 years. "I have held every office locally, and in Region 8, which includes Silver, I have served as president and vice president. I have received many awards, including School Board Member of the Year and am in the School Board Hall of Fame. I continue to be there for our kids. That's my top priority."

Ralph "Toy" Sepulveda, seeking to retain his Cobre District 5 seat, said: Everyone knows me by Toy. If you call me Ralph, I might not answer." He said he retired from the U.S. Forest Service in 2004, after more than 36 years. "I helped several thousand kids to get summer jobs, and many had careers with the Forest Service. I still help with recruitment for the fire teams. My big thing is to put children first. Our youths are our foundation for the future."

The first question was posed to all candidates: Do you feel information from the board should be transparent, actual and truthful? And what about school ratings?

Vasquez said: "Truthfulness and honesty are paramount. Because we are spending taxpayer dollars, we should answer truthfully and honestly. You can find the information on testing."

Sepulveda said the district budget is public information. The school ratings are also public information.

Gonzales said she would bring transparency to the district. "We need links to the website. The simpler we can make it for parents, the better. I have the time, and I want to dedicate my time for this. We need to look at areas of deficiency and fix them."

Carrillo said: "As a school board member, I want you to come to us and ask questions. Yes, it's public information, but we have the knowledge of what's going on. Of course, it is crucial to be truthful and honest."

Cordova said everything the board does is public information. "You can request at the schools for the meeting reports, except for closed session. They are just discussion, with no action. I have an open-door policy, and if I don't have the answer, I will get it and then get back to you."

Petty said: "We have, with truth, honesty and transparency, let you know we have 1.5 percent reserves. Our finances received outside audits, Public Education Department audits, and Candy Milam reports on the finances and audits numerous times. As for ratings, I was erroneously comparing (Dick) Pool to (Superintendent Lon Streib). I was on the board when Pool was still superintendent."

Begay requested that the board members put their contact information on the schools' websites. "I had trouble reaching some of you."

Janet Wallet-Ortiz asked Vasquez about bullying and harassment, not only of students, but also of staff and teachers. "What is the board's role in managing the superintendent?"

"We hire the superintendent, and we can convey to the superintendent what we want," Vasquez replied. "We want some honest training, starting at the top on down, on bullying."

An audience member asked if there were a budget deficit and why.

Petty explained it was not a deficit, but a low reserve. "We're spending money on technology. One of the things we are getting is training on technology. Today, students have access to libraries that only big schools had a few years ago."

Vasquez said the bottom line is that the boards keep using transparency. "The past two PowerPoint presentations the administration showed were a smokescreen. We are exceeding the budget in operational costs. What we want to hear is that there was reckless spending on salaries and schedules. There were overhires that took up a lot of the operational budget. We don't usually use the operational budget for computers. That's why the reserves were down because of overspending on the operational side. The transparency we are asking for we have to determine ourselves. There should have been plenty of money in HB 33 for technology, if there had been planning."

The same questioner asked about an article in the Silver City Daily Press that alleged illegal work was done behind closed doors. She posed the question to Vasquez and Petty.

Cordova explained the need for legal notices for closed session. "There is no action taken in an informational closed session."

Petty said: "Ms. Vasquez filed a complaint about a rolling quorum. A rolling quorum is if I talk to Frances, for example, and then she talks to Frank, and he talks to another board member."

"We had a meeting at the high school theater with the union," Petty said. "Afterward I was talking to our attorney. Two of the board members walked in and less than 30 seconds later, she accused us of a rolling quorum. The attorney and I were having a private conversation, and the two members were looking for paperwork. They walked out. Ms. Vasquez walked in behind them, saw them, and they walked out."

Sepulveda said in closed session, the board has to give the topic in notices, but not use specific names. "In an executive session, nothing is recorded."

Vasquez noted that it was two separate things. "I want confidentiality in a closed session. I did file a civil violation complaint against the Open Meetings Act. They had four with the attorney, and it was a violation, because it was not a noticed closed session."

An audience member asked a philosophical question about all the candidates' philosophy on the role of teachers' unions in the school.

Sepulveda said Cobre had the secretaries and other staff in Steelworkers and the teachers in the Cobre Education Association. "Grant County is a big union area. I very much support the union."

Cordova said the Cobre schools have two unions. "When we negotiate, we have the union on one side of the table, and the administration on the other. In negotiations the two sides agree on the contract. My duty is to see that it is followed. I have no problem with unions."

Vasquez said she believes in a large collective bargaining unit for teachers. "It's a healthy way for staff to give needs and grievances."

Gonzalez said she too supports Steelworkers and the National Education Association contract. "A teachers' union is important, but make sure it's collective bargaining, not bad faith bargaining. Teachers need to be able to teach in the classrooms, gather data and take it to the unions. I grew up around unions. The teachers have a need for unions to make sure we are giving them the support they need. There are statutes and regulations involved. I'm glad the teachers have unions." She said to make sure the board members involved do not bring in union busters. "I'm a big supporter. I did a lot of collective bargaining in 890."

Petty said the board members wanted to sit in on the collective bargaining, but state statute does not allow them to be only an observer. "My personal opinion? I was in a union most of my 30-year career. I was a union rep and an assistant union rep."

Carrillo said he supported a union for teachers. "A lot of teachers play many roles, not just in the classroom. They need to be not afraid to file a grievance if they are overworked with no compensation."

Silver City Town Councilor Guadalupe Cano said the new chairwoman of the House Education Committee wants to remove history books that involve culture.

Carrillo said he does not support the effort. "I stress local control, so we can work together on what we can do."

Petty said he has also been falsely accused of burning books. "I told a teacher here that she should read the book in question and make her own decision. Let's give the kids books to know what's out there. I want no cutting or pasting whether it's history books or whatever. The curriculum is now set by the state not by local schools. If you want local control, you need to vote people into state offices that will hand it back to the locals."

Gonzales said the current governor and Education Secretary are working within the state constitution. "What I see happening is a trend toward mandates on schoolbooks. I think having culture and bringing in different perspectives are important. The state keeps taking control. I say, let's 'frickin'' get it back. You need to get with them and not take everything they ship to you. We wanted to get Indian religion into prisons, and we got it back."

Vasquez said she would be opposed to blanket exclusion of books with the category of culture. "I would want the librarians and the teaching staff involved."

Cordova said he was not aware of the issue. "I have to look into it further."

Sepulveda said he would oppose excluding culture books. "We as the New Mexico School Board Association in our platform have priorities, such as unfunded mandates, Common Core, local control, instructional material, school grade, teachers' salaries and training."

The rest of the forum will be completed in the next article.