By Margaret Hopper

Cobre school board met Monday evening, June 22, with four members present: Frances Kelly, Robert Montoya, Frank Gomez and Toy Sepulveda. Board president Sepulveda said the closed session had started at 6:03 where they discussed finances, the cafeteria proposal, the Cobre and Snell handbooks and the athletic handbook. No actions were taken at that time.

The regular session began at about 7:20. Superintendent Robert Mendoza recommended that the board approve the Snell Middle School 2015-2016 Policy Handbook, and the Cobre 2015-2016 Handbook, as well. Both actions were approved with the understanding that the Snell book would be reprinted with clearer pages, as the present one would be difficult to copy. Snell Principal Chris Rottman said it was a printer problem and he would take care of that for them. On the Cobre handbook, Kelly saw a need to make a correction on page 17, changing the word "Cobre board of education" to "Cobre administration" for the authority there.

During the first public input, Linda Pafford of Mimbres said she had difficulty finding the agenda and other legal information in publications to keep up with the board meetings. Further, she requested more information in the minutes. She said she understood that legal counsel had said to keep this information "as bare-bones as possible," but it made it impossible to keep up with the information unless she was at the meetings, herself. She did thank the board that it told what topics were discussed in the closed sessions.

Sepulveda was able to show an exhibit of the legal notices; he noted that the June 17 paper had carried the notice for this meeting on June 22, and that the notice for the Wednesday Special Meeting last week had been posted in the June 12 paper.

Under Administration, Mendoza recommended that the board approve the Title II application as presented. It would fund three teachers, one each at Bayard, Central and Hurley, to reduce classroom sizes. It would also fund staff development and to pay for teacher classes at the university. The topics were bilingual, math and sciences. The grant amount request for approval was for $62,755 and it passed.

The second item, approval of the 2015-2016 athletic/activities handbook and code, was tabled for the next regular meeting. Mendoza said he would meet again with administrators and bring it back at the July meeting. That vote passed and it was tabled.

The next item was the Food Management Contract for the next year, effective on this coming July 1. The firm was Summit, with headquarters in Minnesota and a regional office in Albuquerque. Alma Grijalva, Cobre's cafeteria director, asked when she could have a copy of the contract. She was answered with "after tonight's signatures," and "tomorrow".

Additional questions to Mike Barnhill, business development director, revealed that this company was originally created in Albuquerque, but that with expansion, the head office was now in Minnesota. Barnhill said Summit presently had contracts with 20 schools in New Mexico.

In the Superintendent's Report, Mendoza told of a fundraiser for kids in Skills USA, who wanted to go the national conference very soon. The district will be closed Friday, July 3, for the holiday. In July, there will be only one meeting. It will be on July 27. The K3Plus staff will start Monday, June 29, and students will report to class the next day, June 30. There will be 25 days, he thought, and the session would end on August 4.

The eighth grade students are still in California; they left Tuesday, June 19, and should be back tomorrow. Kelly said she extended an invitation to a representative who would report to the board; Mendoza said there should be a lot of pictures of this trip. He said it was the first time some of the students had been on an airplane. During public input, it was added that qualifying students had to maintain a 3.5 grade point average for the year and prove proficiency in at least two of three areas: language arts, reading and math. The trip was an incentive to improve student performance.

After the meeting, Rottman said the kids had worked for money for the trip, starting last August. They continued working on it until just before they left. Out of the entire class,
30 had met the challenge, so they and seven chaperones made the trip.

Grijalva, cafeteria director, said she needed help to get the floor tiled and work done on the walk-in. Also, the commodity freezer had gone out at the end of school, and commodities would be coming in soon. Fort Bayard's need for Snell's kitchen space was putting more pressure on preparing for the new 2015-2016 year.

Pafford returned to ask in the second public period that the board consider reducing the PARCC testing for the next year. Regarding teacher evaluations, she said Silver had said it would not make hiring or firing decisions based on PARCC evaluations. But they would still have to use the PARCC grades, as those are a part of the state mandate. By starting now, the board could intervene before the testing dates.

Bringing up the Fort Bayard repair work on its kitchen, Grijalva said the work was extending, possibly into August. Frank Cordova, board member who also knows the Fort Bayard situation, had said it was more than expected; a mess. Grijalva said she could work through Central Elementary. There would be changes made in scheduling so they could handle the numbers better. Mendoza said they would work it out.

In a later conversation, Grijalva said the original three weeks had extended to six and, with more work in sight, might extend into August or even into school time. The state had given the district the summer to work on the cafeteria problems, but they must be fixed. The walk-in freezer had leaks and the commodity freezer was still not ready to receive new foods.

Sepulveda asked about items for the next agenda. Mendoza said the tabled athletic and activities handbook would be on it. The meeting adjourned a little after 7:40 p.m. Signatures for the new food service contract were collected after the meeting.

Content on the Beat

WARNING: All articles and photos with a byline or photo credit are copyrighted to the author or photographer. You may not use any information found within the articles without asking permission AND giving attribution to the source. Photos can be requested and may incur a nominal fee for use personally or commercially.

Disclaimer: If you find errors in articles not written by the Beat team but sent to us from other content providers, please contact the writer, not the Beat. For example, obituaries are always provided by the funeral home or a family member. We can fix errors, but please give details on where the error is so we can find it. News releases from government and non-profit entities are posted generally without change, except for legal notices, which incur a small charge.

NOTE: If an article does not have a byline, it was written by someone not affiliated with the Beat and then sent to the Beat for posting.

Images: We have received complaints about large images blocking parts of other articles. If you encounter this problem, click on the title of the article you want to read and it will take you to that article's page, which shows only that article without any intruders. 

New Columnists: The Beat continues to bring you new columnists. And check out the old faithfuls who continue to provide content.

Newsletter: If you opt in to the Join GCB Three Times Weekly Updates option above this to the right, you will be subscribed to email notifications with links to recently posted articles.

Submitting to the Beat

Those new to providing news releases to the Beat are asked to please check out submission guidelines at https://www.grantcountybeat.com/about/submissions. They are for your information to make life easier on the readers, as well as for the editor.

Advertising: Don't forget to tell advertisers that you saw their ads on the Beat.

Classifieds: We have changed Classifieds to a simpler option. Check periodically to see if any new ones have popped up. Send your information to editor@grantcountybeat.com and we will post it as soon as we can. Instructions and prices are on the page.

Editor's Notes

It has come to this editor's attention that people are sending information to the Grant County Beat Facebook page. Please be aware that the editor does not regularly monitor the page. If you have items you want to send to the editor, please send them to editor@grantcountybeat.com. Thanks!

Here for YOU: Consider the Beat your DAILY newspaper for up-to-date information about Grant County. It's at your fingertips! One Click to Local News. Thanks for your support for and your readership of Grant County's online news source—www.grantcountybeat.com

Feel free to notify editor@grantcountybeat.com if you notice any technical problems on the site. Your convenience is my desire for the Beat.  The Beat totally appreciates its readers and subscribers!  

Compliance: Because you are an esteemed member of The Grant County Beat readership, be assured that we at the Beat continue to do everything we can to be in full compliance with GDPR and pertinent US law, so that the information you have chosen to give to us cannot be compromised.