By Margaret Hopper

The Cobre school board met at 6:00 p.m. Monday evening at the District Office in Bayard and voted to go into closed session, which lasted until nearly 7:30. Items discussed were Student Identifiable Information, Limited Personnel and the Superintendent's Evaluation. Four members were present, Robert Montoya, Frances Kelly, Frank Cordova and Toy Sepulveda, board president. No action was taken in the closed session, said Sepulveda.

The open meeting began at 7:27 with the unfinished business of superintendent evaluation. Cordova moved that the report be tabled to the next meeting, when it would again be on the agenda. That action passed. The next item, public input, had no respondents for the first portion.

Under Administration, Superintendent Robert Mendoza recommended that the board approve the use of San Lorenzo Elementary School facilities for the Mimbres Valley Harvest Festival Committee, which he said was an annual event, and which the people of Mimbres Valley and San Lorenzo enjoyed. They would set up on Friday afternoon and the event would be Saturday, October 10. The board approved it.

A second item was a group of procurement contracts and agreements, which he said included Porter and Montoya Transportation work, SPED papers, and other papers, the total of which the superintendent had signed to date. It was informational rather than an action item.

Mendoa recommended that the board approve the review of bills for the month of August. The group included $16,694.73 of Senate Bill 9 payments, Special Revenue expenses of $267,551, over $23,000 for Food Service, $12,533.81 in the Activity Fund and $429,748.40 of Operational Funds. (Operational Funds are the ones most usually reported at meetings, and the funds board members are personally responsible for and must budget. The school payroll is the largest item to come out of Operational Funds, and it appears twice a month.) The board approved the financial reports with a single vote.

A Budget Adjustment Request was approved for dual credit instructional materials for the amount of $6100. Another BAR of $64,124 to be approved would allow the hiring of another teacher and an aide for the Pre K program. Under the Superintendent's Report, the first item regarded a number of high school and middle school fundraisers that had been approved. A letter from PED (Public Education Department) was shared with the board regarding the dual credit materials they had just approved, according to Mendoza.

Wednesday there would be an early release, as teachers would have PLC training in the afternoon. He reminded the board of volleyball games, Lordsburg on Tuesday and Socorro, Thursday. The varsity football game against Lordsburg would be Friday at 7:00. The next board meeting would be at Bayard Elementary on October 12.

Hannah Burnette, student representative, said they were told about background checks so many schools across the nation were having, and steroid testing for athletes. Kids thought the school meals had improved recently, and coaches had reduced practice schedules in response to the large number of games going on.

In the second Public Input, Cordova announced that he and Sepulveda would travel to Albuquerque to attend the school board association's meeting of the resolution committee. He said the expenses would be paid by the New Mexico School Board Association and the District would not have that expense. “It would cover transportation and the whole thing.” Kelly commended a number of people for the good work they had invested in the school recently.

The board adjourned at 7:40.