By Margaret Hopper
The Cobre school board met at the District Office in Bayard Monday, January 11, with all members present: Frank Gomez, Robert Montoya, Frances Kelly, Frank Cordova, and Toy Sepulveda, president.
Sepulveda said they had met for the closed session at 6:03 p.m., where they discussed student identifiable information and limited personnel issues, but no decisions had been made.
The open meeting began at 7:15. The first item on the agenda was a request for approval to dispose of the older school property at San Lorenzo. The legal description was given, and the acreage stated as 12 acres. After the motion, Sepulveda said he questioned that there actually were 12 acres; one reason for moving to the new location was that no school land should be less than 10 acres in the state of New Mexico. That should be checked out.
The board then voted to give its approval for the work to go on, leading to the sale. After the vote, Superintendent Robert Mendoza remarked that the legal description and statement of 12 acres had been given to him by the County.
Erik Castillo, coach of No Regrets Basketball, which trains children aged pre-K through grade six, had requested the use of facilities at Hurley Elementary. Mendoza recommended that the board approve the request; this group had been approved in past years and he hoped they could continue. He asked for the gym on Tuesdays and Thursdays. The board voted to do that again.
The next administrative item was for the board to hear the accountability reports and GǣgradesGǥ from the state, as presented by assistant superintendent Jose Carrillo and each of the Cobre principals. Carrillo passed out a sheet outlining the state's point system for elementary and middle schools, and a slightly different one for high schools.
Both models added up to 100 points, with an additional five bonus points for efforts to involve parents and students in the educative process, reducing truancy and promoting extra curricular activities. He pointed out that while current proficiency could offer up to 40 points, Cobre's top math students, those taking trigonometry, were not assessed, not considered at all, he said.
Another 40 points could be awarded for growth/improvements of students above the 75th percentile, and growth/improvements for the students in the lowest 25 percentile. Ten points were possible for overall school improvement and another ten for instructional atmosphere, teaching methods and student attitudes, as well as attendance figures. High school points varied to include measures for graduation and career and college readiness.
Hurley Elementary's principal, Margaret Kesler, admitted that she was disappointed that although the scores rose five points over the past year, the school simply GǣmaintainedGǥ its position. She told the board what her teachers were thinking and doing to improve scores from this point on. She and all other principals noted that the PARCC was heavy on verbal instructions and vocabulary. They would have to teach that style of questioning to their students to show improvements on the testing.
Joyce Barela of Bayard Elementary spoke of assessments to learn the weaknesses of individual students. Teachers and parents were helping kids see the kinds of growth they needed, and they were showing parents how to help their children with known weaknesses. Teachers were working through webinars and other means to improve their own skills. And they were giving students more multi-step problems. Bayard rose from a heart-breaking score of 34.9 last year (F) to a strong 58.09, a good C this year.
Daena Davis, Central Elementary's principal, saw her school go from a D to a C. She mentioned Gǣdata wallsGǥ where students could see their progress, grouping for certain types of instruction, after school meetings for teachers, intervention plans, and help from the Jump Start program, K 3 Plus, and special practices at the computer labs. The more proficient kids raised their scores, the less-proficient ones actually lost. She said she was looking for some kind of balance in progressing all the kids in their growth.
San Lorenzo Elementary's Michael Koury told of a D score in 2012, a C the next year, a B in 2014 and an A this year, with 87 points, well above the break at 75. He and the kids celebrated, but he said he knew there was still plenty of work to do. He agreed with Davis; trying to balance out the progress for each kid was very important.
Chris Rottman, principal of Snell Middle School, said he and his staff were using SRI 180 materials in math and reading. They were finding ways to practice questioning in all classes, including physical education, to help students gear up to the PARCC type questions. They were also bridging 7th grade kids into 8th grade skills, and 8th grade kids into freshman requirements. They had conferred with some high school teachers for that information. Reading was critical to all improvement. Something is working; from a former F score, 34.18, Snell has progressed to a C, at 51.68, and projections are looking good for the future. He gave the board a 4 page report with graphs for his 7-8 grades.
With a 50 point break for C, Frank Quarrell and high school teachers are agonizing over a 48.95 score which gives Cobre High School a D. He said he told the kids they will have to own that D for a year. He insists they are not a D school, but they have to improve their behaviors. Turning in work late has consequences, and some seniors are GǣborderlineGǥ for graduation.
One place is the athletics program. Kids getting an F should report to study hall until grades come up. Much of it was carelessness. The enforcement of this rule should be firm and consistent, he said, but not all observe it. And band members, other extra curricular groups, should see the same rules applied. They are working to improve. Computer glitches didn't help, either, but Quarrell says it is up to everyone to fix the score.
The good news is that over all, 54 New Mexico schools ranked among the U.S. News Best High Schools last year, and Cobre was 22nd in that group. The work Cobre needs to do is clear, from the report he gave to the board.
Mendoza reminded all that next Monday there would be no school, for the Martin Luther King Day. There was some discussion of how to make up the snow days.
Jose Rubio, student representative, reported on the athletic competitions coming up. There were basketball games including 7th and 8th grade boys and girls, and wrestling. His comments on PARCC, PED and other school issues brought a lot of laughter from those who heard them.
The next meeting is scheduled for January 25 at the District Office, again. That agenda is to include work on the superintendent's contract. The meeting adjourned at 8:35 p.m.