By Margaret Hopper

The Cobre school board met at the district office on Monday, February 29 with all members present: Frank Gomez, Robert Montoya, Frances Kelly, Frank Cordova and Toy Sepulveda, board president.

Sepulveda said they had met in executive session shortly after 6:00 p.m. to discuss student identifiable information, limited personnel issues, special ed funding and possible litigation. No decisions had been made. He opened the public portion at 7:08 p.m.

As there was no unfinished business, Linda Pafford of Mimbres spoke in the Public Input period. She asked that the minutes be drafted and posted within ten days after a board meeting, commenting that web information was usually not updated when meeting dates are changed, and that the public is left uninformed. Further, she questioned whether work sessions were being held, and if they were being reported.

Sepulveda said they had not had work sessions lately; there was nothing to report, other than the two meetings a month that were open to the public. Pafford added that she hoped the meetings calendar would be updated to keep people informed, and that the superintendent's agenda would be included in the regular agenda as well.

In the Administrative Report, superintendent Robert Mendoza asked the board to approve his temporary request allowing him and Sepulveda to sign documents for the Public School Finance Authority on an upcoming project. The board voted to approve the action. The second motion approving Cobre's Public School Capital Outlay Council application for the broadband deficiencies correction program was passed without comment. More information on this should be coming in March.

January checks written for $931,459.25 were approved by the board. A budget adjustment for an increase of $8260 for Title I Allocation and Carryover was presented for board approval after study of the application.

Mendoza's Superintendent Report included a number of fundraisers, many of them by athletic groups who wanted to buy T-shirts or other sports-related equipment. These had already been approved, but the board was informed of the groups' intentions, the amounts they hoped to collect, and the time periods when they would be gathering their finances. Mendoza also gave board members sports schedules for the events coming up this spring.

While no representative from Copper Little League was actually present, Mendoza expressed the League's thanks to the board for its recent use of school facilities and presented the plaque, which stated their appreciation, for members' personal viewing.

In an update from the February 8 meeting, high school principal Frank Quarrell wrote notes for the board about the acceptance of seniors Brandy Hernandez and Alexis Madrid, who had applied for the UNM/NMSU Cooperative Pharmacy Program (CPP), and who had both been invited to the interviews. Just recently it was reported that both girls had been accepted into the program and would be attending NMSU this fall. The CPP is designed to increase the number of pharmacy students from southern New Mexico, and later, increase the number of pharmacists practicing in this area.

Mendoza finished his report, saying there had been no school today, Monday, and that there would be an early release on Wednesday, March 2, for staff development and planning.

In the second public input period, board members reported on their trips to Santa Fe and the training they had received. Gomez, Cordova and Sepulveda told of sessions they had attended, stating that the meetings had been useful and of real value for the work the board is now doing. Cordova admitted that the Thursday trip to the Round House had been a good one, also.

Cordova added that Cobre wrestlers, who won the Class 4A State Championship in Rio Rancho over a week ago, were a credit to the district for their sportsmanship as well as their rankings. They were united as a team and an excellent representation for the school. His last comment was a reminder that the Region VIII meeting would be in Lordsburg on March 22.

The meeting adjourned at 7:30. The next board meeting is scheduled to meet at Snell on March 14, at 7:00 p.m. for the public. The executive portion is scheduled to meet there at 6:00 p.m.