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Category: Front Page News Front Page News
Published: 15 April 2016 15 April 2016

By Margaret Hopper

The Aldo Leopold Governing Council Meeting began at 5:35 Thursday, April 14 with Mary Gruszka, Shawna McCosh, David Peck, Jose Herrera and Ken Stone, chairman, present. Allison Heneghan, a teacher, was also there, as was Harry Browne, business manager. Eric Ahner, director, arrived later, at nearly 6:30.

Heheghan informed the council of a number of activity happenings recently and in the near future. The April 6 health fair was both a successful event and one from which they learned; they could improve the event next year, she said. Students worked on the urban forest project last week and this, and have an overnight trip planned for next week.

The New Mexico history trip went to the northern part of the state; she said Ahner could report on that after he arrived. Next week, the freshmen and sophomores will be presenting their annual projects on the April 19-21. Juniors and seniors have already presented theirs. The PARCC testing is underway. Middle school will complete them this week; high school will start next week.

The senior trip to Puerto Rico was a successful one. The Senior Banquet is coming soon, and seniors will graduate May 15. On April 25 there will be a convocation for the students in the plane crash. That was discussed at the last staff meeting. They were also excited about coming changes in the middle school, with numbers of students, staff, and similar ideas.

Students will be involved in the Continental Divide Trail event coming up. Middle school is working with the Volunteer Center, considering healthy food choices and other projects. The high school seniors have finished their art design on the Tour of the Gila. Middle school has an art show on May 11; that will be up for viewing for two weeks. The senior prom is April 23.

Browne gave the business manager's report. Stone asked about expenses for the architect and some curriculum subjects. Browne noted that the finance committee still had work to finish before it could report to state by the end of the month. The budget will remain very tight again; while the state's contribution will not be negative, it is not planned to be much more, at all. Perhaps that could change.

An important question was how they could add a classroom. Probably it should be in the 6th grade area, as that work was more self-contained. One consideration was to rent temporary space at WNMU; or, it might work to clear out a storage room or two at Aldo, while the new middle school was being renovated. But that might require getting storage space elsewhere, at some additional expense. It remains undecided.

The council went on through the budget draft with Browne's help. They had projected two 6th grades, a 7th and an 8th. The draft had to consider instructional personnel and other changes for the new facility. They might need three new special ed aides for the incoming students. Many unknowns had to be worked in. These figures were Gǣbest guessesGǥ and things could change. But this budget would have to be approved soon and sent in to the state.

Under committee reports, Heneghan mentioned interviews coming up, progress on the director search. There were staff appreciation days the first week of May, an end-of year potluck on May 19, a field day, and a few more events. Not all committees had met. Some work was furthered by sending emails. Some committee reports waited for Ahner's arrival shortly.

Stone reported on some aspects of getting notices out for the director search, mentioning places the information was going and those who had helped send it. He gave additional information on a site which could post possible personnel needs, saying Ahner had considered two, but not written any purchase order toward this direction. One could cost up to $2000 annually. It could flag attention to the need for other staff, too. But it is time to get applications for a director going out.

While discussing progress on the Student Overnight Policy, School Activities Policy, Foreign Travel Protocol, and Ski/Snowboarding Policy, the director, Ahner, came. He responded that these were going through revision and still needed some work before being presented to Council. On the Puerto Rico trip, they had looked at how the present foreign travel policy would either stand or need revisions. Most needed to go through risk management and policy committees before being acted upon.

Stone asked if this tabled the facilities report. Ahner said they needed to ask the school's lead attorney when the lease purchase agreement could move forward. Decisions on whether to move the 6th grades to some separate location depended a lot on how long it would take the renovations work. Possibly that would only last over the fall period. Time was an important consideration.

Herrera asked why 6th rather than 7th or 8th grades be moved out. Ahner mentioned space requirements, saying they could bring those two to capacity if space needs were met, and this would lead into more numbers for high school later. Many things had to be considered to reach balance for all the numbers.

Key ideas were renovation costs, the purchase agreement; it all had to fit and be tied down.

In the area of budget and salary increases, it was noted that raises were not much in past years. Herrera suggested that Ahner and Browne consider some proposals that could be discussed with staff rather than simply go for a quick vote. With deadlines approaching, they needed to decide on the extra meetings needed to keep the timing. It would be difficult. Discussion followed on when these meetings could be held. They still needed the school calendar, a preliminary budget, perhaps more.

In the director's report, Ahner spoke of the successful fundraiser on April 9, saying Dave Chandler's committee had done a great job. Otto Khera's video work had been a remarkable addition. This outside support had offered really neat attractions to the event. Without more contract negotiations at this time, they didn't need to go into closed session. There were no budget adjustments.

Ahner wanted another special meeting, for April 25. The staff portion would be at 4:30, not to run over 45 minutes. The later meeting with Council would be at 6:00. That longer meeting would have an open agenda first, council work, and a closed period. Details are yet to be worked out. The next regular meeting is scheduled for May 12.

This meeting adjourned at 7:11 p.m. After the meeting, Ahner mentioned he and twelve students from the New Mexico history class at Aldo had just returned from a trip in northern New Mexico. While they were in Santa Fe, they had visited with the attorney general, Hector Balderas. He and the class had spent well over an hour with that official.