By Margaret Hopper

The Cobre school board met at the District Office in Bayard on Monday, April 25 with all members present'Frank Gomez, Robert Montoya, Frances Kelly, Frank Cordova and Toy Sepulveda, board president. The closed session had begun at 6:04. Sepulveda said they had discussed student identifiable information and limited personnel issues, but no decisions had been made. The open session began at 7:25 p.m.

George Mulholland, president of New Mexico Lions Crane Reading Foundation out of Las Cruces and Kevin Cook, manager of Freeport McMoRan's Community Development, collaborated on presenting a check of $9,940 to Cobre Schools for assists to its reading program. Joyce Barela, principal at Bayard Elementary, and Robert Mendoza, Cobre superintendent, were there to accept the check.

Other Lion's Club people from Bayard were Julie Quintana, secretary, and Peter Momsen, president.

Mulholland passed out information sheets to board members and attendees, which told of Crane Reading Foundation's goals and methods of helping school children with vision problems to get the help they needed to succeed in school. The sheet said up to 35 percent of New Mexico children need glasses.

Mulholland thanked Cook for helping to put the proposal together. As for giving this to Cobre, he said the strong support from teachers and administration, and parent involvement, were important factors in the decision to do this for the children at Bayard Elementary. The committee expected great things for the children when support came from so many sources.

Cook said when Mulholland approached Freeport, explaining the plan and showing the application, the company didn't hesitate to help it; this project fit its goals of helping student education in Grant County quite nicely. Because Freeport's share of the funds came out of operations money, he said the improved efficiency of employees helped make this donation possible.

The check presented Monday night will be used to purchase a reading lab with 10 iPads, 10 wi-fi connections and a number of licenses for My Virtual Reading Coach, whatever the funds would purchase, according to Barela. The program is designed to increase reading ability in students. The board was enthusiastic in its acceptance of the gift for the district.

The Bayard Public Library requested the use of the high school's parking lot on Saturday, June 11, at 11 a.m., as part of its effort in summer activities for all local children. The theme is On Your Mark, Get Set, and Read. Mendoza said the next step would be to assure that the Bayard police department would send officers to help with the project. The board approved the facilities use request.

A calendar adjustment was made official, taking a day from Fall Break in October and giving it to the Easter or Spring Break, which would make that go from March 27 through March 31. The board approved that.

In the financial section, the board approved a total of $963,335.99 check expenses from the operational budget and looked over entries from other funds. A Title III BAR (budget adjustment request) of $11,734 was also approved. Over $5000 of that will be used in the summer school/after school compensation; $6176 will be used for general supplies and materials for the remainder of the year.

Mendoza reported on some student fundraisers, and a request for use of San Lorenzo Elementary on June 7, as a polling place in the primaries. He commented that the award of a future scholarship to Winter Lewis of Hurley Elementary by Dr. Joseph Shepard of WNMU for her work in the science fair was a remarkable event. Winter has the tuition for four years starting in the year 2022.

He asked Barela, the principal of Bayard Elementary, to comment on the PARCC testing there. She said it was going much smoother than last year, and technical problems were down to a minimum. Any problems had been reduced to two or three minutes, then students were back to work. Mendoza said work at San Lorenzo had been delayed by an hour and a half, but that things would be improving over there.

Cobre graduation will be May 27 this year. Jose Rubio, student representative at the board meetings, was absent this night, but Mendoza noted that he was crowned the Prom King, and Mercedes Montoya was the Prom Queen. This Saturday, April 30, Special Olympics will be held. Donations of water have already been secured, and food donations for the event need to be finalized.

Congratulations were in order for Cobre high school's band, which for the first time, was tied for first place honors at state. (In the past, Chuck Gerheart's musicians have taken firsts for about 17 years in a row, with a single exception.)

In the public comment period, Linda Pafford of Mimbres impressed on the board that at the Silver board meeting, a person there spoke for the new ESSA, Every Student Succeeds Act, which she thought held promise for local options for local school boards to exercise. She said she was willing to help Cobre's board have that same speaker for an informative visit.

When asked about the PED/SPED activity and how it affected the district, Mendoza said it was a work still in progress. The recent audit was giving the district an opportunity to prove to the State that its figures were correct; they had the documentation. He said he was on the committee of about 20-some superintendents and regional education service directors formed by Lovato, Special Education Director, to look at the changes PED is proposing to see how they will affect schools.

Mendoza said at present Cobre is four FTE's (Full Time Equivalencies) off from what it had in the past. Those units are part of the system PED is trying to put in place with the proposed changes. In working out the new mandates from state, the superintendent said his intent is to avoid any layoffs of present staff. Cobre will consider attrition or other ideas to avoid any loss to employees.

The next school board meeting will be May 9 at San Lorenzo Elementary. This meeting adjourned at 8:00 p.m.

A later call to Kevin Cook confirmed that the $9940 check was from Freeport; this money was to cover the 10 iPads, wi-fi support for 10, out-of-town travel for staff, probably training, and eye exams and glasses for children who might not get them any other way. Cook understood that the Lions were trying to raise another $10,000 for the software, about $8500, and other needed support. Principal Joyce Barela had mentioned that there was additional funding and support to come, to complete the project.