Christina Lopez-Gutierrez of the Youth Substance Abuse Prevention Coalition requests Silver Schools participate in information gathering.

By Margaret Hopper

The Silver District school board met on September 20, 2016 with four members present; Ashley Montenegro, Mike McMillan, Frances Vasquez and Arnold Torres, board president. The meeting officially opened at 6:16 p.m.

Katrina Bustillos, Silver City Education Association president, informed the board that they had been meeting with the administrator to clarify items and write policy for the local level so PED could see the changes in progress. They also wanted to be on the Superintendent Search committee, or at least have input into it as the search progressed.

Bianca Padilla, Jose Hernandez and David Holguin presented updated information to the board through the past year, including the summer program, showing how the JPO program has impacted the truancy issue and improved both student attendance and school finances with their interventions.

The recent $50,000 grant Padilla wrote is to pay for Jose Hernandez, a truancy and dropout prevention coach for Silver, for the year, and the Gǣearly warning systemGǥ that supports and trains school staff how to keep the Juvenile office informed. Hernandez works with middle and high school issues. Holguin, on another grant, has the title of truancy prevention specialist; he works with elementary students. A third person, Felix Ortega, considered a first responder, is a truant officer. Padilla noted that the grants allowed them to double their resources.

Her notes on the JPO School/Learning Lab showed that they accept all Silver suspensions and provisional expulsion students, keeping them working educationally, rather than the former condition of running around unsupervised. These students now learn at the JPO office, Monday through Friday, from 8 to 12 during the school year.

Silver contributes an instructional aide, breakfast, internet and laptops. JPO gives the students free, licensed counseling, and its grant funds a certified teacher. Importantly, all suspensions, not just long term ones, should be referred to JPO School, Padilla said, as she believes even the short ones to be critical to breaking the truancy pattern. And, they are Gǣpaid-forGǥ already.

The recent statistics on JPO Summer School show 21 high school students enrolled and completing, earning core credit in July. 63 students enrolled in June saw 55 completing the program and earning core credit; 8 failed, on attendance issues. All 11 eighth-grade students completed the program and passed on to high school. The work in the 2015-2016 academic year cost Silver $8,300 and JPO $10,000, for a total of $18,300, according to the report.

Christina Lopez-Gutierrez of Albuquerque spoke for the Youth Substance Abuse Prevention Coalition in the absence of Michael McGee, local coordinator. She explained the process of gathering information from students on the coalitionG