Cobre board members come out of closed session; Irene Rodriguez, secretary, Frank Gomez, Fran Kelly, Frank Cordova, Superintendent Robert Mendoza, Toy Sepulveda and Robert Montoya.

Photo and article by Margaret Hopper

The Cobre school board met Monday evening at the District Office in Bayard with all five board members present: Frank Gomez, Robert Montoya, Fran Kelly, Frank Cordova and the board president, Toy Sepulveda. The closed session began at 6:03 p.m., said Sepulveda, where they discussed student identifiable information, limited personnel issues and superintendent evaluations. No decisions were made in the closed session, he said.

The open session began at 7:30. Robert Mendoza, superintendent, called for the approval of the payroll policy, now in its third reading, which called for the day-earlier payment of checks for personnel in the event of a holiday on the actual payroll date. That passed.

Action items for the financial portion included two BARs and the November operational budget expenses. By State notification, there were budget reductions for both the transportation and instructional materials budgets. The original amount for student transportation was $499,779; that was reduced by $11,244 for a final amount of $488,535. (Note: Cobre has fewer students than other area schools, but may have the longest bus routes in the state.)

The Instructional Materials loss was even greater; the district started with $134,242 and after the $65,814 budget adjustment reduction, ended up with $68,428. (On CobreG