By Margaret Hopper
The November 17 Silver Consolidated District school board meeting was held at Cliff, with students, parents and teachers joining with administrators and board members to share activities that evening. The early session ended with a closed session to discuss limited personnel issues, and at its conclusion, Board President Trent Petty noted that no action had been taken.
The 7 p.m. session opened with 6th graders from Clay Means' class demonstrating two sentence types from their Shurley Method English grammar work. Means told the assembled adults that any child there could take the lead by writing grammar labels over the words while the others chanted together the rules that made the decision logical. The five 6th graders were Sienna Bruton, Jacob Eggleston, Aubrey Palmer, Alec Norris and Brenda Bennett. According to Means, he had learned more about English while teaching the Shurley Method to his students than he had learned in the rest of his school career before using it.
FFA students Kelsey Garner and Destiny Welty told of their experiences at Indianapolis in the national competitions, and the thrill of seeing Shannon Norris, a Cliff schoolmate, presiding there as a national FFA officer. Heath Henderson and Lacy Garner told of their awards in a recent leadership conference at Albuquerque where they and teammates had taken three of the top five honors in at least two of the competitions.
In the superintendent's report, Dick Pool spoke of American schools' low placement on career and vocational tech offerings. In many nations, college preparation and practical skills training took different directions at younger ages, whereas in much of this country, such decisions were often not made before high school graduation. The schools in Canada ranked fourth in the world and the committee would do well to study its system. America's vo-tech training was rated somewhere between 20th and 25th internationally.
Regarding the recent organizational meeting for the vo-tech committee, Pool noted that there was good representation from many sectors. Petty and Barry Remmel had represented the school board, President Joseph Shepard of Western New Mexico University, Sean Ormand of 1st New Mexico Bank, three representatives from Freeport McMoRan Copper & Gold Inc., and our three state legislators, Reps. Dianne Hamilton and Rudy Martinez and Sen. Howie Morales, had been in attendance. Hamilton offered to carry a “seed bill” to the Legislature at the next session, but said there was no promise of funding at present.
Because of the restrictive legislation on the mining industry, Frreport McMoRan representatives said there was no possibility of internships with the company, but they still voiced interest for the program. John Brack, Tony Trujillo and Rick Mohr represented Freeport McMoRan. Anticipating offerings at the vo-tech, CAN training, diesel mechanics, electronics, welding, business skills, construction and other trades were mentioned. Of local interest, the opening of Fort Bayard's new building was delayed for the lack of trained CNAs. There were many local needs that the vo-tech could address to boost employment in Grant County, and hopefully, keep more trained workers here at home.
Petty said the committee appeared to be off to a good start, and the board's second goal, Individual Learning Plans, appeared to be a very good fit of a new program the state hoped to implement. The board wanted to identify student interests in the earlier grades, and the need for surveys of both students and businesses was noted. If the state succeeded in implementing its plan, Trish Martinez, Silver's Learning Services person, could keep the board informed for an easy transition or for additions to what the board drew up. Remmel said that because they were already working on the idea, they could just as well create the model for the state. This statement was met with warm approval.
Charlotte McGaughey, board member, asked about a board donation to the community. One possibility was that the collected cash be given to the Volunteer Center for food programs. Pool suggested that it would be easy for Sandra Estrada, his secretary, to send the board a reminder just before the next board meeting on December 15, and Estrada could see that the gift got to the Volunteer Center for them. Also at the December 15th meeting, Lori Ford, director of Community Access Television of Silver City (CATS), was to request permission to videotape future board meetings.
Assistant superintendent Gus Benakis outlined the need for safer bus and student loading conditions at Harrison Schmtt. The proposed project would require pattern changes for parent drop-off points and repaving the parking lot. Concrete additions 25 feet by 167 feet and four-foot chain-link separations of critical areas would reduce potential dangers at the site. Funding would be drawn from an ongoing Department of Transportation grant, part of which would be split with Cliff for paving work on its parking lot.
As mentioned in the October board meeting, the work on the six tennis courts was progressing. In an arrangement with the town of Silver City, the first $500,000 of work would be paid by the town and the remaining $110,000 to $150,000 would be paid with School District funds. At present the courts were not playable. Rather than strip and rebuild, the company said it would rebuild on present courts, with a sand layer and six inches of concrete, plus the final surface. There would be chain-link fencing, new gates and wind screen. By raising the overall height, the drainage problems should be solved. Pool was told this work should insure a good playing surface for the next 15 to 20 years.
When asked which company was doing the work, and the bids presented, Pool said the city would have to be contacted for that information. Another question was whether colder weather would interfere with the work. Pool said he was told that the lower temperatures, from 30 to 45 and 50 degrees in the daytime, were far better for the courts than the hotter summer temperatures would have been.
Regarding third-grade retention of readers below grade level, Pool said the numbers could be as high as 50 percent, and early intervention took money. He hoped the state would not leave schools with an unfunded mandate. He thought out of 250 Silver third graders, the numbers retained would be more like 20 percent, or less than 10 percent of the total third-grade students.
Action items included a report from Remmel and Holguin that the budget appeared to be in good shape after their recent study of the items. The board voted to approve the list of written checks in the amount of $1,514,812.63. The board also voted to approve the commencement schedule for next May. The graduation dates are as follows: May 18, 3:00 p.m., Opportunity School, to be held at WNMU Fine Arts Center; May 18, 7:p.m., Cliff, Auditorium; May 19, 6:00 p.m., Silver Foot Ball Field.
The board meeting adjourned before 8 p.m.