Cobre School Board members Gilbert Guadiana and Gabriel Holguin

Photo and article by Margaret Hopper

Cobre school board met April 24, 2017 at the administrative office in Bayard. The early, closed session began at 6:00 P.M., where they discussed student identifiable information, limited personnel and the audit report. All five board members were present: Gabriel Holguin, Gilbert Guadiana, Frank Gomez, Frank Cordova and Toy Sepulveda, board president.

They opened the public portion at 7:35. Alicia Edwards was prepared to discuss the three Wellness documents with them, but Guadiana and Sepulveda said they had not received or gone through them. Edwards considered that there might be a firewall issue involved and said she would resend the works immediately.

If they had not received them by Thursday, she would bring in paper documents or make other arrangements, as the deadline was June 30. She said these were from PED (Public Education Department, Santa Fe. The local SHAC, School Health Advisory Council, and the board responses would be combined and worked into a policy. If they had questions, PED would help them.

The board looked over the audit report and approved it. Cordova asked if they would have a person from the auditing firm present findings and information. Frank Ryan, finance director, said that was a courtesy some offered. Cordova asked if they could have that added in the future. Mendoza said it might come at a price; travel and overnight expenses. It was a consideration.

Superintendent Robert Mendoza said by the next meeting they were to have two committees working, both a finance and an audit committee; it was state law. Mendoza said they needed to find community volunteers a with background in finances shortly, to work on it. They would be needed when the budget was being developed, or when audit work was being done. Not very often in a yearGÇÖs time. Community and board members would be on each of those committees.

Assistant superintendent Jose Carrillo told the board about the bilingual applications for elementary and secondary schools. These would total between $600,000 to $700,000. The State had not yet figured the unit values for next year, but it affected the figures. At secondary, an hour of Spanish language arts and another of English language arts were required, but not the cultural component. In elementary, all three might be required.

Mendoza explained that the requirements were modern and classical endorsements, as well as the bilingual training. When that teacher retired, no replacement could be found. The State figured the credits on the qualifications. If such a person surfaced, let Mendoza know. He recommended they approve the application as discussed, which the board did.

The Title III application addressed English language learners, and it was federally mandated whether they were funded for it or not. In the past, 40 percent had qualified for it. Now, about 10 percent. One hundred twenty-four students qualified for it, and funding was somewhere between $90 and $120 for these students. But they had to be served, funding or not. It would give the district $12,000 now. If they dropped below $10,000, the rules would change. The board approved it.

In the financial report, the checks written on the Operational Budget totaled $1,054,541.69 in March. A number of budget adjustment requests followed. The Title I budget, a federal amount through the state, added $41,877.20 for the year. The Senate Bill 9 match funds added $37,407 for Cobre, but $171,139 in reductions came out of maintenance and repairs, equipment, vehicle expenses, contract services and supplies and materials. This was the 1.5 percent school equalization guarantee reduction figure.

Another $114,212 came out of operations for the same reason, affecting maintenance and repair figures for equipment, in support services-instruction, administration, buildings and grounds, bus repairs, etc. The final BAR removed $10,500 from the operations budget to support board travel and training, an even GÇ£trade.GÇ¥

In the superintendentGÇÖs report, he informed the board of new student fundraisers. On June 2-3 a law conference is being held in Albuquerque and those going should report their intentions. The graduation exercises will be held May 26 at 6:00 p.m. As all board members are expected to wear gowns, if they need one, they should order by this Thursday.

In the student report, Hannah Burnette said they talked about the testing, which was going well and staying on schedule, and counting the days until graduation. There were 17 more for seniors.

Mendoza said the next meeting would be in San Lorenzo on May 8. Healthy Kids Healthy Communities would be back on that agenda, as well as the appointments to the financial and audit committees. The board adjourned at 8:15.