By Lynn Janes

The Cobre Consolidated School Board held a meeting on October 23, 2023, at the Bayard Elementary School. Board members in attendance included, Gabriella Begay, Gilbert Guadiana (online), Serena Murillo, David Terrazas and Elizabeth Dean (online). Acting superintendent Michael Koury also attended online.

Mireya Zapata, student representative, gave the board a report. They will have homecoming week coming up. She also reported on all the games that have taken place recently and the ones coming up.

Action items

The board approved all the budget items and Terrazas said they had gone over them at the finance committee. One had been the New Mexico Grow Grant. This would provide a budget for the purchase of locally grown food for the schools.

Terrazas added information concerning the water problems at San Lorenzo. Koury, Frank Ryan, finance director, and the staff at San Lorenzo had come up with a solution. They had originally discussed a filtering system to remove the arsenic that would cost the district $111,000. Instead, they will tap into the Casas Adobes water system. Ryan said the cost for that will be $1,700 and a monthly water bill of approximately $600. Koury said he had talked with the water operator at Casas Adobes, and he had quoted him $250 a month, if they had a 4-day week and $300 for a 5-day week. The current wells will be used for watering the grass. Ryan added that the arsenic levels had been just a fraction over the acceptable amount.

The board appointed Murillo to be on the audit committee.

Terrazas gave a report on the finance committee meeting. They had reviewed all the budget adjustments and bills. He thanked the finance department for providing them all the information before the meeting, and it had been very helpful to review before. "It was very much appreciated."

Guadiana gave a report on the audit committee meeting. They had met and it had to be closed to the public. When the audit has been released, they will be open to the public.

Board members' reports.

Terrazas said he appreciated the effort it took the IT people to set up in the school for the meeting and thanked Bayard Elementary for their hospitality. He also thanked everyone involved in getting the money saving solution for water at San Lorenzo with Casas Adobes.

Guadiana said he felt like things have been going in the right direction for the district. He added the public seemed to be more comfortable.

Murillo had a request that they be emailed with any fundraisers because she liked to support the school.

Superintendent's report

Ryan said they had a fundraiser going. The volleyball team would be selling shirts and sweaters. They hoped to raise $2,000

New Business

Murillo had received an email from a parent. Her child, 4 years old, had to walk a mile to the bus stop. She reached out to administration and had not been satisfied. Murillo brought this to the board for some clarification. Begay said she had received information on this. The previous administration had allowed the bus to go further than the set bus stop, but they found out this would be a violation of the PED (public education department) transportation code. Koury added he had driven the area the student had to walk, and it was .8 mile. Murillo asked, "Is that common?" Koury said in many areas they have a big distance between bus stops. Terrazas had a comment. "My 5-year-old is not allowed to walk home alone. How is it that a 4-year-old is allowed to walk that far to a bus stop?"

Public input

Katelyn Church, coordinator of technology, said recently Central Elementary School had the internet go down early in the morning and had not been able to connect the service up until 10 am. They didn't have an emergency number and it took her sometime to get someone to help, and she considered that to be unacceptable. The switch had been replaced about three years ago and should not have gone out. "Internet is an important part of education." She will be looking into options to keep that from happening again.

The board went into executive session to discuss the status of the employee complaints against the former superintendent with legal counsel. They will also be discussing the acting superintendent's status.

The board came back into open session and said no action had been taken in the closed session

Action items.

The board approved the authorization of Begay to work with legal counsel to prepare findings for parties regarding the investigation into the employee complaints against the former superintendent.

The board approved offering the job of superintendent to Koury and a contract. It will be from October 24, 2023, to June 30, 2024, at an annual salary of $137,000.

Meeting adjourned.