By Lynn Janes

(Writer's note: Oonly a small portion at the beginning could be viewed because of technical issues.)

The Cobre Consolidated School Board held a special meeting on June 19, 2026. Board members in attendance included Hector Carrillo, Gilbert Guadiana, Agelina Hardin and David Wilguess. Dr. Verenice Gutierrez, superintendent attended, and Interim Superintendent Randal Piper also attended. , Gabriella Begay did not attend.

The special meeting had been called to approve next school year's budget, salary schedules and stipend schedules.

The board approved the agenda.

No public comment currently.

Action Items

The board approved the 2026-2027 salary schedules. Rebekah Runyan, Vertex Education had joined online to answer any questions the board had. Carrillo said they had discussed this at the finance subcommittee meeting. Small changes had been made to the food service salary schedule. Runyan said they had found a small error from the previous year for the baker hourly. They had also rounded up some of the hourly rates.

Gaudiana wanted to address the salary schedules for the principals and specifically the number of days going from 260-187. Carrillo said that had been discussed. A long discussion over the number of days took place and Piper said the number of days did need to be changed and it had never been 260 days. He did suggest before they changed the number of days they needed to talk with legal counsel. Gaudiana said he would be talking to the attorney general about the number of days. Some confusion ensued about which legal counsel they would be discussing.

Guitierrez asked that if they would be speaking to legal counsel it would be referring to the attorney for the district and if it would be an outside counsel they referred to them as attorney to avoid confusion. She continued to point out some things the board would need to consider when having a 260-day contract and annual leave.

Carrillo asked Runyan for her option and what she had seen concerning the number of days and the concerns Guadiana had about differences in pay from principals to superintendents.

Runyan said it has not been uncommon for a district to compare what principals make to what the superintendent makes. However, none of the districts had changed it.

Wilguess suggested they all write down their concerns and present it to legal counsel to find the answers they needed.

They all discussed the number of days a superintendent has to work, as opposed to a principal of especially the high school. Piper said the high school principal has to be at the schools for games and make sure everyone has left and then lock up.

Carrillo asked that when they put in the metric time clock would the principals be clocking in also. Gutierrez said she would like for everyone to including herself. She said before her first instinct had been they would be salaried, and it didn't matter if they worked 8 or 15 hours, they still would be paid the same. She later realized it made sense. People would only be allowed to clock in while on a district facility. It made people accountable. "I do intend on asking principals to clock in. If we are asking custodians, food service workers and instructional assistants, they should do it as well."

Wilguess said it concerned him when principals made more money than superintendents. Gutierrez said he would find that nationwide. Some people will earn the degrees and endorsements but don't want the seat. They look at a superintendent's job and don't want it and remain principals for many years and it accumulates their salary. Someone coming in as a superintendent the first year would then be making less money than the principal that has been doing their job for fifteen years.

They continued the conversation with the time clock not recording many hours that employees might be working. Gutierrez said they might be at home checking emails and such so it would never be one hundred percent. She had referred to a recent email interaction she had with an administrative employee for over an hour that had not been on the clock and then the superintendent in Silver Schools for another two hours. She knew many employees do work off the clock.

Gutierrez said even though the time clocks would not catch one hundred percent it would provide them with some good data. The time clocks will not be to micromanage but a way to capture data while recognizing that they all work hard and she had no doubt.

The board approved the 2026-2027 stipend schedules.

The board approved the 2026-2027 budget.

Meeting adjourned.