By Lynn Janes

The Cobre Consolidated School Board held a special meeting on May 27, 2026. Board members in attendance included Hector Carrillo, Gabriella Begay, Gilbert Guadiana, Agelina Hardin and David Wilguess. Interim Superintendent Randal Piper also attended.

The board approved the agenda with a change to some of the budget adjustment requests (BARS) that had been labeled wrong on the agenda.

Public input none currently

Finance committee

Begay said they had not finished the full agenda at the last meeting due to still working to develop a relationship with the new finance organization (Vertex Education) that the district works with now. It had been a little bit of a learning curve. They had a special finance meeting earlier that day and went over the BARS and salary schedules. Dr. Verenice Gutierrez, incoming superintendent, had joined the meeting by phone.

Begay had talked to Vertex to see if they had funding that could be used for smart boards in the classrooms. She did find out they had funding that could work to repair the walk in refrigerator for food service. Carrillo said for the finance committee meeting earlier that day the whole board had attended.

Carrillo said the letters of intent had been sent in the mail to the licensed staff. The district finance department has been working on a memorandum of employment and talking with the district legal counsel to fine tune it. Gutierrez will also be looking at the job duties and descriptions to fine tune those across the district. Guadiana did want to point out that they still had some discrepancies with the salary schedules to go over.

Action items

The board tabled the Calian Agreement. Piper said this had to do with school security and using capital outlay funds to address door access and cameras. The keyless entry would be very helpful and had gone around to find the spaces with no visibility. Begay wanted to note that this had not come through the finance committee. She said at a previous meeting she had asked for another contract to come through and Piper had said in the future it would. "Is there an issue with our process?" Piper explained that they have to go through a procurement process, and this is only a quote and not an agreement. A discussion of the process continued. Piper had wanted to table this to see if they could find equipment the same as what they currently have, as they have to make sure of compatibility.

The board approved the RFP (request for proposal) for SLES Flooring. Crystal Norero-Arellano, procurement officer, said this would be for flooring at San Lorenzo Elementary. Begay wanted to make sure they checked for mold and asbestos in the process. Norero-Arellano said she would add that to the RFP. They want to get it done before school starts next school year.

The board approved a number of other items on the agenda that included March and April bills, credit card statement and a long list of BARS that Piper explained each one. One of the BARS, which was operational, they tabled until the next meeting.

Meeting adjourned.