Silver School board meets at Cliff Schools 042026

Silver School board meets at Cliff Schools

By Lynn Janes

The Silver City Consolidated Schools held a work session and regular meeting April 20, 2026, in Cliff. Members in attendance Ashley Montenegro (phone), Michelle Diaz, Patrick Cohn, Mike McMillan and Kimberly Klement. Superintendent William Hawkins also attended. Diaz chaired the meeting due to Montenegro joining by phone.

Work session

Shane Coker, SPED (special education department) director, presented the IDEA-B application and handbook updates for special education procedures.

The IDEA application will be for funding special education. In special education they focus on two categories increasing the graduation rates for students with disabilities and decreasing the dropout rates for students with disabilities. The state rate of graduation for SPED has been 73.69 percent while the district has been 83.31 percent according to 2025 data. He had found that some that dropped out planned to pursue a GED. Last year they had received from the application $900,000 but this year would be only $700,000. Although the district has seen a decline in enrollment SPED has not.

A requirement by the state has been for the district to host two events a year to test children that might be candidates for SPED. They contact the community and let them know if they have a student they suspect has a disability to bring them in. They screen cognitive, speech occupational therapy and social skills all at one time. If the team finds the student might need specialized instruction they will recommend  the parent move forward with a full evaluation. Coker went over how that process worked in detail.

The SPED department had updated the handbook which outlines federal regulations, state rules and district policies. All changes had been made by the attorneys. He went over some to the items in the handbook.

Work session adjourned

Regular meeting started.

The board approved the minutes from the finance meeting March 5, 2026, and work session and regular meeting March 23, 2026. Approval included the special board meeting March 9, 2026. They also approved the agenda.

Information and presentations.

Bob Carson had not been able to present the Kiwanis student of the month award to a Cliff student. Hawkins did the presentation.

Nicoya Sinch, Cliff High School senior, has worked hard to improve her academic performance this year and it has been very visible showing determination and commitment. She has remained focused and motivated, and her personal growth stands out.

Stacy Swope, Ag teacher and FFA (Future Farmers of America) sponsor, addressed the board to request funding for the students to attend national competition. They had just returned from their state competition and 25 students had competed in 9 different events. They had placed 16th in agricultural mechanics, 14th floriculture, 11th forestry, 8th horse, 15th land, 5th livestock, 3rd riding, 15th meat and 16th horticulture. Some of the students did presentations to the board. The pasture and range team has qualified for nationals which will be held in Oklahoma. Three of them placed in the top ten overall.

The pasture and range contest has the students go to a designated area set up before and it will be 100 square feet. The student looks at it and determines if it would be desirable for cattle and went into what all they have to look at to make that determination. Now that it will be in Oklahoma, they will have to learn about many more plants. One of the students said they had learned so much from these competitions. She had learned to talk to people, how to be a leader and work with other people. She added she had learned to be coachable and perform under pressure.

Brian Shock, athletics coordinator, came to recognize some of the students and provide highlights. For the first time in ten years eight young ladies had competed in state competition and received a runner up trophy. Cliff High School has been the most winning basketball team in New Mexico. The girls team had finished 27-3 and the boys 25-6. He introduced those making All Star and All State. They had two All State, Nisa Gutierrez and Brennan Shock and had three honorable mentions.

Kennedy Tedford had competed and helped judge with FCCLA (Family Career and Community Leaders of America).

Brian Shock had finished up the state participation survey and over 60 percent of the students participate in athletics and activities. Some of the students participate in more than one sport, some as many as four. More than forty kids will be participating in track, and golf has 20 students now.

Diane Carrico and Desire McGee, SCEA (Silver City Education Association) had not attended and did not have a report.

Information to the board

The Cliff Schools had a presentation for the board and Brennan Shock did the power point presentation. Hawkins wanted to highlight that Brennan Shock had received a couple of scholarships for college and was waiting to hear from several others. He will be graduating in May. He currently serves as the president of the student council and went over some of the activities that had been happening since January. They had their annual homecoming with 74 in attendance. The school does not have football, so they do it for basketball. Basketball had done well and now they will be transitioning into golf and track.

One of their organizations, Business Professionals of America (BPA) competes in different contexts such as entrepreneurship, speech, typing or word processing. He continued with some other organizations and FFA. Prom will be held May 2, 2026, at the Gila Valley Market. He continued to highlight the upcoming sports events that would be coming up with golf and track and ending with graduation on May 15, 2026, and thanked many of the administration for their support.

McMillan asked how many would be graduating and Brennan Shock said fourteen. The board asked what he had planned for after graduation. He will attend Las Cruces Dona Ana Community College to  obtain an HVAC and plumbing license then start a business.

Hawkins addressed the status of the Sixth Street Elementary and Western New Mexico University (WNMU) purchase agreement. WNMU had done a resolution and Hawkins read it to the board and it has been recognized and signed by WNMU. The purchase will be for the building and four adjacent parcels with a total of 3.12 acres approximately and a purchase price of $1.4 million.

Dekker had attended to provide an update on the project to build the new school. The school will be 56,690 square feet and be for 195 students. The project has been done in phases, schematic design, design development and then construction documents. They have just wrapped up the schematic and will start on the design development. As they proceed the team will continue to keep the school's mission and vision statement in mind.

Dekker has developed these guiding principles to move forward and celebrate Cliff's legacy and strengthen the school as a part of the community. "This is a true community hub we want to be able to have very engaging spaces welcoming for different events not just academics." They will keep meeting with the design committee through the process but if anybody wants to incorporate some of the past school, they will welcome those. He continued for some time explaining how they have been approaching the project and showed them floor plans and elevations. These may be viewed now at this link: https://www.dekkerdesign.org/cliff-combined-schools/?fbclid=IwY2xjawRUZmxleHRuA2FlbQIxMQBzcnRjBmFwcF9pZBAyMjIwMzkxNzg4MjAwODkyAAEeFBiDaE888oz9qJFx3O9XSfoek1fUgdWN3vRjYvgPnBV5CXNKorguBie7sIU_aem_SU5Gmtz7ZPWsEBclufIEsw 

Louis Alvarez, associate superintendent, had a personnel report but turned it over to Keith Bausman who would be his replacement after he retired. Bausman said the district had a personnel report for the board and at this time they have 99.1 percent of the positions filled. Since the report six of those positions have been hired or in the process.

Alvarez went over the new student handbooks and discipline matrix. The changes will be for the 2026-2027 school year. A committee that included parents had cmade the changes. Each school site brings a parent for collaboration. They work together to improve and decided what worked with the discipline matrix and what didn't. Alvarez thanked the parents and said they had been amazing. A number of things had not been included in the matrix but will be now. Alvarez did a full presentation of the discipline matrix and provided examples but said it would allow flexibility to the principals.

Hawkins added to what Alvarez said, more often than not, the administrators will try to follow the matrix because of consistency across the district. There will be exceptions and moments when the circumstance rises to a level that requires a much stiffer or next level because of the egregiousness of that moment. In those moments, the principal does make that call. The first line in the handbook points out that the administration reserves the right to increase disciplinary action based on severity. The board discussed this issue for some time with many different scenarios.

Alvarez continued with the changes made in each handbook. The board had some questions that Alvarez will find out and pass them on to Bausman to report at the next meeting.

Diaz thanked Alvarez for his service since this would be his last meeting. The board all said their goodbyes also. Alvarez thanked them for the opportunity and chance to be an administrator.

Diaz thanked Alvarez for all his hard work on the handbooks and discipline matrix.

Cindi Barris, associate superintendent, had not attended due to being at a conference and Hawkins provided her report. She had included the document to the board. Currently the enrollment came to 1,943 for all schools.

Hawkins provided an update on the mental health funding, and they would be able to use some for professional development that will be scheduled for May and June this year.

Finance sub committee

Cohn said they met the previous week, and it had been positive and productive. The committee had done a full review of the district's financials. "I am pleased to announce that everything is in strong shape." They had revisited the budget presentation, clear transparency, and community engagement became priorities in the budget process. Several reoccurring funding sources had been reviewed and the impact they have.

Audit committee

No report at this time

Threat assessment committee

Alvarez said they had met, and the security guards will need to be recertified. They have to requalify twice a year and will be doing it this week. Also, they had gone over how to properly document threat assessments and testing on Zero Eyes. Bausman had not seen the system and experienced it for the first time. Bausman said the cameras worked really well. Alvarez said Bausman would be ready to take that over.

Some of the principals shared in the meeting that a trend has started with fight clubs. "We are having a lot of issues." It has been happening off school grounds because they know they will have trouble if they do it at school. The administrators have acted on this by starting stay away contracts and counseling.

Hawkins addressed the well-trained security guards they have now due to community development and community engagement. "I think we are the second district to have actual armed security guards in New Mexico." This has become very important due to recent events. "Hats off to our security guards, because they need this and they carry the responsibility of that well and hats off to Dr. Alvarez for, again, keeping us trained, keeping us compliant."

Alvarez brought the board up to date with the project to convert to key cards instead of actual keys. He said they have been in the process of doing the required wiring for the system. It should be fully operational by the beginning of the next school year.

Board president

Montenegro thanked the board or being flexible and easy to work with. She thanked Alvarez and welcomed Bausman.

Board comments

Diaz wanted to congratulate all the extracurricular activities. She talked about the ones coming up and wished them luck. She thanked all the parents that helped and referred to the handbook revisions. "It is good to have everyone's perspective."

Cohn said he always enjoys coming to Cliff for the meeting and thanked them for the meal. He thanked Alvarez and said he would miss him. "You always made sure we had whatever we needed." Cohn went over their long history together.

McMillian said it has always been a pleasure to come to Cliff. He has been happy with Dekker and the engagement with the community they have had. McMillan said he felt they should have had cake for Alvarez's last meeting to celebrate. He thanked him for all his work and the many roles he has filled and went over the long history they had.

Klement thanked Alvarez and reiterated some of the things the others said. She had seen him do everything with a smile.

Public comments none currently

Action items

Consent agenda

The board approved all requests made by Michelle McCain, finance director. She had checks totaling $3,373,6921.10, and three budget adjustments and explained all in depth

The district had donations.

Beck Family Dental, Promotion - $500
Lupe Flores, SHS Baseball - $500
Morales 4 NM, SHS Baseball - $500
Suburban Propane, SHS Boys & Girls Track - $500
The Hiller Companies, Inc., SHS Baseball - $500
Elks Lodge of SC, SHS Golf - $700
Elks Lodge of SC, SHS Baseball - $700
Cliff Cake Auction (Live Auction, Silent Auction & Donations) - $35,965

Hawkins want to further explain one of the budget adjustments. One had made it possible to send money to the staff for stipends in recognition and appreciation for their work.

Antonio Andazola, transportation and maintenance director, did not have a report for the board.

The board approved the IDEA-B application

The board approved the updated 2026-2027 handbook for special education.

The board approved the Cliff FFA funding to attend nationals in Oklahoma.

The board approved the WNMU resolution.

The board approved the WNMU purchase agreement.

Public comments none currently.

The next meeting for the finance committee will be May 14, 2026
The next work session and regular meeting will be May 18, 2026

Adjourned