By Margaret Hopper
The Silver Consolidated School Board opened the February 17 work session at 5:09 p.m. with four members present: Chris Arvidson, Tony Egan, Arnold Torres and Trent Petty. Anthony Guiterrez was absent. Because of a limited amount of information scheduled for this portion, president Petty asked for a motion to go directly into closed session then, instead of later, to discuss limited personnel matters, specifically, Superintendent Streib's evaluation and contract.
The board broke the executive session at 5:55 to start the regular session on time. By the time the gavel opened the second portion, about forty or more people had taken seats. In the public comments section, only two persons had chosen to speak. Lorna Ruebelmannn informed the board that "the community had spoken." She said she hoped the board would turn over the reins of authority and wait until the new board convened before making any major decision about the superintendent's salary or extension of time.
She was followed by Kyle Johnson, media person, who said the board should revise, as by law, the request form to make comments at these meetings. He said he echoed Ruebelmann's response and suggested the board table any consideration of extending Streib's contract. He said on Petty's first election, he had 80 votes; now, half of those had wised up and not voted for him this time; it was a clear demonstration of community will; any board member who crossed that will would not be sitting on the board after the next election. He said this board had created distrust, division and discord in the community.
Petty thanked him for his threat. Johnson said it was no threat; it was a promise.
John Carter, principal of Harrison Schmitt, told the board about the student and staff numbers of the school and his perception of the instructional efforts being used. He mentioned the assessment tests and said that when students excelled, it was time to push them on to more appropriate levels. Teachers were not always aware of the changes they had made, but they were being made for the better.
SCEA, Silver City Education Association, had no information to present. Going into the superintendent's report, Streib asked the board to review proposed revisions to Policy Advisory No. 113-Competitive Food Sales /Vending Machines. While nothing would be done on the issue at the meeting, it would be an action item in March. The state education department recommended that the district address it.
He asked Assistant Superintendent Milam to report on the PARCC test results. She spoke of the flexibility of the testing structure and said the accommodations were available for special education students.
It allowed questions to be read to some special education students. The computer results were good, and principals had worked very hard. Streib asked Ben Potts to comment further. Potts mentioned a wireless issue in the high school, but that was fixed in ten minutes. The state had awarded the district a Level III, the highest number possible, considering the number of tests already given. Overall, it went well.
The board members will go to Santa Fe Wednesday and be sworn in; they will start their work Thursday. Streib asked Egan, Arvidson and Torres to be planning the retreat for board goals and objectives. These would be given back to administrators and teachers, and then on to the community. He said the board meeting might need restructuring, as the work sessions were not always that productive. It might be better to schedule them only as needed, and perhaps on a different day; meetings were too long.
Milam reported on collective bargaining, saying the work was productive. One issue was sick leave; possibly when people retire or leave, they could give back the unused days beyond the five maximum they can accumulate. This would help. The Professional Learning Communities language needs to be rewritten; new language also needs to be written for teacher evaluations. The schools are also considering writing contracts for two years rather than one. Wayne Sherwood added that they were considering something on bullying or harassment, after Streib invited his input.
As only three board self-evaluations had been received, they had not been tallied, but members chose to make comments. Torres said the comment that nobody contacted the winning Vasquez was incorrect. He, himself, had called her and McMillan. As to "the voters have spoken," he mentioned the recent governor's race, asking where the voters were then. On those who bashed the board, he said he thought Mrs. Vasquez would soon know how the board is bashed.
Regarding the reserves, he asked what they wanted for them; the answer was 4 to 5 percent. Torres then mandated Streib to do that, but also admonished those requesting the move to be present and available if it meant that some teachers would lose their jobs. Also: how long had the district known about PARCC testing? About five years. Yet, nothing was done prior to Streib's hiring. The board was blamed. And how long ago did they know Aldo Leopold would start a middle school? Five years. Again, nothing was done. Those who say they didn't join the union for fear of retaliation, he didn't think so. He said he would not be running again.
Asking if people thought everything was running fine before Mr. Streib got here, he said there were a lot more issues than they knew. Then he read parts of a letter written two years ago which spoke of those who abused power; troubles would not go away without a new superintendent, it said. He finished, saying he ran for the board for the kids. They needed to be treated fairly and have the same opportunities, no matter who they were.
Egan commented next, saying it was difficult to sit on the board and not be able to answer. They weren't allowed to, as personnel and other issues wouldn't allow transparency. And being accused of deceit and mistrusted, it hurt. He said he was willing to discuss, but no one calls. Rather, they walk into a board meeting, not giving members time to consider an answer. Further, not everything said is true. He said there's an accusation, people applaud, they investigate, and it isn't even true.
At this next board training, he said there were three major changes most board members wanted. First priority was to return control to local boards. Next, stop the unfunded mandates. And increase funding. He admitted they did spend! They didn't leave funds sitting in the bank while kids did without. He personally thanked Potts, saying, "You're expensive! But doing it right." He said his son was given a poor computer class at Silver. The boy taught the teacher better things so she could teach better. Egan then thanked Beth Lougee for the changes she had brought to Silver. He said his son was poorly prepared to go to Socorro for engineering. And not just Silver, WNMU was lacking, too.
He challenged the accusers, saying they didn't know everything, and it was a different world being on the board. Streib did his best. It was time the public stopped trying the school and board via newspaper. It was time they started working with the school. Every issue the critics brought up was worked on. Last, he was accused of being irrational and unscientific, because he was a creationist-they wanted to kick people off who were like that. His point: boards don't do curriculum; that is done by state and federal governments. Then he thanked Petty for his board leadership and asked him "not to let this sour him." He said the board was willing to work with Frances; it was time to work together.
Petty thanked Streib, former Superintendent Dick Pool and board members and the district. He said serving was a pleasure. He thanked those who disagreed with him, saying he had learned a lot from them. Those who pointed out that they had college degrees, well, he would never have guessed it. He was now well aware of how desperately the schools need more history, social and political sciences. He listed some things board members knew that he said his detractors didn't. He hoped many would take a course in New Mexico law. He thanked them for an eye-opening experience.
In the consent agenda, Milam asked for approval of the January checks amounting to $2,356,112.12. The budget adjustments included a transfer for Cliff, a zero amount to clear the books; an initial budget set-up of $30,672 for the GO Bond Student Library (SB-66); and two decreases, $13,188 decrease for pupil transportation and $110,626.65 for a lower attendance of students in the K3+ program last summer. She said they knew that the decreases would be made, and the funds had sat there untouched. The GO Bond Library funds needed to be approved and sent to the schools, which must spend the funds by the end of June. There were no bids or donations. The board approved her financial requests.
February 19 through 21 is the New Mexico School Board Association Board Institute in Santa Fe. The next board meeting is scheduled for March 17, and the board will also be reorganized in March, as happens after each new election. As the executive session had not been completed, the board voted to go back into session to discuss the superintendent's evaluation and contract. The regular session was suspended at 7:10 and would be ended after the executive session finished.
In a later report, the board came back after the closed session and made a motion to increase Streib's contracted salary by three-and-one-half percent. They passed that and then closed the February 17 meeting.