By Lynn Janes
The Silver City Consolidated Schools held a work session meeting January 17, 2022. President Ashley Montenegro called the meeting to order. Other board members in attendance included Michelle Diaz, Patrick Cohn, Eddie Flores, Mike McMillan. Superintendent William Hawkins also attended.
The agenda for the work session was approved.
Judge Laney did the swearing in of the reelected board members. She swore in Patrick Cohn, Ashley Montenegro and Michelle Diaz. They swore to uphold the United States Constitution and the constitution and laws of New Mexico. The also swore to defend against all enemies both foreign and domestic and to discharge their duties to the best of their ability both faithfully and impartially.
Hawkins brought attention to the Silver High School art student's drawings on the wall.
The members adjourned the work session for dinner and to enjoy the many talented students that had their artwork displayed.
The Silver City Consolidated Schools held its regular meeting January 17, 2022. President Ashley Montenegro called the meeting to order. Other board members in attendance included Michelle Diaz, Patrick Cohn, Eddie Flores, Mike McMillan. Superintendent William Hawkins also attended. The pledge of allegiance and salute to New Mexico flag took place.
The board because of a new year voted for a president, vice president, and secretary. They kept the same officers as last year. Ashley Montenegro, president; Michelle Diaz, vice president; and Patrick Cohn, secretary.
Members approved the minutes from the work session and regular meetings on December 13, 2021. They also approved the agenda for this meeting.
Hawkins wanted to acknowledge the passing of one of the teachers, Nathan Nolan. Associate Superintendent for Instruction Cindy Ann Barris also extended condolences to the Nolan family for their loss.
Kiwanian Bob Carson presented the Kiwanis students of the month awards. Marisela Madrid from Silver High and Michael Amador from La Plata received awards and Main Street gift certificates. Carson said they usually take the students to lunch but because of Covid they started honoring the students with the recognition at the board meetings.
A Cliff elementary teacher recognized the students that participated in the spelling bee held December 8, 2021. Students that participated were from grades 4, 5, and 6. Brooklyn Bird and Cheyenne Jameson tied for third place, Easton Bradberry placed second and Baron Bradberry placed first. Baron will go to the regional spelling bee in El Paso, Tx.
The board heard a presentation by William B. Shinoff, an attorney from California with Frantz Law Group. Shinoff joined online to ask the board to join the mass action suit against Jewel Labs and Alteria (Philip Morris). Both companies manufacture vaping devices and intentionally market to kids. He said there is a serious problem with kids vaping that has caused a whole new generation to be hooked on nicotine and New Mexico was in the top 5 states. It would require a questionnaire be filled out and would not cost the schools anything unless they won, and funds were received. At that point there would only be a fee of 25 percent, much lower than traditionally charged. The money would be used for support and resources.
Katrina Bustillos gave the SCEA (Silver City Education Association) report. She said negotiations were still ongoing and small steps forward were being made. They continue to meet on Thursdays.
Superintendent Hawkins had several updates to give the board. He provided them with more comprehensive documents supporting his statements.
Covid
They have a new tool kit and the days of quarantine had changed. The school district is experiencing shortages for covid tests. Hawkins said he hoped that would be fixed soon. The shortages are being experienced nationwide.
Legislative
A legislative measure has been proposed to add more time to the school year to try to close the learning gap because of covid. Hawkins said he didn't feel that was a one-size-fits-all situation. He said it needed to be more flexible because the schools were not all at the same level. He also pointed out the increase in minimum wage. Currently it is $11.50, and the state is raising it to $13.50 and shortly after to $15. That does not match the federal rate and will cause budget concerns. The salaried people would receive a 7 percent raise. He told the board to call him with any questions or concerns.
Strategic planning
Hawkins said it was going well and the representative from Studer Education would come in February for in person meetings with everyone involved. Hawkins said he met with Lt. Gov. Howie Morales, and local Rep. Luis Terraza and Sen. Siah Hemphill. He wanted to let them know of the school's concerns and needs. Hawkins told them they didn't want to lose money because of loss of student numbers. He also talked to them about the shortage of teachers. He wanted them to consider incentives to bring back retired teachers and remove the barriers, which are mostly about retirement incomes. Loan forgiveness for new teachers is being looked at, and notification on that is something coming.
Website
Hawkins said: "We care about our digital image and want to make sure to have timely information available for anyone."
Louis Alvarez, associate superintendent gave his reports. He said only three positions are vacant at this time.
ALICE training is going well and prepares for the unthinkable. The training system is used in many places and is a proactive plan and not a reactive one. Studies show the old lockdown procedures don't work. ALICE stands for action, lockdown, inform, counter, evacuate.
Barris presented reports to the board. She said enrollment was down by eight students, but it changes frequently, and she posts the numbers every Friday. She said they still have 110 students participating online. She said tutoring was going well and they had a six-week evaluation that showed them what changes they needed to make it work better for the students. They found that attendance to class was important. Every site had different changes. She said next month they would have data to analyze.
Michelle McCain, director of finance, had nothing currently to report.
Board of Education finance subcommittee had met and members went over the financial reports. They talked about the legislative session coming up and the changes in the budget they would have to make concerning wages.
Eddie Flores gave a report on threat assessment. He said they had met a couple of times in the last month and discussed the ALICE training and how to make it better. They asked the security people to make a list of things they needed to improve the system. Flores said that only one security person showed up to the meeting. He felt they all should be there for them to be successful. He said even custodians would be helpful, because they see and hear everything. He thought security guards needed to be trained every year like teachers. They could do it during the summer and could be required. He said one other thing he thought would be helpful is having a supervisor, a chain of command.
Board comments
Ashley Montenegro thanked the board for voting for her to be president again. She said she was happy and honored to be part of the group. She commented on the artwork the students had done and how talented they were. She also thanked everyone participating on the strategic plan.
Michelle Diaz thanked everyone for having her be a part of this and electing her to vice president again. She thanked the culinary class for dinner and the student artists that had displayed their work. She said Alfred Ogas had contacted her regarding the rededication of Bataan Memorial on April 9, 2022. She acknowledged Martin Luther King Jr. Day and said she was for advocacy and social justice. She said: "As I always do I want to tell everyone to get the vaccination. It is prevention and covid is here to stay with us. We must learn to function with it." She also said the PCR test was the superior test route.
Patrick Cohn thanked everyone for voting for him to continue as secretary and he was honored to serve with everyone there.
Mike McMillan hoped everyone was back into a routine after the break. He said the legislature would start soon and he hoped it was productive for the school's needs. He said Grant County Prospectors have a list of their needs. He thanked the culinary class for the dinner and the students that displayed their art.
Eddie Flores wanted to wish everyone a happy Martin Luther King Jr. Day and everyone a happy new year. He said he also appreciated the hard work putting all the artwork up.
Public comment none currently
Action items.
Michelle McCain had checks for December totaling $2,943,623.31
She had budget adjustments, another allocation of a grant to improve air quality in the schools of $28,753 and after the audit they had an operational carry over of $1,561,093.20. There were not any bids, proposals, donations or conflicts of interest. The board approved all her listed requests.
Transportation none currently
The board approved Hawkins' signature for attorney client fee contract between Silver Consolidated Schools and Frantz Law Group concerning the student vaping crisis mass action lawsuit.
Next meetings
Board Member Institute February 2-5, 2022, Santa Fe, NM
Regular Board Meeting February 20,2022
NMSBA Spring Region Meeting March 22, 2022, Lordsburg, NM
School Law Conference June 2-4, 2022, Albuquerque, NM
Public comments none currently
Meeting closed for executive session concerning personnel matters. This closed session would be to evaluate Superintendent Hawkins. They were in closed session for a little over an hour. They came back from closed session and said they all were very happy with Hawkins, and the job he has been doing.
Meeting adjourned.