By Lynn Janes

The Silver City Consolidated Schools held a work session February 21, 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 board approved the work session agenda.

Mike Stone from Stone and McGee presented the audit for Silver schools. He said the audit was completed in a timely fashion and sent the Santa Fe by the due date of November 5, 2021; however, the state has been behind, and they didn't receive it back until January. He commented on what a great job the business department did having everything ready for the audit when they came because they got in and out quickly. Stone extended his thanks for all their help. He said they had an unmodified opinion on the financial statements. "That is as good as it gets." He said the district had 41 million in assets and 30 million a year in revenue. The accounting of the district is managed well. Stone reminded the board that the audit is an action item and must be approved or unapproved. Flores asked Stone if this is now public record. Stone said yes when the state releases the audit and that took place last month. The state lets them know when it can be printed.

Superintendent Hawkins asked if they had a copy. Stone had 5 with him and had sent a digital copy to them.

Montenegro said the audit this time had been the best they had ever gotten. She noted that audits are required annually as the school district does not have to file a tax return.

Associate superintendent Cindy Barris presented data received concerning just in time support and best first instruction. She said all students respond to different instruction, so it creates gaps for some students. The data she presented came from just math testing assessment. She explained to the board how to read the data. She said this was being done worldwide and Silver schools were doing a good job and outrank the rest of the state.

Diaz asked what changes would be made with this information. Barris said every intervention is different for every student, so it was hard to say how. A few other board members commented on the findings.

Montenegro said the data had a lot of good information.

The work session adjourned.

The Silver City Consolidated Schools held its regular meeting February21, 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 approved the minutes from the January 17, 2021, work session and regular meeting.

The board approved the agenda for this meeting.

Bob Carson presented Kiwanis student of the month awards. Three students received awards. Josh Agnew, not able to attend, Cliff High School, grade 12. Carson said Agnew excels in his senior class and is involved in many activities, basketball, FFA, etc. Agnew plans on attending NMSU. Catrin Basaka, La Plata Middle School, grade 7. Her teachers chose her for her kindness, responsibility, and stewardship. Basaka always volunteers to help her fellow students with their work. Luis Tagle, Silver High, grade 11. Tagle is new to Silver City and the United States. His mother was transferred here from the Philippines to work in heath care. Tagle excels in his grades and works well on his own or with groups. He wants to become a physical therapist when he graduates. Carson said that the Kiwanis had been in Silver City for 75 years.

Katrina Bustillos, president of the SCEA gave a presentation. She expressed great frustration at how painstakingly slow the bargaining process is going. She said this has been going on since 2019. Covid accounts for part of the reason but still not a good reason. They had been communicating in online meetings and she felt she had kept up. Upon returning, she realized there had been some discrepancy with wording and even though it seemed very straight forward and simple it apparently wasn't taken that way. A few of the bargaining items on the table are early release and the salary schedule. Concerning early release the last questionnaire took place in 2018. Bustillos said they would be doing a new one to bring it up to date. The salary schedule she deferred to Michelle McCain, director of finance to explain.

Transportation and maintenance director, Victor Oaxaca presented a report NMDOT LGRF (local government road fund) for 2022-2023 and HVAC improvements for the district. He said he did a 5-year plan for all the parking lots in the district. He had taken photos of all the areas in consideration and their current status. Harrison Schmitt parking lot will be done in phases and the south portion will be first. Deming excavation had recommended doing it in phases when they met. He had a list of HVAC systems needing to be replaced. Stout needs to be addressed first at a cost of $650,000-$700,000. Next on the list Silver Scholars, 5 units at a cost of $70,000. Jose Barrios total cost would be around $2 million, some had already been taken care of. The Silver High AG building $20,000. Silver High band room $25,000. Harrison Schmitt will be on a five-year plan at a cost of $350,000 but could have some roof issues to take care of. His report also included the issue of HVAC vs swamp coolers. He had a list of the many reasons to switch to HVAC for cooling.

The board said they had received complaints about some of the classrooms being cold and not able to keep it at a comfortable temperature. Oaxaca explained because of covid protocols they must introduce fresh air in the classrooms and that fresh air is cold, so it takes a while for the HVAC system to heat it up again.

Superintendent Hawkins gave the board an update on the legislative session. He provided them with a written long report but for the meeting he gave highlights. There will be a 7 percent average wage increase for salaried personnel. Although the actual language does not say minimum wage is increased to $15 and hour it is being funded so the implication is they must raise everyone's hourly to at least $15 an hour. Their budget will not be accepted if this change is not made. HB73 passed, which allows a retired teacher to come back and not lose their retirement. There is a 90-day period that must be observed before returning. Hawkins pointed out that all of this must be signed by the governor first and she has until March 9, 2022.

Hawkins next addressed the extended learning wages. There will be two levels, K-5 plus adds ten days and will give the teacher a new daily rate. K-12 plus is 25 days. This year there will be a pilot program to include both that he explained essentially meant adding forty-five minutes a day. He said: "We need to see what our staff wants. They could easily do this with after school programs and the 80 hours of professional development. They are already doing this; they just must keep records."

Hawkins said the strategic plan was moving along with the projected timeline. Studor is just about done with the first phase. Studor had met with 35 employees, 21 parents, 7 administrators, including 5 board members. Dr. Butler will be here February 23 and 25 to meet with people in Cliff and Silver. They want to make sure everyone that wants to have input has it. The full assessment should be done by April.

Hawkins said he had Barris stand in for him at a meeting with the county commissioners concerning a wind farm and had given his approval.

McMillan had a question for Hawkins. He asked him about the capital outlays he obtained for the district. Hawkins said he got a total of $400,000. Fire alarms, $300,000 and $100,000 for cameras. He said Oaxaca would determine where to use the fire alarm outlay and IT Director Benjamin Potts would determine where the greatest need would be for the cameras.

The next report came from Associate Superintendent Louis Alvarez. He could not attend, so Barris presented the report to the board. She gave a list of all the positions open at each campus. She said ALICE (active shooter civilian response) training would be open to parents if they wanted to attend. A threat assessment meeting will be held February 28, 2022. The security guards would be attending training in March so they would now be certified. A guard shack will be built for them.

Montenegro commented that only 12 parents had participated in the virtual ALICE training

Diaz asked about the teaching positions available. She said students deserve a teacher. Barris said they were offering a sign on bonus, and it had worked for one new hire. Diaz asked about the Covid-19 clerk position because it was "near and dear to her heart." Barris said they had some applicants for the position.

Hawkins said the position was not as critical now. He said the reason in the past had to do with the heavy documentation required by the department of health. Three weeks ago, that was reduced significantly. He said they still will be tracking, and the nurses said they could keep up with it.

Flores thanked Alvarez for his quick response to the training for the security guards. He said he really appreciated it.

Cindy Barris presented her report to the board. Enrollment is at a standstill, and they still had 152 students doing virtual. She commented on being curious to see if the virtual would decrease now that the mask mandate had been rescinded.

McMillan asked if the virtual students could come back now or if they had to wait for a new semester. Barris said they preferred they wait but would take them back any time.

She turned over the next segment of her presentation to Sixth Street Elementary Principal Robert Trujillo to give an update on how they had used the data to make decisions and what progress they showed. Trujillo said they broke it down by teacher and student. They used to have only three levels but now had five levels and it works so much better. The data helps each student, but the teachers need time to look at that data in order to help each one. They review the data weekly, which has contributed to their success.

Michelle McCain, director of finance, gave her report. She said the legislative bills do affect the budget. It affects salaries and certified salary. They were making sure everyone was addressed and did all the calculations. The school will not get funded across the board but making every effort to get everyone the seven percent. The language in the bill for minimum wage didn't specify $15 but they are funding the $15 so it must be included. That means other wages need to go up also, but the budget will not allow for it. Everyone has heard they are getting a raise but only a small portion this year and the rest next year. McCain went on to explain every dollar they pay out in wages they must retain two percent to pay into the retirement fund to keep it solvent. She also explained how the people coming back after retirement would be required to pay into the retirement fund also. Health insurance would also be going up six percent.

McCain said the total capital outlays paid by the state came to $75 million and thanks to Hawkins and Pricilla Lucero they secured $400,000. She said Lucero was owed a lot of gratitude for her hard work for not just Silver schools but all Grant County.

Montenegro gave her report on the finance subcommittee. She said they met and most of their meeting was about the new salaries and wage increases.

Flores said the next threat assessment meeting will be February 28, 2022.

The NMSBA excellence in student achievement award nominations was next on the agenda and the board tabled the discussion.

Board Comments

Montenegro thanked everyone for the President's Day decorations. She said it really made the room nice. She also wanted to thank Hawkins because every time they had a request, he took care of it promptly. She apologized to him for not warning him of snow days and the crazy weather Silver had before he got hired. She said she appreciated the easier availability of the facilities for games. It's great for the entire community. She congratulated the district win for both girls and boys basketball. Feels like life is back post covid and is a breath of fresh air.

Diaz said it was good to move out of the covid stage. She agreed with Montenegro's comments. She thanked the district for opening the vaccination clinic. She encouraged people to attend. "We are not out of the woods."

Cohn said the Tuesday game went great along with all the kids smiling faces with no mask mandate. He also congratulated the wrestling team.

McMillan said the governor surprised him lifting the mask mandate and leaving it to Hawkins to decide. He said the schools had an excellent week in sports and looked forward to the spring sports. He also wanted to recognize Hawkins for the hard work with the legislature and for everything Pricilla Lucero had done. He wanted to remind the seniors, only 87 days left.

Flores said winter sports had given them an exciting season. He said he hoped with some of the covid money they could fix up the outside of the schools. Maybe they could provide more benches and sitting areas for the students, so they didn't have to sit on the walls. He thanked everyone giving presentations, he knew what hard work it took to put together.

Public comments none currently

Action items

The board approved a list of items from budget, finance, and purchasing presented by McCain. She had $2,483,744.02 in checks. Because of the audit being done she had several adjustments that just needed to be moved to different accounts. Growth adjustment $266,318.51 moved to operation budget. They had a cash carry over of $3,179.48 and $3,179.71 returned to NM transportation. Student nutrition carry over of $100,302.89, high partially because CARES money paid many of the costs. Cliff athletics gate receipts $1,993.88. Activities funds trust accounts (fundraising) carryover of $938,656.45 over all the districts. Capital outlay carryover $17,130.48. The bid for milk, only one received, will be the same next year. Donations from FCCLA $1,000 for Mason Club, town of Silver City $1,000 Silver High girls tennis team, and Moose Lodge $1,000 Silver High track and $1,000 golf team.

The board approved an increase in bus contracts to cover the increase in diesel gas and repairs.

The board approved the 2020-2021 audit submitted by Stone and McGee.

The board tabled the approval of the excellence in student achievement award to discuss in the executive session.

Public comments none currently

The next regular meeting and work session will be held March 21, 2022
The spring regional meeting will be virtual and held March 22, 2022

Meeting closed for executive session concerning the excellence in student achievement award.