By Mary Alice Murphy

Cobre Superintendent Jeff Spaletta spoke at chamber Aug. 4 luncheon

Silver City-Grant County Chamber of Commerce Executive Director Romeo Cruz introduced the speaker, new Cobre Schools Superintendent Jeff Spaletta.

"The superintendents, Cobre Jeff Spaletta and Silver Consolidated Schools William Hawkins have made it clear they want to work toward economic development in the county," Cruz said. "Our kids are our economic future. I want to commend Mr. Spaletta, because he has bought school spirit back to Cobre."

"Before you hear from Mr. Spaletta, Bruce Ashburn of PNM has a presentation to make," Cruz said.

Ashburn thanked Cobre for letting PNM be part of the Career Fair they held to introduce students to companies in the county. "Several asked about becoming linemen. Thank you to Judith Cruz, Cobre counselor, for putting the fair together. Sometimes, I get depressed about people not wanting to go to work, but then we have a day like that."

"I have asked special guests to join us," Ashburn continued. "Western New Mexico University is arguably the second largest economic driver in the county after Freeport McMoRan. I would like to thank Mary Hotvedt, the chair of the WNMU Regents for being here."

Hotvedt said the regents evaluate WNMU President Joseph Shepard every year on strict criteria. "He always tells us what the university is going to do. This year, the regents ranked him as far exceeding expectations. We have a phenomenal university, and we are lucky to have a wonderful president."

Ashburn noted that the county demands transparency and "Dr. Shepard is good at that. Kevin Matthes and Joseph Holguin are the ones who make it happen. We work together very well. PNM has an energy efficiency program, and we offer rebates. I am proud to give a rebate of $73,614.03 to the university through Kevin and Joseph. With their energy efficiency, the university also get lower bills. PNM, by 2045, we have to be carbon free."

Matthes said: "We plan to be net zero by 2025."

Ashburn noted that the check was the largest one handed out in southern New Mexico.

Hotvedt said the university looks forward to many more years of partnership with PNM.

Spaletta began his talk by saying: "This superintendent job is definitely a dream job. It is challenging, with a 7-day week of 8-10 hours a day."

He gave some of his history as a background to arriving at this job.

"I started out the single child of a single mother," Spaletta said. "I was a kid that other parents wouldn't let their kids play with. It took several people, mentors, who pulled me up. Coach Jacobs was key. He told me: 'Don't lose the eye of the tiger.' Because of him, I wanted to be a high school coach. So, I went to school, and I became a coach of five different sports in Arkansas. I spent 15 years, mostly as a coach of girls' sports. I coached in challenging areas, rough areas, but those jobs were very fulfilling. When I started graduate school, a non-profit with the purpose of helping girls to succeed awarded my entire basketball team with scholarships. I was a spokesman for Adidas as a coach and teacher. I was a school board member. There's a lot of politics in that job. I thought I could make a difference as an administrator. The school where I coached was going to close, but we made changes, although it did finally close because of the numbers."

He said he learned about working with kids, then teachers, then administrators. "I got sent twice to talk to the governor of Arkansas to change the law that said schools that had fewer than 350 students had to consolidate. The school did ultimately consolidate. We got the law changed, Act 60, so smaller schools could stay open. That was my first principal job. Then I moved to Kansas City where the English Language Learner program had 1200 students with 70 different spoken languages in about 600 of the students. There were a lot of things to fix. We became the only school in Missouri to get $5 million to increase technical classes. With 200-300 kids not coming to school, it was definitely a challenge. Fast forward, I took a pay cut to go to the human resources department in Las Cruces schools. That was a challenging department that was understaffed. I came in and they said: 'Here's a new project for you. We want you to fix the substitutes issue, because we don't have enough.' I worked hard and we ended up with 950 substitutes. With 25,000 students, it was not unusual for 400-500 teachers to be off on any day. I fell in love with New Mexico. This position came open, I applied, and here I am. I was told that I had no idea what I was getting into. 'You have a split board,' but this place is special. I looked at it and I liked the area before I even interviewed. My approach is to be as good or better than Cobre was in the '90s when they had students getting into colleges like Harvard. We have a lot of talented staff, and the parents and community are supportive. The committee for Summerfest grew from five to 60-70. We had 50 partners, about 400-500 parents showed up and about 660 kids. It showed me there is a lot of interest in the schools. The kids are very respectful, but their expectations need to be higher. We have a new board that I'm excited about, because three have education backgrounds. I feel like we're going in the right direction. A ton of bullying has happened. There was a lot of mismanagement of funds. We haven't had a focus on students That's where I want to move—to a focus on students. I started with an entry plan, but I've ended up as operations manager. At the end of the entry plan, I want to work on a strategic plan, as there hasn't been one done for a while. Just having pride in the schools is so important. We had a convocation of teachers. I wanted to make it a little different. In the middle of it, we had a pep rally, with teachers doing dances and chants. In the middle a horse, with a Cobre Indian, rode through the auditorium. We had a good time and built a lot of spirit. I try to do a weekly video and send it out on YouTube, just to do something different. The videos are getting 1,000 to 1,500 views. I did one from the driver's seat of a school bus, and another from the splash park."

He said he is working on putting systems in place and on improving communications between buildings. "We want to build a culture where everyone is happy to be there. and the kids are supported. We want the kids who left to come back. We are focusing on student safety, and I am happy to be starting a mentor program like I had. We are hiring career and colleges counselors to talk to the students. People have been contacting me to partner with us. I talk to Mr. Hawkins a lot. We have to work together."

"We want a new high school, so that those graduating are ready to go to college or take whatever path they are ready for," Spaletta said. "We want more individualized instructions and more technology. Will and I are talking about a Grant County Technical School, so the students have certificates or licenses when they graduate. Whatever field they are studying, they will go for a few hours every day during their junior and senior years. We've thought of welding, automotive, CNA (certified nurse assistant), plumbing, construction and there are others. All the districts can share the facilities and experiences. And the kids will be engaged. We have to keep them thinking and engaged."

Kim Clark of the Grant County Realtors' Association asked Spaletta if he was interested in coaching girls again.

He laughed and said: "I've already been asked that, but that was more than 10 years ago."

Ashburn asked if the schools had job openings.

Spaletta said last year in Las Cruces, they had more teachers with alternative licensures, "but we at Cobre right now have no open positions. We hired some permanent substitutes using special CARES funding. They will be stationed at the schools and will fill in where they are needed. I also applied for funding for fellows, who are similar to aides, like educational assistants. We want to have 14 spread around the schools to work with individuals or groups. The funding will pay the whole salary for two years. It will not include pre-K. Mostly we're busting at the seams with pre-K."

Cruz introduced some new chamber members. "I want to circle back, since we didn't have a July luncheon. The Fourth of July event was great with 100 entries in the parade and 60 vendors. We are working with businesses and signing up new ones constantly. We are here to help businesses."

Karen Beckenbach of Grant County Community Concerts said the first concert would take place on Aug. 26 – a jazz quartet from El Paso.

Steve Chavira, Grant Workforce and Economic Development Alliance director, said the organization is in the process of launching a Toastmasters group, which hold virtual meetings at 6 p.m. every Wednesday. "If you aren't sure if it's right for you, we will have a Sept. 14 virtual open house."

Bernadette Smyth, Grant County Community Foundation director, said the Give Grandly event in May raised more than $230,000 for local area non-profits. "Each non-profit was awarded $500. The Building Better brand is working with people of color. To be a board member, you are required to spend two hours a month on a Zoom meeting. It's all free."

José Ray announced that Carnitas, Musica y Mas would take place from Sept. 2-4, with bands and vendors at Gough Park, which would be an enclosed event. "It will cost $7 a day or $15 for the weekend. Kids under 12 will come in free."

Kim Clark announced the Grant County Fair from Sept. 21-24 at the Cliff Fairgrounds.

Katie Smith said she mentors youths to develop their talents. "We pay the youths."

Cruz said, it was in the works to have the governor candidates coming Aug. 19.

[Editor's Note: the event will take place from 4-6 p.m at the Conference Center but only ONE candidate will be in attendance - Karen Bedouin.]