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Category: Front Page News Front Page News
Published: 24 August 2022 24 August 2022

By Lynn Janes

Reading of the board norms took place with each board member reading a norm. The norms consist of five rules the board strives to adhere to during the meeting. They are listed as actively listen to all perspectives, respond to concerns and questions as a unified board, professionalism expected, assume positive intent, and be positive and responsive.

The Cobre Consolidated Schools held a special board meeting August 15, 2022. President Gilbert Guadiana called the meeting to order. Other board members in attendance included David Terrazas, Elizabeth Dean (phone), Serina Murillo and Gabriella Begay. The pledge of allegiance and salute to the New Mexico flag took place. Superintendent Jeff Spaletta also attended.

Two officers of the New Mexico School Board Association joined the meeting online to do the training for the board. They consisted of Kurt Steinhaus, secretary, and Joe Guillen, president.

Steinhaus told the board they had an important job, and the focus should be what is best for the students. He announced that new covid guidelines came out and masks, testing, and quarantine had been delegated to the local school boards. He added he had worked hard to get that approved. Before the training started, he asked them if they had any questions.

Murillo asked him about the small school funding that would be phased out the next year that the district relies on and if they had any plans to remedy the issue. Steinhaus said that the New Mexico legislature would make that decision, but have they asked them to work with the school board association concerning it. He also encouraged the board to talk to the local state representative.

Guadiana asked him about the ELT (extended learning time) days that had been based on less days than it should have and would that be fixed. Steinhaus said he would have to contact Tony Ortiz to get that reimbursement.

Murillo asked about the pay raises that the district is expected to give, and will they get the funding to cover it because currently it has not been fully covered. Steinhaus said the New Mexico legislature controls that issue but he would see what he could do. He also told them to contact the state representative for the area.

Murillo asked when they would receive the testing scores from the testing done in the spring. Steinhaus said they would have it in about a week. They had problems but those have been solved and from now on they will have the scores back within ten days.

Guillen started with the first training and said he had been glad to provide assistance and training for the board. They started with the basics. He told them that now they have been put in the public eye and what they would be doing had importance. The state has 89 volunteers on the various boards.

The main roles of the board listed by Guillen included five main ones, but he talked about some others. The main ones included statutory powers and duties, regulatory requirements, key role of school board, code of ethics, and individual authority.

Statutory powers and duties would be the most important. Guillen listed those; develop educational policies, set superintendent salary, review and approve budget, dispose or acquire property, and others.

Regulatory requirements would be to exercise all powers and duties, such as budget issues, education plan, training requirements, delegate all administrative duties to the superintendent, review policies, award diplomas and ensure that curriculum aligns with the state requirements.

Key role of the school board would be to set a vision for education and establish structure. "A commitment from you the board member to be prepared to be effective for all decisions needed to be made. As a school board member, you must also advocate for public schools." He said they would need to be accountable and work as a team. Attendance would be very important, four meetings not attended the seat can be declared vacant and six would be an automatic declaration of vacancy.

For the code of ethics, the most important will be respect of confidentiality. The board must work in harmony together. Guillen listed several other issues for the board.

Individual authority would be the last thing concerning the main powers Guillen would address. He told them outside the board room they had no authority. He gave them some examples of situations and told them to encourage people to follow the chain of command. "Telling people you will take care of an issue would not be appropriate." He encouraged them to call anytime with questions and that the association would be there to help.

Guillen asked the board if they had any questions. Terrazas asked about the mandatory education each board member had to do. Guillen told him it would be five hours a year and many do 40-50 hours a year. He told them each conference they could pick up 10-15 hours and they have four conferences a year.

Murillo asked if the only education they recognized would be with the school board association. Guillen told her it can be from somewhere else but must be approved before.

Guillen went on to move to the next training, positive board-superintendent relations. He said, "United we stand; divided we fall." He told them each one of them had their own strengths and weaknesses and came from different walks of life. He told them how important a positive relationship would be and had to respect everyone's roles. Good communication will be expected from everyone, and trust will be assumed. He went on to tell them that they can't hold grudges. He warned about micromanagement and gave examples. The focus must be on success and student achievement. "Make sure you are making informed decisions with good data." He asked if anyone had questions.

Guadiana thanked him for his presentation and help. Guillen said he would send a book to each board member called Better Board Members.

The next training came from Elena Gallegos with Walsh and Gallegos Law Firm. This training had to do with the Open Meetings Act the board has to abide by.

Gallegos first talked about the agenda. No action can be taken on any item that the public could not have reasonably anticipated would be acted on based on the wording on the agenda. She stressed that it needed to have enough specificity. The more important to the public, the more specific it needs to be. She told them they could not amend or add an action item to the agenda after it had been posted and the meeting started. The agenda must be available to the public 72 hours prior to the meeting. She went on to explain circumstances pertaining to emergency meetings and other items.

Begay asked Gallegos if it would be better to table or pull off an action item that for one reason or another could not be addressed in the meeting. Gallegos said either could be done.

Gallegos discussed various other items concerning the agenda and what they could and could not do. She let the board know what they could comment to the public on and could not. She cautioned them about the first amendment right of the public to speak. The board cannot comment on anything unless it is on the agenda. She said that may seem rude but must be followed. A lot of questions came about on the issue. She also cautioned the board about using public comment to use as a time to speak. "It might appear that you have a privileged spot. If you do use it, you must address the board in the same area any other person would, you cannot remain in your seat." Gallegos suggested having a board report on the agenda and addressing it at that time.

She said: "You can speak as individuals out in public but nothing about the board. Saying what you feel is important or what you stand for would be fine."

Next discussed by Gallegos had to do with executive sessions (or closed session) and what could constitute one and how it had to be followed. At the time of returning to open session a report must be given as to what had been discussed. Any action taking place must be done in open session. The reasons for an executive session could be personnel, property acquisition or disposition, litigation threat, student information, collective bargaining, etc.

Gallegos cautioned the board about attending functions together, as it can look like board items could be discussed, however the act does not prohibit it. She also cautioned them on a rolling quorum. That happens when you as a board are not physically together but get emails or phone calls going concerning public business and has three or more involved. She discussed with the board different ways to avoid any problems with this.

Gallegos did a short explanation about the OMA (Open Meetings Act) regulation. She said it has been known as the sunshine law. Business should be conducted in full public view. She also left the board with the full power point presentation she had used for them to refer back to.

She said that the New Mexico Open Meetings Act compliance guide could be found online and downloaded.

Meeting adjourned.