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 regular board meeting August 22, 2022. President Gilbert Guadiana called the meeting to order. Other board members in attendance included David Terrazas, Elizabeth Dean, Serina Murillo and Gabriella Begay. The pledge of allegiance and salute to the New Mexico flag took place. Superintendent Jeff Spaletta also attended.

Spaletta introduced the new student representative Micaela Roacho. She will attendthe meetings and give input from the student point of view and be there to pass on any concerns of the students.

Public input on agenda items none currently

Guadiana announced that in the future the board meetings would be held on google meets so people can make comments.

The board approved the agenda with some items moved to after approval of the agenda. The items moved two action items concerning legal counsel and a special board meeting. A report about air conditioning repairs, Listen and Learn Tour and student enrollment also moved to after the agenda.

The board approved authorization of legal counsel to proceed in the filing of responses to the New Mexico attorney general in reference to two complaints. Elena Gallegos with Walsh and Gallegos Law Firm joined the meeting by phone to answer any questions the board might have.

The board approved a special board meeting for August 26, 2022

A report concerning the air conditioning was presented to the board. An account of which air conditioners needed to be replaced or repaired had been listed. However, finding parts for some of them, because of age, could be difficult. A discission to put mini splits in some rooms could be an option. This would be faster and would cool and heat the room. Dean asked for costs for the mini splits and repair costs for existing units. The board had a lot of discussion about air conditioning types, which rooms and other alternatives. The availability of the mini splits would be the easiest, taking about two weeks from ACE hardware. Installation could be done by maintenance easily. Both Dean and Begay said they had experience with them and liked them.

Listen and Learn would be an event for the district where people can voice their concerns and ask questions. The board discussed the dates of the events and who would attend. They had to keep in mind the OMA (Open Meetings Act) cautioning them to not have three or more board members at one event.

Denise Mathis, the attendance coach, gave an update on enrollment and absences. She said the district now has 1,020 students enrolled and broke it down by school. She commented that currently absences have been high. She said they have been making a lot of calls and doing home checks on these students. The enrollment had increased from last regular board meeting when the enrollment had been 1,001. Last year the total enrollment had been 1,064 students. Murillo asked if they had any support set up for the chronically absent students. Mathis said they do home visits to try and determine the problem and find a solution.

The board tabled the decision to adopt the new tool kit from NMPED (New Mexico Public Education Department) having to do with covid protocol. The state has left the decisions on what to implement in each district to them. A great deal of discussion went on concerning the states recommendations and the CDC (Center for Disease Control and Prevention). The school nurses had been asked for recommendations. Guadiana said the board does not make policies, but they approve or disapprove. He asked Spaletta to bring a policy to the next meeting. He said they needed a health council that includes parents. Murillo said that teachers and staff should be included for their input to express what would make them feel safe. Dean pointed out that the flu season will be coming up. All current protocols will be followed until a new plan has been formed and approved.

The board approved the payment of all bills except the Cuddy and McCarthy LLP Attorneys at Law. Murillo said the finance committee had met and they had a concern over the bill from Cuddy McCarthy since they didn't have any invoices. The bill totaled about $13,000.

The board approved San Lorenzo School for a polling location in the upcoming election in November.

A discussion and update on roofing repairs and replacement took place. Spaletta said he had a civil engineer come look at the locations to determine if repair or replacement of the roofs had to take place. Originally, they thought that Snell Middle School and Bayard Elementary would have to be replaced but the engineer said repair would be sufficient. However, the district office and San Lorenzo has significant problems. The engineer recommended not using a local contractor but a more professional experienced contractor from Las Cruces or El Paso. Spaletta said he had been in the process of checking any warranties on the roofs that might still be applicable. He pointed out that they had funds for some of the work but not all.

The district received several complaints concerning the pay and contracts recently. It has all been taken care of and the union is happy with the speed at which it had been resolved.

Spaletta talked to the board about the plan to do campus board meetings. He said the regular board room had been finished and they could meet in there. Once a month the board meeting would take place at a different school. Spaletta said a sign-up sheet has gone out to the principals to choose the date they would like to have the board held at their school. He also added the new board room would have a set location and audio for comments and presentations.

The director of finance did not attend to give a report due to illness.

Victor Arambula, director of technology, gave a report on what they are doing. The district has received a new fiber upgrade all the way to Hurley. In the past they only had 200 megabytes with Century Link and now have 1 gigabyte with WNM Communications. They currently have been in the process of upgrading the phone system and will have more information on that in the future. Arambula said they hoped to have it all done next month and it would solve a lot of problems they have had. He said in the future they will add a security alert system, keyless entry and a surveillance system. The board had a lot of questions for him concerning the new phone system. The also talked about the improvement expected for the audio at the board meetings. He went over the technology funds they had and what each school had and needed. Spaletta thanked him for all his work and pointed out that he had also been doing social media, the website, and temporary transportation duties. Murillo thanked him for all he had been doing on social media. In the future the board meetings will be available on google meets and participants can make comments, also closed captioning would be available.

Joyce Barela, director of curriculum and instruction, gave a report to the board. The district has a number of computer programs and the board had been given a list of them and which ones were used currently. She said training for early intervention had been done with the teachers. The playground at San Lorenzo would be done soon. She said they had an abundance of sanitizer and disinfectant wipes. Snell now offers a welding class. Barela said she had applied for a community grant with Freeport McMoRan in the amount of $50,000 to ensure the continuance of the welding class. She said she doesn't know if they will get it. She gave the board a list of a number of other programs they have been doing. Murillo had several questions concerning the computer programs and curriculum programs being used. She said she has concern about the ones in use that have proven not to work well, that is, have caused poor reading skills. Dean asked if they chose before the school year and Barela said they start looking at the next year this year. Dean asked if the welding class would continue. Barela said the biggest problem has been to find a teacher. Begay asked about Planbook software. She asked if the templates could be adjusted for the teacher. Barela said no, but they had used it for the past four to five years and no one had any problem with the templates. They discussed that changing software would be a process and costly. It can't be done quickly. Guadiana commented this had been the most conversation about curriculum he had ever seen the board have and was happy about it. He pointed out how great it will be to have three teachers on the board. The district is headed in a good direction but if a curriculum doesn't work, they need to replace it even though it would cost to do so. Murillo said she realized that changing takes time but pointed out the students don't have the time, and this must have urgency. Spaletta and Terrazas thanked Barela.

Deana Davis, director of human resources, gave the board a report. She said the department is looking at testing data and will give a report for the boards review. She talked about the problems with their computer program. She said she had spent hours on the phone with tech support and they had also worked on it remotely and still the problems have continued. She said that this problem had been why she could not give better absence statistics to them earlier.

Davis said the recruitment fairs they had attended really helped. All the teacher positions had been filled. All they had left to fill are a few aides and substitutes. She said she had people interviewing or in the process of verification and those open positions would be partially filled. Some of the people have pending licenses but the state has been behind thirty plus days on issuance.

Guadiana asked about the overloaded classes and Barela had a list. A lot of discussion went on about classroom size and how many they could have in the different levels of classes. Fewer students are allowed in a classroom for first grade as opposed to more being allowed in a classroom in high school. These numbers comply with the state of New Mexico.

Guadiana said he thought that they didn't have a problem with substitutes. Davis said they had sent letters to all of them, but they never did the training required. Begay asked where they had advertised for the positions. Davis said Indeed, Facebook, website, newspaper, and google.

The conversation went back to the software (PowerSchool) that had not been working. Barela explained it had always worked well until it received an upgrade. Terrazas pointed out that the district pays for it, and "it should not cause you to be on the phone three to four hours at a time to get it to work." Davis commented it had been a real problem that needed to be fixed. She pointed out that most of the state uses this program and all have been having problems.

Davis brought the board up to date on the Fellow Program and how many they had. They had been allowed ten positions but currently only had seven filled. Guadiana said anyone he talks to doesn't understand about what a great opportunity it would be. Murillo asked if any outreach at the high schools or colleges had been done. Davis said they had sent fliers out.

Melissa Maynes, director of special education, gave the board a report. She said 18 seniors had graduated and 18 students withdrew but 14 came back. The district now has 203 IEP (Individualized Education Program) students. The district has three full time nurses but would need another one. They have more students with considerable health needs.

Maynes addressed the equity council they needed to put together. The council must have up to 15 members that serve three to four years. This requirement from the state came about because of the recent court case Yazzie vs Martinez.

A discussion took place about the various services available for special education.

Superintendent's report

The union president Aaron Lewis told the board how happy he had been over the quick response of getting the contracts fixed. Spaletta said he would hold staff meetings to allow them to voice any concerns or ask questions.

When Spaletta came to Cobre he presented them with an entry plan. At this meeting, he presented the board with an updated plan. The plan contains his vision, different phases of improvement and goals. He talked about the town hall meeting with the staff and brown bag lunches with the students to allow for questions and concerns to be voiced. He explained that the last thing would be to start a strategic plan in November.

The position of Operations Director has been filled but the person must pass all the requirements first.

Spaletta said they currently have twelve fundraisers going and gave the board a list of all of them.

The position of principal is open at Central Elementary School. Currently they have seven candidates, and some are local, and some are not. September 7, 2022, a final decision will be made. Joyce Barela has served as interim principal.

Spaletta said they would have a facilities master plan for the next board meeting. Guadiana asked that they receive it before so the members can review it.

New gym construction at Central Elementary continues on track. August 30, 2022, they would meet to review the project. Spaletta said he would report back to them on the progress.

A meeting concerning the audit would take place soon.

Nelson Diaz gave the board a report on the status of sports at Cobre. He said they have 131 students participating in sports this year. He told them that they have been trying out digital ticketing. The first game they made $193 in digital tickets. He said eventually they want to go to fully digital ticketing. It would solve the worry about having cash or embezzlement. He gave a full list of future sports events and talked about the ones coming up.

Alma Grijalva, nutrition supervisor, had a report for the board. They have six staff and from the first week to the third week of this school year had served 19,920 breakfasts and lunches. She did let the board know they have been having complications with the freezer at the high school that does not work and the walk-in refrigerator roof leaks. They have new ovens at the high school, but the ice machine has been giving them problems. She said they need three more staff members at the elementary schools. At the beginning of the pandemic, they had a total of 15-18 and now have been doing it with 6 permanent staff. Guadiana asked if they needed any other equipment and Grijalva said braisers. She said they had a purchase order for some time but could not get them.

The next reports came from the principals of each school. Each gave the board a comprehensive look at everything going on at their school.

Laverne Martinez, principal at Hurley, talked about everything that had happened in the first week to get the school year off to a good start.

Suzanne Chavira, principal at Bayard Elementary, had a presentation with photos and the new staff for the year. She also wanted to give a shout out to Annie Gonzales who had worked there for 34 years as a cafeteria monitor.

Sandra Montoya, principal at Cobre High School, gave a breakdown on how many students they had in each grade level and said they had 20 new students.

Pat Abalos, principal at Snell Middle School, gave a brief report on everything going on at his school.

Micaela Roacho, the student representative, addressed the board with her report. She said the job fair had been amazing along with the Summerfest event. A concern of the students had been the main dishes in the cafeteria have been running out and 5-17 students end up getting cereal or something else. Another request from the students had to do with not having enough electives and wanting more interesting ones. She ended by saying " the teachers and staff have been great and always willing to help."

At this point in the meeting Murillo pointed out the time being 10:00 pm and asked that the rest of the meeting on the agenda be moved to the special meeting August 26, 2022. The board approved the motion.

Adjourned

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