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Published: 13 December 2022 13 December 2022

1114221729aKiwanis Student of the Month Awards for October and Novembe: October- Keana Huerta -Senior (left); November Whitney Cuellar - Senior (right); Snell Middle School October Jacqueline Andrade (not pictured); and Snell November Esmiah Roybal (pictured front)

By Lynn Janes

The Cobre Consolidated Schools held a board meeting November 14, 2022, at Bayard Elementary School. President Gilbert Guadiana called the meeting to order. Other board members in attendance included David Terrazas, Elizabeth Dean and Gabriella Begay. Serina Murillo did not attend. The Pledge of Allegiance and salute to the New Mexico flag took place. Superintendent Jeff Spaletta also attended.

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 host school, Bayard Elementary, gave the board a presentation from a few of the students. The students sang several songs to the board in Spanish. They also presented video reports from students highlighting Hispanic Heritage month and what it meant to them.

Kiwanis presented several students with student of the month awards. Keana Huerta a senior at Cobre High School received the October student of the month. She has a 4.0 plus GPA and enrolled at WNMU (Western New Mexico University) obtaining dual credits. She also participates in several organizations. Whitney Cuellar a senior at Cobre High School received the November student of the month. She has a 4.0 plus GPA and is enrolled in honors courses. She also is part of the band and a member of the honors society. Jacqueline Andrade received the October student of the month for Snell Middle School. Esmiah Roybal received the November student of the month for Snell Middle School.

Public comments

Erica Villegas addressed the board concerning receipts for tickets purchased and contributions to the schools. She said she has never been able to obtain those so they could be used as a tax deduction. She also commented on when she asks about where the funds are going for the fundraisers, no one can give her an answer. Spaletta said they have receipts and Villegas said she has never been able to get one and that had been the reason for her coming before them. Guadiana commented that he had never gotten a receipt either. The board discussed how it could be handled in the future.

Kristina Ortiz addressed the board with information about a new program that would be beneficial to the district, Rural Partners Network. Guadiana stopped her and said "It was not related to the agenda which is a requirement for this public comment. Later in the meeting you can address the board at the end."

The board approved the agenda with some changes. One item had been listed twice so one would be deleted. They also made the change to move several items. They moved the attendance report after the student representative report. They also moved the audit committee report to be in-between bills and special audit contract.

The board approved the minutes. Guadiana pointed out two misspellings to be corrected.

The council approved the bills. Begay had attended the finance committee and they had approved them.

The board approved the special audit contract. Guadiana said that the audit committee had met and approved the contract. They received three proposals and a point system had been used to make the decision of which one. Jaramillo Accounting Group came up with the best score of the three.

Spaletta said the board policies had still been in the process of being putting together and it needed to be tabled for now. The board tabled the board policies.

The board approved an entry plan retreat for December 10, 2022. It would be for approximately three hours and not held on school grounds.

Micaela Roacho, the student representative, gave a report to the board. She said the students enjoyed the Thanksgiving dinner and thanked them. She told them that Mr. Pena had been available for scholarship information both in person and by email.

Denise Mathis, the attendance coach gave a power point presentation to the board concerning attendance. The district currently has 15 less students since November 10, 2022. Each school had lost one or more. She gave a partial reason that some students will now be home schooled. The numbers for attendance only showed the unverified students. The schools showed a 2-27 percent nonattendance. In August 242 letters had been sent out and in November 270 letters had been sent to all the unverified absences. Guadiana asked about the August letters and what follow up had been done. He wanted to know if the letters had any impact. Mathis said some of the problems with the attendance had to do with the Power School (software) issues. Spaletta said currently they have been working on an automated system that would call the parents when the student had been absent. Mathis said attendance has been a challenge, but the good news is that 127 students are eligible for the perfect attendance competition.

The Central Elementary School gym project will be on hold. The contractor had been ready to go but the New Mexico Finance Authority has required more quotes.

The central water project has two quotes and will be able to start soon. Guadiana had a number of questions about the project, as did Terrazas.

Policy revisions have been gone through, but some remain. Guadiana said they have been in the process of trying to set them up to be viewable to the board online. The discussion went on for a while about the policies.

Begay addressed the finance committee report since Murillo had not been available. She said they went over the salary schedule and compared it to Silver Consolidated Schools. Deana Davis, human resources director, will do a breakdown of the salary schedules for the board. They had gone over all the bills and didn't see any problems. Guadiana said the salary schedule has not been competitive and the reason for the loss of teachers in the district. He brought up that they would need to find a new chair for the finance committee, and it needed to be added to the agenda next time.

Dean Cannon, interim operations director had a report for the board. Currently they have contractors working on the HVAC systems and listed each school and what had been done. They have still been working on the fire code inspection report and fixing everything to bring it all up to code. Cannon said he had gotten POMS, the insurance provider involved in the inspections. He said roof repairs have continued. Some were under warranty but haven't been able to contact anyone to cover the warranties. Terrazas will be joining the facilities master plan committee.

Davis had a report for the board concerning human resources.

She gave them an update on the Power School problems referenced by a parent previously at one of the board meetings. She said the problem has been solved and contact with that parent has been made. Guadiana asked if it had been addressed at all the schools and added they need to be proactive.

The school had participated in two job fairs recently, and Davis said they had not been successful. She added that they would continue to try. They will be trying different things to recruit in the future. Guadiana said they needed to concentrate on going to the big job fairs.

Davis gave them a 40-day snapshot of data reporting in October that they send to the state. Student count is important for funding. She explained all the calculations to the board.

Melissa Maynes, director of special education, gave the board a report.

Screenings have been for all students. Currently they have received eight requests, and most have been for articulation. Guadiana asked about percentages and who had requested the screenings. Maynes said both parents and teachers.

Maynes gave the ratios of students to teachers to the board with documentation. She went through each school and each teacher and how many students in each class. She also broke down the service amounts for each student. Davis clarified some of the information for the board. Terrazas requested clarification on teacher numbers. The board had a lot of questions and Guadiana requested more information breakdown for the future. Begay questioned about the emotional social support available. Maynes said the students in need had social workers on their case that watched out for that. Maynes gave a full preview of how that staff approaches the situation and how it would be handled. She said she would do a deeper dive on the data for Guadiana.

The equity committee met on October 26, 2022, and had eight people. They looked at the readiness assessment, bilingual kids, etc. Maynes said they have been looking for more guidance from the state on their requirements to move forward. She pointed out that they had room for more people on the committee and encouraged people to join.

The district has been in the process of making changes concerning gifted students. Maynes said they had lost their licensed teacher, but special education has taken it on for the time being.

The special education staff had a district wide meeting. Some concerns had been brought up and discussed. They decided they needed a reset and some training. They will be collaborating on goal setting.

Superintendents report.

For student safety the district had purchased Narcan in case of a fentanyl overdose. They had gotten it in a nasal spray, and it's been distributed to all campuses.

Snell will be having the doors replaced. Victor Arambula, director of technology said the new doors would have a doorbell and camera. They would also be able to open the doors from the office. They should be receiving the equipment in a few weeks and be installed. Guadiana wanted more explanation. He also wanted to talk about radios for communication in the schools. Begay added how valuable and efficient that had been where she worked. Terrazas agreed and said they needed to get estimates.

Spaletta gave an update on Title 9 requirements and the district's meeting those. He said they would have the full plan in December, and he had gotten an extensive written guide from the attorneys. All the staff and teachers have completed the training. Any new employees will have 30 days to complete the training. Begay asked if they had addressed the conflict of interest and found anyone outside to contract with. Spaletta said currently they had just cross-trained everyone. He said the website had been updated to meet the requirements. The team had gone to Las Cruces to meet with their coordinator and had gotten a lot of information. They will also be doing more training in El Paso in December. The team has also met with the coordinator at WNMU (Western New Mexico University). They will have some more training to be held here or in Las Cruces. Dean asked if the students had done any training. Spaletta said for now they had just been working on the adults and the students would be later.

Previously the board had a presentation from a firm being used by two New Mexico districts concerning a strategic plan for the district. After that the board asked to have other choices. Spaletta said he has been getting information and would present it next time.

Spaletta said he had addressed the food service issues reported. They should not have any more problems with not enough entrees for the students. Guadiana asked if they accommodated students that are diabetic. Spaletta said he knew that they shopped at the Food Coop for students with dietary needs. Begay commented she had seen the bills for the Food Coop in the finance committee meetings.

The district has put together a maintenance program for the busses. Montoya Transportation will be inspecting before use and after use to make sure they will be kept in good working order. Guadiana said they needed to do preventative maintenance and not wait until something didn't work.

The food drive has 240 families on the list to provide for and Spaletta said it would be the last week for donations.

Spaletta said they had a lot of substitutes but had lost some. They would be looking at extra pay to keep and/or bring on more. Begay pointed out that Silver paid weekly and that had helped and maybe that should be looked at.

New business

The district submitted an application for funding of $480,000 for camera systems for all the schools. Spaletta said they probably would not get more than $400,000 but had been told to ask for that amount. Begay asked if they would be presenting to Prospectors and Arambula said yes and to Santa Fe also.

Public input

Kristina Ortiz with USDA (United Stated Department of Agriculture) Rural Development gave the board a short presentation and documents to explain the program. She would be a person that could possibly help them with funding. She will be the liaison for Grant, Hidalgo, and Luna Counties. She would have access to federal funding that they may otherwise not be aware of and would also work with the state to see how they could help with Cobre's projects. This is a pilot program and New Mexico is one of the five states implementing the program. It will be for lower income areas that need the most help.

Guadiana stopped her and said she needed to be on the agenda because as public input they could not comment. He explained to her how public input worked with the board.

Ortiz said they have three networks in New Mexico, the other two counties include Dona Ana and Mora. She added that the New Mexico Council of Governments had been involved in starting the program here. They have already started a solar project for the school.

Guadiana asked that she be put on the agenda so they could have a better exchange

The board went into executive session for discussion of personnel matters and the special audit for about 40 minutes.

The board came back into open session and said no decisions had taken place in the closed session.

Adjourned