By Lynn Janes
The Cobre Consolidated Schools held a board meeting December 12, 2022, at the school in San Lorenzo. President Gilbert Guadiana called the meeting to order. Other board members in attendance included, Elizabeth Dean (phone),Gabriella Begay (phone) and Serina Murillo (phone). David Terrazas did not attend until executive session. 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.
Student presentation had been canceled due to the weather as well as the Kiwanis student of the month presentations.
Public input on agenda items none currently.
The board approved the agenda except for tabling resolution of gratitude for volunteers.
The board approved the minutes from the November 28, 2022, meeting.
The board approved the bills. Begay had not attended and Terrazas had but was not present. Guadiana said he had been there, and the finance committee had approved all the bills.
The board approved the contract with Consolidated Support School Services for starting the roadmap of the strategic plan for the district. Spaletta said the scope of the work had been in their packet and approved in June. Murillo said she wanted to know when that discussion took place. Guadiana said it had been done with the old board in March or April.
Spaletta said the attorneys had approved section B of the policies and he would post it and read them at the next meeting. Guadiana said he found it troubling that the attorney seems to have a problem reviewing the polices and said they just needed to follow the template. He asked the board if they would like to look further. The current attorney that had been looking at the policies was John Kennedy, and he works independently. Murillo, Begay, and Dean all agreed that they needed to postpone until they found acceptable legal counsel.
The board approved two budget adjustment requests. Purchase of vehicles $100,000 and purchase buses $350,000. They talked about the possibility of purchasing electric cars.
The board approved grants received from Freeport McMoRan. The grants included $500 brave scientist project, $500 brave builders club project, $500 scoop reading night, $500 character counts project, $500 gardening supplies, $500 going green and $500 starting small program. The individual schools apply for grants from Freeport McMoRan. Murillo pointed out that the last two had not been on the agenda and they determined it would be fine.
The board approved the continuation of the membership with the Southwest New Mexico Council of Governments at an annual fee of $400.
The council approved the support for grant applications for a school resource officer. District Attorney Michael Renteria had made a presentation to the board at the last meeting. Some discussion took place with questions of who would be involved.
Murillo stepped down as chair of the finance committee. Guadiana nominated Begay to take over. Begay had questions of the possibilities of second chair and after some discussion she accepted the nomination and the council approved. Murillo thanked everyone for understanding while she dealt with health issues. Guadiana told Begay he knew she just started, and he would be glad to help her in any way.
The board approved Spaletta attending the national superintendent conference in San Antonio that would take place in February 16-18, 2023.
Micaela Roacho, the student representative, did not give a report as she had been unable to attend.
Unfinished business
Policy revisions
Spaletta said they needed to plan to go over all the policies in January. He suggested that they each look at them independently. Guadiana said the policies needed to go to the people involved. Spaletta wanted to know how the board would like to participate in the process. They could go to the meetings directly or review independently. Begay asked if they could do a meeting like the retreat and go over all of them. Guadiana said yes. He went on to say it would be a tedious process, and then explained all that had to happen. Spaletta said he would be doing a public notice for meetings to begin in January on Tuesdays and Thursdays 4:30-6:00.
Finance committee report
Guadiana had been the only one present who attended. They had talked about salary schedules and stipends. He said it had not been a very productive meeting because they just received the data they had needed, and the next meeting could accomplish more. Murillo asked if they had a rule concerning things not going through the finance committee. She said some things had and they need to review the role of the finance committee. Guadiana cited the incident she had been concerned about and addressed it. It had been one thing that happened in error.
Audit committee
Guadiana said they didn't have a meeting. The district will not be doing an audit until the special auditing has finished. The special audit just started, and they have been determining the sample sizes. The board will receive monthly updates on the special audit. The current audit has been postponed and the state has been made aware and has approved.
Operations director's report
Dane Kennon, interim operations director, gave the board a report on what has and has not been done. He had a contractor that specializes in heating and cooling come in and work on all the systems. Parts have continued to be hard to get for repairs. He told the board which ones had been fixed and the ones that had not.
Kennon let the board know which fire code violations had been fixed and what they have been working on. He started to tell them he had brought POMS insurance in to help make sure they addressed everything.
Begay stopped him and asked how many violations they had left to correct. Kennon said he figured they had done at least 90 percent and had 10 percent left. Begay wanted to know the timeline on getting it done. Guadiana said they really can't because of having problems getting parts. Begay was insistent on a timeline and if the work would be done in time to meet the deadline. Kennon said, "If the process of doing the repairs was happening, they would not have a problem."
The POMS inspection report has not been worked on as much because they have had so much to do with the fire code violations and heating problems. They have been working on it.
Kennon asked if they had any questions. Guadiana wanted to know what areas didn't have heat and Kennon referred him to the list he had given them. Murillo said they needed some kind of timeline for repairs. Guadiana asked that they be sent copies of all the inspections.
Superintendent's report.
Spaletta had given the board a list of fundraisers currently going on and asked if they had any questions. Currently the school has ten of them going. Begay saw on the list that one said it would be for physical education equipment and asked why the school could not provide it. Spaletta said they had dealt with the issue, and Begay wanted to know if the staff knew. Spaletta said yes but he would let them know again.
The board had requested radios for the staff and Spaletta said he has some on order. The new security doors at Snell Middle School would be installed the next week.
Spaletta had a company from Las Cruces come up and do bus inspections. Five of the six buses had passed. The one that didn't pass had been because of the material on a headrest needed replacement and that repair will be done shortly. The inspector said, "The buses are the cleanest I have ever seen them."
Begay said she and Dean had talked about a checklist and had that been done. Spaletta said he had included that in their packet. Begay said they wanted it more specific. Spaletta explained that Montoya Transportation would be doing what they have asked. He added that Maintenance also has an expanded list. Dean wanted to have access to those. Spaletta said he could get that forwarded to them. Begay and Dean asked that he send those lists. Dean said they needed to have a pre- and post-list done. Spaletta said they had Montoya Transportation doing that job which had never been done before. Also, what had never been done before but they started doing, had been to have a file on every bus with all the information on maintenance. Dean said she wanted access to that. Murillo asked if they had a pre-checklist. The bus drivers should be doing it. Victor Arambula, director of technology, said he had created digital checklists for pre- and post-use. He did say "drivers don't always fill it out completely."
Pat Abalos said he had just been put in his new position, assistant operations director. He said drivers have been doing a pre- and post-checklist but maybe some protocols need to be revisited and revamped. The process needs to be re-emphasized.
Guadiana wanted to know what had been taking so long to get the new safety doors on Snell Middle School and they have had a problem with some of the doors at the high school. Spaletta said he thought it had been fixed and so did Kennon. Kennon said he would check in the morning.
In January, Spaletta said they would be doing more Title IX training. This one will be virtual, and they would be trying to get other schools involved to help spread the cost out. Guadiana commented the cost had been $40,000 and Spaletta said the one they would be doing would cost $18,000. The training will be four full days.
Spaletta and Deana Davis, human resources, got together to work on a plan to attract and keep substitute teachers. They posted the district will pay $20 more a day. They got 12-15 applicants after posting the increase. This will cost an extra $125,000 and will be coming from CARES Act 3 funds.
Murillo asked, "What qualifications are required?" Davis said the applicants must pass a background check, obtain a substitute license, training, class observation and vector training. Murillo asked what the minimum required pay has been and if they must have a high school diploma or GED. Davis said the past pay had been $130 and now they would make $150 for 7.64 hours. They do have to have a high school diploma or GED.
Begay wanted to know if the district compensated them for training and Spaletta said no. She suggested they do. She then wanted to know if they had talked about her suggestion to pay weekly. Spaletta said he had talked to the finance department, and they said they could not. Spaletta said he would look to see if they could compensate for training.
Spaletta said they had looked at what they could do to recruit bus drivers and had come up with paying for their CDL (commercial driver's license) and also pay $25 an hour instead of the current $17 an hour.
Guadiana wanted to know if the district paid for the background checks and Spaletta said no. They talked about the cost of the background checks, and no one knew. Murillo agreed that the district should pay for it.
Spaletta had not put this on the agenda but added it on. Prospectors had a meeting to hear presentations and requests for capital outlays the past month. Spaletta and Arambula attended and presented the district's request. It had been for security equipment in the amount of $468,000.
Guadiana said he could not add on to the list. Spaletta said he had done it for the past six months. Guadiana said, "It is financial, so it needs to be on the agenda."
Spaletta said he had an entry plan statement to give the board. For the past 120 days, he had been learning what the district needed and assessed it with a critical eye. He said he had not made plans to make changes but had been faced with many challenges and areas needing critical attentions, so he had to make changes. He had a goal of building relationships with all the stakeholders. He said he had enjoyed meeting them all and looked forward to collaborating with them in the future. "A lot of work to do going forward and it starts with me, continues with you, and depends on all of us." He said his report had good and bad.
The good part has been all the support from the community. "Family is important to all of you. The teachers are dedicated to the students. Cobre has a lot of history and tradition, and families want a high-quality education for their kids."
He said the challenges and things he found that needed to be fixed came from student forums, staff round tables and listen-and -earn meetings. Eight themes emerged. Spaletta listed each one out:
#1 – Safety and security
#2 – Special education
#3 – Maintenance issues
#4 – Technology (behind)
#5 – Curriculum
#6 – Food service and cafeteria
#7 – Customer service
#8 – Social emotional learning, bullying, and counseling services
He said he had redistricted the office to focus on these areas. The reorganization would start in January. Expectations will be raised for staff and students.
Spaletta said personally he had found many others. He told the board he wanted to be totally transparent.
Upon arriving in June of this year, Spaletta said he had been given 100 pages of fire code violations that had not been dealt with in years. They got started on it right away.
He said he had personally gone over the past four years of audits and found some major problems that happened every year.
He found staff and student attendance problems. For the past two years, some of the staff has worked 32 hours a week and been paid for 40. Many teachers have complained the administration has not supported them.
Nepotism, the hiring of friends and family has been very prevalent in the district. Spaletta even said he found a statewide newspaper that commented on Cobre's nepotism.
Spaletta said he had meet with many community partners that told him they had been refused to participate with the district. A lot have wanted to work with Cobre but have not been allowed.
The past two years the executive staff has received as much as $20,000 a year raise and teachers and other staff receive nothing.
The staff has not had proper training which has been a common theme at meetings that came up.
The technology in the district has not kept up with modern technology.
The majority of job positions in the district do not have a job description.
The school district office and the school campuses have a large disconnect, and it seems to have been that way for some time.
Activity buses have not been repaired or serviced for years. Spaletta asked the inspector that had come from Las Cruces why. She said the district had told her it had not been a priority.
Spaletta said he had witnessed when he came in June that the district office had not been transparent with the board.
Policies and procedures are out of date.
He said he found that $295,000 had been paid in stipends for staff to work extra hours beyond the school day.
Employees have been lost due to the administration not listening to their needs.
Spaletta said he had found a lack of accountability to staff and students. In some cases, the staff evaluations had not been completed or outright forged.
The district has had numerous sexual assaults or Title IX cases, and most had been swept under the rug or not properly investigated.
The district's former attorney charged multiple times for items and much had not been approved by the administration or board.
Spaletta said he could go on with the list however they needed to move forward with urgency.
He said he had forgotten to add that he has been meeting with Silver Schools, Freeport McMoRan and WNMU (Western New Mexico University) concerning Grant County Technical Institution School. They have been collaborating on career pathways starting in elementary school.
He ended with he would be looking forward to the five-year strategic plan. He asked the board if they had any questions.
Begay and Murillo both thanked him for his transparency. Dean thanked him for all he had done and his support. Guadiana said that list had been very sobering but a testament to transparency Spaletta had brought. He added that all of this would not be an individual effort but be supported by the board. "These are monumental steps to make for a new board." This will require a lot more conversations and better groundwork. He went on to say "New Mexico is the poorest preforming state and within the state we are number 64 of 88 districts. This should have never been acceptable. We must correct the ills of the past. I look forward to the next year for more improvement."
Guadiana said he and Terrazas had attended the New Mexico School Board Association conference. One of the presentations he attended had been about free speech and censorship. The district needs a policy to address this.
He said he liked the open-door policy they had adopted for public input in the meetings. He said if anyone would like discussion on any item, they need to put it on the agenda; If not the board could not comment.
Public input
Pat Abalos, associate director of operations, addressed the board. He said he needed to reveal something he had done. He filed a complaint with the attorney general's office and had received a response back. "I am an elder member of the staff, a graduate of Cobre and my kids graduated from here also. I hope with the comments that are being made it is recognized what the staff here and the past board has done, they worked hard." Abalos had copies of his complaint and gave everyone a copy. He said he felt it had been his duty to report wrongdoing.
Abalos said the maintenance yard had a lot of materials and it had been set aside for projects. All of this had been hauled away. The materials had a value of approximately $2,000. The materials had not been sold, just given away. He said he now has heard of it being sold in the community. "I felt I needed to do something about it and act on it. I am now a whistleblower." He talked briefly about policies concerning whistleblowers. "As school administration, I was told I was inadequate and was moved and put in another position I have never been in. I had told Spaletta I was doing this, and I was moved. I also received an official write up within eight days." Abalos went on to warn the board they had a lot of old administrators that had been here a long time. "You need to look at their mental health, see how they feel about their job and how they are treated." He mentioned "I can retire but I think that is what they want." Abalos said again "A lot of good things were done here with the prior administration and prior board. Keep that in mind."
Guadiana said they could not comment on public input on the agenda. He told Abalos if he wanted to be put on the agenda they could comment and to let him know.
The board went into executive session and at that time Terrazas had joined. They would be discussing personnel matters and collective bargaining strategies.
The board came back to open session and no decisions had been made.
Adjourned