By Lynn Janes
The Cobre Consolidated Schools held a regular board meeting at Snell Middle School on February 27, 2023. President Serina Murillo called the meeting to order. Other board members in attendance included Gabriella Begay, Gilbert Guadiana, Elizabeth Dean, and David Terrazas. The Pledge of Allegiance and salute to the New Mexico flag took place. Superintendent Dr. 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 board approved the agenda with changes. Several items they moved and some they removed or tabled. Student recognition and Kiwanis student of the month moved to after agenda approval. Equity council information they removed and tabled some discussions the be held in executive session.
Dr. Richard Best, interim principal at Snell Middle School, gave a presentation and recognized many students for being on the honor roll and perfect attendance. He not only thanked the students for their hard work but the parent/guardians for their support. Best believes a positive learning environment is key.
Spaletta announced the kids that had gotten the Kiwanis student of the month certificates. Avery Castro from Snell Middle School strives to always do her best. She has always been quick to help others when needed. G.J. Peru, senior at Cobre High School has a 4.0+ GPA and attends honor roll courses and dual credit courses at Western New Mexico University.
The board went into executive session for approximately 3.20 hours. The reason for executive session had to do with the grievance against the superintendent by an employee.
The board came back into open session and said no action had taken place.
The board approved the authorization of the board president to work with legal counsel to draft a written decision on the grievance hearing for the board’s approval at the next meeting.
Public input on the agenda none currently.
Micaela Roacho, the student representative, did not give a report as she was unable to attend.
David Chavez gave the board a short presentation concerning the strategic plan they would be starting to work on. He started with a timeline. March 15, 2023, a needs assessment letter would be sent out to all stakeholders. They would also be advertising a meeting for the public. The needs assessment meeting would be set for March 21, 2023. He said he would be present at that meeting. Once these have been completed the data will be collated and a presentation made at the March 27, 2023, board meeting. Chavez asked the board to schedule a board retreat and work session to discuss the assessment and make any modification they felt needed. He had several other suggestions he went over with the board to help the plan move forward.
The board approved a number of action items listed below.
Special board meeting January 30, 2023.
Special board meeting February 6, 2023.
Initial budget for after school programs student transportation.
Budget increase for schools’ covid testing program.
Budget increase for comprehensive literacy state development, carryover from 2022.
Budget decrease ESSER (elementary and secondary school emergency relief fund)II, a carryover of 2022.
Budget increase ESSER III, for two guidance counselors.
Budget increase for a speech therapist.
Initial budget for extended learning transportation at Snell Middle School.
NMSBA board policies. A concern on the dress code came up. Guadiana wanted to hold up the approval and Murillo said she hated to hold up the approval for just one policy. They approved all but the dress code.
The board tabled the rest of the agenda except public input, executive session, elementary gym project and Central water project. The remainder would be addressed at a special meeting to be held March 6, 2023.
Dane Kennon, operations director, gave the board an update on the Central Elementary School Gym project. The lowest bid they had received had been $1,773,678. They only had a budget for the project of $1,222.027.27. They had gotten bonds in 2017 and because this had not been spent in the time given, they had a problem with the New Mexico Finance Authority. They had already gotten an extension that expired December 31, 2022. Kennon said he has asked to see if another extension can be granted. Originally, they had $7 million from the bonds and the $1,222,027.27 was the balance. Murillo had questions about what the other funding had been used for. Kennon said he would get a list together.
Greg Salinas with McCall Parkhurst, Horton LLC a law firm joined the meeting online. He said according to the tax code that money from the bonds had to be spent within five years and had not been aware of the ability to do an extension. A project must be identified, or the balance put into bonds.
Begay said since the district can’t afford the project, they needed to let the public know. Murillo added that they needed to give an accounting of all the expenditures from the bonds. Guadiana said they needed to do a public notice on the website and newspaper.
Kennon let the board know the status of the central water project. A quote of $32,300 had been given and the department of transportation had agreed to 75 percent ($24,225) of that cost and the district would pay 25 percent ($8,075). Kennon said this had happened in the past before he started the job and had no idea where the original quote came from of $32,300 but recently, he had quotes done and the lowest had been $46,000 and highest $69,000. The department of transportation will only pay the original amount agreed to so now the district will have to pay $24,225. The contractor can’t start until the end of August. Guadiana expressed concern that by August the price would go up again. Kennon said he would make sure the price would be locked in.
Public input
Sheryl Holland a retired teacher addressed the board. She said she had sent them a letter but wanted to address them also so it would go on the record. She had concerns because of the request Guadiana had made for the board to receive the tentative certified collective bargaining agreement. “I have trained in collective bargaining and am a consultant.” She gave a list of reasons they should not get a copy before it had been ratified. The board receiving it before could cause problems with the agreement. She said, “The boards role is to ratify or reject.”
The board went into executive session for approximately a half hour. They went in to discuss personnel matters and the status of the investigation of complaints against the superintendent, employees of the superintendent and student disciplinary actions.
The board came back into open session and said no decisions had been made.
Adjourned