By Lynn Janes
The Cobre Consolidated Schools held a board meeting at on April 24, 2023, at the Hurley Elementary School Library. President Serena Murillo called the meeting to order. Other board members in attendance included Gabriella Begay, Gilbert Guadiana, Elizabeth Dean, and David Terrazas. 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 Pledge of Allegiance and salute to the New Mexico flag took place.
Three of the 3rd grade students had prepared a presentation for the board. Their teacher Breana Martin said they had worked hard on these. The students used texts to find facts then used subjects they had an interest in and then went online to research. Martin said it was a good time for them to learn safe internet use. They learned the difference between .com, .gov and .org and how to find factual information. They made a rough draft and then presented to the other students for peer review. After that they did a final draft using power point and google slides. This had made the project fun for them.
Arabella Torres researched Diwali. "This is a holiday celebrated in India on October 24 and November 12." It celebrates light over darkness.
Xavier Garcia researched Saint Bernards. "These dogs have saved over 2,000 lives from frostbite and they keep you safe. They also don't actually wear Barrels and sometimes are used as rescue dogs and are soft."
Miguel Chavarria researched blue whales. "The whales have a belly button the size of a plate and eat 500 pounds of krill a day. They are on the endangered species list and migrate 5,000 miles a year. The whales are 40-50 feet long."
Martin said they did a great job and learned to do google slides, transition pictures and speaking in public. They have already started on new ones, and she will be excited to see what they come up with.
Kiwanis had two students to recognize. One of the Cobre High School students Keana Huerta plans to become a member of Kiwanis and she did the presentations.
Sidney Hardy a senior at Cobre High School has a 3.5+ GPA, enrolled in honors courses and loves being academically challenged. She has participated in National History Day and done well in competitions
Edan Araiza from Snell Middle School always has a positive attitude and is always ready to help. He has been a great role model for young and old alike. One of his teachers said, "He is friendly, generous, and compassionate."
Public input on agenda items none currently.
Action items
The board approved the agenda with a few changes. They moved the student representative report to after agenda approval and removed the salary schedule approval because it has not been finished.
Micaela Roacho, student representative, gave the board a report. She said quite a bit had been going on. The band got third place in state competition. NHD (National History Day) students would be going to Washington DC for national competition. Graduation will be held outside. She went over all the sports events coming up. The prom will take place April 29, 2023, and May 4, 2023, they would hold a breakfast for all the student of the month recipients.
The board approved the minutes from the board meeting March 27, 2023.
The board approved the MOU (memorandum of understanding) with the city of Bayard for the use of the softball field. Spaletta said they had made the revised agreement with the changes the lawyer had suggested.
The board approved the curriculum adoptions that had been presented at the last board meeting. Guadiana thanked them for all the work they put in finding and researching the different curriculums and it would be a great change for the district
The board approved the 2023-2024 school calendar. Suzanne Chavira, director of curriculum, said it had been hard to do because of the new mandates that came down from the state. She went over all the requirements and explained the confusion and complications. The state provides a template they must use. The teachers had been given several choices and this calendar is the one they picked.
The council approved the staff dress code policy change. Spaletta said he had provided them with the revised policy from the suggestions made at the last meeting. Guadiana asked if it had been posted on the website to give the public the opportunity to give input. The discussion on this went on for a while.
The board approved Spaletta applying for funding to build a new high school. He said he had gotten information at the recent conference he attended on the subject. They talked about the cost to the district and how they could do it. Frank Ryan, finance director, talked about how it could be done. Guadiana said they needed to contact the bond council. The discussion went on for some time about how to pay for it. The cost to the district has become less than in the past. They also could apply for waivers.
The board approved the 2023-2024 stipend schedule
The board approved the budget increase for student transportation. Ryan said it would add a new bus.
The board approved the education fellowship program.
The board approved the direct private grant from Freeport McMoRan for the welding program.
The board approved the SB9 state match. Rayan explained the public education department guarantees $35 per student from taxes and if that has not been obtained, they cover the rest.
The board approved the increase for career technical education program. They previously had received $6,000 and the public education department recently gave them the final allocation of $760.
The board approved the bills. Begay said the finance committee had met earlier. They had some questions but had gotten answers to all.
The board approved the quarter 1 financial report. Guadiana questioned Ryan about the $1.7 million error identified. Ryan said he would be giving that to the special auditors to see how to proceed.
The board tabled the approval of the quarter 2 financial report. Begay said they needed further information.
Finance committee report
Begay said they had met just before this meeting and have still been working on the salary schedule to cover all positions. They had put in a lot of work and they started from scratch because it had not been done before. They updated the stipend list. All the bills had been reviewed and approved. They had added two new positions, security guard and crossing guard. They had other items on the agenda they had not been able to get to but would at the next meeting.
Superintendents report
Aaron Lewis, union president, had a report for the board. They had a ratification meeting for the contracts. He said they still had some major concerns. He brought up the insurance and when the contracts had been done, they had the information the state would cover all the insurance costs. Most of the teachers don't feel the state's response to insurance had been equitable. They would need to talk about it about in the future. The teachers see a lot of violations with the duty schedule. Students have been allowed in the building before 7:30 am. Teachers feel the responsibility should be on the administration and not on them should anything happen. The next concern brought up had to do with sick leave. When a teacher has put in for retirement if they have not used their sick leave, they received $1,000, that has now been bumped up to $2,500. Lewis said that had been a good increase but not up to par. $2,500 just covers 4-6 days of work. These have been the teachers that show up to work. They should have an incentive for those who don't use that sick leave. It saves the district money not having to bring in substitutes. Lewis made a formal request that they don't have any after school meetings on the second Tuesday of each month. The union meetings happen then, and many times teachers can't attend because of after school meetings. The Steel Workers Union will be contacting the non-certified teachers to present a request for negotiation of the contract. Lewis said he got the dress code memo but had not shared and apologized. The union felt slighted about the 165-day contract and not being able to meet and discuss it. He said he did realize the state requirements and time constraint.
Begay said maybe they could do an incentive program regarding the sick leave. She suggested something monetary, such as a gift card, something that says thank you. Murillo agreed with Begay and that it would be a good idea.
Spaletta said the post entry plan had been part of the reorganization. Many in the administrative positions had to reapply and they only had one position left open. Guadiana thanked him for all his hard work and accomplishments especially without a human resources department. "I am glad the bulk are filled." Spaletta said he, Michael Koury, principal San Lorenzo, and Chavira feel that all the positions will be filled within a week, teachers, and administration.
Chavira gave the board a report on the staff teacher of the year, retirements banquet. They had a hard time narrowing down the candidates. A survey had been sent out to the community and staff. They had allowed three weeks for responses. She then brought in all the principals, and they went over both surveys and decided. It will be held at the Murray Hotel on April 30, 2023, from 6-8 pm. Y and J Events will be the caterer and decorator. They had received a donation from Freeport McMoRan of $5,000 for the banquet. They spent $2,500 on the plaques and the rest went to catering and a photographer.
Spaletta said the next step for the strategic plan will be to meet with CES at the district office on Saturday to discuss the next steps.
The fire marshal had come and done an inspection. Last year it resulted in 100 pages. This year it came to 30 pages. Spaletta said they still had a lot of work to do but had made great improvements. They have had an issue at Snell and a few other schools with the alarm going off at 1 am. It has something to do with a switch and they will get that fixed. The alarms work fine otherwise.
Summer Fest will be coming up. Spaletta said he wanted to make it bigger this year. The goal will be 150 booths, 25 food vendors, 25 games and a carnival. He said he has some new people volunteering and helping in planning. "The Best Is Yet To Come" will be the theme this year.
Spaletta said they had gone to several job fairs and been able to fill jobs from them. They still have a few more coming up shortly.
The firm doing the special audit spent a few weeks here and gave a list of information they would need to complete the audit. That information has almost all been put together so the special audit should be done soon. Murillo asked if they had a timeline and Ryan said the auditor had said June 30 in a letter to the state auditor.
The district had several public meetings to discuss what to do with the leftover bond funds. The meetings had staff and community members. They had decided on a list and all the projects should be done by the end of June except for two that might take a little longer. The ones taking longer possibly will be camera systems. Terrazas asked if the architects for the gym are still on contract. Spaletta said he was not sure but would check.
Spaletta received a letter back from DOT (Department of Transportation). They had applied for a road project and reapplied for the Central project and that will bring that cost down. Guadiana asked about the pipe width for the Central project. It says 2 feet but probably means 2 inches, however they had decided that they should use 4-inch pipe. Spaletta said he would check into it. He said he had not been focused on this.
Part of the reorganization had included a family center. He said they would use the existing portable buildings out back and they have cleaned them up. One will have resources for families, training, clothing, food, etc. The other they will partner with The Commons for food distribution. They will have a coordinator to man the center. Spaletta said he would have more information for them later.
Spaletta said he would have the staff contracts out in the next few weeks. Some problems needed to be resolved as talked about in the finance committee.
Two weeks ago, the technology at Hurley and Snell got an upgrade. The board asked Spaletta what that meant, and he said he just knew the technology had been upgraded.
The district had been contacted that the water at San Lorenzo had too high of an arsenic level. Spaletta said they told him this is common in wells. They will meet to come up with a plan to fix it. For now, they have bottled water for the students and the kitchen has been using gallon jugs of water until resolved. They will look at filters but may require an engineer. Guadiana asked if it would be permanent, and Murillo wanted a timeline. Spaletta said they needed to make sure and use the right filter and he would know more later.
Spaletta gave the board a list of all the current fundraisers. He pointed out that the district would help with some of the projects.
New business
Spaletta and Chavira had attended the Spring Budget Conference. Spaletta said he had gotten a lot out of it. He found out some places to look for funding for teacher programs, roof repair and replacement and fire alarms. Chavira thought it would start with an inspirational message, but they jumped right into instructional hours and how to use the template she had discussed earlier. The template was due right away. She had learned a lot. She also got information on tutoring and how to get additional funding to cover the cost.
Guadiana went over the difference between the school board association conference and the spring budget conference. The discussion went on for some time about the differences.
Spaletta gave the board an explanation about the application for an innovations zoning grant which Guadiana had mentioned in the previous discussion. They would have to have the application in by the end of the month. It will provide the district with funding for college and career pathways and work-based learning. This came from HB2, and the legislature provided $40 million in funding for the state. He present on May 15, 2023, to try and get the funding. Guadiana said eight schools already have been identified for this, and this area will be one of the first zones to be rolled out.
Public input
Dr, DeLeon read a statement on behalf of her client, Dr. Jeff Spaletta. This statement had been put out for public announcement and the full statement can be read at this link.
The board went into executive session for a little over two hours.
The board came back to open session and said no action had been taken.
Action items
The board approved the board president to issue a post investigation finding to the external complaint regarding the complaint against the superintendent.
The board did not approve working with legal counsel to provide the superintendent with redacted versions of the investigation reports.
The board approved the superintendents' reasonable legal fees as determined by the board after receipt of an itemized statement. One did not approve.
The board approved the authorization of issuing a written evaluation feedback including directives, if any, to the superintendent as discussed in executive session.
Adjourned