Silver Schools Superintendent Will Hawkins walks around as he speaks at Chamber luncheonArticle by Mary Alice Murphy; Photo by Lynn Janes

Silver Consolidated Schools Superintendent William Hawkins, was the featured speaker as introduced by Lt. Gov. Howie Morales speaking from Santa Fe, who said he was waiting to hear what Mr. Hawkins would say. "His accomplishment at Silver Schools is awesome. Wherever I go, he's there not just as a superintendent, but as a parent, an educator, and as a citizen. I'm saying this as a parent, as an educator. He's out cutting weeds at Fox Field. He shows his respect and his commitment to the schools."

Hawkins said he was humbled by that introduction. He introduced as a guest at the luncheon the Assistant Superintendent Luis Alvarez. 

"The first year here, I observed and evaluated the perceptions versus reality," Hawkins said. "I spent a lot of time learning the culture of the school and how to interact with the students, the teachers and the parents. I discovered that while each elementary school had quality education for the students, they were not aligned, so if a student switched schools, it might be a problem. The schools were also not aligned with the state, so I worked at aligning the grade levels. School safety was another issue, so we did a survey of parents and students and installed armed guards this year. We added assessments and determined whether we were teaching what the students needed. We now do assessments every nine weeks. And we are making sure that grade levels are aligned. That comes out of the curriculum alignment assessment. My goals were the development of a strategic plan during the first year. Right now we have a survey for students, another for staff and tomorrow we will release one for parents. We know we have a close-knit community that believes in our schools. We are always looking at quality."

Hawkins noted that the school district had received a $6.5 million grant to address mental health in the schools. "We introduced wellness rooms at every school. We hired additional social workers for the schools. We are planning parent counseling sessions."

He emphasized that there was nothing on the ballot this year asking for bonds or any other kind of funding for schools. He said that in the ranking of all the state schools, Silver Schools is right in the middle at 50th, with Cliff Schools, also part of the district at 62nd. "We are doing better than other regional schools. We do have needs at José Barrios Elementary, the Cliff schools and Ben Altamirano sports field. Every five years we update a facility plan. It's a major document we're working on now."

Because the district has a low mill rate of 5.927, it is not eligible for waivers on any funding that requires a school match. Hawkins said Cobre had a higher mill rate and recently the Cobre School Board voted to raise the mill rate to 10, making them eligible for waivers. 

All New Mexico public schools receive funding for staff salaries through Senate Bill 9 and House Bill 33.

For the facility funding, usually the districts require a ballot action to get general obligation bonds, but school boards can raise the rates as Cobre did. 

He delved into the ranking and the bond rates for similar sized districts to Silver Consolidated Schools, and the ones of the same size usually have higher ranking and higher mill levies for their schools. "Our rates are the same as 1A schools, whereas we are a 4AAAA school. The way we locally fund our schools is the same as a 1A school. I had to learn why we're not at the level of other 4AAAA schools. It's because our tax mill rate has stayed the same for the past 20-30 years.

Hawkins said in 2017, the community approved a $20 million bond, which is paying about $4.7 million per year for five years. "But in 2017, we actually had $92.5 million in needs. Over the years,  we have spent $16 million, but with inflation our needs are back up to $92.5 million in needs. The state is telling us if we tax higher, the state will reward us."

"We use the dollars we get mostly to maintain our facilities, not to renovate or improve them," he continued. "We will use our strategic plan and present it to the public. We are always dealing with emergencies, so we get just enough to maintain. Our maintenance department does phenomenal work, but we're using funding that 1A schools receive, usually for their one school. We have eight schools.For our mill rates, we can't control the assessed values of the properties that are taxed."

He said: "I need a path, and I need it to come from the community. Our community is seeing a decrease in enrollment. Do we need all this square footage we have? We have smaller classes of 17-21 at the high school, with the same square footage as we had for larger enrollments."

Hawkins concluded that he would talk to any group, any parent group or anyone interested in addressing the issues he sees."Academically, we do want to get better. We are exceeding at a lot of metrics, and yes, we want to provide better experiences for students and staff."

Chamber Director Romeo Cruz said Dec. 14, the chamber will host the banquet for hand out awards to businesses in the community. "The nomination forms are on the website, silvercity.org. 

Sabrina Pack asked everyone to take the Grant County Community Health Council survey at grantcountysurvey.org to help the council determine the needs of the community and come up with a plan to address them. 

Laura Phelps of Freeport-McMoRan said the next chamber luncheon would take place on Wednesday, Nov. 1 for the Grant County Resilience Action Plan Kickoff. 

On Oct. 27, Grant County Community Concerts will hold "The Sounds of Silence" tribute. 

The Silver City Museum is hosting Nuestra Voz, the Chihuahua Hill Story and history.

On Oct. 28, Santa Clara, Bayard and Hurley are doing community clean ups as a group.

Cruz invited anyone in attendance, who was not yet a member, to become a member of the chamber and reminded them to send in nominations of businesses for the awards banquet.