By Lynn Janes

The Cobre Consolidated School Board held a regular meeting on April 28, 2025. Board members in attendance included Gabriella Begay, David Terrazas, Emmarie Heredia and Angelina Hardin. Superintendent Michael Koury also attended. Gilbert Guadiana did not attend.

Kiwanis Student of the month

Syenna Drew Altamirano, Snell Middle School, works hard and always has patience and respect for her teachers and peers. She leads the Mariachi band.

Adriana Hernandez, Cobre High School, always has a smile and had not had any absences. She involves herself in many activities, Cheer captain, National History Day, Key Club, Innovation Zone student and last year she received all American cheerleader. Even with all her activities she has a 4.12 GPA

The board approved the agenda with the exception of tabling of the executive session

Public input

Christopher Palomares said he has five students at Cobre schools. He would like to see an automotive program. He believes the skills and experiences that student would gain from the program could not only lead to a fulfilling career but also contribute to the development of a more well-rounded generation of future adults. It could prepare them for a future job in the automotive industry or basic maintenance as owners of a vehicle. He had identified 22 businesses in Grant County that involve the automotive industry. Palomarez didn't want to diminish the value of current electives but thought an automotive program would provide students with a greater opportunity. It can inspire and prepare them for careers as technicians, engineers, innovators and business owners. The industry offers a diverse range of career paths.

The United States Bureau of Labor Statistics projects a 6 percent growth in the automotive field of technicians alone. He translated that to 77,700 new jobs per year. His high school daughter had conducted a survey with her class and asked how many would like to see the automotive program reinstated and she has 66 names of students interested. He pointed out the surrounding schools offer this program and ended by asking them to consider reinstating the program.

Koury said he and the Cobre High School principal had just had a conversation about that. He continued with the problem being finding someone that can do the class. Silver High School struggles with keeping someone to teach the course. Currently that person has a business and has to try and balance both. Koury noticed an insignia on his shirt and asked if he was in the business and he said yes. Koury asked him how long he had been in the business and Palomarez said seventeen years. He asked because if the person has been in the business for more than five years, they have a different licensing route they can go, and it would be easier.

Student representative report

Nico Zamora said he had not heard a lot of complaints. He had heard students talking about the school schedule, changes and they are not sure about them. This has caused some concern. He spoke to the small number of electives available to students. He thought more options would be a good idea. They had just finished up testing but didn't know the scores yet.

Shane Stephens, innovation zone director, had a presentation for the board. He works with both Cobre and Silver on the project. Innovation zone is a grant through the public education department to foster growth and to seek pathways. They search for internships that will align with the students' career goals. He had invited three of the interns to share their experiences and what they have learned. Some of the internships had been at the Forest Service, Cobre Media, Southwest Bone and Joint, teacher's aide, Arenas Valley Animal Clinic, City of Bayard, etc. All three had enjoyed their experience and felt it helped them in many ways that they could have not received in a classroom. The internships had also provided them with connections to help them move forward in their career paths. They had all had real life hands-on experience.

This has been Stephens second year in the program. The first year the internships had all been inhouse but this year they had a number of outside businesses for the students to do internships. They have students working in all kinds of environments gaining skills that far exceed what can be done in a classroom. In these experiences it opens their minds to different career options they had not thought of previously. One student went to work with Southwest Bone and Joint to learn about bones for a more forensic approach to her career. She started working with the people and realized she could make their lives better and has changed her direction.

This year they have a total of 25 interns and 13 of those have been internal placements and 12 working in the community. Currently Stephens said they had 74 different businesses and organizations countywide that have agreed to take an intern. "We have a lot of capacity right now to send a lot of students out to a lot of different areas." They don't have a lot of students pursuing internships. Sometimes they don't have an internship that aligns with the student so it's very student centric. Stephens does not send them to an internship that doesn't align with their career goals. He said they had a lot of city and county government internships available.

Begay had a few questions. In a finance subcommittee meeting she had seen travel as part of the program and wanted to know where they traveled. They had traveled to other schools and met about what worked in the program and what didn't. Here they have been doing something a little different than the other schools by the two local districts working together and sharing resources. Next question had to do with sharing resources across the state. Begay wanted to know if a student's career pathway has someone available in another area would they have access virtually. Stephens said yes but have not pursued because they had not had any interest.

Stephens explained the powerline worker course. It has been paid by PNM, and they have students from all three high schools participating in the lineman program. Some of the students had come to share their experiences with the board. All three enjoyed it and said it had been a great experience.

Cheryl Montes, early childhood coordinator, had a pre-k presentation for the board. She has been with the district for 28 years. She said all their assessment data had increased substantially and they had worked hard to increase the scores. The teachers have weekly meetings to analyze the data as a team and share ideas that had been working well.

Montes spoke on the curriculum and family engagement. It had moved them forward. She then went over all the activities they had done. Each school has their own and tries to do one a month.

The board did the first reading of the policy advisories 261-262

Administrative, principal and directors reports

Wendy Tow, Bayard Elementary School principal, wanted to talk about celebrations and positive things happening. For literacy night they had a Grinch theme, and the kids had their pictures taken with the Grinch. The school has 107 families and 65 of them showed up for the event so it had been a good turnout. Tow continued going over all the events they had and the parental attendance. She had a long list of great events they had for the kids that would be good learning experiences also.

Roxanne Ogas, Central Elementary School principal, provided a folder to each board member. "When I came in this year, I had the mindset that we would make great changes and every person in the building would be as happy as we could make them." She pointed out that the kids have been making improvements on their test scores and went over all the percentages. Ogas went over each page of data and the percentages of where the school came to. She also had a lot of pictures to show the board and recounted all the events they had and the successes.

Cory Gropp, Cobre High School principal, wanted to talk a little about the year before he went over the numbers. They had a student that came from Silver High School. He loved taking the best of the best and said she had been one. She had worked at the animal shelter to ask for donations of dog food and cat food. Seems whatever happens in the community she has been involved and a great student. He thanked Koury and Chavira for their support. He thanked all the principals in the district and Silver schools for sending their counselors to help the week when they had the tragic news of losing one of their students. He didn't have to ask, they just sent them.

Gropp continued with things that had been happening and thanking those that had helped. He listed out all the wins the sports teams had and successes.

He started on the academic scores and what they have been for each class. The students had made significant increases. The students had really taken the testing seriously this year and taken ownership of their scores. He did a comprehensive detailed presentation of the scores. Gropp ended with more thanks to people that helped him. "I am really proud of our teachers and students. I mean look at the numbers."

Action items

The board approved the regular board meeting minutes for April 7, 2025

The board approved the second reading for policy advisories 246-260.

The board approved the fiscal year 2022 audit done by Jaramillo Accounting Group. Scott Eliason joined online to give the board a presentation. It had been completed March 12, 2025, and had been released by the state. Since it has been a couple years and substantial turnover it ultimately caused a lot of confusion and confusion in the community. Because they could not obtain enough audit evidence on the numbers and financial statements themselves, Jaramillo's opinion had to be disclaimed upon which meant they could not offer an opinion on the financial statements. They did have some findings on the financial statements they did have. Eliason said he knows changes had been made and hoped 2023 would go much faster and offer a better audit opinion. He went over the responsibilities of management and of the auditors.

They had started the audit back in the fall of 2022 and a lot of back and forth happened in that long period of time. Eliason said ultimately the conclusion had been a lot of the documents they needed simply could not be found. The audit process had been done in three parts, financial state audit, federal programs audit and audit towards the state auditable (has a number of tests). Some of those tests look at procurement, contributions to the pension plan, federal health care plan and others. The report for the state audit has almost 120 pages. The district must have many funds, and it causes a balance sheet and income statement for each fund. Eliason continued to explain many aspects of the audit. The previous audit had some findings and in this one, some had been resolved and some continued to be repeated.

The first finding had to do with material weakness over documentation primarily. The second had to do with financial closing reporting. A lot of adjustments had taken place and not a lot of supporting journal entries. They had found transfers in the bank accounts that remained unclear. He specifically mentioned the fuel cards and they had not been monitored which became a weakness in that process. The bank accounts had a number of discrepancies in reporting to not only the Public Education Department but within the district. They had found deficiencies in background checks and training. Certification of the year-end inventory never happened.

Another finding: disbursements of the purchaser had been created after the invoice had already been issued and received. He went over the proper chain of events that should happen in the process.

Frank Ryan, financial director, said they have been revamping everything but still have a long way to go. "It was the longest three years of my life."

Koury said, "We knew we were behind coming in so trying to keep up with the day to day operations running and keeping up with all the behinds was difficult." They needed to have a lot of things done but had to be mindful of the district's capacity. He said the PED (public education department) had been very understanding. "I appreciate all the hard work by all involved and finally having 2022 wrapped up." He felt the next one would be a much more streamlined process. Ryan said they had 125 items needed for the next one and they had 50 percent already loaded to go.

The board approved the district calendar B for fiscal year 2025/2026. Suzanne Chavira, director of academics, provided a little background on how they put the calendars together every year. The committee started in February even though they didn't have a lot of guidance from the state at that time. They took that time to talk about the holidays and what they wanted. Calendar A had a fall break and calendar B did not have a fall break. She went over the votes they had received on each calendar. Most teachers didn't want a fall break. They had put the survey out on a few platforms. Some had tried to double vote, but they took those out. On those platforms it had been close to half and half. She continued to explain the process and how they arrived with the calendars in front of the board. The board had a lot of questions concerning the four-day calendar and what that meant on a number of issues.

The board tabled the board meeting fiscal year 2025/2026 calendar. Begay said she would love to see them do one board meeting a month and not two. They will be looking at the policies and address it at the next meeting.

The board tabled the finance committee meeting calendar for fiscal year 2025/2026 and will look at the policies. The board approved the audit committee calendar for fiscal year 2025/2026.

The board approved the bills. Begay said they had a finance meeting and went over all of them and approved them. Maintenance had received new vehicles that they had needed.

The board approved nine budget transfers and initial budget changes. They also approved one budget increase. Ryan explained each one in detail to the board.

Finance committee report

Begay said they had heard about all the budget transfers, initial budget changes and the budget increase. The committee with be meeting on salary schedules to reflect the changes made in the recent legislature mandated to the districts. Teachers will receive an increase and all other employees across the board will receive a 4 percent increase. The insurance will be increasing. The committee will also look at stipends.

Koury had sent an email to those that receive stipends to reply back and let him know why they should continue to receive them. Some could be receiving more and some if they do the additional duties during their regular workday they will not. If a reply does not come, they will not receive that stipend any longer.

Audit committee report

Heredia said they had not met. The meeting had to be canceled due to a budget conference.

Board members reports

Hardin thanked the community that had attended the funeral of the young Cobre High School student. It had been hard, but the community came together. She extended her condolences to the family.

Heredia also expressed her condolences to the family, friends and those effected by the tragedy. "I would also like to give kudos to the teachers for teacher appreciation week coming up." She gave credit to Charlene Fletcher, executive secretary /board secretary, and Chavira for the teacher of the year banquet. Heredia thanked the principals for their presentations.

Begay extended her condolences to the family of the student. "It is hard to lose a student in our district." She thanked the maintenance department for the quick building of the ticket booths that Guadiana had requested. Begay also wanted to do a shout out to the teachers for the upcoming teacher appreciation week and asked them to give themselves grace, because of it being a busy time of year. She told Gropp he has been doing a great job.

Terrazas wanted to echo what the other board members said and extended his condolences to the family of the student recently lost. He thanked Stephens for the presentation for innovation zone and said it had been very impressive. Terrazas thanked the principals that had come and presented.

Superintendent's report

Koury had a DOT (department of transportation) update. They had gone out for bids on the parking lot, and they came back at about $130,000 and DOT funding would only be $20,000. They made a quick turn around and will be doing the cracks and potholes. The company they had been working with had submitted the bid late and therefore the district submitted the application late, so it had not been accepted.

Chavira said the innovation zone grant recipients meet and see what things the other districts have done. One of the questions asked in the grant will be how many times they had attended other communities with this grant. They had attended all that had been offered. When they visit a school site the grant pays for their hotel and travel but not food. Being able to build those relationships with others doing the grant helps and they all learn. She talked about the different meetings and places they had visited around the state. She and Stephens spoke and relayed the many experiences with the innovation zone grant and what they have been able to accomplish with it to help the students.

Koury spoke to attending the spring budget conference. The FTE (full time equivalent) number they received was $6,801. The calendar had been difficult due to the lawsuit and all of the changes happening. The calendar had been done the way they had due to being able to obtain better funding. Coming back to a true four-day week calendar opened up more funding.

Koury said the big thing they would be doing this coming year would be going out for their bond to do the new high school and maybe high school and middle school together. "I made some connections to some people at the conference that can help us with the project."

Ryan said not only had they received the $6,801 unit value but they had received notice the risk insurance premium would go up $77,000 a 16 percent increase. Health insurance will increase 9.95 percent, and dental insurance will increase 4 percent. The two will cost the district an extra $132,000. He continued with some other items.

Meeting adjourned.