Cobre board members have problems working together

By Lynn Janes

The Cobre Consolidated School Board held a regular meeting on January 19, 2026. Board members in attendance included Gabriella Begay, Gilbert Guadiana, Agelina Hardin, Hector Carrillo and David Wilguess. Interim Superintendent Randal Piper also attended.

Judge Hector C. Grijalva attended to swear in the new board members. He swore in Wilguess, Guadiana and Hardin.

Dottie Pfeifer with Kiwanis attended to present the student of the month awards. None of the students had been able to attend so they will be presented next month.

The board approved the agenda after Guadiana's request to move a few items had been denied. It had to do with the board reorganization. Begay asked for a second on the motion to pass the agenda as written. Piper said he thought his request to be valid after asked by Begay but said it would be the board's decision.

Taylor McWhorter, 2025-2026 student representative, had a report for the board. She thanked everyone involved in it ,fighting to have the students paid through the innovations grant and included Cory Gropp, principal Cobre High School. She added she knew Frank Ryan, finance director, had also fought for them. The potholes in the back parking lot had been repaired and she thanked them for that also.

Public input none currently.

Action items

The board approved the minutes from December 15, 2025.

In the last meeting, Carrillo had presented the action to sanction Guadiana for speaking to the Silver City Daily Press about the district. Wilguess said they could not sanction him for an incident he had done previously in his last position on the board. That term had finished in 2025, and this would be a new term. Begay said they voted as a board and asked Carrillo to read the resolution he had brought forward.

Carrillo read the resolution in full. The resolution pointed out this would be the second sanction within twelve months. It accused Guadiana of failure to uphold board responsibilities and undermining government and public trust. This again would remove Guadiana from serving on any committees or serve any board leadership position. He will also be required to complete training on board governance and ethics approved by New Mexico Department of Education within 90 days.

Gaudiana said that the action occurred in his previous term and action cannot be taken on a previous term when a person had been reelected. "That itself is an affirmation of the qualification and the performance of that member. I would protest this and see it as a continuing action of harassment, especially in the point where the issue being taken is where I exercised my first amendment rights, putting out information that I'm not given an opportunity to speak to at a board meeting." Gaudian added he had made repeated requests for items to be put on the agenda, and they have been denied. Using the justification that he had circumvented the board agenda policy had been really laughable to him. "Furthermore, the requirements of sanctions to occur during the term that the member is in is foremost, and I am completely against that. I view this as continuing harassment."

Begay said they had a motion, and she asked for a second. She added that this had been presented to legal counsel.

Gaudaiana continued with all the items he had requested to be put on the agenda that had never been acknowledged or put on. Hardin questioned if the sanction would be for the calendar year or school year. Wilguess asked if what Guadiana had said to the paper had already been public knowledge, and if so, he did not do anything wrong. He added he had not been defending him but following what would be law. What he had done would not be a violation. Carrillo said he had violated district policy. An interaction between Wilguess and Carrillo went on for a while, with Carrillo suggesting he read board policies. Wilguess pointed out that the district didn't need another "damn lawsuit." He continued that the district already had enough lawsuits. "The bitching and bickering needs to stop between the board. If everybody can't get along, how in the hell are we going to do something that's constructive for the system and the kids?" Carrillo and Wilguess continued, and Begay chimed in and ended it, with telling Wilguess that might be his opinion, but she continued to call for the vote. Begay, Carrillo and Hardin voted yes on the resolution and Guadiana and Wilguess voted no, so it passed.

Next, they came to the board reorganization. This process the board does at the beginning of each year. Begay nominated Carrillo and Guadiana nominated Wilguess for board president. Carrillo won three to two. Hardin nominated Begay for vice president, and it passed with Guadiana voting no. Begay nominated Hardin for secretary and all voted yes. Carrillo took over running of the meeting after being voted in as president.

The board made nominations for committee appointments. Begay nominated Carrillo to serve on the finance committee. Gaudiana abstained from the vote and Carrillo promptly told him he could not do that and added the board had to approve it. He had to vote. Finally, Gaudiana just voted no to avoid any more argument. Begay will also continue to serve on the finance committee. Wilguess and Hardin will serve on the audit committee.

Gaudiana had asked that they have a discussion on the sanction of a board member and related to a closed session that occurred in December. He went over several reasons and that it pertained to Carrillo and Begay. Carrillo had brought up things in closed session that was not on the list and although cautioned by Guadiana and Piper he continued. He asked that he be required to attend training on the open meetings act. Carrillo responded with reading what had been on the agenda. This exchange went on for some time. Tom Caddel wanted to add something, and Carrillo told him he could not speak then and only during public comment. Wilguess said he should be able to speak. Caddel could not have anticipated the discussion and given comment earlier. Carrillo suggested then that they move the public comment to the end. This created a long conversation about when people could speak and what had been done in the past. Begay said she had in the past allowed comments as they occurred to be spoken. Carrillo ended the discussion with telling Caddel that they would research this and ask legal counsel to see if it would be allowed. The disagreement continued if they could allow Caddel to speak.

Gaudiana made the motion for the censure. The vote came to 3 against and 2 for. The two for had been Guadiana and Wilguess. The three against had been Carrillo, Begay and Hardin.

The second censure Guadiana brought forward had to do with Begay and access to personnel files. "A personnel file is confidential." He went on to explain what board members could and could not do. Begay had requested three personnel files, and Guadiana went over each one without giving names and the information obtained. He provided a very long explanation of the information that had been obtained and how comprehensive. Begay wanted to respond and said she had asked for those records as a member of the public and not a board member. "I used my private email address, and I was not given personnel records. I would like to also say it came to my attention that Mr. Gaudiana, in fact, went and got contracts of district employees. He is doing the same thing."

Gaudiana said these records had been requested by Begay because, "They were set to be on the chopping block with the intent to have them fired." She had requested very detailed information about their visits around the district, evaluations and other information. The records he requested had been for payroll information not evaluations which would be valid and open to the public.

Begay made the accusation that in the past Guadiana had requested some of the same documents due to the pending litigation. Begay continued to defend herself. The bantering continued for some time. Begay again said she had requested the information not as a board member but a member of the public and ended with she didn't have the energy to go rounds with Guadiana. "I am here to serve the kids."

Carrillo asked Piper what he thought. Piper said he had spent a lot of time with legal counsel. Any request from a board member will be considered an IPRA (inspection of public records act). This means it will be sent to the attorneys and redacted where necessary. The only thing in a personnel record that would be considered public record would be their contract. All evaluations, interview notes, etc. will not be public record and must be redacted where need be by the attorneys.

Wilguess said maybe he had misunderstood but from what he had read in the past few weeks an elected official would not be allowed to go request as a private person. "You are an elected official and represent the public." Begay accused him of contradicting what he said earlier. Gaudiana chimed in about his violation concerning the letter to the editor that had only information available to the public. Begay said, "This is vaguely familiar from the time when Mr. Cordova was on the board." She added he had been censured then also. "I feel like you are harassing me, and I ask this conversation to stop."

Carrillo wanted clarification on what Guadiana had asked for. This would be the one board member, Begay, and two actions—the IPRA and reducing the number of workdays for a family member that resulted in receiving a pay disproportionate to the number of days working. This conversation went on for a while and it was pointed out that Begay had been on the finance committee. Begay said the finance committee just makes recommendations and she does not do this on her own. One other board member sits on that committee. At that time, it had been David Terrazas. The superintendent, finance director and members of the public also attend. "This has never been a point of contention in the previous eight years of him being a school board member. Again, I feel like he's harassing me because this is against a family member of mine. There's no violation of nepotism because this family member was employed with the district before I was elected to the school board." A conversation continued about the number of days and different documents that had different information on the days worked.

Wilguess after some time asked Ryan to shed some light on this discussion. This had been talked about for months and seems there had been no agreement on answers. Gaudiana said he fully did not expect it to pass but just wanted to make sure it would be brought up and the public had the information.

Gauadiana made a motion to accept this recommendation to sanction board member Begay for one, the request of personnel records without following district policy, resulting in a very hostile environment for the employees that were affected by that request. The second item has to do with her role in the finance committee and affecting the decrease of days worked, resulting in an increase of days paid for not being worked. Same votes three nos and two yes, so it didn't pass. The yeses had been from Guadiana and Wilguess. Carrillo recommended that Wilguess look into how and why he made his vote.

The board approved the open meetings act resolution for 2026. This resolution must be done each year, and it lays out when, and where, time and where meetings will be posted. They will be held once on the third Monday of each month.

The board did the second reading of the policy for naming the buildings and sports complexes. Begay said they had not received any public comment on this issue. The board approved the policy.

In December, Piper had brought a quote to the board for someone to do a salary study for the district. He had obtained one from CG Strategies LLC for the administrative staff. At that time Begay had requested that it include a more in depth look at all positions in the district. The original proposal had been for $7,500 and with the added employees it would be $10,000. The board approved the updated quote, and Piper will contact them right away and start the process.

The next item on the agenda had to do with a discussion of the criteria for the superintendent search. Begay said it had been put together by the staff and human resources, because the board denied the use of a search consultant. Piper said Ryan had worked with human resources on it as well. Carrillo thanked them for the work and said he had come in wanting them to do this in house instead of paying someone to do it. Piper said the staff had done a great job. He did have some input and thought when they advertised the position it would be very important to consider and ask for any past experience with construction projects because of the proposed new school building. It can be posted whenever the board would like and listed the places where they could post it specifically for people involved in the education system.

Wilguess asked Piper if he has been happy being the interim superintendent. Piper said at times it had been challenging but he had had a good time and felt they had made progress. He added yes, he had been happy here. Wilguess asked if he would reapply for the position and he said no. "I think you know what I have done and if it were something you would like, you could consider removing the interim title."

Piper added he would encourage the board meetings to be about school business. So much of the time has been spent with continued items. He said he thought maybe he needed to know how to provide information so it will be understandable. Piper did add that the staff has been wonderful, and he would touch on it later in his report.

Wilguess said, "I just get tired of having a different superintendent every time I change toilet paper. I think it's time that we get a superintendent that's going to stay here. So, I would suggest that we keep you."

The board approved the search criteria for superintendent with the additional recommendation by Piper that they have experience with construction projects. Hardin opposed.

Wilguess said the reason he suggested they keep Piper had been he spent a lot of time at the grade school because of three kids in there. All the teachers that he talked to seem to be happy with Piper.

The board approved the bills. Begay said they had a few questions about some new vendors.

The board approved three budget increases that Ryan went over, and Begay said they had discussed them in the finance committee also. They had received $24,824 that would be separated and a portion used for each library.

They had received a direct grant from Freeport McMoRan (FMI) of $100,000 and this will be used to provide housing for teacher recruitment. The housing will be in Santa Clara.

Begay said the finance committee had a lot of questions about how they would be handling the housing such as cost of rent and the details still need to be put together. Piper said Santa Clara would not be charging them a water tap fee, and the bid for the housing would be closing that week. Bayard will be the fiscal agent, and the money must be spent before the end of the fiscal year.

Wilguess asked about the two mobile homes they had been going to originally use, and Piper provided a run down on what had taken place. They had to have an architect and that alone would cost the district $77,000 and that would take most of the $100,000. Begay thanked FMI for the grant.

The last budget increase came from the public school capital outlay in the amount of $203,972 and it will be used towards the HVAC upgrades needed at Hurley Elementary. It currently runs on an old geothermal system and the parts have become obsolete.

New business

The board did a first reading of the revision policy that reflects the changes in the board meetings days from two a month to one.

The board reviewed and discussed the district administrators' contracts. Piper had put together another document showing current salaries and contract dates. The state, local school board and superintendents have the authority to establish the specific number of workdays for administrators, including principals, based on the district's operational educational needs. "The salary schedules, the exact number of contract days is specified on the district salary schedule, and these are approved by the local school board and executed by the superintendent. If you look at the chart below, it talks about the experience that the administrators would have, contract days, and then the state minimum salaries that are set forth in state statute and by the legislature." Piper continued to explain the document he had provided the board.

Guadiana and Wilguess had questions for Piper which he answered concerning days of work.

The board discussed the innovation zone grant at the request of Guadiana. Piper said the kids had been paid. Some discrepancies will be addressed on the next check the students receive. They have been trying to obtain responses from some of the students to fill out the needed paperwork to be paid and they will not return voicemails or text. The board talked some about the different jobs the students had been doing for the program.

Finance committee report

Begay said they had talked about the budget increase for the student library fund. They had covered the grant from FMI and had a lot of questions about the housing rent, electricity, internet, etc. The committee had also talked about the new HVAC system for Hurley Elementary. She asked Carrillo if she had missed anything. He said they had also talked about credit cards and how the staff and coaches had been using them. Carrillo said, "We want them to use a little more sense when they take their teams out to eat and think about how they represent Cobre." Carrillo thanked Ryan for his budget balance report because it helped put everything in perspective.

Gaudiana wanted to know when they would start addressing the next year's budget and Ryan said after the legislature when they know what the unit value will be. Gaudiana wanted to know when the second quarter data would be available. Ryan said the report would be due January 31, 2026, and when he has submitted it, they will put it on the agenda.

Audit committee

The committee had not met, and Piper said it has a lot to do with the weather and all the school district audits had been due so they will be meeting next month. He will send out an update as soon as he has information and he also knew they had been waiting on the capital assets information. The firm had been here and labeled everything, but they had not provided a report. The threshold for capital assets would be $5,000.

Board member reports

Hardin welcomed Wilguess and thanked the community for voting for her. She wanted to recognize and thank Mimbres Valley that donated money for Christmas gifts for the kids, retired employees that still come back to sub for the district and the donations of hams for the families of the school district.

Begay congratulated all the newly elected school board members. She wished luck to the kids at the elementary schools having to take middle of the year assessment tests. "Please remember to wash your hands and use hand sanitizer."

Carrillo said it had been an interesting first meeting as president. "I want you to know that as a board president I'm going to do the best that I can." He will be laying out a 90-day plan and submit it to the board next month. He agreed with Piper about the discussions. It needs to be more for the students and staff. "We want the district to succeed." Carrillo said he has been proud of all the sports and went into what had been happening. He would be attending training and looked forward to what he could bring back to help the district.

Guadiana echoed the welcomes and commented that the Christmas events had been nice at the high school and had a lot of participation. He will also be attending some training in Santa Fe and hoped to learn some things from PED (public education department). He will also see how viable it will be for them to be on track to build a new school. In terms of the 90 plan Carrillo spoke to he thought the board needed a strategic plan. "We've been going at a lot of stuff without really having a firm understanding from everybody as to what the goal is of the board, as well as of the community for the school district." Previously they had each school come and give an update on what they have been doing and what they need. Although none of those needs had been responded to, he hoped that would change.

Wilguess thanked everyone who voted for him. "I'm not sure if you did me a favor or not, but I know how important this board is." He commented they had a lot of bitching and bickering and Corrillo told him he could not talk like that in a public meeting. Wilguess just continued that it took up a lot of time and taking away from time they could be doing something constructive.

Superintendent report

Piper had recently received an email about the district's preventative maintenance plan. It must be updated each year and submitted to the PED. It had received an outstanding rating, exceeding performance elements for best practices and processes. He attributed the plan being done so well to Jasmine Black. Forty-one of the 44 elements had an outstanding performance. He added that she works very independently and needs little oversight. Gaudiana wanted to note that before that change in superintendent they had several inspections that listed over 100 findings that had never been attended to. "I appreciate the direction and progress being made here."

Piper had provided a list of the current fundraising events being done.

The board went into executive session to discuss the following:

To discuss with legal counsel the following items:
for Annette Acosta v. Cobre Consolidated School District Board of Education (CCSDBE), Cecilia Barela v. CCSDBE, Melissa Maynes v. CCSDBE, Daena Davis v. CCSDBE and Maureen Peru v. CCSDBE.

The board came back into open session and affirmed notaction had taken place and they only discussed what had been on the agenda for the executive session.

Meeting adjourned.