By Lynn Janes

The Cobre Consolidated School Board held a regular meeting on August 18, 2025. Board members in attendance included Gabriella Begay, Gilbert Guadiana, David Terrazas (online), Emmarie Heredia (online) and Angelina Hardin. Interim Superintendent Randal Piper also attended.

The board approved the agenda.

Public input none currently.

New business

Michael Gallegos and Christopher Wetzel joined the meeting online to provide an overview of the service they will be providing to assist in the hiring of a permanent superintendent. They represent Coaching Next Level, a leadership and development company.

Begay asked where their primary candidate pool comes from. Wetzel said Gallegos had put together a statewide listing by having a developed network with colleagues. They will be starting to list the opening within the month. This will be the first district they have worked with, but Begay had read something on their flyer and asked for clarification. It said if the newly hired superintendent departs before completing the contract, the firm will do another search free of charge. They affirmed that fact.

Guadiana wanted to know the best time to do the search. Wetzel said in November but went over all the other times that it could be done. November gave the candidate time to talk with their families over the holidays. They will be doing work in the community to make sure to be looking for the most suitable candidates.

Student representative

Taylor McWhorter said within the first three weeks of school she saw the students excited to be back. They have some new staff that the students really like and named Mr. Brown, Ms. Jimenez and Mrs. Provencio.

New business continued

The board did the first reading of the policy service alert. The New Mexico School Board Association has not recommended changes to the model policy manual.

The board did the first reading of the policy advisory for copyright compliance, several uses of technology resources in instruction and the use of artificial intelligence (AI). All of these had provisions to the use of AI. This will be a new aspect in the education process.

Cory Gropp, Cobre High School principal, came to present an idea to the board to rename the Cobre Preforming Arts Center. He wanted to name it after Chuck Gerheart who had led the Cobre band for 27 years. He had checked into the policy and process to do the name change.

Gropp had come to formally ask that they change the Cobre Performing Arts Center to Gerheart Preforming Arts Center. This would be in honor of both Chuck Gerheart and his wife. They had left a mark on the school with decades of dedication and generations of students. In Gerheart's time he had cultivated a culture of excellence, discipline and pride. Under his leadership the band had achieved 17 state titles and 5 state runner ups. In the 27 years, in 22 of them the band had received first or second place. It was unheard of to have 17 state championships.

This last year he had his final concert, and it had students attend that had been former students of his and had flown in just to attend. Gropp had asked them what they had learned from Mr. and Mrs. Gerheart. Over and over, they said they had saved their life. Some said they would not have the work ethic or job they have without the lessons learned from them. Many had brought him flowers and came up to give him hugs after the concert had finished. His students had come to honor him at his final concert.

Gaudiana said both his daughter and son had been in band and they and their classmates always talk about the Gerhearts. Gerheart does not do things to endear himself other than have expectations of excellence. He had a very stern demeanor, but his students loved him. "The recognition is well worth it."

Begay said they had also received a letter about adding a name to the baseball stadium. She asked Piper what his recommendation would be.

Piper had not seen the letter about the stadium. A lot of things would need to be considered. He said many places will not do it for someone that has not passed away afraid something could happen that would shed a bad light. He did name some that had been done while the person had still been alive. It would be an important part of the discussion along with community input. It can come to a point that a lot of things would be named, and it would become a lot to deal with. It will not be something that they need to rush into, and he did remark on the accomplishments made by the band under Gerheart's leadership.

Begay said yes, but they needed further discussion. They could not talk about the baseball stadium request because it had not been on the agenda. They will be looking at other school districts and what they had done. Piper said while in Lordsburg they had something like this come up and it had been a basketball player but when they started discussing it people came forward that others had scored more points and such. It had become a big controversy, and it didn't happen. He did think the performing arts center would be totally different situation.

Krista Joslin-Gay, coordinator with Healthy Kids Healthy Community of Grant County, attended to provide a SHAC (school health advisory council) presentation. Its goal and function has been to oversee school health and safety policies. Meetings have been required twice a year, but Cobre meets monthly. This year they hope to have more students involved in the process because they will be the most impacted by the policies. It will all be about physical wellness. A student's wellness impacts staff wellness and vice versa. Healthy choices need to be easy.

SHAC has been regulated by federal and state stipulations. A healthy kid will do better in school because they're able to engage and regulate themselves. These skills will be taken into their adult lives. Joslin-Gay went over all that SHAC does in a positive way. She continued to address wanting community members involved, people involved in the food process and more voices. It does not need to be someone sitting at every meeting; it can be someone sending emails with comments. "We want to build the capacity." She reiterated wanting student engagement.

They meet every second Wednesday of the month from 1:30 to 2:30.

Action items

The board approved the minutes from July 21, 2025.

The board approved the bills. Begay said they had all come before the finance committee and had a few new vendors because of the science curriculum. Pre-K has some significant purchases due to curriculum as well. With the bills they had a large bill from Foxworth but that had been for the building of sheds for each school site.

The board approved a budget increase and several budget additions. Frank Ryan, finance director, said the increase had to do with transportation and a new school bus. The board asked if it would be airconditioned, and Ryan said the state requires they be air conditioned. The additions included the fellowship program, a cash carryover, sports uniforms, summer programs, fine arts equipment and technical equipment.

Guadiana wanted to put on the agenda a discussion on how the technical equipment funding would be used since it would be $1,150,000. Gaudiana and Katelyn Church, technology director, talked at length about what the money had been used for. Every student had received a new computer, and the teachers had received new computers. It has also gone for classroom technology such as cameras, projectors and flat screens. Some had not received the new computers yet but would soon. Gaudiana wanted to know what would be happening to the old computers. Church gave him a list of the uses but would be selling some of them. She said some organizations would be glad to buy the old computers but have to work through finance to do the process of selling them.

The board approved policy advisory 267 with the use of option 2. Guadiana abstained from the vote. He said he had not read through it.

Finance committee report

Begay said they had met and reviewed all the bills approved at this meeting. They had also reviewed the credit card statements. "We are looking at vendors." The biggest vendor had been Walmart due to the schools using their products. Ryan said one of the biggest bills that jumped had been a $700,000 bill that increased to $767,000 paid to the New Mexico Public Schools Insurance Authority for risk insurance that includes general liability and workmen's compensation. Terrazas thanked Ryan and his staff for providing a good detail on the finance committee minutes.

Audit committee report

Heredia and Hardin had attended but Piper provided the report. The auditor had been present at the meeting via Zoom. They thanked the school for all that had been provided to them and said they have been getting closer to finishing. Although the finance department had been busy with payroll they have continued to upload and send any information the auditor had requested. He had also met with the auditor personally when they had come to the area for business with Western New Mexico University.

They have been working on the 2022-2023 audit and the 2023-2024 audit. Piper said, "I am excited about the progress we have made."

Gaudiana thanked all of them for the work they had done to move the audit forward. He wanted to verify that the 2021-2022 and 2022-2023 had been turned in. Piper said the 2021-2022 would be on the state website and currently they have been working on the 2022-2023, and it was almost finished. Gaudiana asked about the special audit phase two. Piper said he had not heard but had requested detailed billing.

Gaudiana asked if they had projected dates on the audits not done. Piper said it would depend on the auditor. They had been compiling everything for the next audits to be ahead of the process.

Board member reports.

Terrazas said with great regret he needed to submit his resignation from the board. He was resigning because of health issues. "I appreciate the collaboration between the school board and staff and faculty over the last three years. I appreciate everybody's hard work. I will be following you guys online, so keep up the good work." Begay said she would miss him, and Hardin thanked him for his service. Guadiana said this was the first he had heard and had been taken aback. "I wish you well, and it is a wise choice to take care of your health."

Hardin thanked Erica Luckhurst, special education coordinator, because she had attended one of her trainings. She had some feedback from some of the aides that they had liked it and commented that the aides had never received training for just them. It had been good to separate the aides from the teachers because they had the opportunity to learn more than usual.

Begay had attended Summerfest, and it had been a great turnout. She went over all the food booths and events. Freeport McMoRan had some interactive activities for the kids. They also had a car show and free hot dogs and cokes.

Heredia welcomed the new staff at all the campuses. She also wished good luck to all the fall sports coming up.

Guadiana said he had requested some items be on the agenda. The response he received charted a path that had not been followed according to policies. He wanted a record of him saying he wanted all those requests he had made to carry forward to the next board meeting therefore meeting the criteria for a timely submission.

A discussion took place on when they had received his submission and when it would have needed to be submitted. Some of the things Guadiana had requested would take time to gather the information to have for the meeting. One of the things would be the professional development that had taken place in Georgia. Piper has been gathering the information for the next meeting. As to some of the other items he asked that Guadiana look at the website, as it had been included since the request and before his request. Gaudiana said he had looked at the website before this meeting and it had not been on there and referred to the special audit phase one and salary schedule. Piper said they had been on there and did admit it has been hard to find things on the site.

Superintendent report

Piper addressed the intergovernmental transfer of the portable buildings to Santa Clara. These would be the buildings that had been considered for staff housing, and it would not work. Currently they have a grant from Freeport McMoRan (FMI) for $119,000 that expires June 30, 2026.

If they can't be moved to Santa Clara, they need to look at other options. Piper has a meeting with FMI on this and an additional $75,000 that had been requested. He said his first concern would be that each unit would only be 400 square feet. He asked the board to look at the portables because they might want to consider demolition because the buildings had been concreted in and might not be able to be moved. They had contacted someone to move them, and a mobile home mover came and said he could not do it and that a house mover would have to do the move. A quote has been requested, but Piper thought they should also look at the cost of demolition.

A suggestion that a couple of single-wides would be more conducive to a family moving in instead of just 400 square feet. He hated to lose the $119,000. He also pointed out these buildings had been stuccoed so when moved that would be broken up. He continued with some alternative ideas. After his meeting with FMI, he would have more information for the board. A suggestion of not doing 4 units but maybe two could be done. Piper brought up the high cost of the architect to even make the plans and then they would not have any funding left to do the project. Mobile homes would not be allowed in the area, but they thought they could request a waiver from the town. The idea of putting a single wide in Santa Clara came up or even Hurley or San Lorenzo. Piper said demolition in the long run could be the best and cheapest option.

Piper had provided a long list of current and upcoming fundraisers that would be going on.

Piper had Gary Placencio, coordinator of operations, provide him with a report. They had been doing a lot of work at San Lorenz and built sheds for all of the schools. Piper added he had been doing a great job, and it had been nice to have him on staff because he knew how to do all of these things.

In the previous meeting Piper had said they had gone to Los Alamos to pick up furniture that had been donated but was needed and saved the district a lot of money and brought this up again. He continued with a number of other projects the maintenance department had been doing.

Piper will be meeting with the PSFA (public schools finance authority) to see where the district will be in the process of building a new school and if the audits have stopped the process. He had been told that Cobre wanted to combine the middle school and high school. He had talked to Gropp and cautioned that when they do this, many times, they want to eliminate a lot of the athletic facilities and explained the downfalls. Another discussion will need to be location of the new school. He will have a report for the board when he returns.

Both the middle school and high school fall in the top 100 schools in the state that need replacing. He encouraged building relationships with state senators and representatives. He named Senator Gabriel Ramos, Representative Luis Terrazas and Lieutenant Governor Howie Morales.

Guadiana commented that although he appreciated the information Piper brought on the building of the new school it had not been on the agenda. "I would like this to be put on the next agenda so people would be aware it would be talked about. Otherwise, it violates the open meetings act requirements." He also asked that they start having town hall meetings on the new schools they hope to build and make it open to the public more.

Piper said he had it in his notes for community bond meetings. They needed to figure out times and have them set up to have those discussions. He added they needed to have some more information from PSFA. The district had a parent meeting and an athletic meeting; the parent meeting had not been as well attended as the athletic. He suggested combining them in the future. Figuring out a way to have better attendance was important.

Meeting adjourned.