By Lynn Janes
The Silver City Consolidated Schools held a work session and regular meeting January 20, 2026. Members in attendance included Ashley Montenegro, Michelle Diaz, Patrick Cohn, Mike McMillan and Kimberly Klement. Superintendent William Hawkins also attended.
Work session
During this work session they swore in the reelected board members. Matthew Runnells, magistrate judge came to swear in Montenegro, Diaz and Cohn. Runnells said he appreciated each one for serving but, "You can't have a full-time democracy with part-time citizenship."
Work session adjourned
Regular meeting started.
Board reorganization
The board made nominations and continued with the same positions they had the previous year. Montenegro will be president, Diaz, vice president and Cohn, secretary.
The board members that will serve on various committees this year changed a bit. The finance committee will consist of Cohn and Klement with Montenegro as a sub. The audit committee will be Cohn and Klement. Threat assessment will continue to be McMillan and SHAC (school health advisory committee) and now will include Klement, with Diaz as a sub.
The board approved the minutes from previous meetings and the agenda.
Information and presentations.
Bob Carson attended to present the Kiwanis student of the month awards for November, December and January.
Cliff Schools
Mesa Burton, nineth grade, is hardworking, respectful and diligent. She strives to do her best but takes time to help students that struggle.
Katie Martinez, ninth grade, works hard and excels in her academics putting in 100 percent. She helps others and contributes to her community.
La Plata Middle School
John Michael Peterson, seventh grade, has a genuine curiosity for learning and enjoys sharing his knowledge and is open to learning from others. His enthusiasm builds a strong and positive school culture.
Israel DeLaO, eighth grade, consistently shows self-motivation and takes pride in his work. He often exceeds his teachers' expectations. He also always has a positive attitude and genuine caring for others.
Esparanza Sedillo consistently demonstrates the qualities of an outstanding student and leader. Each and every day, she strives for excellence and approaches learning with dedication and positive attitude with a strong work ethic. She always collaborates and helps her classmates.
Silver High School
Max Johnson, senior, an exceptional tuba player and preparing for his upcoming All Sate band audition. He's been involved with the student council, National Honor Society and National History Day. Last year he made the All-State band and competed in Washington DC for National History Day.
Katelyn Rogers, senior, plays soccer, participates in National History Day, National Honor Society and band. She displays kindness and compassion. Her artwork has been displayed in the halls at the high school and a local gallery.
Makayla Sapien approaches each opportunity with enthusiasm and dedication. She consistently shows initiative by offering support to fellow students when she notices them struggling
Band Director Azul Cano came to recognize the Silver High School All State Band students. Max Johnson and Bailey Klement were selected to perform with the New Mexico All State Band. Johnson placed second among six tubas and Klement placed fourth out of fifteen clarinets. The past week they had traveled to Albuquerque to rehearse with the All-State Band and had just three days to learn some tough pieces to perform with kids and a director they had never met before. The music chosen has been intentionally rigorous and designed to challenge the students. "It was an outstanding achievement."
Elizabeth Harrison, head coach for tennis, came to recognize the tennis state qualifiers. She said this had been from last season but wanted to present them to the board. In 2025 they had about 20 girls and 15 boys that competed. She introduced them all and they ranged from seniors to a sixth-grade student.
The board room had the walls covered with art from the students at the high school. Hawkins said some of the projects each student did took from a week to months to finish. They students had been able to also display their art in downtown galleries, but what they had on the walls in the board room was just a sample. They included pencil drawings, paintings and one student had done stippling. Some of the art had also been displayed at the Grant County Fair.
Diane Carrico and Desire McGee, SCEA (Silver City Education Association) had not attended.
Information to the board
Silver High School student council had a PowerPoint presentation for the board providing an update on what had been happening at the high school. Each member of the council had come and presented a portion of the presentation and they included Brock Anderson-Amaro, Chidinma Nwachuku, Al Cohn, Emma Drennan, Max Johnson and Mirna Elhosary. They started with a recap of the sports for the fall, Halloween carnival and winter sports. The students had themed dress up days for the basketball games. For house projects they had done or were doing a hoodie drive, student snack drive, valentines for care homes and a toiletry drive. All these projects would be to help the community. They highlighted several other events and had many pictures in their PowerPoint presentation plus upcoming events such as the prom. The council had attended the New Mexico Student Council district meeting in Las Cruces and thanked the board for supporting them in all their efforts. They had come back from the meeting with a lot of ideas. In February they will attend the state meeting.
Hawkins presented the proposed calendars for the 2026/2027 school year that included both Silver and Cliff. In December, he had the B calendar for Silver that had been voted on but didn't have the Cliff calendar. He went over both calendars.
Hawkins addressed the 2025-2026 bond projects. He said he would speak briefly. They have been in the midst of a $4.3 million series of projects at Harrison Elementary. They just finished the first phase doing the ceiling tile asbestos abatement and they had done a very professional job and clean up to start school again after the break. The company will be back during spring break to finish. After that they will start on the floors. Then part of the project will be replacing the swamp coolers and roof.
Cliff schools still has been in the design phase but on schedule. A lot of things must be considered and addressed in this process. As a minimum requirement by the state, they must provide EV charging stations at the new school in Cliff.
Hawkins asked William Sorrell, maintenance coordinator, to give an update on the project at Harrison Elementary. He provided a very detailed presentation on the old heating system and new one they would be putting in. They will remove the old boiler system that had become difficult to find parts for because of its age. He said they had a similar system at all the schools and reviewed those. With the old system it had been hard to regulate the temperatures evenly.
Hawkins went over the student discipline policy. They have had different levels and steps and have been unifying the levels. It will allow for the board to continue to annually review and approved the handbooks. This will count as the first reading of the policy.
Louis Alvarez, associate superintendent, had the personnel report for the board and at this time they have 98.2 percent of the positions filled. Some of the positions open have interviews happening and probably have been filled. Most positions open are for coaching positions.
Cindi Barris, associate superintendent, said they had just had slight shifts in the enrollment with no reason. They have spoken to a few that left, and it had been because they had to move. For her mental health update, she said they had received $115,000 which would be for six weeks of funding and will be receiving distributions every month. She would know more in February.
Finance sub committee
Montenegro said they had met remotely and had gone over all the reports and went over many things. The cash report had been up but that had to do with the bond projects. Cohn said they just had a lot of questions that they had answered.
The audit committee had no report at this time. Montenegro said it had finished.
The threat assessment did meet but McMillan had not attended so he deferred to Alvarez. They did have a situation. A person had gone to Jose Barrios, and the staff had done very well and enacted the way they had been trained. They had done shelter-in-place and parents had been informed immediately. Zero Eyes (software surveillance) identified the person right away. They had discussed what they did and what could be done better. "I feel very confident that our staff and the training that we have done prepared them very well." Hawkins added in that he felt they had done very well, and it had been from the training. He went into running over the events and how they took place. Everyone had been calm in a chaotic situation.
Board president
A resolution to establish reasonable notice to the public about all public meetings of the board. This is done each year as a requirement of the state. Action would be taken later in the meeting.
Board comments
Montenegro wanted to applauded Lisa Lucero, administrative assistant, for all she does that goes unseen but would not happen without her. She thanked her. Montenegro also referred to all she had done for them for School Board Appreciation Month. Each board member had received gifts, posters and Facebook posts thanking them. She commented on the beautiful art that had been hung in the board room.
Montenegro thanked Cliff for the accommodation of the Mayberry family to hold Esker's funeral services in the gym. That gym has been used for much more than basketball; it serves as a core of that community for all things that happen out there.
Diaz thanked everyone. She commented that because of the backlog, they had been able to see a lot of recognition of the students. She felt guilty for the appreciation the board had received for school board appreciation month. "Were not the ones doing the work, you guys are, so thank you very much." She continued by saying they board has just been the hood ornament and not the parts of the car. "You guys are the engine that makes it run." She thanked them again for the gifts and wanted to recognize all the artwork and culinary arts. Diaz really liked that they had been able to show in the galleries downtown. She welcomed the new people that had come on board with the new semester and thanked Lucero and Hawkins for all they do.
Cohn thanked the administration and staff for showering them with "phenomenally wonderful gifts." They had made a post of him, and he told them how impressed he was with the "six pack" they gave him. He also thanked Lucero and commented "You are my mom at the school board". He continued with a thank you to maintenance for all they do. The post on social media had brought some people to him, commenting they didn't know he served on the school board.
Cohn said the following week he would be in Washington DC for the National School Board Association, and they would receive several days of training. He will be learning how to advocate for their district as well as others. He looked forward to advocating for them.
McMillan said he would start with the boring stuff. The 30-day legislative session would be starting and will be a budget session. He commented to the uniqueness of the New Mexico legislature. The following week they would have Grant County Days and knew some students would be attending. He thanked them for all the gifts and enjoyed all the artwork.
Klement thought everyone had touched on what she wanted to say and reiterated all the people thanked. She appreciated all the handwritten thank you notes from La Plata Middle School. "The energy in this meeting is just truly probably one of my favorite meetings that we've been to, and it really is the inspiration and a reminder this is why we why do what we do. It is because of the energy you feel not only in meetings where you have this many kids, but when you go to any activity." She also thanked Lucero for how much she does and thought the analogy Diaz made with the hood ornament could not have been better.
Public comment
Michael Holguin had served as the previous tennis coach and said the board had seen a lot of accomplishments at this meeting. He went on to name some of the kids and their accomplishments in tennis.
Action items
Consent agenda
The board approved all requests made by McCain. She had checks totaling $3,720,875.29, and two budget adjustments—$100,000 for maintenance from special capital outlay funding and the mental health grant Barris had spoken to.
The district received donations from the Moose Lodge for $2,000 to go to the Cliff girls and boys basketball teams. Morales 4 New Mexico had donated $1,000 for the Silver High School girls' basketball team.
Antonio Andazola, transportation and maintenance director, had a bus contract for the board that they approved. It would be $12,000 for pre-K. This had been an additional award.
The board approved the 2026-2027 school calendars for Silver and Cliff schools.
The board approved the resolution to establish reasonable notice for public meetings as discussed earlier.
The next meeting for the finance committee will be February 12, 2026
The next work session and regular meeting will be February 18, 2026
The board went into executive session to discuss the superintendent's evaluation.
The board came back into open session and said the matters discussed had been limited to what they listed in the motion.
Adjourned
Writers note: In the beginning Judge Runnells referred to a "full-time democracy". He is incorrect. We live in a constitutional republic.
