Silver Schools consolidation moving forward
By Lynn Janes
The Silver City Consolidated Schools held a work session and regular meeting December 15, 2025. Members in attendance: Ashley Montenegro, Michelle Diaz, Patrick Cohn, Mike McMillan and Kimberly Klement. Superintendent William Hawkins also attended.
Work session
This work session would be for discussion of board travel.
Montenegro wanted to first point out that Cohn would be representing them on the state level with the New Mexico School Board Association (NMSBA) as executive secretary treasurer. With this position he will be having to do a lot of traveling. They wanted to make sure they had it all hashed out and in writing.
Cohn said as a member of the NMSBA they will cover the travel and registration fees. The travel being from home to the airport and he would need help for the air travel. He said he needed to obtain more information. He knew he had four big meetings to attend and knew about Santa Fe, Washington DC, San Antonio, Texas and Wichita, Kansas.
His term will be up in December, and he intends to run for vice president of NMSBA.
What NMSBA paid for travel had not been clear. Cohn will be asking more questions to find out exactly what they will pay and what he will need from the district. He will find out what they pay per mile and when it starts and ends.
Montenegro said they needed to find out this information because when they did cost comparisons with driving to air travel many times the air travel had been more cost effective.
Hawkins said he had recently been appointed to NMSBA to replace the Gadsden superintendent who retired and one of his fist questions had been about flying rather than staying the night and if they would cover the cost. In the past they had just paid travel and motel, so they didn't have a good answer. He didn't think anyone else had the opportunity to have a direct flight.
Montenegro asked Cohn to see what they would be willing to do and get back to the board with the outcome. When board members travel, the district prefers they use a district vehicle. This sometimes can't be done for different reasons. As long as air travel will be more cost effective that will be what they will do. Montenegro also pointed out that the district has a limited fleet. Hawkins went over requests for vehicles and how it would be preferred to be done. As long as they have plenty of notice they can work things around and have a vehicle available.
Work session adjourned
Regular meeting started.
The board approved the minutes from previous meetings and the agenda.
Information and presentations.
Kiwanis student of the month has been moved to January because of having the meeting during the day and not wanting to interrupt the students day.
Diane Carrico and Desire McGee, SCEA (Silver City Education Association) had also been moved to January due to the meeting being during the day.
Jody Alexander had attended to provide an update on the consolidation and had a PowerPoint presentation. They had contracted with Colliers Evaluation and Advisory Services to do appraisals on Sixth Street Elementary and Jose Barrios Elementary at a cost of $10,762 and it had been completed August 31, 2025. An interested party had asked that the appraisal be updated with some building improvements in mind at a cost of $2,152.50 that will be reimbursed by the interested party. That update will be expected that day.
Alexander said next they had contracted movers that had experience moving schools. Johnson Storage and Moving company will do the moves at $62,550. They will be doing the move July 13, 2026, to July 24, 2026. This will be somewhat complicated with two schools going to different locations.
Next, they contracted Divot Assets to inventory everything with a cost of over $1,000. It will come at a cost of $18,750. It will not include IT items as they already have a process. This inventory will be for all of the schools and will make the process more reliable, quicker and efficient. They had come in October, and it took them four days to inventory all of the sites. In November they submitted the inventory and found 753 items that they barcoded.
The move will affect the boundaries, so they have started the process of notifying the families and provide them plenty of time to apply for out-of-zone consideration. They will also begin the process of letting the families know which schools and how to go about enrollment for the next year. Hawkins went on to explain the out-of-zone process and how it would be done and had been done. Zone exemption opens March 1, 2026.
Alexander said they had met with all secretary registrars and principals to make sure they all would be on the same page and following the same process at all schools. In this process they will be looking at how they will need to reconfigure their schools for the changes and what they will need to do this. Some will need additional shelving and tables, and they will take the best from Sixth Street and Jose Barrios to fill these needs.
Harrison Elementary and Stout Elementary will have updates to their playgrounds over the summer. They will also have to be doing some retrofitting of the restrooms for the little ones. Harrison Elementary will have HVAC and roof projects being worked on over the Christmas. This time has been and will be used to clean out the schools of non-inventory items and they have placed dumpsters at them to assist. Some have already completed this process. Alexander went over what the moving process would look like. The board talked some about the schools electing to move themselves.
Next steps will be to define the moving process for the staff and order moving supplies It will take 8,000 boxes at a cost of $15,000. They will start staff reassignments along with planning the integration of the schools.
Mark Valenzuela, Bosque Advisors, came to speak on the 2026 general obligation bonds. They will be ready to start the process of selling the second iteration of bonds. Luis Carrasco of Rodey Law Firm and serving as the district's bond counsel had also attended with Valenzuela.
Valenzuela said on Friday they would be having two meetings with bond rating agencies and had already done the first draft of the preliminary offering statement. He would have those for the board.
Carrasco said he had come to present the 40-page document and ask for the board approval. This resolution will authorize the issuance and sale of up to $6.5 million of the school districts' general obligation school building bond series 2026. They had been issuing general obligation bonds starting in 2017 for the district. In 2024 a special election had been done asking the voters for an increase in property taxes to give the district the authority to issue $25 million in bonds. Last year they did $7 million, and this year will be $6.5 million. He continued on to explain the process and what could be done in the future.
Valenzuela and Carrasco wanted them to review the documents within the next few weeks and ask any questions or concerns they might have.
Louis Alvarez, associate superintendent, had the personnel report for the board and at this time they have 99 percent of the positions filled. Some of the positions open have interviews happening currently.
Cindi Barris, associate superintendent, had not been able to attend so Hawkins presented the report and said current enrollment was 1,970 district wide. He did not have a mental health update, but it is in the process of being closed out. They will be able to keep the wellness rooms with a grant.
Finance sub committee
Montenegro said she had not been able to attend so deferred to Cohn and Klement. Klement said they had reviewed all of the checks and deposits. Cohn had spoken to them about the SB9 and corporate ad valorem and what had been coming in. Michele McCain, director of finance, had gone over some of the information in the budget and changes from last year. They also had addressed board travel and per diem rates the state provided. Title IX (9) had been discussed as well as food services. Silver Schools will be receiving $150,000 to $200,00 in January because of corporate ad valorem from copper.
Klement had one question about bus transportation and how that would be affected with the consolidation. Would it change the cost and contracts? Hawkins said they would have a minimal increase and the number of busses being utilized would remain the same and the distances the same comparably. In January they will start looking at the schedules and address potential congestion issues.
The audit committee had no report at this time.
The threat assessment did meet but McMillan had not attended so he deferred to Alvarez. They had met and looked at procedures for search and seizure and the utilization of the expertise of the security guards. It had been a very productive meeting. They did have to deal with a threat assessment.
Board president
Montenegro commented on how fast the year had gone and wished everyone a Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays. She hoped everyone found time to have some rest and spend time with the people they love. She thanked Alexander for her presentation and said, "It is a big and involved process." They have the time to iron out everything and make the move less stressful and she thanked the leadership of the district. It will be crazy in the spring and thanked the teachers, principals, students and families that have come along for the ride. "Closing schools is never something any of us want to take lightly. We have all worked through the emotional part of this but have not had to deal with the finality of it." She continued that this had to be done financially as a district and thanked everyone for understanding the hard decision that had to be made. "I'm really looking forward to what Silver Schools looks like after this."
Board comments
Diaz said she echoed everything Montenegro had said. "The hardships of the transition are huge and not taken lightly." Fiscal responsibility becomes an issue and transparency will be important. They understand the impact it will have on the families and will not underestimate it. "The other thing I would say is not just about the dollar, it is maximizing our finances, because our enrollment has gone down, and these are things that we probably needed to do for a long time, and just kind of dug our heels in for the sake of our sentimental selves."
Diaz wanted to reiterate that class sizes would not be changing, and this would just be a structural change. Staff numbers would not be changing. She wished everyone a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year.
Cohn said he could not match Montenegro and Diaz. The transition has been well executed, and the proper transparency has been given to the parents, staff and students. He thanked them for all their hard work and felt that Sixth Street Elementary and Jose Barrios Elementary have been given the dignity and respect they deserve.
Cohn wished everyone a Merry Christmas and Happy New year and added he had survived the first half of property tax collection with a little bit more white hair. He thanked the Silver district property taxpayers for their support. He looks forward to representing Silver Schools on the executive level with the NMSBA. "I am a little excited but nervous at the same time." He had done a board training on AI and learning. "I am still a little uncomfortable with it." He thought everyone would be, but this training had been done well, and he thought the board would benefit from it.
McMillan hoped everyone could be reflective of the accomplishments of the semester as they wrapped up. It will be exciting to start new. He knew both of the schools closing would be celebrating in the new year. He thanked the teachers and staff for all they have done. He spoke to the advocacy of the district for Grant County Days in January. He invited everyone to come, and it would be a great time to learn about the legislative process. He wished everyone a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year.
Klement dittoed everything the other board members had said. She did want to reiterate that this will be about providing the best education and the best educational experience for the kids. It comes with some tough decisions and conversations. "I think everybody up here, we do this because of our kids and because of our community." She wished everyone a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year and added a special thank you to the teachers and staff. She knew this time of year would be a tough haul and hoped they took the time over the break to renew themselves.
Diaz wanted to add a thank you to Hawkins and Lisa Lucero, administrative assistant, "You do so much, you do so much behind the scenes."
Public comment
Mark Donnell said he had lived here 30 years and 25 of that he had worked at Gila Regional Medical Center. By now residents have realized their property taxes have increased 25 – 30 percent higher than just a year ago. This increase had happened entirely due to the school bond measure approved by the voters last fall. He acknowledged the great amount of outreach that had been done by Hawkins, but he had failed to mention if passed property taxes would increase for each resident by hundreds of dollars. He had met with Hawkins and said, "He's a wonderful person, a dynamic speaker, and he has boundless enthusiasm for the education of students. We're lucky to have him here but if the citizens of this area were aware of the large tax increase associated with this bond issue, I'm sure that it never would have passed." Now it will be the responsibility of the taxpayers of Silveer City to ensure that the dollars will be appropriately spent.
Donnell spoke to the school board considering building a $46 million school in Cliff in which the state will pay $40 million and the $6 million will be paid with property tax from the Silver City residents. The total number of students in Cliff of all grades totals about 100. An average of 14 students graduate each year. In Silver the average number of students grades 7-12 comes to 1,200, twelve times that of Cliff. Cliff would only be a 30-minute drive, a reasonable distance for buses. "By most community standards there should not be a school in Cliff. This doesn't make sense. Perhaps a K-6 school could be justified and would be far cheaper. An elementary school would be relatively cheap to build, but a secondary school facility much more expensive, requiring a large gym, football field, athletic equipment for multiple sports, busing of teams to other schools for competition, and laboratory facilities for the sciences. "All of this for 100 students, 15 kids in each grade."
Action items
Consent agenda
The board approved all requests made by McCain. She had checks totaling $3,274,545.24, and three budget adjustments and she went over each one and the amounts.
The district had received donations from Dr. Victor Nwachuku, SHS Girls Basketball - $500, First American Bank, SHS Girls Basketball - $500, Silver City Dental, SHS Girls Basketball - $500
Antonio Andazola, transportation and maintenance director, didn't have anything to report currently.
Public comment
Will Tracy, Aldo Leopold Charter School director, came to speak to the board about their plans. Currently the school has been located at Ritch Hall at Western New Mexico University and serves students grades 6-12. They focus on experiential education. They have interest in the acquisition of Jose Barrios. The school does not have the funds to write a check for the full appraised value. He had come to provide an update on what they have been doing. They had been the one that requested the reappraisal of the facility with forecasted improvements in order to maximize the sum of money they receive. "I have no interest in doing anything less than the most amount of money that Aldo Leopold can possibly provide while remaining fiscally viable at the same time." They utilize the same funding sources as Silver Schools. Tracy added they do not have any intention to take away or modify the name. As soon as he has received the reappraisal and met with the loan providers, he will be submitting a letter of intent for the acquisition of Jose Barrios. He thanked them for all the collaboration and looked forward to the continuation. Tracy felt they could set a good example in the state on how a small charter school and small public school district could work together to provide the best educational outcomes and experiences for all students.
The board approved the resolution for series 2026 general obligation school building bonds.
Hawkins wanted to provide a brief preview of the calendar vote and the two they had to choose from and how they differed. He had provided a copy of each to the board.
The next meeting for the finance committee will be January 15, 2026
The next work session and regular meeting will be January 20, 2026
Adjourned
