Cobre discusses plans for new grades six through twelve school.

Cobre discusses plans for new grades six through twelve school.

By Lynn Janes

The Cobre Consolidated School Board held a regular meeting on October 19, 2026, at Snell Middle School. Board members in attendance included Hector Carrillo, Gabriella Begay, Gilbert Guadiana and Agelina Hardin. Dr. Verenice Gutierrez, superintendent,  also attended. David Wilguess did not attend.

Dottie Pfeiffer, a member of Kiwanis came to present the student of the month awards. The students receive a certificate, pen and $15 gift certificate to Wendy's.

Ariana Borrego, Snell Middle School, consistently demonstrates a positive attitude towards learning and exemplifies kindness, generosity and respect for others. This makes her a wonderful role model for her peers.

John Berdon, junior Cobre High School, exemplifies hard work, respect, kindness and leadership in both the classroom and community. He comes to class ready to work and do his best with a positive attitude and has been active in student council. As a power lifter he has qualified for state every year he participated. After graduation he plans to attend college, while continuing his passion for martial arts.

Gutierrez wanted to recognize someone she felt had been instrumental in the academic progress of the district. While the district has been in a lot of turnovers of superintendents and people in key rolls, she has remained a steady leader and supported the principals. She had a plaque to present and read it. "In honor of your passion and commitment to education, we thank you for all you do for the students and staff of the Cobre Consolidated School District." It's in recognition of Suzanne Chavira.

Chavira said she had been caught off guard and did not expect this. She appreciated the recognition but said this has been a team effort. She had started her journey as a coach and had worked at many districts, probably about fifteen and Cobre had been her favorite.

The board approved the agenda.

The student representative Ixayana Alcorta had not been able to attend to provide a report.

Public input none currently.

New business

Principal presentations

Guiterrez had requested each principal provide a brief state of their school since the accreditation rating had been recently released. They had a strict time limit of ten minutes.

Roxanne Ogas, Central Elementary principal, said they believed academic excellence and a positive school culture go hand in hand. The goal will not be to just improve test scores but create an environment that every student feels valued. The schools scores had gone from 43.3 in 2024 to 60.7 in 2025. Ogas broke those down for the board by grade and test type and went on to explain how they had achieved that.

Ogas addressed the steps being taken to rebuild the baseball field and track behind the school. Years ago, it had been used for little league practice and used by the students. Scores will be important, but they need to be doing things for their health and have a place to call their own to play sports. The school has a nice playground but very small. They have been meeting with the village of Santa Clara and have agreed to a few things. The village cannot support the project financially because the property belongs to the district. Once the project has finished, they will be able to help. Ogas listed the fundraisers they had happening to help the project.

Wendy Tow, Bayard Elementary principal, said they had a new motto this year, "Every student, every day, every chance, be brave because we ae the Braves." Braves stands for be responsible, respect one another, attend school, value knowledge, excel with effort and stay safe. They go over this each morning and talk about each area.

She had provided the trend data for the board and went over each area and the scores. Every week they have been reviewing the scores and needs from the data. The scores had all increased, but they were still struggling with math.

Shay Biebelle, San Lorenzo Elementary principal, said she works with an incredible group of people and was glad to see Chavira receive an award and said she had been the reason for her being there. She thanked the other principals that always help when she has asked. The data looked good and showed growth, but she also wanted to see proficiency. This year the goal has been to be proficient and not just grow. She went over the grades and data.

Recently the students had a field trip Camp Thunderbird. The community members had put together a great day for the students. They also went to the heritage site and will be doing the pumpkin patch the following week. An event with the Grant County 4-H will also be coming up. She continued with a list of events and said the new teachers had been doing really well. Biebelle said last week a person had come to the school and didn't think any teacher should have to pay for any supplies. She asked for a list from the teachers of what they needed, and UPS showed up with the items. She thanked the people of the Mimbres Valley for all their support and added, "The parents send us some pretty good kids."

LaVerne Martinez, Hurley Elementary principal, thanked Chavira for always having the trend data from the testing. She held them accountable and felt it had helped them all rise. She went over that data for each grade and test type. They had growth that had been both high in some areas and lower in others.

Margaret Begay, Snell Middle School principal, brought some of her team with her to address different areas. Damon Clearley, science teacher, had spoken to the board previously about a school store that the students created items and sold them. After the original presentation he had been able to purchase the items needed to start and have been selling the items every Thursday with a small grant. He applied for grants and Representative Luis Terrazas had been able to award him grow funds of $5,000. He had not received the funds yet but had the purchases all ready to go when it came in. Four new 3D printers will be part of it along with other items needed for the students to continue the business. He had put in some grants to start a robotics program but already started with the students learning to code. He continued to list the plans he had for the students.

Margaret Begay said this year they have a full staff and Hannah Wecks, assistant principal, had been a tremendous addition to the staff. At one time she had been the librarian at the school. She went over all she and her team had been able to accomplish and one they added was a mariachi teacher, who started a mariachi program for the students. Wecks had built up the parent engagement and community engagement.

She had provided the testing data to the board for their review, and she went over all of the tests and the growth they had in the scores but did have some low math scores.

Caesar Alvarez, Cobre High School principal, said they aspire to develop well rounded individuals that will be prepared to thrive in a dynamic world. He said he would continue to make sure Cobre High School succeeds. Alvarez wanted to credit the teachers and support staff for their shared leadership. He highlighted some of the grants they have received and said he planned to use every dime.

Alvarez said they had been collecting a lot of data and identifying those students, who need additional support. The closer they come to test dates they will be meeting more with the students to help them prepare.

He had a shout out to the football team and their improvements. They have a speech and debate team along with the National Honor Society.

Carrillo thanked them for their presentations. Guadiana wanted the principals to submit any requests they need so the board could try and find the resources to obtain them.

Policy advisories

The board did the first reading for three policy advisories, commitment to religious neutrality, released time for religious instructions and limited open/closed forum. The state periodically sends updated policies for the districts to adopt.

The board did a policy review and had first reading for staff housing. Natalia Brunton, CFO, said this would be addressing the new teacher housing and have clear expectations on how it will be provided. They had used policies in use by Artesia Public Schools, and Brunton said they had also reviewed three others and polished them into a Cobre version. It outlines all the legalities, rates and conditions. The final projects on the homes have been in process, furniture, plumbing and electricity. She hoped they would be ready by January. The district had received another award from Freeport McMoRan for the third house.

Hardin wanted to know where the rental money would go. Brunton said they would be delegated to three places because the homes would need maintenance and upkeep. She would have an exact answer for her later in the process.

Brunton updated the board on the track and baseball field and referred to what Ogas has spoken to earlier. They had been gathering quotes because it will be a huge investment. It had been built in the 1970s with a land and water grant. They would like to be involved in keeping up the facility. The cost will be $1 million, and they only have $500,000 so will have to find additional funding. They have applied for other grants.

Guadiana thought that Santa Clara would pay for it. Gutierrez said, in their meetings, they found out that legally they cannot initiate the upgrades because the district owns the land.

Brunton said they had received an award for $16,000 to provide any kind of a device that will help students stay off their phones during instructional time. It will be used predominantly at the high school and Alvarez has some ideas he will present at an upcoming meeting.

Brunton presented the possibility of an RFP (request for proposal) for food service. The department continues to lose money in significant amounts. She had recommended they close a number of positions, at least two or three to stop the bleeding of funds. Every month they have an overdraft, and the bank charges them $35. She has prepared this information for the finance committee to consider. They had three things to look at, closing positions, RFP and/or hiring a team to analyze and rebuild the system.

Carrillo asked about the three positions Brunton had talked about and if they were open at this time and she said no. Now they cannot be closed but had been open when she made the recommendation originally. It had happened in the process of her transitioning to Cobre and had not been able to make the presentation to the board. Gutierrez said if someone resigns, they will close the position because the department has been overstaffed.

Gabriella Begay said she had talked to Gutierrez before the meeting and New Mexico passed a bill for universal free lunch. She said not every student had been taking advantage of the breakfast and lunches. Gabriella Begay thought a solution would be for the students to take their breakfast to the classroom. Brunton said they could not force students to take breakfast or lunch; they can only offer. Gabriella Begay said at Silver Schools, every student has breakfast and it has been eaten in the classroom. Brunton questioned even if they didn't want it? Brunton said she would be open to suggestions. The subject of it causing waste came up and Gabriella Begay said it did not. She wanted to reiterate that the food service department had made progress in terms of growing food for the students.

Brunton said in her packet she had highlighted the positives and the incredible staff. She had visited each kitchen, and they have been very well maintained and clean. She had heard a lot of positive feedback on the food. "Again, remember my role is to provide fiscal responsibility."

She had information for the board. The district had received an award of $171,000 for heavy equipment for the maintenance department. At this time, they could not do anything until the public education department (PED) signed off on it.

Brunton said that federal fiscal grant management policies will be a requirement for monitoring special education funds. They have been directed by PED due to findings on the audit. The policies had been prepared last year but never approved by the board. It will be a requirement for federal grants. This has been a common finding for other districts.

Gutierrez had sent the board her thoughts on board governance. The reason she had each principal come and present had been to address the need to be center-focused on students. "We need a strategic plan." Gabriella Begay said they had a strategic plan, and she had asked if they could look at it in a meeting. Gutierrez said it needed to be updated. "We are not practicing student-centered governance." She told the board they needed to complete some board education hours to receive conditional accreditation but did acknowledge Gabriella Begay had done all of hers. If they did not focus on the training, they would not be focusing on the students. The principals need guidance and have done an amazing job with very little.

Carrillo acknowledged Gutierrez and said they needed to take the board training seriously and update the strategic plan. "It's a little tough to do when you have a board member, Guadiana, questioning everything that I do or Ms. Gabby wanting to do resolution sanctions. It's just, we need to get on the same page. So that's something that I said I'd try to work on as I came in as president."

Gutierrez said she had spoken to someone that could help update the strategic plan and one thing he mentioned was that no meeting should be over 90 minutes or it's ineffective and 90 percent of the agenda should be focused on the students. Gabriella Begay had concerns over the $30,000 price tag of the service. Gutierrez said he had not quoted her that amount, but she had been told that would be a possible cost. Gabriella Begay continued to question her, and she had researched this person Gutierrez has spoken to.

Gabriella Begay had made Gutierrez aware that Vertex said they could travel to the area and would not be an extra charge. She will research that and find out if that had been a fact. She said they could request that Vertex attend the meetings in person and not online. She had spoken to Brunton. Brunton said she had been working closely with Vertex, and they have been an amazing support. They did need to improve some things but have been working on it. Vertex had been helping her with everything and making it easier to move forward. "To use their time for travel does not seem to be efficient to me." With the technology they have, it has been like they have been there. She added traveling would be exhaustive, expensive and she didn't see the point but respected the choice of the board.

Carrillo addressed Rebekah Runyan, Vertex, who had been online during the meeting. He asked her thoughts about attending in person. She said she would get back to them on having a representative in person at the meetings. Carrillo said the agenda would not be out until the previous Friday and that would probably be very short notice but maybe if they had something they really needed explained they could come. Runyan said as much as possible notice would be great. Gabriella Begay said originally, they had problems with the virtual option sometimes but with Brunton ,it had helped tremendously. She added that she remembered that travel and meals had been included in the contract they did. "I remember clearly." Runyan said it would be and originally, they had brought five staff members down to start the process and start putting procedures in place. They usually charge for that. Traveling for eight hours they would not be able to do any work, and they have a lot that needed to be done. Brunton said, "I agree with the last statement, especially. There is a lot to do and using those eight hours of travel plus transition plus resting from travel, I'd rather spend it on clearing up a lot of things that we are facing."

Carrillo said originally Gabriella Begay said it had been very difficult to hear during the finance meeting but when they moved into the boardroom it improved. "We really wanted someone from Vertex here because Brunton was not on board with us yet and it was just tough for us."

Brunton had information for the board on the school bus inspection agreement, and it came verbatim from PED. It would be a requirement. She continued to explain it to the board. A discussion went on for some time about the inspections and busses.

Brunton had a brief update on office topics. She felt if they worked as a team they could succeed and achieve a lot more for the students. She wants to focus on using resources strategically and modernizing infrastructure. She had not seen an infrastructure so outdated. "I believe Cobre students deserve modern, clean, safe, state of the art infrastructure for their education." They need to strengthen compliance and audit readiness for fiscal goals that rebuild the operational fund. It had been expanded irresponsibly. Every fund needs to be looked at, and she continued to list many things that needed to be adjusted and handled correctly. The had a facilities master plan that took well over a year to do and expires in 2028. The next one should take about a year, and they needed to start it this coming summer. The state requires a preventative maintenance plan that the district does not have. She wanted them to look into other opportunities for energy efficiency using solar and electric busses.

Brunton said the main administration team has been working together to build inventories of assets to be in compliance with the state. Asset disposition will need to be addressed because they have buildings that had been slotted for demolition seven or eight years earlier still standing and have cars sinking into the ground that need to be addressed. They have discussed doing an auction and cleaning house for a manageable infrastructure.

Guadiana asked about the general obligation bonds and if it would be enough for the new construction. Brunton said she had been studying it, and the new facility would be sixth grade to twelfth grade and cost approximately $110-$115 million and with the bonds they could do it over a number of years with help from the state. She added that this would be way down on her list and she  had more pressing concerns with the financials, so she did not have a lot of information.

Action items

The board approved the regular meeting minutes for September 21, 2026

The board approved the bills. Brunton wanted to make a statement. She knew they had received a lot of information, but she and Vertex had reviewed the packet provided and the biggest concern they had was the food service department negative balance. They will be consolidating bank accounts to avoid negative overdrafts. She told the board to contact them with any questions.

The board approved the budget adjustment requests listed by Brunton. She explained each one and they included nine.

The board approved the high school coaching stipends. Gutierrez said Alvarez had been trying to bring this to the finance committee for a while. Alvarez said they had very little changes but made sure it would be equitable among all the coaches. He went into the stipends at length and answered board questions. Gabriella Begay wanted to make sure that Mrs. Wecks had been consulted. He did not recall but said he had talked with her. He continued to explain the stipends and Gabriella Begay pressed him on if he had a conversation with her. Carrillo had more questions Alvarez addressed.

Gutierrez wanted to credit Alvarez for working with the resources he had but this had resulted in a cost savings. Questions continued on the amount and who would receive them. They then had questions about the athletic director receiving a stipend and Alvarez explained why. They asked if he had any pushback from the coaches and he went into a long explanation that resulted in a no. They came back to the athletic director also receiving a stipend when he coaches and Alvarez said this has been done in other districts.

The board approved the MOU for the Tom Powers softball field project. This will be to complete the girls softball field project. It must be finished by December 15, 2026, or they will lose the $495,000 funding to bring it the Title IX compliance.

Katelyn Church, coordinator of technology, said in July 2026 she had come to the board to push through a quote for video surveillance. She went into an explanation of why she had not been able to move forward. She now had two quotes for them to review. A long discussion went on about the difference of hardwired and wireless equipment with different opinions on which would be better. Then questions arose about them being able to use certain funds for the project. Brunton explained where the funding would come from, and it would be a few sources. The board approved the project, using the wireless quote.

The board approved, as part of the next steps with phase one of the audit for the superintendent to make referrals to other agencies concerning forensic findings. Guitierrez reminded the board that as the superintendent, she could not pursue civil criminal action and as a board they could not either. It will have to be the state auditor based on the audit. She had consulted the district's legal counsel, and she will be able to file ethics violations on the person's licenses, and they have identified seven they will be filing complaints on. Legal counsel will be reviewing the special audit further to see if the seven individuals bear the bulk of the responsibility or if there would be others to pursue.

Gabriella Begay wanted to know if any of these have currently been in litigation with the district and Guiterrez said no. Gutierrez said of the seven, they reside in Bayard and Silver City and will create discord in the community. "I am an outsider. I am committed to this community but it's going to upset a lot of people if you want me to move forward with this and I have no problem doing so. I do need to know I have the full backing of the board." Carrillo said with the attorney's guidance they would find out if these had just been errors or done purposely. He felt it would be his professional and ethical obligation to back her.

Finance committee report

The committee had not met due to training and other commitments.

Audit committee

Hardin said they had met but in executive session. Brunton did provide a report and mentioned that they have been moving forward in less time than expected. Gutierrez said the goal will be to have the 2027/2028 audit completed on time. She added that the 2024 audit has been moving at a good pace.

Board member reports

Guadiana said he appreciated all the things happening to move in a positive direction. He welcomed Brunton and congratulated Chavira on her well deserved award.

Hardin echoed what Guadiana had said thanked Chavira for her service.

Gabriella Begay thanked all the principals for their presentations and sharing their data. This was national school lunch week, and she wanted to shout out the food service department and said they would be in Albuquerque receiving an award.

Carrillo said the district has been moving forward in a lot of positive ways and today the principals had been a prime example. "The passion they hold for the district is real." He said they needed to support the staff they have because they didn't want to keep hiring people. "We as a board need to do better and try to accommodate and work with our current board."

Superintendent report

Gutierrez had sent the information on the update for the rebuild of the high school and said Brunton had been instrumental and amazing to bring them to this point. The public school finance authority (PFSA) will be at Cobre Wednesday. She had met with Senator Gabriel Ramos and Representative Luis Terrazas, and they understand the state of the building and will try to be at the meeting with PSFA. The cost will be $112-$115 million for the grade six through twelve facility. Once they start phase one, they will come and measure the land to determine the placement of the building. She addressed Guadiana wanting public input and said once they have started, they will be doing public input. The board wanted to be there but because of a quorum only two may attend. It would be too late to publish a possible quorum would be present. They discussed recoding it with permission so they all could hear it. Brunton will make the request.

Gutierrez had provided a list of the current fundraisers in the district. Brunton will be working on digitizing the fundraisers and tracking them better, so they have more systems of control. They will also be looking at policy because some activities have more fundraisers than others and they need to be equitable.

The board went into executive session to discuss:
Annetta Costa versus Cobre Consolidated District, D-608CV-2024-00026,
Cecilia Joyce Varela versus Cobre Consolidated School District, D-608CV-2024-00028,
Diana Davis versus Cobre Consolidated School District, D-608CV-2024-00031,
Melissa Minas versus Cobre Consolidated School District, D-608CV-2024-00029, and
Maureen Peru versus Cobre Consolidated School District, D-608CV-2023-00280
Also to include the superintendent to provide an update on a staff request for extended sick leave.

The board came back into open session.

Meeting adjourned.