By Lynn Janes

The Cobre Consolidated School Board held a regular meeting on June 10, 2024. Board members in attendance included Gabriella Begay, Gilbert Guadiana, David Terrazas, Angelina Hardin, and Emmarie Heredia. Superintendent Michael Koury also attended.

Police Chief Hector Carrillo attended the meeting to provide a report on the last year. He thanked the council and presented them with challenge coins.

He started his report with Snell Middle School and said he had started with it because of the significant change that had occurred for the better in the past year. The new administration and leadership had brought stability and accountability. The calls received had significantly declined. Now when a situation begins the staff has been quick to act and contact law enforcement immediately.

Cobre High School call volume had also decreased, and key had been communication. The Bayard police have had to conduct several investigations, but they have been successful because of teamwork.

The have received very few calls for Bayard Elementary. The department has continued to patrol the area during the time of drop off and pick up.

Currently Carrillo said he has been working with Lucinda Valencia, a teacher at Bayard Elementary to incorporate McGruff the Crime Dog in the curriculum. He will be introducing them to her 4th grade class. McGruff has been around since 1980 but will be new to the community. Studies have shown that 80 percent of the children like to listen to McGruff. He will be teaching about drugs, family, and crime prevention. The focus will be on prevention of bullying, crime and gangs. Carrillo said, "We do have gangs in Bayard." They have been starting to form but they have been investigating.

The district has a clear commitment to student and staff safety. In the 2022-2023 school year they had 49 case numbers, which does not include the calls, and in the 2023-2024 school year they had only 23.

Terrazas asked Carrillo who paid for their work with the schools. Carrillo told him they have used their law enforcement funds.

He told the board that he would be working in tandum with the sheriffs' departments D.A.R.E. program.

Hardin asked him about the crosswalk at the high school and could they look at lights to warn the public. Carrillo said when he was hired, he had looked into that because of it being a safety issue and he had been told it was not a school crosswalk but a public crosswalk and that had been the reason for no lights. He has been looking into making it a school cross walk.

Hardin asked if all 4th graders would experience McGruff. Carrillo said they would be starting with the one class and expanding. He did have to make sure that the city would not be losing any police coverage. He eventually wants to expand to the tri-city area.

Begay thanked him for everything he had done for the district.

Guadiana said they had tried to change the crosswalk before but had not had any luck and warned Carrillo. Guadiana brought up the homeless problem. Carrillo said, "It is a problem, but we are being proactive on it." They keep tabs on the individuals and try to help them. They have taken them to the SPIN (Supporting People in Need) facility in Silver City and opened small tabs at M and A Café so they can obtain a meal. They do however commit crimes, trespass and burglaries, and have to be charged. Guadiana wanted to know how many of the homeless he knew to be students. Carrillo said none that he had been aware of. He said if they did come across a minor, they contact CYFD (Child Youth and Families Department).

Year-end reports from administration.

Katelyn Church, coordinator of technology, said she had come to Cobre a year ago. At that time, she found they had serious problems. She had been able to recoup $60,000 that had been reimbursements due, but no one had sent the paperwork in. She had cut $30,000 in software expenditures that had not been needed. In the past when someone put a ticket in for repairs it would take days and now it takes hours. When she started, the district had not been prepared for any kind of cyber-attack and now, they will be totally ready. She has been recognized by the state for having the district protected and has been asked to be part of a roundtable for the state.

Norma Ramirez, coordinator of human resources, said when she started, they did not have complete records of the employees and has been working to have all the files complete. She had now made the system more efficient and streamlined. She had also implemented Smart Find Express and Front Line Hiring software to help streamline the process. They have been able to receive more applicants using this, and it has capabilities that make the hiring smoother and easier. Many of the current employees did not have background checks, and she has had to have more than 100 checks done to bring the files up-to-date.

Suzanne Chavira, director of academics, went over all the testing and that many had been 70 percent above the state average and three had been 90 percent above. She went over some of the applications for grants they would be applying for and the grants they had received. She went over all the professional development they had been able to do in the past year.

Frank Ryan, director of finance, said they do receive a report every month. He has been dealing with the past, present and future, and it has been ongoing. His staff has been doing really well in spite of being new. They have been able to catch up the department. They have been looking at ways to improve for the coming year. Currently they have been closing the budget and working on the one for the coming year. Begay said, being on the finance committee, she has seen them make a lot of progress.

Erica Luckhurst, coordinator of special education (SPED), said they had done a lot of training in the past year mostly on behavior. She had updated many processes and has been meeting with the parents. She will be looking at more training for the teachers. She went over the training she wanted them to attend. Guadiana asked why they had a lot of openings. Luckhurst said most of the openings had been for aides, but they have applications in already. They had been able to move teachers around because of the budget and would be in a good place for the upcoming year.

Lisa Walton, director of operations, said she had started a year ago and had 1,250 work orders, 1,140 had been added and now only has 258 outstanding. The solar canopy that the board had voted to do would not be happening. Walton said the company had gone out of business that had been hired to do it. The department had participated in training and added some new responsibilities. Currently she has been down two staff members. In July they would be having their new fire inspection. She had done a safety and security inspection at all schools and given a list of things that needed correction to the principals. All the cameras had been installed and access controls would be finished shortly. They would have radios soon that would connect to the police department. They would be starting with the administrative staff and then all the staff at the beginning of the year.

Walton said they had received an outstanding rating for their maintenance plan for the first time. She went over all the new systems implemented to run more efficiently. She said she had addressed and fixed many of the old issues that just had not been done in the past.

Theresa Villa, coordinator of family engagement, said last year at Summer Fest they had approximately 3,000 people attended. This year they thought they would have more. Currently for the one coming up they have 80 vendors and 12 of them will be food. They have partnered with The Common and Food Hub. This year they have a car show that will have 40 cars.

Villa said last year they had received a $5,000 grant from Freeport McMoRan for the Thanksgiving turkey drive. They only used half and this year will use the other half. She went over all the other events they had such as the tree lighting and trunk-or-treat.

The parent center had started with a donation from Freeport McMoRan and had partnered with The Commons. The center will be providing free computer and internet access. They also have food, clothing and personal care products. Soon the center will have a washer and dryer.

Alma Grijalva, supervisor of food services, said the year had started out rough but worked out fine. They had provided 350,000 meals on time. "We are in total compliance with the state and federal regulations." She said next year's goal will be to have more home-cooked meals.

Koury thanked the team for all they had done in the last year. Many of the departments had major problems in the beginning. They had all worked hard to get them in check. "I appreciate all you did."

The board approved the minutes for the past meeting and calendars for the board, finance and audit meetings.

The board approved the budget for the 2023/2024 school year after Ryan went over some of it. He said this had been a discussion for some months and they put into place based on what they knew. They had to make a lot of big decisions due to a $1.3 million deficit. They had a lot of changes brought forward from the state since April. He briefly went over the losses and gains to the revenue.

Guadiana mentioned the rural designation and the loss of that. Ryan said it made the district lose $463,000 in funding. Begay said many other districts have faced the same problem. It had been spoken about at a recent conference she had attended.

The board approved a budget increase they had received. It would not be as much as expected and would not be available until next year. The state had changed the formula, and they would receive $171,738.96.

The board approved both contracts for transportation with Montoya Transportation and Porter Transportation. The district had lost $86,000 because the state changed the formula. They had been able to absorb some of the loss and the contractors worked with them. One of the contractors must go as far as Lake Roberts and City of Rocks.

The board did the first reading of policy B-1700 BEDB. They had done a reading at the last meeting but had changed some of the language that had to do with public input discussed at the last meeting.

Public input

The board did not have any public input for agenda items or items of concern currently

Old business

The board did the second reading of the NMSBA (New Mexico School Board Association) policy advisories 238-245. This has to do with the school board transparency bill. Begay said she had not received any comments from the public. Guadiana said when he checked the website the old had not been there to compare them.

New business

The board discussed the recent board training they had all attended. Begay said she had attended a special education session, title 9, school law and social media. She had met people from all over the state and had been able to network.

Guadiana said at one of the sessions he had attended policy had been in high reverence. However, someone else that presented didn't feel the same. He has also attended a session on social media. One of the sessions went into fraud found in the schools and he felt that to be relevant to the Cobre district. It went into how deep the fraud could go. "Our atmosphere was conducive to that but not as much now, but I still think it is a problem."

Heredia said being a new school board member it had been very helpful and made her understand her role better. One thing she said they encouraged a good relationship with the superintendent. The session on social media had been very eye opening. She said she had attended the one for title 9 and they always had an answer for the questions, but she realized each step required 10 additional steps. The networking had really helped her. "This information will help all of us."

Hardin echoed many of the other comments about the training. They had spoken about work sessions at the training as she thought that might be a great idea for them.

The board went into executive session to discuss the current legal actions the board has been involved in. They have five cases currently, 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, et.al. v. CCSDBE.

They would also be discussing limited personnel matters concerning the superintendent.

The board came back from open session and said no action had taken place and they had only discussed what had been on the agenda list for executive session.

The council approved the extension of Koury's contract to June of 2026 with a 3 percent increase in salary with 25 days leave. It would also include 13 paid holidays.

Meeting adjourned.