By Margaret Hopper

The Cobre school board met first at Central Elementary to look at the new construction, according to board president Frank Cordova. At 6 p.m., they went into closed session to discuss student identifiable information, possible hirings and pending litigation. All five board members were in attendance.

The open session began at 7:20 in the high school library, where Principal Johnny Benavidez gave a presentation on the past years' educational statistics.

Over all, the school's report card was a grade of B. Two major subjects, math and English, showed major improvements. The earlier scores of 32 in math and 46 in English were raised over the past year to 53 in math and 77 in English. He confided that this jump in scores would be difficult to maintain in the future, but the teaching staff was dedicated and was already working on holding the line.

The scores coming in July showed a graduation rate of 85 percent. He had hoped to reach 90, but knew that the present improvement was ‘not bad.' Looking back at the sophomores who were now juniors, their test scores showed that out of 90 students, 45 had passing grades on the tests, a 50 percent average.

Out of several topics, planning and preparation, instructional issues, classroom environment and others, staff thought the classroom environment was the one to focus on for major returns. Interruptions were being studied and reduced to see if instructional time could be better used.

Interim Superintendent George Peru said the District had applied for a New Mexico DOT grant to help with erosion control at Snell Middle School. It had been awarded $14,622 dollars, 75 percent of the project, and the District's part was $4,875, for the remaining 25 percent, making the project total $19,497.

No Regrets Basketball, a co-educational program for middle grades, had asked for use of the Snell gym again. Peru said this was something the group did annually. The board passed the request without debate.

Hurley Pride Committee, Inc. asked for the use of the baseball field for parking at its October 20 bazaar. Since there was no grass on the field and no plumbing under it, board members felt there would be no damage and approved this use, as well.

Under the Superintendent's Report, Peru said that students at Central Elementary had not attended yesterday, as custodians from several schools had helped get all the furniture in place and finish with arrangements for today's return of students in grades 1 and up. The children in K and pre-K would start back Wednesday. Peru said he thought gathering the custodial staff had worked better than hiring others from the outside. It went more smoothly.

He announced two additional retirements. Two bilingual teachers were leaving and the District needed to advertise for their replacements. There would also be an open house for Central Elementary in a week or two, and they needed to advertise the event now.

The student representative, Hampton Burnett, informed the board about the activities of the Restoration Committee, which had written a mission statement and presented it to the board. Nikki Valencia, a senior, was now the chairman. So far, one junior was working with the Committee, and the rest were seniors. Plans were that other classes would be included soon.

The question came up about Facebook activity, which the group wanted permission to start, as it thought this would help communications for their goals and projects. Board member Ralph Sepulveda said he was sure the student handbook didn't have a policy for that at this time, and it would need to be implemented. Peru and Benavidez suggested that the students continue with their plans, as they thought a policy could be worked out and presented to the board soon.

Other items in Burnett's report included that the girls' volleyball team was rated first place in the 6AA standings, and that on Friday, October 26, the school would hold a masquerade ball for Halloween, between the hours of 7:30 and 10:30. The organizers hoped students and faculty would attend. Peru noted that the breathalyzer might be used again, as students felt it would keep the activity safer.

Looking ahead at the next school board meeting, Peru said they would meet at the District Office again at 5 p.m. to look over finances before the closed session at 6. Because of the delayed meeting date this time, that meeting would be October 29, a fifth Monday. The November meetings were expected to be back on schedule.

Cordova noted that the school board conferences held in mid-April of next year were asking for attendees to sign up now, and that this could create confusion if new board members were elected in February. He raised questions about what to do if reservations were made and those making them were unable to attend as a result. Three board members were up for election, and it was likely that there would be changes.

The date for filing a declaration of candidacy is December 18, between 9:00 a.m. and 5:00 p.m. at the County Clerk's office, according to a notice from the New Mexico School Board Association.

The meeting adjourned at 8:05 p.m.