Last night's meeting of people concerned about the direction Cloudcroft Schools are taking produced two petitions. One to oust Superintendent Tommy Hancock, and a second that rejects the four day school week.
Here is an agenda of last night's meeting.
Other handouts at the meeting included a list of contacts at the state level, an alternative calendar to the 4-day week, and an estimate as to the utility savings from a 4-day week.
Parents were also very upset that longtime kindergarten teacher Sarah Welch, and longtime science teacher Jean Davis, were being removed from their classrooms to do Special Education.
Here is the Alamogordo News Article covering the meeting.
Thursday, May 19, 2011
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The 4 day week is not the important issue. Actually there are more for this than against. The real issue is the downward spiral that Hancock has put this school district into. I think that keeping the 4 day week on the front burner takes attention from the real problem...top heavy administrators.
ReplyDeleteThe 4 day week is a losing battle. If you are fighting this to keep a daycare sitter then you are thinking about it the wrong way. Keep the Hancock issue on the front burner and present the petition. I'm sure one of those spineless board members will stand-up and present it!
ReplyDeleteWOW OK if margo will allow this to be posted, cause the first one was not. You people have had this explained to you so many time and still don't get it. We have lost students which the teachers job, but yet teachers have not been cut till now. The last I heard the paper work,bills, cleaning,parents,life still need to be taking care of, and who do you all think will do all this, TEACHERS??? right!!! If Mr Hancock is removed who will do ALL the things he takes care of? ( and believe me it's more then anyone knows) if you all think you can replace him with the amount of money he makes Ha Ha think again. Sharah is a teacher that makes 51,323.00 for 144 days out of the year and she is upset about moving, what about the good of the kids??? You all are barking up the wrong tree. Mr Hancock has done a great job and has kept that school out of alot of crap that people have brought his way. You all voted for the board if you don't like what they are doing vote for someone else next time.
ReplyDeleteHancock is the reason that the enrollment is dropping. That is a fact. I know several families that have moved to Alamo or started home schooling because of the state of the administration - led by none other than Tommy Hancock. Funny that the other administrators say that Hancock really doesnt do much, that his assistant does most of the work. We did vote the board in. Now, we are telling the board to GET RID OF HANCOCK!! If they dont listen, they will be replaced. Case closed.
ReplyDeleteI thank my God everyday for allowing me to live here in Cloudcroft, one of the most beautiful places on Earth. I thank Him for allowing me to work in a nice place with good people. All of the staff at Cloudcroft Schools work hard to make the school district not only successful in State requirements, but also to make the schools an awesome place for students and staff. The district is exceptional in meeting AYP, and more importantly, in providing a great atmosphere for students and teachers to build strong learning relationships. We have all taken on additional duties because of the State funding cuts, which all State school districts are facing. The staff has assumed these additional roles with no pay raises for the past four years as medical benefits, taxes and mandated participation in the State retirement programs have increased. I recently saw an email suggesting that the school district staff take a 5% cut to their salaries in order to help overcome the State's financial deficit. I would hope that if the school staff were expected to take this cut suggested by the community, all community members and school parents would also be willing to take this cut to their family household incomes. Imagine what 5% from everyone's income in the community could do to help your school district. Since it is your school district, all community members should be willing to come to the school's aide financially with the same motivation it has in wanting to make other changes. The school district staff should not be asked to make that kind of sacrifice alone. We also have families and personal financial obligations to meet. I pray to my God to allow all of us in this community to be willing to positively participate in solving the school district's financial situation; and to stop the negativity which will only allow the situation to become worse. We all have the same goal, and that is to see happy and successful students in our schools.
ReplyDeleteSharlotte Lund, Business Manager
Cloudcroft Schools
We all pay our taxes lady. Then we entrust over paid adminstrators to maintain enrollment and control costs. 9 administrators per student at Cloudcroft. Lowest ratio in state for schools with 4 -500 students. Why do we need a business manager? Isnt that what the super is supposed to do? Get rid of a few admins and save a few teachers. Not one of you administrators is willing to give an inch, you and the board want ot blame the parents. You're better off keeping your comments to yourself because all you've done above is piss me off. I pray to my god that some of you will be let go and we can rebuild our schools reputation and quality.
ReplyDeleteWow....I pay my taxes too, and would be happy to do my part along with every other taxpayer in this community. And as a concerned parent and citizen, I also have the right to comment on this situation, so keep your threats to yourself unless you have the "balls" to back up your comments and your threats with a real name, "Anonymous".
ReplyDeleteWhere did you get your facts on the drop in enrollment? I would love to see it. I think the reason for a drop is lots of factors. But you have the facts so by all means put them up so all can see your facts!!! I can't believe that you have put the blame on ONE man!!!! I Don't think one person has that much power!!! I also know Several families that have movied their kids up here cause of the leadership. You all need to look out side of your boxes and feel blessed to have such great people running this dist. and Sharlotte Thanks for being so Positive and motivated even when people are being so mean, and hurtful. You do a great job and work hard. Like they say people should walk in others shoes before they judge.
ReplyDeleteI have worked at the school district for 19 years.I started as the sole maintenance person for the district and am now the IT manager. I have worked for a number of superintendents and seen board members come and go. All of my children attended Cloudcroft schools from start to finish and I feel like the education they received was excellent. Beyond that I can tell you that I have seen a number of board members come in over the years, who had an axe to grind over one thing or another and found that you don't get on the board and everyone already there lets you tell them how you intend to run the school. Most of them, after they won their seats and became aware of everything that goes into making decisions for the district discovered that following state guidelines, policies and statutes while accommodating the desires of every parent is virtually impossible. Consider the following. While athletics are fun and have value to the students they are not the primary mission of the school district. There are always a few kids who are able to go to college on athletic scholarships and do well but it is not the most cost effective option for the school district. You can hire about 3 level 1 teachers for what athletics cost the district but no one, not even I want to completely do away with athletics.
ReplyDeleteThe school district budget is several million dollars a year, the business manager is responsible for tracking and documenting every cent and anyone who thinks it isn't a full time job is foolish to think so. Most of the people commenting on whether or not the administration is top heavy have no idea what they are talking about.
As far as the petitions go, the out of context reference to the New Mexico Administrative Code does allow for the contract to be cancelled. Here is the complete text of the referenced section:
This "contract may also be canceled by the board for cause not personal to the
administrator when a reduction in personnel is required as a result of decreased enrollment or a decrease or revision of educational programs or insufficient legislative appropriation"
or authorization being made by the state and/or federal government for the performance of this contract, in accordance with the New Mexico statutes and any applicable rules and regulations of the department and local board of education, provided there is no other position for which the administrator is qualified, consistent with the academic necessities of the district.
What it says is yes you can cancel the contract for the specified reasons, SUBJECT TO ALL OTHER APPLICABLE STATE STATUTES AS WELL AS ALL APPLICABLE RULES AND REGULATIONs OF THE PUBLIC EDUCATION DEPARTMENT AND LOCAL BOARD
(PROVIDED THERE IS NO OTHER POSITION FOR WHICH THE ADMINISTRATOR IS QUALIFIED,CONSISTENT WITH THE ACADEMIC NECESSITIES OF THE DISTRICT)
You don't get to pick and choose which parts of the code you want to apply. It is an all or nothing proposition. If Tommy is qualified for any other position in the district you can't cancel his contract. Someone else at the bottom of the totem pole is going to lose their job. And that is how the law of unintended consequences works. Stop bitching and work with the board. Just because your not getting it your way doesn't mean it's the wrong way.
I have not always agreed with every choice made by the boards or the superintendents that I have worked for but I have never not had the opportunity to voice my opinion and be given fair consideration. This is a hard row to hoe and tough decisions are required. Every decision Tommy has made has been made after full consideration by and a vote of the board of education. He is doing his job.
Oh, I forgot, I noticed that the Alamogordo Daily News reported that a Spokesman for PED said they did not make a mistake on the Districts funding formula. This left the impression that Tommy and the Board were not being truthful with the public. That same PED spokesman wrote the district and the news paper and apologized for that mis statement. It seems very convenient that I guess there wasn't room in the paper for a correction of that injustice to Tommy and the Board.
ReplyDeleteI know one position that could be elimiated and save a teacher - THE CLOUDCROFT SCHOOL DISTRICT WEBMASTER!!!! Oh, is that you Mr. Ferguson? Well, call a spade a spade. You should be ashamed to call yourself an IT person with that pathetic web site being managed by yourself. There are several ninth graders at CHS that could do a better job and probably do it for a grade, not whatever salary you're getting. We need a new petition to get rid of the IT GUY!!!
ReplyDeleteIf "Anonymous" were willing to reveal themselves and put themselves out there as the two individuals who work at the school were, then perhaps an intelligent conversation could take place regarding this post's real purpose. But when a person is not willing to stand up for their opinions and insists on remaining anonymous, their opinion and outlook on the subject becomes basically as anonymous as they are.
ReplyDeleteAs a point of clarification, I have enabled "anonymous" comments on this blog so people would not have to open a google account to participate in the conversation. Yes, they can sign their names within the content of the message if they choose to, but their failure to do so doesn't necessarily nullify their opinions. They may just work for the school and fear reprisal if they express an opinion that does not echo that of the superintendent or their immediate supervisor.
ReplyDeleteWhile I am here commenting, I must also address some of Mr. Ferguson's comments with regards to the apology from PED. Actually, I don't know if he wrote the paper or not. He did write to me, but that's probably because I'm the one that solicited the apology after Sharlotte sent me the background info, which was AFTER the article ran. If you will refer back to my blog post of May 18th, I ran that apology in its entirety. Feel free to run it on the school's website, too!
ReplyDeleteAnd should you find yourself updating the website, please also note that the "current school board meetings" are from December 2010, the most recent agenda is from January 2011, some pages still have Ed Woten as a board member, and Brenda Stovall, Dawn Provencher, and Noellen Rogers haven't worked at the school for over a year now!
I realize I am a little behind in finding this blog, but, I went to Cloudcroft Schools from kindergarten all the way to graduation in 2006. I was born and raised there. Elementary was great but as I started moving up in the grades I saw a DRASTIC degression in education. I witnessed teachers touching students inappropriately, I witnessed teachers kissing other teachers (even married ones!), I can name only one teacher in my mid school days that EVER acted like they were interested in the well being of the students education. When I hit high school it just got worse. With teachers like Carol Carter who were standing on the edge of a mental breakdown EVERYDAY. Blaming it all on the admin is wrong. The teachers need to take responsibility for not caring and failing to sufficiently educate students. Oh and anonymous, when I was a freshman they tried letting students do the webpage for a grade and it ended up being a disaster. Mr. Ferguson does an awesome job as the IT man. He does a job that should be done by 2-3 people by himself, making less than the teachers your holding so dear. If they got rid of him they would never be able to find someone to do the job(s) he does, for as little money as they pay him. You obviously have no idea what it takes to do an IT job as large as CC schools by yourself. If you people are so worried about the website why don't one of you volunteer to take it over? That would take too much time away from you sitting in front of your computer bitching about things you can't change. I have noticed that students that attend the school these days are lacking qualities such as discipline and respect, and there is much to be said about that on the parents end. Each parent wants to feel as if they are entitled to have everything their way, and you can't. So deal with it. As for this blog, I feel it is in bad taste. after reading through the entire thing I have noticed that it is one sided and seems more like an outlet for publicly hating on the administration. A place for entitled parents to complain. Instead of doing a blog that is going to cause tension between the residents of our town, why not do the web page Margo? CAUSE YOU WONT DO IT FOR FREE EITHER! --Dustin Kraus c/o 2006--
ReplyDelete