Special Board Meeting July 28, 2011

While the robo-call (and the agenda) said that the only topic to be covered at this special 8 a.m. meeting was the propane contract, that wasn't the case. About half of the 30 minute meeting was spent going over why Cloudcroft did not make AYP this year. There were several handouts provided by Mr. Hancock, which I have included here:

AYP Quick Facts
AYP District Summaries
Cloudcroft Schools Accountability Reports
Advances in New Mexico's Assessment & Accountability System

The bottom line is, way back in 2001-2002, No Child Left Behind (a Federal program), required states to submit plans with benchmarks. The overall goal was that 100% of students would meet proficiency goals in Math and Reading by 2014. In the classic style of kicking the can down the road, New Mexico set the bar low in the first several years, resulting in catch up in the later years. So now, we're in the later years and the bar is getting raised much faster, and the schools that puffed up and touted how great they were because they were meeting AYP in those earlier years (i.e. Cloudcroft) are now disavowing AYP as a valid measurement of anything, and the state of New Mexico is probably going to seek a waiver so it can create its own measurement of success.

To quote our school's superintendent: "There's two ways to make improvement: either really and truly improve, or make the test easier so that it looks like you're improving." So now that only 3 school districts in the entire state are meeting AYP...New Mexico is scrambling around to change the test.

Here is the article covering the meeting from the Alamogordo Daily News.

Special Board Meeting Scheduled for Thursday Morning

Here is the Agenda for the special meeting, to be held at 8 a.m. Thursday morning.

Cloudcroft Sports have been Saved This Year

This was received from parent Paul Comino:

After the Cloudcroft School Administration eliminated the Jr. High sports program for the upcoming school year due to budget constraints, the Cloudcroft Sideliners organization demonstrated what community spirit and hard work can accomplish. The Sideliners vowed they wouldn’t let Jr. High Sports fall by the wayside and immediately went to work expanding their fund raising activities on behalf of the Cloudcroft Bears.

The following is an excerpt from an email by Paul Comino:
It is with great pleasure I can tell you that our Middle School sports program has been saved for the coming school year. Wendy McCourt, the President of Sideliners, issued the check (hard earned money) this last week  from the Sideliners account to Cloudcroft Schools to make sure that we have sports in Cloudcroft next year.  Everyone involved should be very proud of what was accomplished this summer on a very short notice.  It goes to show you that if we get involved we can make a difference with our Sports program here in Cloudcroft.

This summer started out with just trying to determine how much was needed and when it was needed by. We not only have exceeded the amount needed for middle school sports, but, we also got it done comfortably before the deadline. 

Sideliners has a ambitious list of goals for this year and there is a group of people on the Sideliner board that are working their tails off to make sure we hit those goals.  Our work is not done.  In the coming months we need to continue to organize, get the message out that as parents, athletes and community we need to get involved in our sports program.

I think many agree Cloudcroft’s Sports Programs have not been what they can be.  There are many reasons, however, what we can impact as parents and community we must.  In the past, maybe you were never asked for help.  That has changed.  We need your help and we are asking for your help. Whether it is assisting in a fundraiser, working a concession stand, donating money, making phone calls, making posters, attending sports events, showing your support for Cloudcroft Sports at School Board meetings, or just frequent the businesses that are supporting Cloudcroft Sports.

We can make a difference. Sideliners is the vehicle to do just that.

This summer's fundraisers so far have been:

• Car Wash at Culligan Water in Alamogordo
•  Alamogordo Street Fair
• Walmart Dominos pizza discount cards fundraiser
• Summer Dance
• Pancake Breakfast
• Mayfair
• BAMM Music Festival
• July Jamboree
• Pet Show
• Cookie Dough fundraiser
• Corporate Sponsors
• Private individual donations
• Jennifer Stone Sold Cookies at Weed Store this summer
• Special mention Alex Miller that sold 95 tubs of cookie dough & $117 in donations. ($649)

That was a full schedule for the summer and I want to thank everyone for all their hard work.

This Summer's Corporate and Community Supporters so far have been:

-         Randy Melton Electrical in Cloudcroft

-         Culligan Water in Alamogordo

-         Penasco Gravel in Mayhill

-         Mountain Magic in Cloudcroft

-         Dr. Dan & Suzanne Schmidt in Cloudcroft

-         The Stove and Spa Store in Alamogordo

-         Weed Store in Weed

-         Remax in Alamogordo

-         Coldwell Banker in Alamogordo

-         Alta Vista Chalet Motel in Cloudcroft

-         Southwest Disposal in Alamogordo

Please note that we have not even started what has been the traditional season of requesting local business support.  Typically that has been done at the end of the summer, however, with the urgency to save Jr. High Sports several new businesses were approached for help and we thank those that came through.  There will be our traditional donors coming forward in the coming months and we will want to thank them as well.

This is a good time to remind everyone to do business with our corporate sponsors and thank them for their donations.

Open Letter from Parent

Parent Holly Hughes sent the following letter for posting to the blog:

Hi Margo,

 

Did want to say thank you so much for this Cloudcroft school blog.  It has been very informative and a useful source of information for us and we had no idea this even existed until just a week or so ago.  Ed & I have been struggling to survive some terrible hits to our business since the economy plummeted and have been working our tails off 7 days a week year round for over 2 years now, so we have been majorly out of the loop as far as school politics/policies during this time, outside of hearsay.  We have a grown son who graduated from the "old" Cloudcroft H.S. back in  2003 and have seen many changes since our daughter entered Kindergarten, now ready to enter the "new" H.S. this year.

 

As we fought hard for ANY information regarding the building/funding of the new H.S. and football field, we ran into one dead end after another and were met with a peculiar lack of transparency during this entire process, left only with rumor/opinion and political jargon.  This is one reason we just could not sacrifice our very livelihood to attend a series of less than entertaining "magic shows" with the school board meetings.

 

Our daughter has been in the "gifted" program since about 3rd grade and while we religiously attend the scheduled IEP meetings, we always voiced that the funding the school was receiving for our daughter was just not reflected with any "action" outside of the laborious, annual IEP meetings.  I now see there is currently an administrative positionfor a "Special Education" coordinator and am absolutely appalled.  I certainly hope this position is not filled as it seems all monies given the CC school district for the "gifted" program, which falls under the category of "Special Education" are spent on the administrator position, the screening process and the paperwork associated with this program.  When we repeatedly asked what tangible benefit our daughter was receiving each and every year, dating back to when "Dr." Jan Hunter was in this position, we were told things like Knowledge Bowl and Science Olympiad were funded by this money.  We of course asked why kids NOT in the gifted program were allowed this benefit and never got a straight answer.  We did go to the State Board of Education several times to try and not only get more information, but report our daughter was NOT receiving the things listed in the paperwork for the IEP meeting every year, but due to our eventual extenuating circumstances, we had to drop this pursuit.

 

If this "special education" administrative position being currently advertised is indeed funded by some kind of Federal or State grant, then that's all well and fine.  However, I'm under the strong impression it is not and my daughter, an honor roll student for her entire school career to date, just as my son was, is STILL not receiving any direct benefit from the funds being repeatedly give to the CC school district on her behalf and we're being coerced to continually sign the official IEP documents that suggest all kinds of lovely plans for her every year that have never come to fruition.

 

I also am frustrated with the CC School district's website (which we suggested years ago to the school board) as even upon its initial inception, we suggested a school supply list, registration dates and orientation dates.  Well, they've managed an elementary and middle school supply list, finally, but there is no information regarding those preparing to enter H.S. for the first time. 

 

Further, when viewing the "District" section, the only mention of any music program is "Marching Band" and there is so very much more to it than that.  I can guarantee you more Cloudcroft students have gone to college on scholarships offered from the music program achievements than the athletic program here in Cloudcroft.  For example, my son, Daniel, graduating with honors in 2003 from CloudCroft, H.S. is still the first and only male student to have made the All State Mixed Choir.  My daughter, who lettered in Band for flute in 8th grade, is hoping to enter the choral music program as well in HS as it was not offered to Middle School students before.  I received a partial vocal scholarship to Julliard in NY and a full vocal scholarship to Westminster in Boston from my choral music achievements while attending Memorial H.S. (Houston, Tx) in the late 1970's and shudder to see how grossly downplayed this extremely valuable music program is.

While I can not promise/commit to much crusading at this time, I would greatly appreciate anyone who can follow up and follow through with what is NOT happening with the "Gifted Program" (within this "Special Education" umbrella) and explore why there is an administrative position being filled and how this salary is funded, especially for such an extraordinarily small school district.  And, why the entire music program is so trivialized, not properly promoted and celebrated is unacceptable; it's treated as an afterthought, especially considering this is a major vehicle for higher education scholarships.

 

Of course, our jaws are still dropped regarding the outlandish salary of any superintendent for a district this size, let alone having all school employees work less for same or more pay, when much of America is having to do the opposite, including our family.  This absolutely defies any reason or logic and all that can be said is shame on all those responsible for these unethical (bordering on) criminal decisions and those who justify accepting them.

 

I haven't the time nor focus to polish this, but if you would like to use any of this in your blog, please feel free to use any/all and you may use my name.

 

Thank you for your time and attention in these matters,

 

Holly H. Hughes

Cloudcroft, NM 

Formal Request for Better Sound at Board Meetings

Here is my formal request for better sound at board meetings. There have been ongoing verbal requests for about a year, but nothing has been done on a consistent basis. There are some questions as to whether some of these meetings (especially those in the commons) are in violation of the open meetings act since so many people cannot hear what is going on.

Effective Teaching Task Force

This information was sent by High School teacher Carole Merriman-Carter:

http://www.ped.state.nm.us/ttf/index.html

Board Meetings to Move to 3rd Tuesday, PED approves Budget

At the regular school board meeting of July 11, 2011, the board voted to move the regular school board meetings to the 3rd Tuesday of the month, starting in August. It was also noted that PED has approved the school's 2011-2012 budget.

To hear a complete podcast of the meeting, visit http://cmsbears.podbean.com. Here is the article that ran in the Alamogordo Daily News.

Other items that were discussed included the inability of the school board to access their email addresses that are listed on the school's website (all ending with cmsbears.org), pay to play, how the school might spend the salary difference between what the assistant superintendent made and what the school intends to pay a new special education director, the rumors that 4 people had received raises since the last meeting (only 2 have), the difficulty many people have in hearing the school board meetings (and whether this is a violation of the open meetings act), and whether there are any plans to attempt to repair the division that was caused in the community by the 4-day week (there are no plans).

Agenda for July 11 School Board Meeting

Here is the agenda for the July 11, 2011 school board meeting.