Weekly Summary from Superintendent

As stated previously, I did formally request the Superintendent's weekly summary which he said he was going to start providing to the school board members each Friday. Below is his most recent summary, which I received today...

1.        History Position:  As you know we have had a resignation and been advertising for a history teacher.  Kelly Goss was interviewed, offered the position, and has accepted.  She comes to us from Quemado .  She has 15 years of teaching experience and is endorsed in history, Health, and PE.  She plans on being here beginning on Friday August 24 to start preparing her classroom and will more than likely begin instruction on Tuesday August 28.  Mrs. Morales and Mr. Renteria have been working on the impact this will have on the master schedule and they have a plan that I believe will ensure students needs are being addressed and the fewest overall changes will have to be made to student schedules.

2.       Staff Evaluation Training:  Robyn, Roman, and I will be headed to Ruidoso on Monday August 20 where Carol Helms will be training us on the most up-to-date methods of evaluating staff.  Carol is our school attorney and since we was already in Ruidoso with Region IX staff we are able to join in.

3.       Meet the Bears:  I know many of you we able to attend the event which raised over $1,000 for Sidelines.  With this money and a donation from Dr. Dan Jones and Dr. Suzanne Schmidt the Sideliners were able to reduce the “Participation Fee” from $50 per athlete to $25 per athlete.  Along these lines you all should have received an robo call concerning the reduction in the participation fee on the evening of Thursday August 16.  Earlier that day I was contacted by Margo Manford who confirmed that Sideliners were going to be able to make this possible in part due to the hamburger fundraiser and in part to the $1,000 donation.  She had included a message that she had drafted and wanted to be used for the call.  I did not see the attached message so Mr. Ward drafted the one that you did get.  Margo left me a message that she was upset of the message and was concerned that the individuals who had donated the funds would be offended since they were not recognized in the robo call.  You will be receiving a second message that does recognize these individuals.  I want each of you to be clear that this was an error on MY part and not Mr. Wards or Mrs. Dalton.  As far is next year we might need to have a discussion about the “participation fee” sometime before the next budget is passed, March and April, to see if this is something we want to continue or if it is something we can eliminate. 

4.       Activity Bus:  The tentative plan right now is that Zia Bus company will have an activity bus here on Tuesday August 21 in the afternoon and evening.  This will be an example of what is available since at the end of this school year we will be in the market for an activity bus since ours will be 20 years old and due to state law after 20 years will no longer be able to be used.

5.       Regular Board Meeting: Tuesday August 21: action items that are on the agenda

a.       Approval of IHBC-E (Principles of Restraint and Seclusion):  This basically a recommendation and an update from the New Mexico School Boards Association.  It is a state wide update and I will be recommending that we adapt this policy.  This is the second time we have visited it.

b.      Kindergarten Waiver:  State law requires schools  who have kindergarten classes that are over 20 students to apply for a waiver if they do not have the funds to hire a second Kindergarten teacher.  We had anticipated 16 students and currently have 22 with one teacher’s aide in the room to help.  We currently have a teacher’s aide position open which will be used in a manner that supports both the Kindergarten class as well as other larger classes.  Mr. Cook will include some of this information in her principal’s report.

c.       You will also see find that under the section “Superintendent’s Report” I added the section “Board Members Input”.  This would give each of you a opportunity to bring up ideas or concerns that you have or that have been brought to you.

6.        Update on SPED:  I have now had two meetings with the SPED staff and we are beginning to start the process of making some changes as to the options students with IEPs (Individual Educational Plans) have especially in terms of gifted education.  Right now we have several students who qualify for gifted and being served by a pull-out program. Historically, here in Cloudcroft this has been the model used, what we are going to start is allowing those students and parents with additional options for addressing these IEPs.  These options will include dual credit classes as well as Advanced Placement courses.  DonaKay has been asked to schedule a meeting with the parents of students who are gifted where I plan on offering those options to them. 

7.       Community Meetings:  I am planning on having the community meetings in Mayhill, Weed, Timberon, and Cloudcroft in Saturday August 25.  You can expect a couple of robo calls next week about these and you might see flyers.  The idea is for me to meet with people out in the surrounding communities share with them some school information such as testing data, student activities, and academic opportunities.  They then would have an opportunity to discuss with me concerns they have.