Regular School Board Meeting July 16, 2013

Agenda
Notice of Vacancy for Middle School Math teacher
Public notice of work session
Sample Certified School Instructor Contract
Sample non-certified personnel contract
Sample school administrator contract
Superintendent's presentation

To listen to the podcast, visit http://cmsbears.podbean.com

Regular School Board Meeting June 18, 2013

Here is the agenda for the meeting.

Here is a summary of the policy advisories.

Complete Policy Handouts.

Open Meetings Resolution

Vehicles to be auctioned (note that the vehicles will be auctioned separately on the public surplus website.)

Superintendent's Report

There will be an auction of school equipment on Saturday, June 29th at 8 a.m. The public can preview the items on Thursday and Friday prior to the auction and place an absentee bid if you can't be at Saturday's auction. There is a list at the school of the items to be auctioned, but it would not scan so I can't include it here.

There is also a public meeting scheduled for July 2nd at 4:30 pm in the High School Commons to discuss the proposed Facilities Master Plan and give the community the opportunity to make suggestions.

The podcast for the meeting will be loaded tonight at http://cmsbears.podbean.com

Agenda for May Meeting

Here is the agenda for tomorrow's school board meeting.

Regular School Board Meeting April 30, 2013

Here is the agenda for the meeting.

The podcast is available at http://cmsbears.podbean.com

The Superintendent's Handout.

The proposed calendar for next year.

There was also a calendar for May, but since there were so many changes to the written copy at the meeting, I'll just let you get the information as they robo call it.

As to the school calendar, while the board approved it, they also asked that it be returned to the committee to see if they can move Spring break to a week earlier, which would make it the same week as the surrounding High Schools.

Regular School Board Meeting December 18, 2012

The podcast for the meeting can be heard at http://cmsbears.podbean.com
The following handouts were provided at the meeting:
Agenda and Auditor's Report
Superintendent's Report

Agenda for Tonight's Meeting

Here is the agenda for tonight's meeting.

Regular School Board Meeting September 18, 2012

Here is the agenda for the meeting. The podcast is uploaded at http://cmsbears.podbean.com

The superintendent gave a presentation, and I will upload a copy when I get them.

The new school newsletter was also handed out.

A trial version of a new school website was shown. This was created by community member Mike Beckler, of www.cloudcroftwebcam.com renown. They are asking folks to check it out and offer any feedback or comments. I'd address those to Mike or superintendent Dempsey.

Regular School Board Meeting of August 21, 2012

The podcast is finally up for last week's meeting. Superintendent Dempsey used a slide presentation during his portion of the meeting. Those slides can be seen here.

I, along with several folks from the meeting, took a ride on a "demo" activity bus that was provided by Zia. Apparently, there is a mandate that a school must retire its activity bus after 20 years. I don't know how long this requirement has been around, but it didn't sound like something recent. Cloudcroft's activity bus is now 20 years old, so must be replaced at the end of this school year. A new bus cost around $172,000. Over the past 20 years, it sounds like our school has set aside roughly $42,000 to purchase a new bus.

The Superintendent has rescheduled his community meetings to Saturday, September 8. If you look at his slide presentation you will see the times and locations of those meetings.

There was one visitor asking what the school was going to do about AP courses, since Ms. Carter was the only teacher certified to teach AP in the high school. While the superintendent discussed AP in his presentation, visitors are allowed to speak only at the end of the meeting, so no one answered her question. I haven't heard what the school is doing about the students that were signed up for AP classes with Ms. Carter.

Here is the agenda for this meeting.

There were also some handouts at the meeting: The NMSBA Training Report and Article 22, School Election Law.

School Board to Hold Workshop to Set Goals & Priorities

Per the "sacred window" the school board and superintendent will be meeting this Saturday, July 7, at 9 am at the Co-Op to discuss goals for the superintendent and evaluate and set board priorities. I don't know if any public input is invited or welcomed, but it is a public meeting.

Here is the Agenda for the workshop.

Regular School Board Meeting June 19, 2012

Sorry for the tardiness of this post, but the Little Bear fire took a big chunk of my time.

I did make it to the board meeting Tuesday evening, and have posted the podcast. Here is the Agenda.

It was also the official passing of the keys from outgoing Superintendent Tommy Hancock to incoming Superintendent Travis Dempsey. I believe Mr. Dempsey's first official day is July 1...but he can get into the building before that, so I imagine he'll be around once he gets moved into his new house, which he was hoping would happen this weekend.

Agenda For Regular School Board Meeting April 24, 2012

Here is the agenda for this meeting. I hear that the new superintendent, Travis Dempsey, will also be present.

There is also a meeting for the parents of gifted students that will begin at 5:00 pm the same day as the school board meeting. They are always over by 6 pm.

Special School Board Meeting Scheduled for March 14, 2012

Here is the agenda for the meeting, which starts at 4 p.m. My understanding from the last public meeting is this meeting will include the consultant and the various committee members to teach them how to interview candidates.

They also note on the agenda that they will be going into executive session, which is supposed to deal with limited personnel matters. My understanding from reading the news and the Attorney General's Open Meetings Act Compliance Guide (specifically page 23, example 43), the executive session is only valid if discussing the specific qualifications of a specific candidate. I'm hoping to get some clarification of how they are justifying executive session at this stage, since the last meeting made it sound like they didn't have any specific candidates yet and were not going to be interviewing until April.

Agenda for Regular School Board Meeting February 21, 2012

Here is the agenda for Tuesday night's meeting. Sorry for the crummy image, but I had to take a picture of it taped to the window, as once again it is not on the website.

The link under the "superintendent's corner" that dealt with the policy changes would never open for me, so I don't have a copy to supply here.

I have also included a link to the "Help Wanted" ad for a new superintendent. I don't know if this was created by the school or the consultant.

Special School Board Meeting Scheduled for Tomorrow Night

Here is the Agenda for the Special School Board Meeting scheduled for tomorrow night, Thursday, February 2, 2012 at 6 p.m.

Thanks for the heads up from someone who must press their nose to the window on a regular basis. I'll just take this moment to point out that (1) I have received no "personal notification" from Arlan Ponder, as was promised in a previous blog comment, (2) there is no "special place" on the school's website where Doug Porch said he would PERSONALLY keep the community updated about these meetings, and I have yet to receive a robocall notification of this meeting, which Bill Denney said he would PERSONALLY make sure happened from here on out.

Just one action item...Superintendent Search.

Regular School Board Meeting January 17, 2012

The podcast for last night's meeting is posted at http://cmsbears.podbean.com.

Among the items discussed were the rules for public input at board meetings. The board decided that their existing policy was sufficient, as it gave the board president broad latitude in placing rules on public input at board meetings.

I did ask about the ability for parents or community members to be placed on the agenda if they provided their topic ahead of time. Doug Porch said he did not think that it was necessary to place them on the agenda. Instead, he is going to have a "special place" on the school's website where he will personally place any visitor's topic ahead of time. So I guess if you want to address the board and have the topic of your discussion known ahead of time, you will have to talk to Doug Porch.

The superintendent's report addressed the new grading system that PED has in place. As you know from previous posts, the High School and Middle School got Bs, while the elementary got a C. He expressed his frustration with the fact that PED is not disclosing what their expectations are or how they are coming up with the grades.

Fred Wright reported on the results of the poll sent out last week regarding the 4 day week. He said that of the surveys returned, 71% were in favor of the 4 day week. He said that 100% of the teachers and staff were in favor of the 4 day week. Only 25 surveys were returned by high schoolers, with 188 returned by middle schoolers and elementary students.

There was no mention of the superintendent search at this meeting. With the next regular meeting scheduled for February 21st, I would start visiting the school's window on a regular basis, as I bet there is a special meeting before that.

Agenda for Regular School Board Meeting January 17, 2012

Here is the Agenda for the next board meeting, scheduled for Tuesday, January 17 at 6 p.m.

Agenda for December Board Meeting 2011

Here is the agenda for the meeting scheduled for December 20, 2011 at 6 p.m.

I asked for a copy of the proposed policy change, buy Mr. Hancock said that this was something that the board was formulating so he had no wording. Wouldn't it be exciting if the board decided to let visitors put something on the agenda, so the rest of us could have a "heads up" of what was going to be discussed!

School Board Meeting Tuesday October 18, 2011

Here is the agenda for Tuesday's meeting.

Regular School Board Meeting Tuesday Night

Here is the agenda for the school board meeting, to be held on Tuesday, September 20, 2011 at 6 p.m.

School Board Meeting Scheduled for Tuesday, August 16

Here is the agenda for the next school board meeting.

The "Buckhorn Renovation Project," found under "Information" should be a presentation by Mr. John Baldonado, who is renovating the cabins (which are located directly across the street from the High School) to turn them into a "Counseling and Clinic Services" live-in facility called "Heart of Dreams." He is also the owner of Canyon Light Counseling, in Alamogordo. To see more information on Mr. Baldonado, visit www.canyonlightcounseling.com. My understanding is that the department of corrections and the judicial branch refer folks to Canyon Light for counseling on things like sex offenses, substance abuse, anger management, and mental health issues. (When the DOC and judicial branch are referring people, that generally means they are on parole or probation.) It is not clear to me what a live-in facility like Heart of Dreams will mean. In the world of parole and probation, a live-in facility that offers learning and life skills, but where the residents are free to come and go, is called a "halfway house." People are generally paroled there after their stay in prison so they can learn to adjust to society, gain life skills, seek employment, and get counseling for the problems that got them into trouble in the first place. (Did I mention that this is directly across the street from the High School?)

I spoke with Dave Venable today and asked about the facility. I didn't get a lot of information, other than the fact that they will be paying a lodger's tax. Dave said the facility was zoned as a rental facility or hotel or motel. He could not say how long folks would be staying at the Heart of Dreams, nor could he say where they were being employed. He said the facility was to provide "learning skills." My understanding is Heart of Dreams got a variance this week to put a fence around the facility. (Speaking of fences, how do you like that razor wire job around the lift station?)