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

Regular School Board Meeting May 21, 2013

This article appeared in the Alamogordo Daily News covering the meeting.

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

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 for March 19, 2013

Here is the agenda for the meeting.

Here is an article that appeared in the Alamogordo Daily News.

Here is a list of the Budget Committee members provided at the meeting.

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

Here is the article from the Mountain Monthly

Regular School Board Meeting February 19, 2013

The podcast for this meeting has been uploaded to http://cmsbears.podbean.com

It'll be a while before I can scan and post some of the handouts. One of those handouts are 3 different proposed calendars. I sounds like they ask the teachers and staff to offer input, but I don't think the parents are asked. However, I bet you could get copies at the admin office and offer your two cents worth anyway.

"Unofficial" Election Results

I called the County Clerk's Office and here are the "unofficial" results for the School Board Election:

Bill Denney    291
Robert Barrett  73

Mark Alvord     158
Asa Wimsatt      191

Corina Lisk       151
Lance Wright    241

2 mil levy:
For        230
Against 154

Even though about 14% of eligible voters actually voted, our percentage was higher than that of Alamogordo or Tularosa.

DON'T FORGET TO VOTE!

Remember, TODAY is the school board election, so don't forget to get out and vote! The positions and who is running for what were posted earlier.

Regular Meeting of the School Board January 18, 2013

The podcast of the meeting is posted at http://cmsbears.podbean.com. I will post any slides or handouts when I receive them.

Meet the Candidates

There are 3 positions to be filled on the Cloudcroft School Board. There are 2 candidates running for each position. I have posted the podcast of the Meet the Candidates meetings held in Weed and Cloudcroft at http://cmsbears.podbean.com. Each candidate has also submitted a bio:

Position 1:
Bill Denney
Robert Barrett (write-in candidate)

Position 4:
Mark Alvord
Asa Wimsatt (write-in candidate)

Position 5:
Corina Lisk
Lance Wright

Remember that if you write in a candidate, you need to use the names you see above....even though you know Robert Barrett as Dulaney and you know Asa Wimsatt as Ace.

Meet the Candidates Tonight!

Don't forget the meet the candidates meeting tonight at 6 p.m. in the High School Commons. I plan on posting a podcast of both this meeting and the one that was held in Weed this past Saturday. I'll post when they are updated.

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

Regular School Board Meeting November 13, 2012

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

There were numerous handouts that will be forthcoming.

I will also post the article from the Mountain Monthly after December 1. Here is the article.

Please note that the next regular meeting will be held at the Weed Community Center.

Regular School Board Meeting October 16, 2012

The podcast has been posted.

Here is the article from the Mountain Monthly.

Along the lines of "your tax dollars at work," it turns out that the Socorro school district is willing to GIVE us a retired route bus (they have a mandated life of 12 years) which we could use as an activity bus (they have a mandated life of 20 years), but the Public Education Department in Santa Fe won't let them transfer it. Nor will PED let them sell it. So, the ever helpful PED has apparently told Cloudcroft that if we want a bus we have to buy it from a contractor.

Further along the lines of "your tax dollars at work," every 5 years the school is mandated (there's that word again...as in UNFUNDED mandate) that we hire a contractor to do a Facilities Master Plan. Our last plan was done in 2007. The cost to hire said contractor and put together said plan is said to run around $30,000.

And speaking of tax dollars, the other thing that was discussed was adding a 2 mil levy to the ballot this February.

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 Workshop held Yesterday

The school board held it's meeting yesterday to discuss goals for the superintendent and evaluate and set board priorities. Sounds like pretty heavy stuff. It was attended by exactly ONE member of the public...my husband. Since I'm out of town, he took care of the recording of the meeting, which I will podcast when I return on Tuesday. The meeting went for about 4 hours, and I can already tell you there were some "technical difficulties" that will result in some of the meeting not being recorded.


Here is what school board member Arlan Ponder had to say:


REPOST from Arlan Ponder's School Board Member News Facebook account:


Just finished a VERY productive work session for the Cloudcroft School Board. I think people will be impressed with some of the changes coming in the next year.

Look for more community input and board meetings IN communities like Weed or Timberon. Plus possibly a newsletter with updates from the superintendent.

I won't lie though ... We will have a few situations that not everyone is going to understand, but we have ALL committed to ensuring EVERYONE in the community understands the situations.

I think the days of "shut up and take it" are over. The age of transparency, respect AND teamwork should be the norm going forward.

In case you've forgotten the Cloudcroft School Board meets the third Tuesday of each month at 6 p.m. Come by and meet the new superintendent and see what good things are going on at YOUR schools.

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.

Is Middle School Sports being Cut?

I just listened to the podcast of the May 15 school board meeting. I have posted it at http://cmsbears.podbean.com and to iTunes. I'm sorry to say that the batteries must have died towards the end, so it stopped during the principal's report.

One thing I noticed in the review and approval of the 2012-2013 budget, was the lack of any mention of cutting Middle School sports. However, when I spoke to Superintendent Hancock yesterday, I was left with the impression that he expected the Sideliner's Booster Club to pay like we did last year if Middle School sports was going to be saved.

Right now, I can't say what the school has planned for Middle School sports. I can say that I'm the treasurer for Sideliner's, so I hope to find out soon what is going on, as the Superintendent was kicking around numbers in the $7000 range to keep the Middle School sports program.