There was a large audience for the Sept. 1 Grants/Cibola County School District board meeting. Three elementary schools made presentations and the board approved several expenditures.
Principal Jennifer Griego and Vice Principal Reyes Jaramillo, Mesa View Elementary, and Principal Lisa Hernandez, Cubero and Seboyeta Elementary Schools, reported on the first few weeks of the academic year, which began Aug. 10.
Mesa View has distributed 249 laptops and Chromebooks along with desktop computers that have been provided to families in need. Eighty-two percent, 377 of the 456 students, are utilizing virtual instruction methods and all teachers are using Google Classroom or Zoom platforms for lessons. Teachers in each of the 27 classrooms have received Smart Boards and 15 classrooms have new desks, chairs, and worktables.
Teachers are doing home visits with students who do not have internet access where they live. This accounts for 18 percent of the enrollment; teachers are providing assignment packets to those students. If parents are having issues at home with online instruction, they can bring their devices in for one-on-one help, explained the principal.
There are five families that staff have not been able to contact and these may be removed from the student roster, according to Principal Griego.
School Counselor Adreanna Hunter described the Mesa View Comprehensive Counseling Plan, which includes group activities for developing social skills, measures to ensure individual’s social, emotional and mental health needs are addressed through school-based therapeutic strategies, motivating classroom learning, and data tracking. The counselor has met with more than 40 children through Google Meets during the first month of classes to help them deal with anxiety and other issues that have resulted from the pandemic.
Principal Lisa Hernandez, Cubero and Seboyeta Elementary Schools, reported that 229 of the 231 students enrolled at Cubero have been reached to facilitate their participation in virtual instruction; home visits will be made as a last effort to contact the remaining two students. Cubero staff members have commented that a good number of students have taken the initiative to reach out to their teachers for help.
All 29 students enrolled at Seboyeta are participating in virtual instruction. Principal Hernandez commented that she feels very inspired and humbled by the collaboration between teachers and families, which includes creating classroom spaces at home and “working hand-in-hand with teachers.”
Facility projects
Director of Facilities Vance Lee’s presentation focused on three projects: the Laguna-Acoma High School Baseball and Softball Complex, the Grants High School baseball/softball scoreboard, and replacing the ventilation and HVAC systems at GHS.
Lee acknowledged that some funding is available from state Impact Aid to help pay for the L-A HS project, which includes the turf field and installation of a scoreboard. The work is scheduled for completion by Feb. 15, 2021. The board unanimously approved the contract.
Superintendent Max Perez recommended approval of two of the Grants High School projects; the board approved both contracts.
Finances
Business and Finance Director Steve Maldonado presented a detailed budget report that identified the cash balances by fund for the fiscal year that ended on June 30. The graph showed the funds from the start of the year through total recourses, expenses deducted from spent money, reconciliation, and loans to show each category’s cash balance on June 30, which was the close of the FY2019-20 budget.
“Grand Total All Funds - $19,351,292.91 to $22,853,533.25,” according to Maldonado’s presentation.
Four people were present in the boardroom for the Sept. 1 meeting and almost 70 people, including 12 department directors, were in the audience via Zoom. Board members Dion Sandoval and Richard Jones used off-site technology to participate in the session; the board president, Dr. Guy Archambeau, did not take part in the meeting.
Upcoming meetings
• Tuesday, Oct.6, boardroom, district office, 413 Roosevelt Ave., Grants, 5:30 p.m.
(The G/CCSD board meets the first and third Tuesday of each month. Agendas are posted on the district website under the Board of Education tab. The board met last night, Sept. 15.)
Visit gccs.k12.nm.us or call 505-285-2603 for more information.