GRANTS, N.M. -The Grants/Cibola County School Board held meeting on October 6 and October 20. These meetings went over donations, recognized employees, and included an executive session.
Donation to GHS Students
Grans High School Administration Staff Martha Ward announced a donation from Danny Almanza amounting in $1,500.
A similar donation was made before, which was intended to support an initiative offering $5 gift cards to students with a 90% attendee rate. “And since the average for the district last year was 80 for the high school… we thought that's a good accomplishment,” Ward said, "but we ended up with like 520 kids that qualify for the $5 gift card.”
Due to the increased number of eligible students, the original donation would no longer cover the costs, prompting this additional $1,500 in gift cards donation.
Ward said, “Next year it will go up to a 95% attendance rate, but we had advertised a 90% attendance rate and we want to be consistent with what we've told our families.”
Donation for GHS Culinary Program
On October 6, Grants High School was approved a $1,000 donation from Homestake Mining for its culinary program.
Cooper Jones explained that this donation is intended to support the program’s “revival,” which has shifted from a pro-stark pathway to active involvement with FCCLA, the Family, Career, and Community Leaders of America. The funds will be used to purchase ingredients, and provide the students with the necessary resources to cook in alignment with the program’s goals.
Jones added that this program is also set to participate in an upcoming event during Cibola Outdoors’ college reception week, where students will prepare cookies for 240 college students visiting the area. This collaboration not only benefits the program by providing practical training opportunities but also allows students to share their creations with visitors.
Recognitions
“In the spring I started moving these awards to the school sites,” Widner explained. “It’s really touching for the kids to get to see their their health assistant and their nurse and their EA get these awards… And it's a really neat experience for the kids to get to see that. So that's why I'm not bringing the people to the board meetings anymore. We're celebrating them where they work… It has been pretty effective moving it to the school sites.”
The first recipient of the Social Emotional Learning Award was Adam Mace, support staff/EA at Bluewater Elementary School. “He is a positive role model for the kids at Bluewater and assists all in their learning, understanding and clarity in completing lessons.” The presentation stated. “Mr. Mace encourages the kids of Bluewater to follow behavioral expectations and to do their best each and every day. Mr. Mace is being recognized as one of our October Social Emotional Learning/Love Honorees.”
The second recipient of the SEL award was Sharon Moleres, a longtime employee who is a health assistant at Los Alamitos Middle School. “[She] has worked very hard through the years to build a relationship and a good rapport with all of her middle school students,” Widner said. “She makes a difference every day with her social emotional love for her kids” The Edu-Champion Award recipient was Janelle Vargas, the nurse at Los Alamitos Middle School. Widner said, Vargas “is truly a hero in the school.” He explained that several weeks ago a student had been choking on food. “[He] had food lodged in his throat [and] couldn’t breathe… [Vargas] worked with the student and helped to save the student… before EMS and fire personnel could get to the school.”
Executive Session
On October 6, the board went into executive session. No action was taken and only the following items were discussed. This included the findings of two independent investigations, the Superintendent’s update regarding employee movements and individual personnel matters, including changes, non-renewals, transfers, promotions, demotions, new positions, and/or individual qualifications, and the Superintendent’s evaluation and matters concerning Board/Superintendent Relations.
Upcoming
October 30, 2026 PD Staff Only/No Students November 3, 2026 Election Day for Students/Staff November 5, 2026 Board Work Session November 17, 2026 Regular Board Meeting December 3-5, 2026 NMSBAAnnual Conference