001all right good evening the re Ral Public Schools Board of Education meeting for Monday November 18th is now called to order um if all would please arise for the Pledge of Allegiance I pledge aliance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands one nation under God indivisible with liy and justice for JC can you take a roll call for US president gal present vice president Morgan secretary Tyler present board member trip pres board member Miller presid we have a quorum okay thank you so much all right we'd like to welcome everyone out to our board meeting tonight I know we have a couple um great student commendations tonight and so we welcome U we welcome our students who are here as long as well as their
002teachers um tonight we'll start off our meeting with some introductory comments by Dr visu Cleveland thank you all and and welcome we are glad that you're here this evening prior to um this this meeting uh the board held a work session to look at proposed changes in graduation requirements that are the result of legislation passed last uh legislative session uh the bill was h Bill 171 and so um there's some changes that all districts are going to need to make based on that legislation one of the major pushes in in terms of the legislation is to have students uh take two classes in a career pathway it could be two classes in a foreign language it could be two classes in a Career Technical uh program but to kind of start um their way towards
003some sort of a a career choice the second was um something we've had a lot of conversation in our state over many years and that was um whether Algebra 2 should be required of all students or whether it should be optional and the bill uh made it optional um in each School District can uh look at that and make their own decision but uh the board did look at that issue discussed that this evening we'll be bringing that back a regular public meeting um at um probably the next board meeting or the meeting after that school boards are given uh some flexibility uh and and so you have um those things like the four years of of English language arts and and the four years of uh social studies and so forth uh and and
004traditionally the board has had some flexibility and some units that they can offer they talked a lot about what those might look like uh generally the overall T of the the discussion was they wanted to leave as many options available for students so they can make their own choices okay okay uh we have some commendations for Fine Arts uh there are two commendations this evening and Dr Kurt Schmidt who is our executive director of Fine Arts will present those the first is the um reanal High School Marching Band they are the winners of the new Mexico State b band competition and as you know band competitions in New Mexico are very very competitive and so we congratulate the the Rams this is a a new competition in the past we've had Z we've had patent
005of bands and um this year they moved toward a state band competition under the nmaa and so they will take the first of that new recognition and uh and and we do congrat ulate them we also have a student from Cleveland uh her name is Kiana Aragon and she took first place in the High School Division for the State Fair fine art show uh in September and you'll be hearing a little bit about uh her her recognition as well so again uh congratulations first state champions for this new um nmaa state championship for marching ban and uh Kiana this is a picture of her with her with her uh wonderful win at the state there we have a some other business items we have an invitation to bid an ITB uh 20257 for facilities and
006it's for Landscaping Maintenance services and this will be presented by Michael Madrid who is our director of purchasing as our chief procurement officer for the district the board is going to be asked to approve consider approval of a multiple uh of four uh responsive biders I can tell you we have a lot of grounds work we're a very large District a lot of fields we have a lot of walkways we have a lot of areas to cover and we really appreciate the extra help and support our community contractors who step up to bed so that we can provide um safe outdoor spaces that are clean and uh certainly visually appealing does matter what it looks like when you go to school we have a really important issue to talk about this evening the riar Rancho
007board will be asked to consider legislative priorities for the upcoming session and that's two months away it's just right around the corner comes very quickly this discussion will be led by Lauren hatch who is our chief legal council and Chris ban was here this evening uh with go with government relations and he has worked with us for many years and very pleased to have him with us this evening I do want to just let you know something really important and we'll be talking about it um over the next several months this year the riar Rancho School District along with some other districts we were not alone experienced a major funding shortfall which was really ironic at a time when the state is well you know really has plenty of resources and as they redid the
008formula they they changed some of the variables and make long story short we came out pretty short um at um uh at the end of the process and so we'll continue to have some conversations with legislative leadership and others uh to see what we need to do to get that funding restored a really short WR Readers Digest version is at the state's request we expanded the school year extended it uh we added after school programs we did a lot of the things the state asked us to do and then um that funding was in there below the line in the formula and then it just disappeared and so the total loss for the district was significant and uh we've got to get that issue resolved because it is critical to maintaining our academic and our
009co-curricular programs and so we um we will continue to work to see if we can't get a resolution Hobbs is in that uh same category Las Cruses is having very similar issues uh Santa Fe was short so uh we're trying to figure out exactly how that came about and then see what we can do to um to remediate it if we don't get it remediated we're going to see major cuts and so we really hope that we can we can find a resolution to that and then of course the board has also sent U to the New Mexico School boards Association a list of our priorities for inclusion in the legislative platform and several of them were adopted and we're included in that document as well and then um another really important item is our
010capital outlay projects and you will be asked to consider approving uh the Capal lay projects for this next year um it goes without saying the needs are far greater and the funds that are available but we have some really good projects we think will make a really big difference in the district and um it it's like so many other things it's always hard to prioritize because there are so many needs uh and so many things that we could do uh but I think we've got some some really good proposals and uh we think those are very defensible in terms of working with our legislative delegation the uh report is going to be presented by Patrick Martinez who is of course our executive director of facilities and uh it will be a breakdown of projects first
011by departments there's some um there's some projects in there for athletics for facilities for food and nutrition for uh it and Safety and Security and as part of that there'll be project descriptions for the board and estimated costs uh will also be included and then we have policy 209 um and that is on the agenda and order of business it is a first reading and uh the the um the presentation will be made by Lauren hatch uh our chief legal counil and uh this of course has been reviewed by the uh the legal department all of the changes that are being proposed do adhere to state laws and regulations there's a first reading no action can be taken by the board at this meeting so any proposed changes and any other things you might propose
012or suggest uh will be considered at the next regular board meeting but they'll be introduced tonight are you have any questions concerns comments okay okay thank you all right thank you thank you Dr Cleveland appreciate it all right we'll now go to approve the prioritized agenda and proposed time allocations this is board member Tyler I'll make a motion to approve the prioritized agenda and propos time allocation board member Jeff Morgan I second okay we have a motion in a second all in favor I I any opposed okay motion carries 5 zero all right we'll now go to our commendations um for the evening our first Commendation um will be for the RAR Rancho High School Marching Band for winning the State Bound competition and so we'd like to invite them up along with Dr Kurt
013Schmidt our executive director dor of Fine Arts and I have to say I'm super excited this was like I could hear it all happening from my house by the way so and I'm kind of far [Music] away uh president GTH members of the board Dr Cleveland uh tonight we have two accommodations for achievements and Fine Arts the first is for the rear Rancho High School Marching Band on Saturday October 26th the New Mexico Activities Association ran the first ever State marching band competition here in rear Ranch at rrhs the r ranal High School Marching Band won first place in 5A and also garnered awards for best percussion best color guard High visual performance and high General effect and U it takes you know I I I know firsthand it takes a village to to run
014a marching band in a program like this whether it's whether it's staff teachers of course the students parents volunteers chaperon and so forth so uh part of that Village is here today and I want to introduce the director bands at re High School Mr Matt cadz and he is going to introduce some members of the team here we have some students here also and uh he'll say a few words also so Mr cadz thank you Dr Schmidt board thank you for having us here this evening um this is a very small portion of our village for marching band um our staff um as well as our students um to my left we have Miss Selena green who's our director of Color Guard and we have Mr Juan Tores who is our district percussion coordinator we
015also have Mr William Kramer who is on our percussion staff um there are others who cannot be here as well and we have three of our four drum Majors here this evening we have Aurora Espinosa Isaac odison and Sarah Alman um and i' just like to to say again as I always say when I'm up here thank you so much for your support uh of the Fine Arts and specifically the band programs here in RI Rancho we cannot do what we do with without that support um but thank you to the staff who are always hardworking but mostly I want to say thank you publicly to these students um they take what we say without any thought and they say yeah they must know what they're talking about and they do it um for some
016strange reason um we we start our Summer band program mid July I think it was July 15th this year um and really our season just ended um at that St competition so for them to give up you know that after school time and weekends and all that is just a testament to to their tenacity and their their willingness to go the extra mile to succeed um and something we talked about this year is if you put in the hard work you will get the results and we say that every year and this year it actually came to fruition with the some some trophies which was very nice um so these drum Majors we a lot on their shoulders um they're in charge of the entire band and as a director when that competition time starts
017and the judges say go we kind of point at the drum majors and the next eight minutes is up to them in the band we there's no timeouts we can't stop it it is what it is and they do a fantastic job so um again we just want to say thank you for your support and thank you to the staff and students of the RAR ranal High School marching ulations do you have more on them or can I was just gonna say you sometimes want to hear from students I don't know if you want to put them on the spot or not yeah well I will ask them I don't know if any of you are willing to okay and one of you I know but I'm not going to put any pressure but um
018just I I if anyone is willing to just take us to that moment and what it was like because so I I've been asking around before all this happened and I'm like who's going to win it and I teach kids from volcano and I talked to some Cleveland kids and some Rio kids everyone's like Clovis Clovis always wins it's going to be cless so as you guys I don't know if e any one of you or all of you are welcome to but does anyone want to take us just to that moment and what it was like because I know it was pretty exciting is what I do know and anything else you want to tell us to you're welcome to well hi I'm the Head drum major of the Rio marching band it's my
019third and final year um being a drum major and this year this year started off really strong I mean in the past we've always been like oh this will be better than the next year but this year it really was because um I was the a freshman the first year after covid and so we I've been able to see that growth with Mr C and everybody else and I mean when they announced us having one um best color guard first I think everybody was shocked because at Z Cleveland had won best color guard not even Clovis and so we were like that's that's weird and then we won best percussion and best General effect and we were just looking at each other and I remember like making eye contact with them and we're like guys
020did we did we like win and it was it was crazy um having beat them and we couldn't stop smiling I mean my tears were definitely tears of Joys I don't know about theirs but we were all crying and it was it was amazing and for me it's the best way to end High School like senior year you know you guys that's awesome thank you for sharing that so I'm Isaac I'm next in line um once aora graduates and like at that ceremony it was like all the work of the Season you know it all just like came together at that point and we were stand in there and we saw the results of all the hard work and the dedication of not just us but the band and yeah it's was just like accumulation
021and it all came full circle you know and that's all I got to say it's hard work did good I wasn't gonna pressure you I wasn't well just like something I noticed when we won um Cleveland was very supportive and I know like the football teams Rio and Cleveland very um like head-on but I just love how the band like Community as a whole it's just so kind and everyone's always cheering for each other and um I loved being able to like talk to all of the different bands afterwards and I think everyone was just um excited about the the scores and I don't know I think we've made a lot of progress this year and I'm excited for next to year yeah thank you thanks for sharing up and that is what I heard
022from my students from over in APS as they were like I was like so Rio Rano one and they said yeah because they were so good and they just they were enjoying talking about it and so thank you for all that you do thank you to our instructors and for all the time and effort and it's nice to see sometimes where all those things come together um you guys have just done and I just always hear such wonderful things about about you and the things that you're doing and students thank you for being it's you right the the the coming up those who are coming up they're watching you and they want to be in that place and so the way that you act is is so important because it really builds our programs and
023so thank you for being that you know that example to the rest of our student body um that they can look to and something they can aspire to Dr cand did you want to add anything I would just ask um it is a rather big production and uh how many how many students are there in the band that you were directing and coordinating uh I I believe the the final number is 168 that's incredible that's wonderful and to manage that many people on the field and everybody does the right thing I'm really impressed by that so thank you congratulations to [Applause] you all right thank you so much for being here tonight we appreciate you guys thank you for coming [Music] and I'll announce because we're waiting for her to come up so our next
024Commendation is for our High School Division of State Fair art show winner Kiana Aragon yes our our second commodation of the evening is for Miss Kiana Aragon who won first place in this year's State Fair art show upper grades Division and uh her artwork is is projected again up there which is a wonderful portrait um amazing word so miss aagon is a junior at Cleveland High School her art teacher Miss M Li Olive who's here tonight uh says of kaana quote she is currently enrolled in AP drawing and painting she is a wildly talented artist who is curious and devoted to her craft and a variety of media she puts she definitely puts the work in artwork she says so I'll uh I'll let Miss Olive say a few words first and turn it over
025to count but congratulations on wonderful job I didn't realize I was gonna say something um thank you for that we uh I do also want to say thank you for your support of Fine Arts we couldn't do it without the the support we get so thank you very much um the state fair thing was great we didn't even realize it was going to be adjudicated we thought it was just a showoff artwork and then all of a sudden we get a blue ribbon so that's pretty cool um yeah and I also want to point out that we're we're we're visual artists not performers so we're a little bit more shy so that's all I have thank you thank you thank you you're good all right well thank you guys for coming in we're so grateful
026I was looking at this picture today and I just thought it was absolutely beautiful um I didn't get to the State Fair this year so I'm glad that I could see this because you you have wonderful talents so thank you for coming in um Dr Cleveland and if any congratulations it's a wonderful thing against students from all over the state and come at the very top and uh it is an impressive piece of work yeah so thank you thank you for coming into the board tonight thank you very much thank you all right we'll now go into I always just love having students in here it's hard to continue on um so we'll go into our public comment um part of our meeting tonight get all my notes gathered um so we have both um
027in-person public comment tonight and we also have public comment that came in through our form um so I'm going to go through those ones first and I just summarize um the ones that come in through the online form um and I just want to put that reminder for those who might be listening um online that if they would like to have their voice heard to please come in because otherwise I just summarize and read some names so if anyone wants to um have their voice heard please come in and give public comment in the boardroom um so the ones that we received we received 27 um online public comments and three of those I'll do our three three three of those were in regards to pesta um two of them came from um Sylvia Oliva
028um in regards to just concerns about pesta being repurposed um the possibilities of that with our prek um and the other with that was elen R retri I wish I was better at retria um the rest of those we have 24 that were on our safe space signs I'm asking the board to take a look at the um the policy in regards to that um so here's our here's who who send in on safe space so was Abigail Williams Cory messenger Benjamin cross uh Lorraine leco Amanda craft Melissa Dickinson Kathy Watts Kyle Watts um Brenda Bailey white Vanessa Waltz Jen doitt um Marth the ignal am Amy ivra Victoria mongle Rebecca dress skin Evans Maggie price Emily holen neck uh Marilyn Stoops Brian rasmason uh Patty ort uh Juliana Tois toisan uh Ashley rhods Sharon
029Frey um Frey puit and joy van leaf and so those were all in regards to our safe space science and the policy that goes along with that in the boardroom tonight we have we have five public comments that will be here in our boardroom tonight and I think many of these have given public comment before but we'll just go through some of the um some of the things with it so you get three minutes to give your public comment um JC will start a timer um as soon as you start talking um your time will start um and then if the timer goes off while you're still speaking we just ask that you please sit sit down so that we can have it fair to all of those who are giving public comment um and
030also the board um cannot respond back to unless it's on our agenda so um so we're grateful for you to be here but we won't be able to respond back um to the public comment t and so we'll go ahead and get started you ready to go JC on your end okay so we'll go ahead and get started our first is Denise Weaver Dr Cleveland uh president gthm members of the board my name is Denise Weaver and I am a resident of Rio Rancho and a mother of two children and professionally I'm a board certified behavior analyst and I've worked in the mental health filed for over 20 years gender dysphoria is a legitimate mental health condition that needs to be treated with evidence-based treatment not encouraged and affirmed the compassionate and responsible response is
031to recognize the individual's distress while staying grounded in reality to affirm a mental illness which is what we are doing with things like safe spaces is harmful Dr Paul Muse psychiatrist and director of the Department of Behavioral Sciences at John Hopkins Hospital Likens it to treat Tre in someone with anorexia you would not affirm their delusion nor would you affirm the delusion of someone with gender dysphoria is what he said male and female are not arbitrary identities based on feelings they are scientific realities based on DNA which cannot be changed the transgender movement which seeks to affirm mental illness is attempting to derail our judeo-christian culture which believes in male and female through social engineering and these safe spaces and sign will do just that by targeting the hearts and minds of children there are
032three phases of moving toward collectivism collectivism phase one is propaganda telling people what to think and Believe by allowing LBGTQ signs and safe spaces you are promoting this ideology and ultimately agreeing with the transgender movement to force their views on every child youth teacher or worker that comes into the public school system and these and say spaces ultimately are saying to these people that you must agree that you must support and celebrate and even conform to their beliefs indoctrination of young children to accept and embrace normaly of transgenderism is contributing to the destruction of families and disregarding the scientific and biblical identity that many of the families in this school district believe in every study shows the vast majority of those with gender dysphoria will desist they will stop wishing that they were the opposite
033sex there is no research to show that social affirmation with things like safe spaces decreases suicide or leads to positive outcomes in fact affirmation actually leads to those with gender dysphoria continuing into harmful irreversible medical interventions when teachers and others in Authority are being affirmed with things like safe spaces pronouns being allowed to use different bathrooms this persists the child to continue in the disassociation of their body and their mind it moves children into further dangerous denial when children are led to believe that questioning your biology is normal which it is not when they are being led to believe that you are born into the wrong body which is not possible all this presented to them without the possibility of challenging that idea it's indoctrination so I'm here to encourage your current policy and ask
034that you not change it thank you thank you [Applause] our next is Aton Watkins good evening members of the board my name is Tanya Watkins I am a resident of Rio Rancho as well as I am a wife and a mother uh and an educator by profession uh when I heard earlier today that uh there was going to be discussion a vote on something uh as um the safe spaces that has already been voted on by the board I jumped into action um because I support the previous uh removal of this this signage that is political in nature um because as a mother as a um an educator I think that um all children need to feel safe when they go to school um it it boggles my mind as to why we need to
035have a signage that would make some feel safe and others who may actually um disagree with that ideology feel unsafe uh so it purports to me um the idea that they would be um persecuted for that belief By Any teacher who might be um presenting that uh that stance to them um and that to me is very disturbing so um I I support wholeheartedly the previous vote and I pray that you all continue to maintain The Stance to not allow the politics to affect our children as much as no doubt they they see at home I know that I teach mine um according to our our beliefs our core beliefs and um values morals um but when they go to school they need to be learning about math and science and Reading Writing um not
036um this ideology of of any kind of trans or um gender ideology that that seems to be uh getting into the way of raising our children to learn how to think for themselves so uh I I just here to continue to support you to show that side of of the conservative Viewpoint if you will and um hope that that this question does not in fact come up in the future thank you next is Erica McDow good evening my name is Erica McDowell and I am the managing director of glisten New Mexico we're an organization that works across the state to make our schools safer and more inclusive for lgbtq plus students and Educators um and today I'm speaking to urge the leadership of reanal public schools to reverse the decision about safe space signs and
037I want to explain why um you have likely heard this before but I believe it Bears repeating lgbtq plus youth have significantly worse mental health outcomes than their straight cisgender peers in 2023 research by the Trevor Project found that 41% almost half of lgbtq plus young people seriously considered attempting suicide in the past year young people are not inherently prone to Suicide risk because of their sexual orientation or gender identity but rather are placed at higher risk because of how they are mistreated and stigmatized in our society our schools are supposed to be places where young people feel safe and can focus on learning I agree with that point that that one of the previous speakers made um but unfortunately our schools here in New Mexico are a place where lgbtq plus youth experience mistreatment
038and Stig stigmatization glissen 2021 National School climate survey found that the vast majority of lgbtq plus students here in New Mexico had heard anti-lgbtq remarks regularly at school and many of these remarks came from staff our research about our young people here in New Mexico shows that 59% of our students are regularly hearing School staff make homophobic remarks and 80% are regularly hearing School staff make negative remarks about someone's gender expression these adults are the ones who are supposed to make sure our students feel safe and can learn and instead many of them and I'm not saying all of them but many of them are knowingly or unknowingly stigmatizing a huge number of students um it's heavy stuff it's hard for me to face this reality as a former educator thankfully we know that small
039numbers of supportive adults can make a huge impact on Mental Health outcomes for lgbtq plus youth the Trevor Project's research has shown that lgbtq plus youth who report having at least one just one accepting adult were 40% less likely to attempt suicide it's a staggering effect um our research the same research that showed that so many staff are making anti-lgbtq plus remarks thankfully showed that 95% almost all of our students in New Mexico could identify at least one supportive adult in their schools and that's huge that is a strength that we have but those students need to know who those adults are and that's what safe space efforts do they help students find the safe people who can help reduce these horrifying staggering disparities and mental health for our lgbtq plus students um on behalf
040of the glisten New Mexico chapter I'm encouraging the board and the administrative leadership of this school district to take seriously your obligation to support the well-being of each and every student you have lgbtq plus students in your District statistically almost a third of young people in New Mexico are identifying AS lgbtq Plus because the environment is gradually getting safer for young people to be out um this is a suicide prevention strategy I urge you to change the policy thank you thank you our next is Roy Weaver good evening board my name is Roy Weaver and I'm a pastor at Calvary Rio Rancho and I'm here to discuss a concern regarding the so-called safe spaces for LGB lgbtq plus students within our schools and to share my perspective on how approaches might impact our children in
041the broader School Community as a whole the intent of these spaces is to provide a supportive environment for students who may feel marginalized or vulnerable however my concern lies in the way these spaces encourage the segregation of students based on identity rather than inclusion for all creating separate spaces for specific groups reinforces the idea of division we already fa numerous factors that set people apart whether it's skin color religion financial status or gender if we create spaces for some students based on how they identify or how they feel at any given moment we risk deepening these divides and creating further separation instead of uniting our students every student in real ranal Public Schools should expect to be in a safe space one of the primary expectations that parents have when they send their kids to
042school is that their child will be cared for in a secure respectful environment where they can focus on learning and growing rather than creating spaces based on identity we should be working to make sure that every school is a safe space for all students this means setting clear standards of behavior where any aggression is dealt with swiftly and firmly to ensure all students are respected and protected our goal as an education system should be to provide academic learning as well as raising children who know how to interact with people who are different than themselves we want our students to grow into outstanding citizens who can work together to solve problems show empathy and demonstrate love and respect for all people the school environment should be a place where students learn these life skills in a
043shared integrated space as a school system we have a responsibility to create an environment where all students feel safe and valued but this sense of security should not to be achieved through division it should come from fostering a culture of mutual respect where every student no matter their background or beliefs feels that they are part of the whole and that their presence matters I respectfully ask the school board to not segregate any group of students and instead focus on reinforcing a truly includ inclusive environment without the need for separation let's work to prepare our children for a culture for a future where they can thrive in a diverse interconnected world thank you thank you and our last for the evening is uh Richard Strife Hello Lord um this is my first time ever doing anything
044like this but I heard this was happening and based on my profession where I've been a clinical mental health specialist and work with human relations and Dynamics and systems and how those little pieces all Impact all the other pieces and parts in it I wanted to come in and give my part on that furthermore I work with neurode Divergent people primarily and neurod Divergent people commonly have this overlap with the whole queer Spectrum all over the place um from asexual to qu to gay um lesbian uh transgender that does happen but the way that that interacts or comes out with these neurode Divergent people is because their brains work differently and because their brains work differently already they are struggling in education systems to begin with if they think that they are not welcome there
045that they do not belong because they're so different they alienate themselves in their own heads and then that separation makes it to where they cannot receive the learning that they're being offered and for me right there what my main concern is is if you take away the safe space where those people can recognize the symbol the colors the the this is a place where I can go and find the safe base which was brought up in a previous um mention if they can't go and find that safe base not going to be able to regulate and if they can't regulate they can't learn that's going to turn into destructive habits not only to themselves but to the community which will impact me as a resident that pays taxes and lives here I don't want those
046destructive habits to come out in that way and so this has very little to do with ideology as far as I'm concerned I don't understand how the symbol is an ideology whenever it's just a colorful thing that will attract attention to somebody to go oh hey I can go here and talk to somebody about what's going on in my mind and they'll understand they're not gonna ridicule me they're not g to make me feel different like they don't understand what's happening in my head and um so I I really am only speaking on behalf I think of the neurod Divergent people the neurode Divergent children but I do worry about them if you allow this to happen and remove the signs so thank you for your time thank you all right that is our public
047comment uh for the evening um just a point of clarification on our agenda tonight um the only policy that we'll be talking about tonight is just moving where our public comment will sit in our agenda and so I just wanted to make that clarification for for this evening um we'll now go to the consent agenda um board member Tyler I'll make a motion to approve the consent agenda Jeff Morgan a second okay we have a motion by Jessica Tyler and a second by Morgan and all in favor I I any opposed okay motion carries 5 Z okay we'll move into the business portion of our meeting for the evening um we're going to consider the approval of our legislative priorities um so presenting will be Lauren hatch our chief legal counsel along with Chris balzano
048who is um who does our government relations and so we're we're happy to see I haven't seen you in a while Chris so it's nice to see you well good evening Madame President members of the board and Dr Cleveland I am Lauren hatch the district's Chief counsel and I have with me uh the distinguished Chris Bano it is that time of year again where we are preparing to uh make our case to the legislature on issues that are important to the district um my first slide here shows the uh there we go the uh uh the dates that are important this is a 60-day session so it can be any issue considered by uh the legislature as well as the budget um the most important date that's coming up very soon is December 13th and
049that's when we have to have our Capital outlay request submitted that'll be something that the board is considering tonight and then these are the uh the other deadlines involving Bill preparation hearing the bills in the legislature and when they become effective if give me the next slide these are the resolutions that the board discussed and approved uh on these different issues uh these all issues that we will pursue in the legislative session and uh but we wanted to talk with you about some other uh uh issues as well if you can give me the next slide these are some priorities that the uh Administration has uh identified uh for you to consider during Dr Cleveland's opening comments she mentioned the uh reduction in funding that the school district suffered during fiscal year 20125 overall that's
050the redline Banner we need to get that resolved and we will work to do that um but there's some other issues as well in 2023 during the regular session the legislature made a change to Capital outlay um the capital outlay process and how much state district match has to be paid in order to do a project they reduced the match that was required but that only lasted until fiscal year 2027 we would like to see that extended further into the future um this was a priority we looked at last year we would like to consider it again this year moving that uh Sunset date to fiscal year um 30 instead of 27 um another really important issue um as the legislature has been considering making changes to the funding formula um they have some uh
051things that they plan on tweaking in the formula but there are some priorities that the district has been pursuing for a few years um there is no factor in the funding formula to pay for CT e for security or for counselors which are three areas that the district has a very high priority on those things cost a lot of money we believe um the staff believes that it ought to be included in the funding considerations so we'd like to pursue that as well another item is um a few years ago the legislature really ratcheted down um and clarified who had to have a background check an FBI background check in order to be around student in order to ensure that the people who are working with our students are appropriately credentialed to do that U
052this is brought a couple of um uh difficulties for us and one of them is when we are are are trying to figure out um internships for students in the CTE program it's not clear um if they go and work for a facility that's outside of rear Ranch of public schools who has to be background checked and we'd like to work with the legislator see if we can get that clarified um an example would be let's say they get a an intern place at a a auto dealership where they're working on cars does everybody at that dealership have to be background checked and it's not clear from the it's not clear from the the statute at this point um and then finally um some some uh considerations with the K12 plus program um when they
053pass K12 Plus plus originally they were going to let uh both the elementary and the secondary schools count 60 hours of professional development as instructional time at the last minute the legislature made a change they allow at the elementary level you can do 60 hours but at the secondary level it's only 30 that creates a mismatch uh on what we can do with our teachers and we'd like to see that to be consistent is the proposal and then um as part of the funding decrease that we received in fiscal year 25 they eliminated a a belowthe line funding called out of school time and that allowed the district to fund after school programs for students they were very popular um we would propose that we we uh get funding back for that um those are
054the things that the staff and and administration would like to see would love to hear if you have any other ideas that we should add to that for consideration the session any thoughts questions and such um Jeff you want to you a question comment you looked like you were ready well you know yeah I'm always ready always ready yeah oh but I I don't have I reviewed the information uh I was a little uh unclear on the fy3 so I really appreciate you explaining that because I was like okay really I didn't know what that was so thank you for uh clearing that up but I don't have any questions and thanks for your time and thanks for the information as well okay Gary Jimmy just a question about what are we thinking about when
055it's we talk about clarifying background requirements so um a couple of years ago the legislature created some very specific statutes about who needs to be background checked if they're going to have unsupervised access to students and it says that every employee every volunteer every contractor every contractor's employee who may have unsupervised access to a student on a campus that they have to be background checked that's great the challenge is is what happens if they're not on our campus but they would be considered a contractor what is the requirement for background checks there can you do one background check and have them supervise the students do you have to have everybody background checked it's not clear so like if they're in a car dealership like your car dealership and they're doing an internship there do we
056have to get background checks for employe which would be very difficult to or can we do one employee that's their primary supervisor or something like that okay I guess does that answer your question yeah I I'm worried about if we just do one background check and then something happens and then we're liable yeah we pay a major lawsuit there's definitely some balancing there yeah so I don't know what the answer is but I just know that that it's a nightmare for contractors redoing a track and but I may have to be a a difficulty for an auto shop with 35 mechanics I mean we're talking about we're talking about our kids this is what I brought up when we we're going to do the auto mechanics with the CTE and and the contracts when you
057put kids with adults yeah you know you you you better be worried either there has to be a balance point there be B part um it's it's really important for our uh CTE students to have work experiences and we want to do it in a way that's safe but also complies with the with the law correct and cnms obligation or their their goal is to have every single student who's in a career path have a an experience with um with an internship so does that answer your question thank you I just yeah go ahead you you may not have this information but I wonder how many organizations out there that we work with that does not require background checks do we know that um any organization that the district works with where we have a
058contract relationship and that they will be working with students without supervision are background checked okay it is I want to say over a thousand it's a lot um if they were going to be working in a school and they're a contractor or contractor's employee they will be background checked a volunteer will be background checked all employees will be background checked for the companies that provide service for us correct yes if they would have unsupervised access to students yeah okay that's what the law says yeah before I go oh go ahead I'm sorry good and and that's a great policy I mean that that's need been needed in New Mexico before I go to the rest of the board did you have some something you want to add you know one here's one of the challenges
059then it is very difficult to balance it because a couple of years ago we were we were trying to get folks in to give Co and uh flu shots and they were Pharmacists and they go through a very extensive background check all pharmacist have to do that um but they were told they would have to do another and they said no thank you we're not going to do that and so ours is rigorous and we don't see the need for it to be double there's also a challenge in you get it one District you have to do it again you know you can't you can't uh we ran into some problems kind of ironically one time when some of our folks from the public Ed Department showed up and they didn't have background checks so
060we pulled out the piece of paper and said you've got to have it but it is it is difficult I I I know that they're already running into some problems and again I agree I don't know the answer to it um but they're going and talking to people about internships they have to pay they have to go do all all of this and the businesses are saying no we're not going to do it thank you so I don't know what the answer is because our young people desperately need those experiences yes there is liability and it's a very great liability if there ends up being a problem and so you know using all due caution really makes an awful lot of sense but we can't quite figure out how we're going to make this work
061if the people who have the business and so forth refuse to do it and so they will not do it um then that means that our our some of our young people will not be able to um to to work in that business and many cases it is you know maybe they don't have a background check but an awful lot of them they already have them but they're not ours they don't adhere to the rules and regulations that have set down so you know maybe a a compromise on this would be if you have a legitimate background check back you would expect you would accept that and you don't have to redo it uh every time you do something different so I think there is some common ground that could be a a a middleof
062the road approach rather than all or nothing no I think that's good okay thanks um Beth do you have any no I think you've answered my concerns I appreciate your research and your work in putting these together and I hope we do get some resolutions to these issues they're very important thank you and then Jessica no question I have a couple actually so when we were doing when we were doing CTE and we were really pushing CTE um I just remember I think it was who's Las cruus um representative or Senator that we used to talk to about CTE a lot um anyway s yes yeah yeah so he I remember him being like okay when it comes to CTE like what do you think we should do about it and kind of like put
063it back on us as far as what our thoughts were and how they could get this into the formula so I guess my question is is as we put like with CTE security and counselors because I think those are high on our list but when that question gets asked what are we gonna say back do we have any thoughts and plans on on what we can say to that I will look right at Mike Baker and tell me and say what are the [Music] numbers we we we will have ideas about what that would be okay okay I think you can infer from some of the the factors that are already in the formula what would be appropriate okay and then as we get those maybe some of those things could even come out to
064the board because I just remember that was a big thing and it wasn't even just from him I think that we had a few I think Craig Brant even asked us some some of our thoughts on that and so Chris did you want to add to it we're actually you want to talk about that Madame President superintendent um we spoke with one of our Senators in our delegation and the discussion this week at LFC well they were looking into a 1.25 to 1.30 increase in the unit value um for CTE but um our delegation believes that that's not enough C is expensive um and um so the discussion is there I believe that's going to go through the session and as you know um going to have to be up there and and remind them
065of hey you want a CTE but there is a cost for that and that's now how uh we do with such small value that that's how yeah I just like we just need to have a plan we need to have a plan and perhaps it ought to be limited to districts that are actually providing CT but you know not just a Clearing House of money well and I and I do think that that's really important probably for all of these you know especially for CTE is that there's some proofs that you're doing things and that it's available I mean we know that there's a lot of money sitting there so it's available to all but you have to actually be doing be doing it so okay so I know you have more that's coming up
066right on the sides I'm going to turn the time okay next slide please so um like any good government viations team um feedback from the board and I always receive feedback from the administration if there is anything there you're going to continue receiving the legislative reports you should already be receiving those um memorandums that we send with the reports of each committee that we have been monitoring in person there and traveling around the state um things are getting very busy this week and the following week before Thanksgiving and then I'll be in Santa Fe for the two weeks uh first two weeks of December monitoring the last committees with endorsement of legislation and other things are involving before the session starts and then January 5th the session technically starts that for me it's January 5th
067but the dates are there um we will send another email with all the important dates for you to know uh as well uh with information about reanal day and um the date that has going to be visiting there in the capital and then if there is any feedback and anything that you think you'll be important for you to know please shoot me a text message or give me a call send an email I'll be more than happy to provide that um there we go so that's uh just uh another thought or recommendation is um having that one-on-one contact with the new delegation that is coming up after lection um I'm going to work with Lauren on figure out those dates so that we can sit down with the legislators and letting them know what our
068legis priorities are what we are working on um again reemphasizing that Capital outlay deadline is December 13 at 12 o'clock at noon so make sure that we have that submitted and I'm working with the administration as well to get a copy of that so I can um continue doing my lobbying and securing those projects and then we have uh programmatic funding or growth what it's called right now um which is use for curriculum so um there is no really uh a deadline on that but that is something that I give that deadline to our clients that apply for that so so that way um when I'm there on on a roundhouse and A legislature CA me Chris I got some money for programmatic funding what we do we are ready with our projects for that
069that's it okay Dr Clen do you want to we can thank you for for for pulling all of this this together I think the uh one of the things I wanted to mention back on the the 60 hours for professional development um our teachers won't have any professional development uh the second semester no time to be together no time to plan no time to do all those really important things uh we sent a request for a waiver to the state it was not approved um but that time is really important and so we really do prioritize the uh our time with kids that's number one but there are times staff needs to get together and work on things and we're not going to have it second semester so that's really going to be hard for
070our teachers um and um when the assessment data comes in there's not going to be time to sit down and look at it talk about it you know it's so I'm really hoping that we can get that 60 hours back in is really uh important for our teachers to have the kind of time they need to plan and work together um on U on on what they teach and and to assess what their students are learning and then just one last uh you know just I I mentioned it before and I'll just say this again if we don't get that out of school time money back if we don't recover some of that loss from next year not being melodramatic I just say it's really important everybody knows we will be making some significant Cuts
071we're just going to have to and you know it's like every else uh it's okay to cut but just don't cut me or my department or my school or my as that's just human nature but everyone's going to feel this one if we're not able to get that resolved and so um we really need to work hard to uh to to try to deal with that I want to stress it is not a real Rancher Public Schools issue alone at all and we have some other districts that are having the same conversations right now with their boards so you know we may even need at some point to even talk talk with some of those boards about what you know what we might do in terms of being united uh and trying to get some
072of these these uh these things resolved and and I'm very hopeful if we work we we'll be able to do that but this is something that is going to impact our districts at all grade levels all schools all operations if we're not able to get it resolved right thank you and then rest of the board do you have any more questions or any comments on anything on this side either okay I guess I think we're good okay thank you thanks for coming I think we have to make oh we do we have to vote on it yes this is board member Tyler I will make a motion to approve the legislative priorities outlined this evening board member Jeff Morgan a second okay we got a motion in a second um J you want to take
073a roll call vote first US vice president Morgan yes secretary Tyler yes board member trip yes board member Miller yes president galberth yes motion carries 5 Zer okay awesome thank you thank you thank you Jessica Tyler for keeping me on task all right our next is to consider the approval of ITB number 2025 -007 faac Landscaping Maintenance and Michael Madrid our director of purchasing and chief procurement officer will present for president grith members of the board superintendent Dr Cleveland the action item before you this afternoon is to award ITB 20257 dfac Landscaping Maintenance the request is for a multiple award to be issued to Bright View out of Albuquerque Diaz's Landscaping management at of RI Rancho Mount sin Landscaping out of Albuquerque and Yellowstone Landscaping also out of Albuquerque this contract aims to uphold the
074maintenance beautification and safety standards for school grounds in a cost effective manner while ensuring consistent highquality care some of the services that will be performed under this agreement or this procurement are mowing edging trimming weeding and mulching tree and shrub maintenance irrigation system maintenance fertilization and weed control trash and debris removal Seasonal Services placement of wood chips and other services that may be required as Dr Cleveland mentioned earlier when she was going over the agenda these vendors have been identified as responsive they provided us the documentation as outlined in the ITB and with that I stand for questions okay any questions from the board go ahead know we have your Mich I know we had a a discussion about this a couple of board me meetings back but I brought up just about the the
075appearance around the uh schools and and I I I'm I'm thankful that we're we're getting something like this but I'm wondering is there a budget for you know we get a windstorm and an elementary principal calls and says you know from from the time the kids get off the car till they get into the school we got shrub all over the place and we need to get we have a little bit of a budget that we can help them especially with the seasonal and the and I think it's only going to be $45 an hour if I'm reading this right I hope board member trip um what the procurement does is establishes a mechanism for the facilities Department to secure those Services either on a regular maintenance scenario or the emergency type that you're describing
076and because we already have unit prices established we've already pre-identified uh successful vendors that have been vetted it gives them an opportunity to uh we'll call it an encumbrance or a blanket peia where they can put a block of money set aside for these emergency situation so they can just get on the phone a p is already established and they can have the ven provide those Services thank you any other questions I think Patrick wanted to add some well Patrick did you want to add or did you feel he was given like a yep we got it okay so yeah okay any so anything else on this one yeah I just wanna now we had to go with multiple companies because of the amount of work that needs to be done no sir the um
077the determination for multiples is is um Rio Rancho is probably one of many clients that these uh firms provide services to so we wanted to make sure that we didn't put ourselves in a position for the scenario that Mr trip just mentioned that uh we put ourselves that we just with one or two vendors and we can't get on their schedule for the Emergency situations so we feel that um based on the capacity of the vendors it's in our best interest to do the multiple award okay good enough thanks thank you by the I just want to add one more thing I like that that shirt you look real good in that and man when I lose 50 lbs I'm going to come after you and see if I can have you just look real
078nice in that outfit man I just want to tell you that the vest actually HIDs the pounds that me said I'll make the motion you can make the motion this is board member Jeff Morgan I'll make a motion for the consider of the approval of ITB number two for 2025-the do we need you want to add the do we need to add the you want to add the rest of them as well just add the vendors which are right under oh you know what I always forget that uh Tesa reminds me uh that is with Bright View DS Landscaping management Monty cyani Landscaping right did how you say that correct and Yellowstone Landscaping thank you I'll second that motion okay we got a motion um by okay we got a motion and in a second
079and all in favor on this I any any opposed okay motion carries 5 Z thank you Bard thank you I would just add come on up I just add something you know really good question board MERS trip because we had this big storm we had trees breaking all over everywhere and it was a lot of extra work and and it's good that we had several options to go out and be able to to start cleaning up and we do have a lot of work but in emergency situations that's when it really does become critical and so I appreciate that question it's really timely based on our last snowstorm and to touch on even the you know we were talking about background checks it's nice to have a group of contractors that have already been vetted
080they've gone through the background check process they have a crew that's ready to go at any given time so that that really saves us some time specifically in those emergency situations to just get someone out quick yeah so that's good so this is Patrick Martinez we're considering the approval of the uh capital outlay projects yes good evening uh president GTH uh Dr Cleveland members of the board I am here to uh present our FY 26 uh Capital outlay project requests um so the this year um very similar to last year we uh we have requests that uh consist projects from the following departments Athletics facilities food nutrition uh it and Safety and Security um um and it's it's important we've been very fortunate in the past to receive uh Capital Appropriations for uh very specific
081projects and as Dr Cleveland mentioned early on uh you know this isn't you know it's not all the need but it definitely helps you know we have a pretty hefty need in the district so uh you know all of these projects that we're able to get uh really help um so the first uh we have this evening is athletic projects um one of them being the reenal Middle School bleacher replacement um these ble these bleachers are well past their lifespan and we're continuing to have to maintenance them and um they're down for for multiple or for periods of time so it really is time to replace them um and then Cleveland High School gym floor uh we were fortunate to get a very small appropriation last year we requested this but it definitely wasn't enough
082uh to cover the entire floor um this floor has reached its lifespan we have uh one more sanding we can do on it before we uh we're no longer able to serice it anymore so we're really um working towards trying to replace this one um as far as facility projects um we are looking for c as parking lot again this is something that we requested last year as well um their parking lot is in in really bad shape you can see uh you know the image of the crack and and and that really is um throughout the parking lot so the goal would to be do a full replacement of their parking lot so that it's safe uh Cleveland High School uh staff parking very similar to this this uh has a lot of issues
083um a lot of cracking a large holes in it and you know we're doing our best to maintain it but it has become uh somewhat of an issue and then uh one thing uh we would like to look at is districtwide lighting controls um as our district grows um when it comes to specifically facility use um it's nice to not only manage our lighting exterior lighting uh remotely for uh Energy Efficiency is um Energy Efficiency but also for uh f ways if we can actually control lighting a lot better so if there's certain areas of uh specifically the high schools that we don't have to have all the lights on and we can uh we can pick and choose based on if there's events happening and then if for some reason they're not on it's
084an easy uh remote option to turn them on the next is uh for food nutrition uh Eagle Ridge Middle School again we had requested this one last year as well uh their floor seen a lot of issues a lot of VAR ation um in the in the elevation of the floor it's actually dropped in quite a few areas and so it's become an issue and so we want to make sure we can we can uh update that floor uh the next uh set of projects are specific to it um intercoms at both equal Ridge and reanal Middle School um again these are um it has done a great job of replacing intercoms uh with the IP intercoms and so this is just continuing their efforts there um and then districtwide network storage as well as
085districtwide servers again it because uh you know everything is Technology based now you know it's a constant need for upgrading and then Lincoln Middle School cafeteria AV um they're one of the middle schools uh currently that does not have a good AV system and lastly Safety and Security um we are going to be requesting $600,000 for uh districtwide perimeter fencing and then 150 for security surveillance upgrades um and the image you see there is uh Lincoln Middle School and that was the last appropriation we got um to do fencing and um Safety and Security has done a great job we work closely with them to uh really kind of hone in our perimeters uh for the schools and and make them look nice and so we've come up with a good um a good uh
086plan of action for our schools and so this is just to continue the progress to um just make our school safer while keeping them looking um very nice so with that I stand for questions okay um Dr Cleveland did you want to add anything I I just have a question on one thing um and you they're showing the crack in the the parking lot uh you know s San Vista Cleveland all open the same year and um and we all have cracks that look like that what what causes that kind of Separation that kind of severe separation of the asphalt what we found is that some of those School specifically um the base course that was provided when they were built wasn't sufficient and so with our Sandy um you know the sand that we
087get around here if you don't have sufficient base course eventually that starts to build and then shift um and so really that that's a lot of what's happening with those so if we were to replace them we'd have to dig down fairly deep and provide some engineered fill plus you know a very a thick mat of base course and then the asphalt to really uh prevent it from shifting as much as it has over time they are really dangerous MH very easy for people to fall um but I said the needs are very great and this is as far as it goes but uh I do think these are really needed projects and um the challenge is of course the Pro price of every one of these projects is going up almost daily okay other
088questions um Jessica or no no questions question go ahead Gary one follow up with Dr cleman and another one who signs off when that like asphalt is complete do we or is there inspector that comes in that signs off on it well there there was so now uh what we do is we we hire um geotechnical um companies specifically anytime we do anything with a lot of obviously like buildings but anything with site work that they um they do compaction tests um and on top of that a lot of the standards have changed over time uh with what's required um for our CL you know for our area um in terms of uh the layers of matting that need to happen for asphalt um and so you know it's just gotten better and better over
089time my my last question is Cleveland High School gym it's it's our newer high school and we're placing the the gym floor did we not purchase a quality gym floor to start off with or because you said it's got one more sand to go oh interesting enough uh what I've learned learned is that yes actually the gym was uh there's a certain level of you know thickness that you can uh purchase you know when you do a gym floor and unfortunately I think at the time what I understand is that we went a little bit thinner when uh when the school was built and so over time we have to we have to service these every year and they and they do require ever so often a sanding and they can only handle so much
090before um you're getting to you know they'll start cracking is what will happen and so yeah unfortunately Cleveland was built with a little bit of a not as thick wood and then just overtime and really the heavy use you know these gemms are used quite a bit and so um you know maintaining them does require you know that level of sanding and you can go all over the state and see gyms that have had the same floor for 50 years but I thank you for that clarification I think that's probably what we did we went a little and just for the record that that Jim Floy is only 15 years old so yeah and that again that's my understanding we you know I've learned a lot with specifically this gym floor because we've looked at
091it what are we able to do how long can we prolong it and really that's from our vendors that's what's come up is that you know there are different levels of so the goal would be to when we replace it is to definitely put something with a longer lifespan on it thank you any other questions or comments from the board jeffanie it's always bunny yeah yes down and and and like a lot of projects that at toward the end was getting pretty tight um is we wrapped up the construction of that school but to your point a a thicker a floor would have probably paid off and might have had it a little longer so um that's always a struggle this is board member Tyler I'll make a motion to approve fiscal year 26 Capital
092alley projects I second the motion all right we got a motion by jica Tyler second by Beth Miller and let's go ahead and do a roll call vote on this J Vice President Morgan yes secretary Tyler yes board member trip yes board member Miller yes president galberth yes motion carries 5 Z awesome thank you thank you appreciate it um so next is our first reading um for changes to policy 209 agendas um in order of business so tonight we will not be voting on this it'll be in our December meeting good evening again Madame President members of the board Dr Cleveland uh I bring to to you some proposed changes a proposed change to policy 209 um this is the policy that kind of outlines how the board Builds an agenda for a meeting and
093one of the things that includes on page two is kind of uh the outline that a board meeting uh agenda would follow um there's a proposal to change the public comment period from right after the accommodations to right after the reports and the reason for that that change uh there's a few reasons for it one is we often have people uh wanting to hear the commendations and then we have uh reports that people want to talk about in their public comments this would allow them to comment on something after they've heard the presentation and then if they wanted to comment on something that was a business item it would give them a chance to comment before the item is heard and the board has to vote um we just think that would be a better
094positioning for it and I stand for any questions yeah any questions from the board um Gary or Jeff over do you want to add anything Dr I I would just add you know that uh also when sometimes we have people coming in uh you know to present the district with a an award or a check or whatever and uh and they're wanting to do that and then go on uh they have to sit there and wait through some of those other things and it just seems discourteous to people who are coming uh for that kind of purpose I I want to stress it is before the business so um that's I think the most important thing is that that comment is heard before the board does take any action and uh and sometimes reports are
095exactly if they had heard the report uh it might have answered some of those questions so uh I don't think it's much of a time difference maybe a little bit but it's still before any action of the board would be taken so I think it's good unless anyone else has any changes on that one um so we'll hear back in December 9th I think is our next meeting so it'll be on that one so okay all right thank you appreciate it okay um as far as advanced planning we have Elementary conferences and Thanksgiving coming up there's going to be a bus rider Count Day on the 2nd of December our next meeting December 9th um if you're going to the annual convention at the Embassy Suites that will be the 12th through the 14th and
096then we have a nice long break from the 23rd to the 3rd so any questions on any upcoming as far as on the calendar okay so our meeting tonight's aour thank you everyone