April 28, 2026 - Regular Board Meeting - Clovis Municipal Schools

001Good evening. I'd like to welcome everyone to our Clovis Municipal Schools board meeting. It's nice to see a full house. I'm anxious to hear all the good good stories and everything. So, with that uh we have a roll call, please? Yes, sir. President Cordova. Here. Vice President Hamilton. Here. Secretary Martin. Here. Member Osborn. Here. Member Weigle. Here. Okay, we do have a quorum this time. Mr. Martin, would you lead us in the pledge and salute? I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. I salute the flag of the state of New Mexico, the Zia symbol of perfect friendship among united cultures. Here. Thank you, Mr. Martin. Okay, let me Okay, we'll move

002down to the consideration of the agenda. Do we have a motion? I'll make a motion to approve. Motion by Mr. Hamilton. I'll second. Second by Mr. Weigle. All in favor? I. Opposed? Motion carries. All right, we'll move uh down to the consideration of the minutes. Approval of the minutes. Do I have a motion? I move to approve the minutes from the 32426 meeting. We have a motion by Ms. Osborn. I'll second. Second by Mr. Hamilton. All in favor? I. Opposed? Motion carries. Okay, we'll move down to the consent agenda. Are there any questions on the consent agenda? I do not have any questions, Mr. Cordova. Okay, if there are no questions, then we'll I'll ask for a motion. I'll make motion to approve that consent agenda. Okay, I have a motion by Mr. Weagle. I'll

003second. Second by Ms. Osborne. All in favor? Hi. Motion carries. All right. Uh Mr. Nace. Thank you, Mr. President. So, we are going to get to celebrate a lot of student success tonight. And this isn't all the success. We'll get to celebrate even more next month, but because a lot of you are here tonight, you're kind of singing for your supper because you're coming to talk about how awesome that you've done, but you're also coming to the board with requests for a bit of travel. Some of you going on to the next level. So, that we can be efficient, if you're coming up and celebrating your wins and your successes, let's talk about that first, and then you can briefly talk about the trip so that the board will have that information at the same

004time. You only have to come up once. So, will that work? All right. And then, just a reminder, if a whole bunch of you are coming up, it's really helpful if you line up this way and face outward so that we can snap your picture and the crowd can see your shining accomplished faces, all right? Okay, so we're going to start with an update. I don't see Ms. Shelley Smith, but I do >> She's way back there. Come on up. Come on up. Let's celebrate our amazing shape. Hello, board. Thank you for having us again. I am here to share some amazing news. Actually, I'm going to let these students share the amazing news. It was truly a spectacular time, but I'm not going to steal their thunder. We've shared with 107.5, and I would

005like to share for you. So, we won't ask for anything till next year. So, we'll just thank you. Mr. Nace, help me out. To start, I just want to say thank you for everyone who has supported us through the journey, and thank you to the board for helping us go to UIL with all of you guys with all you guys couldn't have done it. To start, The Amazing Shake wasn't just a journey for me, but it was a journey for everyone who went with us. It taught us multiple things from kindness to meeting new people to accepting new people and learning from those people, also. The Ron Clark Academy taught me so much from being able to express my feelings because I felt loved either way, even if I was being goofy or weird, I

006just felt accepted no matter what. And once again, I just wanted to say thank you from all of the experience. I mean, what you did here, you would have to do a hundred times more in Atlanta, Georgia. And I just want to say thank you to everybody who supported us, and thank you so much. It's great, by the way. It's pretty It's pretty insane. She's I didn't She was a fifth grader when I first saw her. I was like, what? But following up on what Sophia said, I do want to thank Superintendent Russ and members of the board for allowing us to be able to go to Atlanta, cuz it truly was a one in a once-in-a-lifetime experience. And continuing to follow up, I do think that here in Clovis we actually did prepare ourselves

007pretty well to go to Atlanta. Like she said, when you go to Atlanta, you definitely got to express yourself times 100, but here, a lot of stuff that we do with the gauntlet and work the room actually came into play really well in Atlanta, whether it be improvising or being able to hold a conversation and give a quality conversation in a certain amount of time. That really did help by practicing here in Clovis, and I think we have a really good thing going, and it made Atlanta just easy to have fun and enjoy the experience, and just it's a competition. So, just have fun and enjoy yourself while you're there, and I think that's a key part in doing well and progressing is if you're having fun, then that automatically opens the door to doing

008well at The Amazing Shake. And I just want to thank everyone here again for the amazing opportunity to go to the amazing Shake. And what Mr. Humble Barrio did not share is he did score in the top 10%. Miss Sophia scored in the top 25% out of 521 students. So thank you, thank you, thank you. Do you guys have anything to add to this? Would anybody like to share anything with them or comment on I just think that it's very impressive and you guys conduct yourselves extraordinarily well. So, congratulations and thank you for representing us so well. We're we're excited about the future for both of you. Thank you. I agree. Thank you, guys. We're very proud of you. Congratulations. I'd like to ask Mr. Grayson to remain at the podium. He's joined by Miss

009Bloomer for yet another accomplishment that he's had since returning from the Amazing Shake. And this is connected to one of the trip requests. So, go ahead and turn that over to him. I'm Miss Stephanie the Bloomer. I am a GT teacher at Gattis. Um and Grayson was one of five students that went to National History Day state competition in Albuquerque a couple weeks ago and he placed first in the state in his individual documentary. These judges were so complimentary of his documentary that they I mean, some of the quotes on there were, "This is something I would see from PBS. This is something I could see um on the History Channel." It was done so well. And Grayson and his competitors did such a great job. Um but one of the things that they said

010was they were so happy that he came up, he introduced himself, he was dressed professionally, and he they said that they felt important. The judges said they felt important when Grayson walked in that room. Um I know Mr. Weagle's daughter got to participate last year when she was in GT, and they also give some cash awards, and I believe she also won. Yeah, but she bought us dinner afterwards. So Nice. Um and Grayson actually has the opportunity, and I have the opportunity to attend um the National History Day National competi- competition in College Park, Maryland in June. Um and we uh would love to be able to go and provide Grayson and um with some great opportunities to use his amazing shake um uh lessons that he learned. Um we also are also looking at

011getting to visit uh Senator uh Ben Ray Lujan, uh and getting that that's set up for um for all of us that are going to be able to go. So um do you guys have any questions for me? Any questions from the board? Comments? Thank you. Sounds awesome. >> I imagine Mr. Lujan would be more than happy to see some kids from his state. Grayson, do you have anything that you'd like to say? I just wanted to cover a little bit on what National History Day is. So No, no, no, no, no, no. That's not a not a jab to you at all. Don't take it that way. But National History Day is a competition, and every year students are given a theme. This year's theme was reaction, reform, and revolution within history. And in

012that theme, you are able to participate in a certain category where you can express that theme in whatever you want, whether it be a documentary like I did, or a board, or a process paper, or not process paper, just paper, or any performance website. And I chose an individual documentary because I'm I love film. I'm a huge Steven Spielberg fan. And recently after going to New York, I went to the September 11th Museum and I was really inspired and I feel like I could really connect this topic with the reforms and the qualities expressed after 9/11 in American architecture. And I just was so excited because the thing about NHD is that you're not given something to talk about. You're given that theme, but you can do whatever you want with that theme. It's It's

013more simple than it sounds. And I just I love that about NHDs cuz it gives you you're able to express what you want to express. You get to research what you want to really what really interests you and I think that's something that every student should be able to do. This is the first from Clovis to qualify for a national competition. Um and um we actually hired a our new volleyball coach. She is experienced at NHD at the high school level. Um and so we would love to see maybe it go on to the high school level. Um you know, our GT kids need that extra oomph to get them over the edge and to show um what they're made of and and Grayson definitely did that this year. And I have to say when

014this trip request came in, I was like, "Wow, our young kids and they're just killing it, too. This is the eighth grader." And so I do want to add that we do have a parent or the parents are also accompanying on this trip because we haven't even reached high school yet. So we got lots of good things to look forward to. Ms. Bloomer, thank you for everything you do for our kids. My daughters all went to your program. All three of them fight to see which one that you like the best. But you know, what you do with these kids is amazing. >> Don't tell them which one is which. But, really, I've been all I'll say thank you for everything. 24 years in this district and all 24 years have been here um teaching

015and I just appreciate everything you guys do for us and and how you support our students because it's definitely paying off. Thank you. That's great to hear. >> Thank you. Thank you. Thank you, too. Good evening, Superintendent Russ, President Cordova, members of the board. Thank you so much for having me today. Um I'd like to give you just a few highlights of uh the band program and what we've been up to since school I last spoke in the fall. Uh and then we do also have a a trip request that I'd like to bring to your attention as well. Um so, we'll begin with uh the end of last semester we had our uh annual all-district band auditions that involve um schools uh across our districts of Lovington, Portales, Artesia, Hobbs, Roswell, and of course

016ourselves. Um And we had uh a lot of our students audition. Uh we hosted in Clovis. Um and they they select two uh high school ensembles, two middle school ensembles. That um the middle school level, there's 130 slots and 60 of our middle schoolers uh earned slots in that band. Um so, the right about close to 50% of uh the participants were from Clovis middle schools. And then at the high school level, there's about 160 slots and we had 90 high schoolers um make the all-district band. So, um wonderful percentages for both of those. Uh we were represented well. And that event took place in Hobbs um in uh late January. And then moving into the to the rest of the semester, we had our uh annual music performance assessment. Uh we hosted at our

017new newly renovated Marshall Auditorium. Got a lot of compliments on that from uh visiting schools, which was wonderful to see. Um all of our bands that competed there uh both high school and middle school um just to give you a background again, I know some of you are aware of how this works, but um you you have three judges that judge a stage performance, and then you have a judge that judges a sight reading format where they receive a piece of music uh and within 10 minutes they have to be able to read it and perform it live for a judge. Um and the highest rating that they can get is a superior, which is a one. Lowest would be a five. Um all of our high high school and middle school bands that competed,

018three high school bands, two middle school bands, all received superior ratings across the board from every single judge. >> Wow. So, it was a a huge accomplishment for our district as well. Um also uh speaking of of accomplishments, the growth of the of the high school program um this last year or so has been wonderful. Now, with the freshman academy up at the high school uh we were able uh in the past it was uh only possible for us to do about three concert bands in the spring semester. We we have now expanded to four concert bands. Uh which is huge. That's a that's a great sign. Um and speaking of enrollment, looking to uh the eighth graders coming up in the the marching band and all that fun stuff for next year um this

019year I believe we're at about 240 students when it was all said and done. Right now, we're looking at about 285 for this coming season. Uh so, very exciting stuff. I'm very excited to see the growth and the retention of our kids. Um and and you know, we're just rocking and rolling as we as we continue on. Um I also wanted to bring to your attention and I saw it's already in the announcements, but uh we have all band night on Thursday, May 7th. We'd love to see you all there. Um that'll be at the Rock at 7:00 p.m. Uh on the 7th. Um and then we also have our band banquet on May 8th, the the night the next night at the First uh United Methodist Church across from Yucca. Uh you all all

020are more than welcome to attend that as well. And I believe that's all I have for the uh announcement portion. Um and then I'd like to bring your attention to um our request. Um I was contacted um and told uh and let and let know that the New Mexico public public education department had nominated us among about eight other bands in the state of New Mexico to be able to participate in the Memorial Day parade in Washington D.C. next May, May of 2027. Um it it was a very small percentage of high school bands that received the the endorsement and the invitation from the PED as well as from uh the governor. And so um I thought it was one of those opportunities that I had to bring to your attention and I think it

021would be one of those, you know, um lifelong memories that we could we could make as an ensemble. And it's a I believe it's, you know, one of the biggest parades that the Clovis High School band would have would participate in since probably the Macy's parade in the '80s. So it'd be wonderful to get back to to kind of showing out um at a national level. That's awesome. Yeah. What an honor. It's It's exciting to hear the numbers keep growing. Absolutely. And I don't think we'll have a snowstorm in May. Here's to hoping. Well, again, uh thank you for everything which you do. It's a lot of kids that you have to keep your eyes on. I don't know how you do it, but uh again, my my girls went to the band program. They

022loved it and my youngest daughter is a part of it. She loves it. So thank you and and all your directors for everything that you do. Um and and yeah. Thank you. Tell your kids congratulations. So proud of them. Thank you all. Thank you all for your support as always. We appreciate everything you guys do for us. We really do. They've brought the the bringing the trip request now because it's going to be lots of fundraising. We want to give them, you know, ample time. About a year to be able to fundraise. Makes sense. Awesome. Thank you. Thank you very much. >> Thank you. Mr. Lee. Well, good evening. Thank you for having us up here again. Uh we got to go and compete at the state competition. Well, it's been about 3 weeks ago,

023first little bit of April. We took five or six teams down there. Kids had a heck of a time. It was It was truly amazing. We've worked hard all this spring semester going to invitationals and really kind of getting our workouts in, seeing where we needed to improve. And kids they they just knocked it out of the park when we got down there state. We were uh able to go down there and our land team, we've been working at this for about 3 years now. We were able to go down there and uh get first place in the state. So, we brought back home a gold plaque and a nice banner and a wonderful opportunity to go to Oklahoma to compete at the national level that I'll talk about here in a little bit. Our

024agronomy team, they uh they really kicked it in gear this year. This is the second year Miss Blackburn's trained that team. And uh the kids went down there and and really I mean, they were I mean just a couple points behind getting another state championship on that. They got second place and the wonderful thing in both them boys right there, they were uh fourth and fifth high individuals in the state as well. So, not only team did well, but the the boys did as well. Uh Claire she uh she competes on our floral team. She uh she had the top team She really did well and uh she was fifth high individual, right? Okay. And then our land team, like I said, we uh we kind of we the the girls and and the guy

025on the team, it was it was pretty cool because we had three individuals score in the top top five of the the entire state. And so, the way this contest works, they take the three highest scores and that's what counts as the team score. So, we kind of had it in the bag. It's pretty nice to I I had to think about that, but uh but, you know, they they really It was a wonderful trip. Kids did really well. Lots of success for us this year. Y'all got anything y'all want to add to that? It's very quiet. It's very quiet. It's very quiet. Let's see y'all. Yeah. There you go. Oh, yeah. So, with that being said, we are asking permission to to go to El Reno, Oklahoma. Uh we will leave with y'all's approval

026next Tuesday. We get to go up there and compete on the national level for the land competition. It's a wonderful opportunity. You know, like I said, everyone I was looking through old scores from last week. We got teams coming in from North Dakota, West Virginia. I mean, it's truly everyone comes down and and brings their best. So, very excited about the opportunity to go see where we stand in that. Have you done any tornado drills? Done our tornado drills. Yes, Ms. Blackman has already made sure that the hotel is all equipped with tornado provisions and that. Blair, could we get some flowers for Mother's Day? I'll let you know. I'm making any arrangements. >> All right. Well, y'all have any questions for us, we'd be glad to answer them. I just want to thank you

027and Ms. Blackman for the hours, just like every all the people who've been coming up, that you spend preparing these kids to be the best, so thank you. Thank you. And thank you kids kids for doing it, so it's awesome. Yeah, we're super proud of you guys. Perfect. Thank y'all. Congratulations. Ms. Garcia, are up to CLA? I think these are not the quiet ones. I think you will. Oh. All right. Good evening, President Cordova, Ms. Russ, members of the board. We are Clovis High School FCCLA, and we are here to give you an update on some of the things we've done since the last time we visited with y'all in the fall. Most notably, we did attend our state conference in Albuquerque from March 29th to April 1st, and we had a lot of success

028over there. So, students, of course, we're working with leadership development. We had 10 different workshops at the state level that we had our members participating in ranging from all sorts of topics. So, they're learning those leadership skills that they can come and apply back in our communities. We had a really good keynote speaker, Eric Jackson, who gave this message of not letting your past define your future. I've been to all sorts of keynote speeches, national-level, state ones. He, personally, my second favorite of all time. So, I think his message definitely instilled with a lot of these kids. Yes, you liked our speaker? Yes. So, I did serve I am of course chapter president for FCCLA here at Clovis High School, and I also completed my tenure as state president for Clovis High School, and Jose

029Llamas completed his term as vice president at the state level. Wow. And we did have two officers elected to serve on our state level, being Jose being elected as president for the state, and Miss Isabel being elected as first vice president for the state. So, I will pass it over to them to give a little bit of their information on how state conference went. Hello, everyone. So, this year New Mexico had a statewide community service project called Read to Me. So, it was a book drive located in Albuquerque, and basically it provides books to low-income neighborhoods. Um it goes directly to schools and individuals themselves. And this year our chapter raised 876 books for the state, which was among the top schools in the state to donate. And all of our members donated, right? Right?

030Yeah. While we were there, we also competed for STAR Events, which are Students Taking Action With Recognition. So, we compete in a bunch of different FCS-related events. So, FCS is Family Consumer Sciences Education, which relates to all of your Home Ec kind of subjects. So, Ms. Garcia actually teaches clothing, child development, anything related to education, sewing, culinary is what FCCLA is all about. So, in these events, they are divided in between state and national events. And so, we had um 36 students compete in both state and national events. Four placed with bronze, and these medals are divided in between scores, not so much placement for a second, third. So, all of these students that placed bronze got above an 80. 22 got above a 86. And 13 got gold placements, which which is a 90%.

031So, these are based on oral presentation and the quality of their projects, such as portfolios. Some of them made trifolds, and they presented them to a group of judges. And then, um you have different categories. So, they they placed very well among these students. Um of these students, 23 who competed in a national event, um 19 qualified for nationals in Washington, D.C., which takes place July 5th through 11th. And to address the elephant in the room, we were awarded the state championship for FCCLA this year. So, So, for the way the state championship works within FCCLA is you design this whole portfolio that showcases everything your chapter does throughout the year, all the community service activities, the documents of your organization, some standards that the PED sets in place on the strength and health of

032your organization. So, we go through as a chapter, our officers and Ms. Garcia, we all get together and we design this big portfolio throughout the year and it's of course also based on our competitive event results both at the state and national level. So, we presented that and we were awarded the state championship, which not just this year, that makes us back-to-back state champions. And one more update for y'all before I pass it over to Ms. Garcia to talk about our proposal to attend nationals in Washington, D.C. We of course have been completing lots of community service this year. Right now, our total is sitting at 2,300 hours of community service. So, thank you guys for your time and I'll pass it on over to Ms. Garcia to talk about our nationals trip. Um so,

033our trip to um if approved of course is to Washington, D.C. This is our first really big trip uh to Washington in my 30 years, I've never gone to Washington, D.C. with kids. So, this is a really big one along with it being the 250th anniversary. Um it it's going to be a very interesting and um trip for the students. We had 19 of them qualify. And so, um they would really enjoy and of course, we want them to compete. Last year, we had four of our students place in the top 10. So, I want to see how many we can get this year. I'm sorry. I bet you can get me. >> Yeah. Yeah, but you will. Are there any questions? >> Any questions from the board? Comments? Questions from the Congratulations to you

034guys. It's awesome. State championship. And thank you for all the community service. I see you guys out there all the time helping everybody out, so. I'd just like to say David, it seemed like every time I see you, I'm either shrieking or you're growing. Oh, Mr. Well, see there it is. That's all right. I'll walk in, yeah. Yeah, I mean That's all right. Yes. Anyone else? Nope. Congratulations, guys. >> guys. Mr. President, we also have uh Yuca and Gaddis FCCLA here, so it would just be a good time to bring them up and they can speak about their trip too, because they have trip requests, so. One of those. They got so many of these. You can think everywhere. Yeah, they come in and they follow you. Bless. You can see them. They're all over

035the place. Well, I do want to say thank you for every time I've asked for something for FCCLA this year, the district has said yes. And so it's really incredible to know that anytime something comes up, you guys are always supporting us, so I do greatly, greatly appreciate that. I had 20 student No, I'm sorry. I 20 students attend regionals, 12 of those all of them qualified for state. I took my top 12 to state and from there, my top five have made it to nationals and this would be a really great opportunity for them to explore Washington D.C. for the first time. I had a parent meeting um and discussing the opportunity with them and it was really exciting to hear that the students are like, "Can we go to the Holocaust Museum? Can

036we go visit the White House?" and just to see that eagerness for them to also explore the capital while we're there is very exciting. I also love that the high school being here today my kids look up to them so much. They see what they're doing at the high school level and it really pushes them to want to continue to grow and want to stay with FCCLA. At this age group, it's very these projects are very difficult. Some of these slide presentations are 60 70 slides researching things like entrepreneurship, how to open a business or being FCS educator researching post-secondary education when they're in the eighth grade is incredible that they have that forethinking making lesson plans researching nutritional value and so they've really impressed me this year. Um The Yucca kiddos are up here

037as well and I don't totally want to speak for them but I do want to brag on them a little bit. They donated the most books at state this year. How many books did you guys have? 2,000? Two they brought over 2,000 books to state. So they're definitely crushing it as well and on behalf of Gattis we just want to say thank you and we would definitely appreciate the opportunity to go to nationals and Quinn. Quinn was my state officer this year. It is the last year they will have a middle school state officer representing FCCLA at the New Mexico level. So she's kind of our last one but I would like to her just to share a little bit if that's okay. So just like Ms. Wiggin said, I am officially the last ever

038junior vice president of programs for New Mexico FCCLA, but I'm also the last ever middle school officer to ever run for New Mexico FCCLA and serve a term, which is very sad, but also like really overwhelming cuz I'm officially no longer in my term, but it was a really amazing experience to be able to do that and have my support from Ms. Wiggins overall throughout my entire year. She was amazing help for me being able to run statewide. Um again, to a little um brag on Yucca, they did win for highest amount of books given cuz we had that book drive kind of like Jose said earlier for the high school. They did bring the most amount of books for all of New Mexico, so they did really good with that. And I want to

039brag on them for a little bit with that. We had a bunch of people qualify for nationals. Our top five, including me, we all did really good and it'd be a really amazing experience. I know me, I'm really interested to be able to do this over overall. It's a really big experience for me and I know I could speak for all of us when we say this, it'd be a pretty much life-changing experience for all of us. And I do want to say really quick, thank you guys for all you do supporting FCCLA in general, but also our middle school chapters cuz I'm big about membership for middle school chapters and all you do to help build that is amazing. Thank you. Thank you. Congratulations. Natalie, did you have anything to add? I just noticed

040Olson is online. I don't know if you guys had a plan to say something. Otherwise, again, board, thank you guys so much for supporting the middle schools. We really appreciate it. Can I say one more thing about Yucca? Sorry, I love the Yucca kids also. Every student that competed for FCCLA at Yucca, every student that competed, every student qualified. So, they did excellent. So, congratulations. Okay, shifting gears to Miss Cordova with our Wakonut. Hello, members of the school board, Superintendent Russ. Good evening and members of the cabinet. My name is Gracie Tatum and this is Aubrey Parkin and we're proud to represent the Clovis High School Wakonut dance team. Uh this past year has been an incredible journey marked by growth, dedication, and success. We have competed in five competitions this past year, um including

041the national contest in Orlando, Florida, which is really exciting where we had the opportunity to perform alongside some of the top dance teams in the country. This competition pushed us to improve, work harder, and represent our school with pride. Our most successful competition took place in Amarillo, Texas, which was this recent March. Um where our team achieved an unforgettable sweep of awards. We were honored to receive outstanding team and award voted on by other teams as well as the prestigious Wow Factor award given to only the elite programs. We were also named the overall winner across all divisions and earned the academic award for having the highest combined GPA of of all teams at the competition. These accomplishments reflect not only our performance ability, but also our commitment to excellence in the classroom. None of

042this would be possible without the unwavering support of those around us. We would like to extend our sincere thanks to the Clovis Board of Education, the administration and staff of Clovis High School, our parents and our community. Your encouragement and support allow us to continue striving for greatness both on and off the dance floor. So, we just want to say thank you and for believing in our program. Something. Any comments, questions for the coach or anything? Congratulations. Thank you. I did want to clarify that his girls are also my girls and our girls went through all of these programs, not just But it's fine. It's good. Do that right there. Who's doing dishes tonight? We just really appreciate, you know, all of these trip requests coming through. You guys have always supported us and we

043appreciate that so much and the opportunities that it gives these kids to travel the long distances and to compete and to do all of the things are just like as one one of the the kids said, life-changing for them and it's, you know, when when we come back and we do all cadet reunions and coach it I just that was the greatest trip ever and it just it just makes memories and we appreciate everything and the support that um that everyone gives us um year after year and we thank you. I don't I'd like to just make a comment. Uh uh. Uh as far as a GPA, it seemed like everywhere we go, it doesn't matter where they come where the competition is, they always seem to bring that top trophy and I'd like to,

044Miss Tatum, would you please share with us uh you know, your future plans and and all the accomplishments that you Well, um I have I have a 4.51 GPA right now. Um and I was recently awarded the Toma scholarship, which is a full ride to Oklahoma State University, where I plan to attend next semester. Oh my goodness. Wow. Congratulations. Thank you. Right here in Clovis, huh? And Gracie's just winning. I mean, we we have some great girls. So, thank you. Thank you. For everything. Thanks. Do you want One more. Number two the 10. >> Bring our pilot victim walking so I'll just get the two people. I think so. And the audience. You're here. He is found. Good evening, Mrs. Russ and board members. We just want to thank you for having us here this

045evening. This is the Clovis High School powerlifting team. I'm going to let two of them go ahead and start talking before I kind of take over. I'll let them speak a little bit. Hello, my name is Emily Betterly and I'm a senior from Early College High School and I'm also a member of the Clovis powerlifting team that competed at state this year. I want to start by thanking Miss Russ and the school board for supporting our team and giving us the opportunity to represent Clovis High School. Powerlifting is built around three lifts: squat, bench, and deadlift. Each lifter gets three attempts at each lift and the best successful attempt from each one is added together for a final total. The total is what determines state qualification. To make it to state, you have to finish

046in the top eight for your weight class across all 5A. That means our lifters were not just competing against athletes at one meet. Their totals were compared against lifters from across the entire state. Each person who qualified for state was one of the eight strongest athletes in their weight class in 5A. This year our boys had a great showing at state. Andrew Escobedo placed fourth, Landon Echavarria placed fifth, and Christian Echavarria placed seventh. Our girls also represented Clovis well. Hope Butterfield placed fourth, Elizabeth Anaya placed fifth, and Nat Muñoz placed sixth. I was also honored to finish as state champion. What makes this team's successful success so special is that it took months of training, early mornings, hard practices, discipline, and lots of mental toughness. We are also very fortunate to have coaches who invested

047so much time into us. They pushed us, encouraged us, corrected us, and believed in us even when we were not sure what we were capable of. For me, the past 3 years in Clovis powerlifting have been some of the best years of my life. I have been to state three I have been to three state championships, but more than that, I have gained friendships, confidence, and memories that I will carry with me for long after high school. Thank you for supporting Clovis powerlifting and allowing us to represent Clovis High School at the state level. Hi. Hi, I'm Mariana Zuniga. I'm a freshman, and I am a part of the powerlifting team. I made uh state my eighth grade year when I felt like I didn't fit in with any other sport. But with this sport

048individuals become a team if that makes any sense. So like this sport is all surrounded by you. If you're going to go up there and lift and you're going to train, push yourself as hard as you want, but you got to push for your team as well. So it's kind of like more than just you, but it is just you. I just said the same thing. Sorry, guys. Um I get nervous up here. Um it's more than just the three lifts. It's if you're going to get it. If you're going to hit your depth on squat. If you're going to listen to commands. If you're going to lock out on deadlift. But even then, you got to work your on your like you got to work on your techniques. You got to fail so so

049you could succeed. And for me, I did end up going to state, but I bombed out last minute. So that was kind of a bummer, but I know what I get to work on next year. And I'm so glad to have all these people as my friends because like I feel more welcome and more comfortable cuz they push me every day when I don't want to put the weight on. And you got to be comfortable with being uncomfortable. You got to wear them singlets. You got to freaking sweat in there. You got to just It's so nasty, but it's worth the medals and the friendships and the memories. But it's more than just working out. It's more like the bus rides, the traveling, the getting to know people around in Mexico. It's pushing yourself every

050day when you don't want to. When you wake up in a bad mood, you still got to go to practice. You still got to lift. And for me, even when I'm in a bad mood, lifting like changes my whole mood. And I just want to say like thank you to my coaches and like my friends for pushing me every day. When I made state as a 8th grader, it was pretty exciting to go up there and meet a bunch of new people. And when we had like four meets this season and there's a thousand Yeah, 1,200 boys that competed at state and we had three boys compete from our division here. And then we had 950 girls and we had I think like four four girls compete from Clovis. So, it was exciting to go

051see. And it's more you can't explain the feeling. You got to be there to understand it. Because it's just so wonderful to be up there, see the lights, get under that pull and know that you want to lift that day. I don't know what else to say. Thank you guys. So, when Ray says that she bombed out, she she competed and so the first competition that they go through is squat. Squat is the hardest because you have to get really low and I mean low and they know that and that's what we struggled with and we knew it going in it was going to be a struggle and we just couldn't it was so she didn't go low enough and so she got red flagged on each attempt and so that's when she meant by

052when you bomb out. She's no longer allowed to keep on competing after that at that point. So, unfortunately but she this was her second year back at state which is awesome and so I told her we're going to be back again and next time I'm going to have you on that podium. So, I told her last year, mark my words you're going to be back again, mark my words you're going to be on that podium next year. So, Um, just a real quick little stats that I wanted to give about our season this year. Um, we had an outstanding season. I'm very proud of the athletes that represented us. They represented us very well and I forgot to introduce my assistant, coach Hatchett. Um, and he also was a tremendous help to our athletes and

053pushed us really as that we needed especially the boys they needed that push. Uh, Clovis Wildcat meets brought in 163 lifters. That was our first meet that we had this year. Our second meet welcomed 110 lifters and then our Wildcat Wildcard added 40 more 44 more competitors. Although Clovis hosted 317 lifters this season making it one of the top powerlifting sites in New Mexico. In addition to hosting successful competitions the athletes performed at a very high level. A total of 49 lifters from our meets qualified for state. Including 22 boys and 27 girls. Clovis High School was proud to continue three boys which was Christian Ochoa, Lennon Ochoa, and then Andrew Escobedo which he couldn't be here this evening. And then our girls we had five girls which was Reyna Suniga, Emily Emily Bedwell, Hope

054Butterfield, Nat Munoz, and then Elizabeth Anaya. So we had eight competitors to attend for state. Very proud of them. I don't think they're asking to travel like >> We could. We could. Come up with a somewhere. I think Mr. Martin wanted to work out with you guys. We We offer to anyone to come in and lift. >> I don't want to get in there. Uh, uh. No, never. They will take They will take you on They will help you. Yes. I I just want to comment on on young lady said you know she mom'd out but now she's mentally ready to get back after it. And and that's that's important not to give up, you know, to keep on going. And and you know that's that's really something. And I wish you all the best.

055Uh, yeah, that's that's Keep on going, girl. I forgot >> up. mention Matthew Ochoa. He was one of our managers at the state meet. And if it hadn't been for Matthew, my numbers my math was not mathing at the end of the day about 6:00, I was already worn out and he he helped me tremendously when we needed to figure out totals to get some of these athletes to to place. And so, he was one of our he was a tremendous help for me and Coach Hatchett. So, awesome. All right. Everybody can come Thank you, all. You got to be strong to carry those medals around. We wanted to reposition this desk. Now would be a good time. So, I just now want to invite Lieutenant Colonel Ball of We're We're moving into the trip

056request portion. Good evening, uh ladies and gentlemen. Uh I will be speaking about our trip request to summer leadership camp and also a little bit about our physical fitness program. Uh these three cadets here, I'd like to brag on them a little bit first. Um Cadet Matthew Ochoa, he's our resident expert on summer leadership camp. He attended the basic camp uh 3 years ago, the advanced camp 2 years ago, and then last year he was selected to be on the staff of the camp, and he served as a cadet training instructor uh for the camp. So, he knows uh all about uh summer leadership camp, is well versed with that. And then uh Christian and Landon are both uh very uh well versed with our physical fitness program. We just uh last week completed our

057end-of-year physical fitness testing. All three of these cadets um uh earned the gold star award with Landon and Christian maxing it with 100 points, which is very challenging. The test consists of 1 minute of push-ups, 1 minute of sit-ups, and a mile run. And uh these two guys maxed it. So, they can answer questions on our physical fitness program. As far as our trip request, the summer leadership camp is held each summer at Hardin-Simmons University in Abilene. There's approximately 26 different high schools from Texas and New Mexico that participate in the camp with over 500 cadets. Uh this year we have uh 14 cadets lined up to go, six for the basic camp, six for the advanced camp, and two two cadets who are going on staff with us. Uh I will be working with

058the basic camp returning in my role as the lead drill instructor and Senior Master Sergeant Kilcullen. He will be on the staff with the advanced camp. Our cadets go through the paces for the week. They do room inspections, uniform inspections. They have sports team sports every night. They have PT every day. They have drill. They have academics. They have testing. And it is uh somewhat of a stressful situation for them. Uh nothing like boot camp, but they do have they do experience some anxiety. And it's a real growth experience for them. They are cell phone free for the entire week. So, that's a growth experience for them also. Um but as you know, physical fitness is a major component of the JROTC program. Our cadets PT every Friday. They start the year off with a

059PT test at the beginning of the year, have a PT test at the end of the year, and when they go to summer camp, they are given a PT test at camp, which counts toward their rank is. So, physical fitness is very important to us. And we would ask for your help in that area. We currently are encountering a policy where JROTC is prohibited from using the high school track and football field. And which is disheartening for me and for our cadets. And it's also a bit puzzling for our Air Force parents who have had their kids in JROTC in Germany, England, Japan, Florida, Texas, all over the world where they've seen their cadets regularly use the high school track and the football field. So, we'll just ask that that policy be looked at. And

060if you could help us out with that before next school year, we would ask that we be allowed to use the football field and track for our weekly PT. And if you have any questions though about camp or our physical fitness program, these gentlemen will be happy to answer questions. Does anyone have anything you'd like to add? No, I don't. All right. So, this this camp that we're trying to go to this summer, I think it's very important for the development of our cadets here at the high school. Without this camp, I don't think I would have been able to have developed the skills to lead us to a 93% on our unit assessment. And combining that score with 18 hours per cadet, we are in the running for the first distinguished unit with merit

061award in Clovis history, and we'll find out whether we get that in the next uh few days. Just the camp is a huge part to getting the skills to be able to achieve that. And you also get friendships that last for like forever. You'll go to competitions in Texas like 6 hours away, and you're just going to know people there. They'll be like, "Oh, hi CTI Ochoa." Like they they're just so excited to see you, and I think it's a really important for cadets to be able to do that. Thank you. I would add Matthew is enrolling in the college ROTC program at Texas Tech University, which is my alma mater. I didn't steer him toward that, but he picked it. And we're really excited for him on his path to commission as an officer

062into the Air Force. Yes. Does anyone have anything to add to that? All right, subject to your questions. I would I don't have anything. Go ahead. I was going to say it sound like basic training to me unless they going to change it, but but you know, that physical training is very important. Yes, sir. Definitely. Definitely. I don't know what to say. I just I don't really want to say anything. Them two guys look pretty serious. >> I was getting ready to say that. I'm serious. I don't want to get on their bad side, you know? They look like they're ready to go. Yes. Definitely. All right, well, thank you very much. Thank you, guys. Oh. So, Do you have any information about all of the trip requests, so you want to take those together.

063Yes. Yeah, I think it would be it would be nice if first of all, I'd like to comment on all the just the great students we have. All the accomplishments I you know, working hard all year long. I know a lot of them have already already left, but uh it's just and they're just a fraction of you know, what we have out there in our district who work hard and and get up every day and and you know, not not just in what they're involved in, but academically. So, congratulations to all of the kids and to the coaches. Um I I think we we might have someone that would like to to speak on the uh FFA, I believe. Um So, at this at this time. Thanks for letting me speak. I'm a little nervous,

064but first off I do want to talk about that that I want to talk about that guy. Jay Berger. Oh, you'll be here a long time. We we go down the road a lot together. And we have lots of arguments and he finally sees it my way. Me too. But I want to congratulate you on a good career. And I uh wish the guy behind you Berger good luck. But that that >> Okay, that sounds I've been around that for a lot of years. Mhm. Uh you know, there's a lot of legends. Uh Bill Morrison, Miles Runyan. I I could just keep going. Jerry Franklin, Miles Mitchell, Todd Panao. They're all legends. And he's left, but y'all have one in the making up here. We go to these fairs and whatnot. And the first you

065know, shows the pigs, where do you find him? In the pig barn. Mhm. And he's running back and forth to the steer barn, back to the lamb barn. The next day, it's the next animal, and he's right there doing every kid. He The the love that guy has for the kids is pretty unbelievable. Uh like I said, I've I've watched a lot of legends made, and I think he's one of them. So, do what you can to keep him. And I know it'll be hard, but y'all can do it. So, but he's a good man. Uh the kids respect him, and that's the first thing they have to be. They have to gain is the respect of the kids. And it don't matter if you're a coach or a teacher or whatnot, but you have

066to have the respect of the kids, and and he's got it. So, and he's taking my granddaughter next week. Thank you. Thank you all, and congratulations, but we'll go down the road. Okay, before leave, I'll talk I want to I want to say thank you and for the concerns of the program and the kids. You I've been here a long time like yourself. I've seen many of them come and go. Mr. Lee is doing fantastic job. >> is. And Ms. Blackburn. And Ms. Blackburn. >> Yeah. And they're bang and uh >> It's his team. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. And Mr. Brady, I know it's not roasting time, but I can't believe us. Thank you so much for the comments. All right. Thank you. Thank you for that. Um So now uh the request for permission

067to travel. Are there any questions? If there aren't any questions, we'll take these seven items as a whole. So at this time uh I would look for a motion if there aren't any questions on the travel. I'll move to approve. 1 through 7. 1 through 7. I'll second. Okay, I have a a motion by Mr. Um Martin and second by Mr. Hamilton. All in favor? Aye. >> Aye. Opposed? All right. Congratulations to everyone and good luck. We have lots of kids in Washington D.C. >> Yes. Yeah. Thank you guys. Let me see. In the spirit of roasting, Mr. Brady, if they could have you come up to the The A months of gala, we brought our recommendation to us we do every year for nomination for the school board association excellence in student achievement award.

068And just as a reminder, we have so many educators that we could give this award to every year, but one of the the pieces of criteria is district wide impact. And so, um, tonight we want to honor Mr. Brady for his extraordinary career and lasting impact on the students of Clovis Municipal Schools. With three decades, probably plus or minus, in education, including time as a teacher, principal at every level, elementary, mid, high, and now a deputy superintendent for operations, technology, and athletics. We had to give him a long name like that. Slowing down a little. That's always worth But his career reflects both depth of experience and a commitment to continuous improvement. Throughout his career, he's led with a steadfast belief that all students can achieve academic success. From expanding programs and improving school performance

069to increasing opportunities in academics, fine arts, and STEM, his work is always centered on doing what is best for kids. But what truly sets Jay apart is how he shows up. He is a constant presence at events across our district. And I don't know how many times I've said or somebody said, "Is Jay here?" And I'm like, "Hang on, just listen." His carries over everybody else's voice and it's always cheering them on to go harder, faster. Um, even though he transitioned into the role of an operational department leader, he's remained an instructional leader at heart. He's one of our best instructional leaders helping drive academic excellence while expanding opportunities for every student we serve. Jay's impact on this district is immeasurable and will be felt for years to come. And so tonight we're really proud

070to recognize his dedication and passion with NMSBA Excellence in Student Achievement Award. And then our Mr. Board member, do you want to say anything to him? Is it President Yeah, it'd be an honor to uh Brady, my honor. Thank you all. Thank you for being my friend. I love that. I'm not trying to be Thumbs up. I just have to tell you that I have known him since he was baby Brady since he took care of Highland. I have seen his success at every level. And and when Ms. Rust says he's an instructional leader, we all know that that how important that was and how you just embraced that and you were voracious about it and kids kids are better off for it. So Thank you, sir. Thank you. Can I say something? Okay. Hands-on.

071Nice. No, no, I promise. So when when I when I got on the school board, I I called Jay to ask him if he had any any advice and he said he said, "Just make sure the decisions that you make you're making them for the good of the kids." Right? And so I I want you to know that you've always done that. Appreciate you. Thank you. You got it. Hands-on. I'm honored. That was the worst time God, And Um but good evening, um, board members, superintendent, um, president. I'm just here to talk about STEM days. We have STEM days for the next 2 days. We have over 1,400 kids coming to the base for the next 2 days. Um, if I look stressed, I'm stressed. Pulling my hair out a little bit. Um, but it's

072going to be amazing. We're so excited to have, um, a majority of your students as those numbers and to show the kids all the great stuff that we have on base and to just exciting. Exciting to show all the stuff. It's going to be amazing. Um, and then after that, we have two days. And then the week after that, we have the STEM day for the air show. And then we're right back to back to school. Um, so it's a lot. It's fierce. It's fast. Um, we're excited. We're hoping to get some more of your teachers for the two days events. Um, and then we're going to be getting out the date soon for the back to school event. We're looking at a possible Friday night light theme. Um, just it's my 10th year doing

073it. So, we're excited to do something. Go big, go bad. Um, and we have the flight line, so why not light it up? Um, so it's going to be amazing. So, I appreciate you letting me be here. And thank you. >> Thank you. He's on mission, right? Okay. And my last item is brief. I don't know, Sarah, if you can just pull the strategic plan up out of the portfolio. I think you all have a copy. Um, this cake baked for a long time before it came out of the oven. But, uh, I just wanted to put the final copy. It's been a labor of love between a group of people. The list of people that were on that committee, um, is, I think, towards the the back. But, we're just really proud of the

074products and we're already working product and it's been exciting to introduce it to groups of teachers who have said, "Hey, we're doing this. Hey, we're doing that." And um so, I just wanted to bring the the final product to you and we'll start bringing probably quarterly updates to you with measures with those actions that are found inside, but I just wanted you to see the final product. It really did happen. I want to thank you for all the work that you did in the inspirational leadership that went to this cuz you know, there were some interesting conversations, so There were There were great conversations, though. It it truly was a team effort. This room is filled with people who contributed towards that, so. There you go. And that's all that I have, Mr. President. Well,

075that's pretty impressive. We It just again, seeing all these kids all the commitment and dedication from their parents that the teachers, the district all with one goal in mind and just to try to make a difference in the kids' life. And um see the kids being able to uh compete at a national level and uh you know, academically as well. You know, the most important thing that's what to go to, you know, Miss Tatum uh full full ride, you know, from here in Clovis. And she's just a fraction of of what we have out there. Uh you know, all our kids are just hard workers and um but it it takes a district and it takes a leader and you are you are at the you navigate the ship and so you know, cabinet and

076everyone, thank you Thank you. for your hard work. Um okay, well we'll move forward. Let's see here. Ms. Negarville? Good evening, President Corallo, and members of the board and Superintendent Russ. I would like to start this evening by asking Ms. Laura Adkins to the podium. She's going to share information about our federal grant application. Uh and then immediately following, Melissa Wynn is here to share some successes with Early College High School. Thank you. Good evening. Superintendent Russ and board members. We are here to present our federal grant applications. There's a team um Corey um Andy Carpenter um Petey Davis um Heather representing our IDEA. This year, the PED put together what they call the unified grant application. And that means everything gets piled together, and we all have to sort through and do our part,

077as well as collaborate. So, um that was a really unique opportunity for us. We spent a lot of time training on how to fill out this grant application. Um the first part of the grant, it has a snapshot of all of the the federal dollar allocations that we get from federal funds. And then the second part of the allocation shows what we get for the IDEA part. The reason why we put this in the grant or the agenda like we did is because we have to upload that you guys have um contributed and are aware of the funding for IDEA separate from our federal funds. So, that's why we listed it separate, even though it's like one big huge um grant application. Um the assurances are like all of the assurances that we're following federal

078guidelines, that we're making sure that we have looked at we're not going to supplement supplant, we have a formula for that. So your assurances are just a guarantee that we're following what we say we're going to do in the grant and that we're following federal expenditures um and meeting those Edgar regulations. The second part of the grant all of us have to um organize our grants at our grants and our funding towards what the state priorities are. So everybody contributed to the priorities of the grant and the state is focusing on high quality instructional material, high quality PD on the adept on the adopted instructional materials. The sped department was focused on our transition programs, how we're going to uh reduce our dropout rate and also how we screen and identify students with disabilities at

079a pace that's um more equitable and and give them their services sooner. There was also a section from the state where we had to address the instructional quality of materials we have for English learners um as well as recruitment, retention and mentorship. So all of our grant applications had to say, "Hey, how are we addressing this as a district?" as well as a comprehensive needs assessment. So the comprehensive needs assessment we totally aligned our desired outcomes to the strategic plan that Mrs. Russ um presented to you tonight. Our first desired outcome is to improve core instruction to increase student achievement. Reduce, our second desired outcome is reduce barriers and increase support for at-risk students, ELLs, and students with disabilities. Our third desired outcome is improved data are graduation outcomes and language proficiency of our English

080learners. Our fourth desired outcome is reduced chronic absenteeism and our fifth desired outcome is improve the graduation rate and credit completion at our high school level. And these desired outcomes were developed from surveys, uh, meetings that include parents, all of our data from our scores of our assessments, and from our strategic plan. So, everything we did on our grant application is aligned to these desired outcomes, as well as the priorities of the state. And with that, um, I'll go into kind of a summary of what each grant is going to be spent for. So, Title I ensures that we have supplemental funding funding for schools to address learning gaps for at-risk students and that includes students of poverty, English learners, students with disabilities, our students that are homeless, and our students that are in foster

081care. And the grant has to be given to schools in a priority order. So, the schools with the highest level of poverty and at-risk student population receive more per pupil dollar allocations than the schools that do not. We only, uh, fund schools that are over the 40% poverty ratio. So, there There three schools that do not qualify for Title I funding, and that is Barry, Zia, and Mesa. Um, according to our 40-day data, which is what Title I had to be configured on, uh, using our multiplier rate on our direct certification, Clovis schools have a 78.7% district poverty rate. So, we are definitely a district that benefits from these supplemental funds. And our Title I allocation, which runs about $2.6 million this year, that's a $600 increase from our previous year. They cut us 600,000

082last year, and then they gave it back to us in March. And they had 90 days to spend 600,000. So, I will be approaching you, um, in the fall because we will be doing a waiver. I just don't believe in spending 600,000 randomly in 90 days just to spend it. So, because we will not be, uh, meeting our 15% carryover ratio, we'll have to put in a a waiver request. We can only put in that request every 3 years. Um, and so I have to wait till the 26-27 year to put in that waiver. The current budget that we have right now, 69.4% will go directly to the schools. And so, the schools will be spending that on the majority of it goes to their family service team, their social worker, their community health worker,

083and community are, uh, family engagement relate liaison. Uh, our McKinney-Vento liaison, and transportation for those at-risk students. Uh, the schools also, usually at the elementary level, fund an EA interventionalist to help close those learning gaps. Several of our schools have after school tutoring. It also funds our student success center at our high school to help with that credit completion. We have some district wide uh uh school specific PD that comes out of that. Um and then they spend at least 1% of their allocation on family engagement activities. Outside of that, um a half a percent goes to our homeless and foster care program. A half a percent goes to district PD. And then we have about 13% that runs the whole federal programs department. Your bilingual coordinator, your um immigrant liaison, the executive director, our

084bookkeeper, and our admin assistant, as well as risk risk management. 7% of this grant goes to indirect cost. And that is a brief summary of what your money for title one is going for. Any questions on the title one portion of the grant? I'm good. I'm going to cover title four for Mr. PD Davis. He's He is out um on a professional development trip. His grant is around 200 and something thousand. He is spending his on three priorities that the state allows that grant to be spent on. Well-rounded education, safe and healthy schools, and technology. So a lot of that is a focus on behavioral needs, uh restorative justice, technology things that help again supplement students, um funding to supplement students to close learning gaps and to support that. Any questions on title four? No.

085Title three comes and around $99,000. This grant totally goes um for an in English learner instructional coach that we added about two years ago. Um this person is doing an excellent job working hand-in-hand with those teachers on really applying those language supports so that students develop English language at a higher rate. That is really important to us because there's a whole new cut score this year. And so um they are aligning the ACCESS test that those kids took to a higher standard of of uh just English learning objectives. So this year it will be the first time and it'll be our base score because we can't compare it to the past because it's a whole new um exam. So it's been very important that we've been out there working with teachers to understand the new

086criteria and the language usage um charts that they will be aligning to for their instruction. So um that grant goes totally to her salary and benefits. Any questions on title three? I had a quick question on that, Ms. Atkins. Is that just at elementary level or is that through middle school? Okay, okay. >> K-12. Thank you. Um the last grant that um I helped support was our IDEA grant. And Heather will be here in the future to update you on all of that. Um none of our grants this year, the PED included any of our carryover budget. And that um is a real disservice because then July 1 there's things that we fund through carryover that um it's just not there right now. So we're all waiting on those dollars to come in and that's

087just um something that happens sometimes in the year and so what we did on IDEA is we spread out the money based on the previous grant and expenditures so that come July 1, everybody's funded and all of the different line items like supplies for assessments for child find, all of those positions as well as materials and supplies have money allocated to those line items and we can start operating July 1 with her grant application in case they still don't have our carryover ready. So, with that to answer any title two questions, will be Miss Mandy. Thank you. So, um in our office, um we cover title two and we cover the RLIS grant, which stands for rural and low-income schools. Um Clovis, because of its rural location, qualifies for additional federal money um to help

088us uh attract teaching staff and to keep the retention and um as a key component for um salaries and we can help supplement salaries. So, for this year title two, the budget focuses heavily on recruitment, retention, and professional development. Um key investments that um are in the budget are going to be mentor stipends for new teachers, district-wide professional learning, we're helping support um the instructional department through math professional development across the district. Um we also provide resources to our new teachers with the new teacher academy with Teach Like a Champion. It's um a book study that we take them through uh during their first year of teaching. And then uh we also provide TESOL certification. We offset the cost for teachers that wish to um extend their learning uh Eastern to get those extra certifications.

089And then also through instructional coaching to have additional staff on site to help professional development of teachers inside their own classrooms as real time as they're teaching their classes. The rural and low-income budget proposes um proposal prioritizes hard-to-fill staffing areas. For instance, we pay a set dollar amount for any science or math accredited teacher that um has a um class that they're teaching for graduation credit. They get so much per course that they teach um because math and science certified positions are hard to come by um even though we're sitting pretty good this year, but in years past it's really helped us. Um also we help um add to the special ed hard-to-fill um stipend. We match uh the the instructional um the 11,000 budget code so that um we can give $6,000 to our

090special ed teachers that teach in special ed classrooms um that helps us recruit and retain highly qualified staff. They um directly support our district goals in strengthening educator quality and supporting new teachers in maintaining strong staffing levels. Um we remain committed to um using these federal funds appropriately. So, I stand for any questions on the staffing portion of the federal grants. Any questions? No, sir. Nope. Just that I mean it is like I wondered what it was like, but just hearing you guys did a really nice job of like you know, it's a really comprehensive plan, so I mean I heard it was a lot of work, so thank you. Is that a action item or something? >> I don't know. No. We have Early College High School. Good evening. My name is Arab My

091name is Arab Gerwala. I also go by AJ. I'm a senior in the Early College program and will be graduating this May with my associates in mathematics and uh liberal arts. I'm honored to share with you a little bit a little bit about our senior class in the Early College program. Early College has 75 seniors that will be graduating with Clovis Community College on May 15th um earning at least one associate degree or industry credential. Of these graduates, 12 will be receiving a degree in mathematics or biology. Additionally, 22 of the 75 students will graduate from graduate with honors from CCC. Overall, the Early College Early College class class of 2026 has an impressive 20 90.3% of seniors completing a degree or credential through CCC. As a representative of Early College and a student who

092has been in the program for 3 years I would like to take this opportunity to thank Mrs. Russ, the CMS CMS administration, and the CMS Board of Education for providing Clovis High School students with a extremely valuable opportunity. My time at Early College has allowed me to study and focus on what I value most and I am truly passionate about. Thank you for investing in students like me by creating and sustaining a program that serves the unique needs of some students that needs that want and need something different than a traditional high school experience. Um any questions? Any questions? Uh Congratulations on your accomplishment. That's great. >> Thank you. >> to be able to graduate with that. Yeah, I'm really appreciate it. All the Where are you going next? >> Uh I'm planning to go

093up to the University of North Dakota. Um It's cold there, you know. Yeah, every person I've I've told they always like, "You know it's cold in the Yeah, I'm ready I'm ready for it. Hopefully hopefully I'll get used to it, but um I'm planning to major in commercial aviation. Wow. Planning to go uh be a commercial airline pilot. It'll take a take a little bit, but it's my that was my ultimate goal and dream really in life. Um planning to double major in UAS, which is like drones. So, they have a really good aerospace program up there, so Right on. Good for you. Good. What is your name again? Um Arav Garywala or uh I also go by AJ, too. It's easier. I I I think you should go with that. AJ. Yeah, just say

094AJ. Oh, we all walk off stage. I'm all handed to you. Yeah, um Arav or Arav, AJ. Yeah. I go by multiple things. >> Okay. What can you tell us about Ms. Wynn? I'm sorry. She's the best best counselor. Yeah. Best counselor. She's really blessed me with opportunities I never would have had without her. She's I don't know what I'd do without her, really. If my son were here, he would say ditto on Mrs. Wynn. What a wonderful person she is. Um I bring to you President Cordova, Superintendent Ross, members of the board, the employee services report and open positions report. Um we're still in excellent shape, especially for this time of year when people start making their decisions about what they're doing next year. Um so, I stand for any questions on that. Did

095you just feel like you start over all the time? Like you're bailing out a boat that has a hole in it. Sometimes it feels that way. Every now and then. Um I also have a consideration item. We do have a leave of absence. I just wanted to say that on this one, it's an um a net fellow that is going to need to do a residency. So, this is an educational leave of absence. And then more than likely will return to be a great teacher for us. And so, we'll have another one of these uh next next board meeting. But this is a consideration item. Are there any questions? In all six? If not, I will entertain a motion. I make a mo I'll second. Motion by Mr. Hamilton, a second by Mr. Martin. All

096in favor? Aye. Opposed? Motion carries. Thank you very much. At this time, we have Mr. Corey Pickett with our fine arts application. Well, please come in and I'll tell you that over the past seven years, I've always tried to kind of look at April certified teacher openings. And if I remember, I think in like 2019 pre-COVID, about this time, we had 35. Whereas on what he just presented you, we had we have just 15. And just last month, that was at about two. And of course, then that rose and peaked during COVID. So, it's just really remarkable that the boat is not losing nearly as much water as it used to lose. President Cordova, member of the board, superintendent first Uh this evening, I want to share with you the FAEA grant, which is the

097Fine Arts Educational Act grant, which is the grant that the PED awards districts for K-6 fine arts. And, um, this year, we used the grant for CCC outreach. A lot of the concerts that CCEEC put on, they put on for our kids. So, we bust them over there for that. Teacher professional development, field trips to uh Eastern New Mexico University for play productions. Also, uh elementary art supplies. Each kid gets art supplies, and we get virtual they get virtual art, and also they get in-person art. Um, buses. We have an artist in residence this week coming from San Francisco, and he's at Marshall and Berry STEM Academy. Uh, doing a project which he does metal, and patinas the metal, and shows the chemical reaction. So, he's here for that. Um, and this year, I mean,

098well, up until last year, we never used the grant for summer, but we collaborate with the athletic youth athletic program, and we're doing art for the art camp. So, we're I have to save a lot of money to pay those teachers and buy art supplies for the camp, as well. So, last year we got 1.4 million. And, for 3,400 students. And this year, I think it'll be around the same for that. And, it's just a great grant, and the music teachers really benefit from that. The some salaries. It's just a great grant to make sure all our kids get from K-6 get as much art as possible. So, I stand for any questions. Any questions from the board? I agree. Great program. for our kids. Yeah. >> Thank you for doing this. Thank you. Thank

099you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Okay, we'll move down to financial matters. Ms. Heather. Good evening. Mr. Pickett's way taller than I am. Good evening, President Cordova, members of the board, Superintendent Russ. Thank you for the opportunity to present today. Our purpose is to review five scenarios um for the salary schedules. Sarah, if you don't mind jumping over to the spreadsheet, that would be great. I wanted to present first this specific part of the spreadsheet. This shows the insurances per pay for each one of our insurances. So, it will show what the specific categories are, where the employees fall, and how much they pay into insurance each pay period this fiscal year versus what they'll pay into next year, starting July 1 when we begin the 20/80 split. So, if you notice, Sarah, if

100you'll go back to the first screen, if you notice the employees who are currently only paying 20% when our insurance increases they're going to have a difference in pay. It go they're they're losing money, basically. Where our other staff they get a small increase each pay. And I also want to bring the fact that when the insurance changes their tax rate changes. So, if they're paying less than taxes or less than insurance, their tax rate is going to reduce or increase as well. And so, it's really hard to say that our staff that are currently paying 20%, they're paying more, their tax rate may increase or excuse me, may decrease a little bit. But, it still doesn't offset correctly where they lose money. Okay. So, I wanted to share that with you because that kind

101of is a one of the factors in our scenarios. So, you can actually probably just stay on. If you'll go to the instructional nursing tab, I want to start there. And so, I want to tell you how I kind of worked these scenarios that they were by two specific factors. Um, one, the rising cost of insurance, and two, we wanted to kind of stay as competitive as we possibly can um, for our staff. We know that the state said an average of 1%. So, if you notice within this salary schedule, this is our instruction salary schedules. I tried to focus keenly on instructional staff because they have the direct impact of our students. I focused on the employees who are currently paid under 50,000 because they're going to feel the most in the insurance increase.

102And then, administration, I wanted to keep that where it was competitive but on the lower end. I wanted to do ensure that our approach was equitable, strategic, as well as aligning with our priorities within within the district. So, these five scenarios represent a full spectrum from a minimal change to a significant investment. One of the things that I kept coming back to is how do we best support our employees without creating a long-term financial strain on our district. So, if you look into our instructional nursing salary schedule, I have it broken down um per percentage on how much each one would do would rise. So, on scenario one, if you notice that that's going to have about a an average 0.2% in that one. So, that's kind of on the really low end. And scenario

103three, it's about a 0.3% average. And I apologize, I think I said scenario three, but that was actually scenario two. In scenario three, we have a 0.5% average. Scenario four increases to a 0.8% average. And then scenario five is a full 1%. That's how I pretty much aligned it with all of the other what scenarios from our EAs, through student nutrition, our related provider related service providers, our guidance counselors, our maintenance crews, our admin assistants, our support staff, and our technology. Focusing minimally on our management and administration. The lower scenarios they minimize costs but they do very little to address any of our retention. The higher scenarios, they provide very strong increases. So those are scenarios four and five. But that puts a very large financial strain on the district. So with scenario three it's

104kind of right in the middle. And I tried to do that intentionally all the way across. So scenario three provides meaningful salary improvements direct support for rising insurance costs and helps prioritize or to prioritize help for those who need it most. And the most important thing is that it's not overextending the the district in a financial way. I am wanting to recommend scenario three just as my recommendation because it balances. It's not intentional or it's not minimal, it's not excessive, but it's very intentional. It allows us to protect our vulnerable employees, to maintain consistency, and to support our long-term sustainability. I feel like this gives you a decision that is responsible, defensive, and aligns with our values. Scenario three represents approximately a 1.8 a 1.08 increase. But I want you to remember that it's not

105just a blanket increase. It's it's target it's target for higher support for our lower paid staff more adequate adjustments elsewhere, and in practical terms it's more manageable it's a more manageable investment with a meaningful impact. When we look at actual numbers it's approximately a $32,000 increase in gross pay per people. And that just means that we're we're making a measured investment and not creating a long-term burden for a district. So, as you look through these, do you have any questions for me? I had one question, Ms. Nieto. Um your rows that are steps, does that mean years with us or what are the steps mean? Correct. So, the steps are are years. So, once they've been with the district for 90 days and we roll into the next year, then they move up a step.

106And so, how I if you notice on step zero, the percentages are lower because most people who have already been with the district have already completed their 90 days, so they're going to bump up to that step one. Okay. And so, with that I move level zero to step one, and then I project that that increase, Got you. and then kind of reduce it down to step zero. Okay, thank you. Mhm. Cool. Two things. Thanks for recommending one because that's really challenging. And the second thing is that with not passing our capital improvement tax, I think that we uh as a board have to really consider being fiscally responsible because we're going to be taking on additional um burdens from operational that we haven't had before, so you know, I think that that's why. The

107other thing is that I saw the legislature is doing a study about the sustainability of insurance. Is that right? Did I make that up? I I haven't I haven't seen or heard anything. I was concerned about that. I think I heard it at school board association meeting. So, to end this, um I think it's I'm sorry. I do think that it is the sustainability of this change. I do believe that. Yes. Because it's terrible. Like the cost of insurance is absurd. It's going up. It's going higher and and it increases 9.9% in October. We give them one. It's tragic. >> And it's an it's an average and that's what's Yes. That's what I'm curious. They've already told us it'll go up 9.5% uh this year. Uh-huh. October. That's right. And it'll actually hit our payroll

108checks September 15th because we pay in advance. in advance. Yeah. So, I feel like scenario three meets our goals the best. So, I'm recommending that scenario. Um just to help us retain staff, remain competitive, and then project responsibly. So, following your feedback and selection of a scenario, uh what I'll do next is I'll finalize salaries and then bring them to you to review and discuss and or approve at the May board meeting. And I stand for any other questions or comments. Any comments or questions from the board? >> to be a rock and a hard place. Yeah. Yeah. That's a lot of data. Thank you for compiling all that. Thank you for your recommendation. Yes, ma'am. Thank you. Okay, let's see. Mr. Brady, since you're already standing, we'll go ahead and call you up to

109the podium. He's still standing. We're going hard. I always like to say I bring the good stuff, but you know, the beginning of this meeting was amazing and it just makes your chest puff up when you see all those kids accomplishing and and striving and going and and working through that adversity. You know, uh academics, that's our main focus, but building citizens and and competitors out there in the world for a lifetime is the outcome that we all want. So, exciting to see that and want to commend this is Ross for uh keeping her eye on the ball all these years together uh and making achievement, academic as well as all the extra priority uh for every cabinet meeting that we went into. So, thank you, Mr. Ross, for your work and the opportunity to

110work with you. Um I've asked Mr. Hill to step up here with me. What you have on the screen is one of uh a handful of renderings that I put in your board packet and I want to talk about extending the LEGO complex at CHS Main and the reason why. Primarily, we sold a $20 million bond that we're going to start the renovation and replacement of Clo- Clovis High School. Woo! And uh very excited. 70-year-old facility that is going to undergo just a facelift and an upgrade that we cannot even begin to com- comprehend. Uh we had a group tour through with us last year uh last week. Uh Mr. Hill set that up. Uh the name of the architecture firm was Decker. Decker. And uh cannot commend Mr. Hill for his work and his

111focus and uh his attention to detail as we get into this process. But, Decker went through and we we toured every facility. We talked about the plan that I presented to the board, the three-phase approach, three bonds, making sure that we were having the matching funds to the state. We've worked with PSFA. We go to PSEOC, which is Public Schools Capital Outlay Committee, on the 14th of May uh so that we can get our matching funds. Mr. Hill has done an amazing job working with PSFA and PSCOC representatives. We look very favorable going into the meeting. I'm very excited about the opportunity to go in there and spend 70 7 minutes, right? Mr. Hill, 7 minutes? 8 minutes. 8 minutes to pitch for our $40 million match. That's what we're looking for. Well, and so

112we're really excited about that. I'm jazzed. I'm pumped. Um, but in doing that preemptively, once we get into construction, we have some very large programs. You heard some of that tonight. 285 band kids that need a place to rehearse every day. When we get into construction of Norval Howl Band Hall, God bless him. Um, when we get into construction and of that wing, of that phase, lecture hall, band hall, band annex, 275 kids will be displaced for over a year. That's not to uh mention that without we need to mention also our state champion choir program who swept last week in in Albuquerque. Uh, the largest choir has about 125 kids in it in the class period. So, if we don't do something preemptively to be prepared to house these kids on CHS main, we'll

113be forced to go offsite 500 kids a day in a bus, and it makes my head pop off my shoulders thinking about that. Logistically, I just don't think it can happen. So, Mr. Hill and I have been working on a plan to extend the Lego complex for athletics and other programs uh for a few years now. But with the bond coming and the need to be able to manage large student populations, now is the time to do that and we have the resources to make that happen, okay? So, we are proposing and we're not proposing, we have scheduled the beginning of the extension of the LEGO complex. And in doing that, we will meet the need of what we will need to hub to circulate large student groups through. We didn't even talk about testing

114and what we're going to have to do for kids that are testing. Having been at the high school, thinking about standardized testing and the ASVAB and everything else that we do throughout the year, they're going to need a a place to be able to set up tables and put kids down every year while we're under construction. And this is project. So, this will also help with that. But, in dealing with this long-term, Intermay also has a couple of policies that we have to adhere to. Heat index is one. You have to stop when you hit temperatures and you're required to do certain things to keep kids safe. All field sports have this heat index policy that we have to operate on the outside, as well as air quality. I don't know if any of you've

115been outside recently when the wind's blowing 70 mph. That's not a good environment for kids and you're not supposed to practice. And so, in doing this adding on to this LEGO complex and completing something that really was started in Randy Adrian's time 30 years ago, Mhm. uh we're going to complete something that we've endeavored to undertake and get done 30 years ago. So, in creating and offering this this facility, we'll be able to deal with that. Now, the programs it'll support ROTC. It will take care of band, color guard. Color guard? Those flag people that are out there throwing the flag. There's 30 of those people and they need to be in an environment where the wind doesn't blow it. You wouldn't believe the concussions that come out of color guard, but it happens. Yeah.

116Soccer, baseball, softball, football, all of these programs will benefit from the facility that we have. Again, this is just a rendering that we have and we are currently on track to begin immediately on this project that will support the remodel and the renovation of Clovis High School as well as multiple programs going into the future. We're very excited about that. Um and I stand for any questions in regards to that indoor complex of what what its purpose is and and what it will serve. That's a brilliant plan. >> What what time frame do you think it'll take? >> Nine months? We have the permits and we're ready to go. We've been holding on to this waiting on lots of uh details to get into place and now is the time to get that going so

117that when we get our match funds and we start construction, we have a we have a place to put house kids and programs. Okay? Mr. Brady, sorry real quick while you're on that. Talking about the time frame of that and and getting the match funds and stuff, the money for this is coming out of those match funds or separately? We have a we have a special allocation that the state gave us 2 years ago. We've been able to do a lot of safety, use those funds for safety upgrades, fencing, cameras, bullet resistant film and we've held on to that with the intention of using those funds for this facility as well as we'll use some mill levy that we have in in um in in Is it separate from the high school? Separate from the

118from the high school preemptively to manage what we needed to do as far as we get into construction. So, 100% of our bond dollars will go into making that campus new. I asked him just to wait until we got through to see where we stood with Capital Improvement Act, get our unit value, get an idea. It has not been easy to hold him. Babe, right? I know him a long time. But it is great How do you eat an elephant in this classroom? One bite at a time. Best advice I've ever had, ever received. Don't know who gave that to you. I wonder. Okay, now I also want to you on CHSFA. Mr. Hill, I'm going to need you for a minute on this, okay? We received stamped and sealed permits and we're ready to

119go. So, would you update the board, please, on what will happen next since we have that in hand? CHSFA renovation. President Carter, members of board, and Superintendent Russ, we did receive our stamped plans. Engineering took a little bit of time for uh mechanical. We did receive those this week and so we are ready for demolition purposes as we can get under contract. Uh one of our vendors, Grego and Sons, is our chosen contractor to work through that. Uh in renovations, as we all know, trying to fit people for a specific purpose in an old building that was not designed for that purpose has been a little bit difficult. Uh but the renovations uh we should demo should be within a month. We should get started on that. Okay, thank you. And in the timeline, uh

120we anticipate that to be under construction for a little over a year once we get the demo complete, correct? And so, that will lay in into our facility plan. We will transition people that have been housed at Cameo to the newly renovated suite that we have at the old Gadsden {slash} freshman campus, which is now the Student Support for Learning Center, iAcademy and iCAN. And then we will move forward with uh the demo of Cameo Elementary. So, we'll make sure that you understand the process and what the plan is there, which is all part of our facility master plan. And the last thing I want to talk about is that we are working with architects on Raintree. Uh we have renderings and we're working through all of the engineering and the end of the uh

121different items that have to take uh place for us to start the renovation at Raintrees, but we've been using this facility and I need to let you know, we have 56 airmen out there that are uh sergeants transitioning to Cannon and we're feeding them out there right now. Thank you to our local business for sponsoring that meal, and they're getting a first-hand view of the renderings that are there. And so, we've had multiple banquets out there. I'm going to give you what I what I envision and and the excitement I have for this. Once we get food service in there, and we have the training facility, and we have the kitchens in place, last night I attended the powerlifting banquet, and that was no cost for them to rent that facility, which is usually a

122few thousand dollars for them to rent that for an event, and it pretty much would go offsite out out of the district. And so, we were able to hold those that banquet there. The food alone for powerlifting was $2,000. When we get this banquet/training facility and the kitchens next to it, our kids at Clovis High School, who are in the culinary track, will be able to prepare meals for a lower cost, use that as a field experience, and we'll be able to provide that opportunity to our kids. 20 years from now, we can safely say that that's a hundred thousand plus in savings to our booster groups and our programs for those end-of-year banquets that we have got offsite and we've expended those funds in other places. So, the investment's there, the opportunities there for

123cost savings, as well as what it's going to do for those kids that are in that field experience. And as a reminder, summer food service is coming up, or summer lunch, I should say, 3,000 meals a day, 1.2 million meals over the summer. All of that coming from Raintree once we get that up and going, and I'm very proud of David Westbrook and her team. I stand for any questions. Any questions from the board? Well, the summer meal program, maybe Miss Westbrook, will will that happen this summer? Yes. This summer? We'll be out of there. And we're working that out of Mar- well, multiple sites, but multiple sites, and and really excited. Her team's got it going on. Thank you. >> And and you're going to rename that place? Raintree? Yes, sir. I defer that

124to Mrs. Rush. We we've got ideas. Good. I love it. Yeah. I love it. Thank you. Thank you, sir. Thank you, Mr. Brady. All right. Um gentleman spoke earlier, so we don't have any card drives. Ms. Gina? For open forum. And uh we'll move down to announcements. Okay, May 1st, Friday, uh our campuses are closed. Uh central office though will be open till my employees will be working. May 5th is all choral night at 7:00 p.m. at the Rock. May 7th, all band night uh 7:00 p.m. at the Rock. May 15th, we have our CCC graduation where we'll recognize our early college high school graduates. May 21st is the last day of school for students. The 22nd will be the last day for campus staff with graduation later that evening at 5:15 p.m. at Curry

125County Event Center. Uh every office, every campus will be closed on May 25th for the Memorial Day holiday. Then we'll reconvene here May 26th for the regular Board of Education meeting scheduled at 5:30 p.m. Okay, and I'd like to just inform you uh and the board that unfortunately I will not be able to be here for graduation. Um currently um working with Clovis Community College to open up a trades program and they've asked me to be their instructor in the electrical field. So, I have to go get trained on all the equipment that they are going to have in I'm going to have in the classroom. And that's going to be that the week of of graduation. So, I'm heartbroken for for the kids that you know, that's that's the best thing about being on

126the board. Uh seeing them kids uh walk across stage, but I'm envisioning hopefully uh open helping open up trades for uh kids who choose to go down that path. Right now in in the state and I think nationally um there is a gap where we are losing uh tradesmen, you know, heating and refrigeration, uh just all the trades, plumbing, um and electrical. So, I look at this as a big opportunity, but unfortunately, I will not be able to attend graduation and but I know you guys can handle it. We've got Mr. Osborne here to keep you in line. So, So, with that, um we will now move into uh a recess into executive session. Um I will ask for a motion. Make a motion that uh we recess into executive session pursuant to NMSA 10-15-1H2

127subject to limited personnel matters. May I have a roll call, please? Yes, sir. I'll second first. There you go, second. >> Oh, I'm I'm sorry. I I was You went ahead. I'll second uh motion by Mr. Weagle, a second by Mr. Hamilton. Will we have a roll call, please? Yes, sir. President Cordova? Yes. Vice President Hamilton? Yes. Secretary Martin? Yes. Member Osborne? Yes. Member Weagle? Okay. And so, at this point, we'll uh move into executive session. Thank you. Um I move to reconvene from executive session where no action was taken. I have a motion by Ms. Osborne, second? Second. Second by Mr. Weagle. Uh will we have a roll call, please? Yes, sir. President Cordova? Yes. Vice President Hamilton? Yes. Secretary Martin? Yes. Member Osborne? Yes. Member Weagle? Yes. Okay. Uh so, we are back

128and now I would ask for a motion to adjourn the meeting. So moved. A motion by Mr. Martin. Second. Second by Mr. Hamilton. All in favor? I. Opposed? Good night.