LWVSNM NEA Hosted Tuesday School Board Forum and the Role of a School Board

Tuesday the League of Woman Voters of Southern  New Mexico Otero County Branch held its second nonpartisan forum. The forum was a collaborative venture cohosted by the National Education Association Alamogordo Chapter. This one was located at the Otero Arts Space rented by the League of Woman voters to showcase the candidates for the Alamogordo School Board elections. The forum was professional nonpartisan and entertained questions that had been submitted online for the candidates

The forum began with an opening 2 minutes from each candidate, questions and then concluded with closing comments. All candidates were invited and accepted the question invitation to participate. Two candidates were NO Shows and did not participate, nor was a representative of their candidacy on site, for the meet and greet opportunity, with the public, after the forum.

The League of Women Voters of Southern New Mexico moderator was from the NEA. He held the forum to the pre-defined term of time allowing for an opportunity for the public to meet one on one with the candidates after. It moved along quickly and with respect to the audience's attention.

The Candidates 

• Judy Rabon, Board Member One Present 
• Craig Danekas, Board Member One NO SHOW
• Marieann Marie Jackson, Board Member Three Present 
• Amanda Gwynn Jewell, Board Member Three Present 
• Shannon Troy Wright, Board Member Three NO Show 
• Josiah Stephen Vesey, Board Member Four Present
• Brandy Murphy, Board Member Four Present 
• Carol Louise Teweleit, Board Member Four Present 

What stood out in the questions being responded to and in the closing arguments was the clear understanding of the role and actual authority of local school board members. Both incumbent Rabon and Jewell were more polished in their responses especially, around visibility of school authority spending, audits and controls and how the public is kept informed of spending.

Opponents though passionate, about their beliefs, seemed uninformed on what the actual authority, of the local school board and limits are. There was dialog from the opposition in opening and closing statements about the need for more pay for staff, better workplace training, and a better environment for grievance resolution from staff. A few statements concerning staffing and turnover were referenced by the opposition candidates. 

Ms Jewell made the most concise and comprehensive statements during the forum explaining that the board’s authority is limited to 3 areas: budget, policy and hiring a superintendent.

Mrs. Jewell was very compelling in the area of budget transparency; explaining that spending is now very transparent and visible, to any member of the public that cares to see where the capital expenditures are being spent. She explained they may go to a website and check as “spending is updated daily” see contracts awarded and more information…

https://allin4ourkids.my.canva.site/aps-capital-construction#building-t…

Judy Rabon was very clear in her position that training and experience matters! She emphasized her history in Alamogordo of decades in the educational system and biw has been dedicated to transparency and accessibility. She expressed that the website for expenditures, the Telehealth program and more are innovative at providing services to students, and parents; to improve outcomes and student performance. 

Ms Teweleit emphasized her experience in the classroom, and the relationship with the NEA was important to ensure staff had representation and support. All three incumbents mentioned the importance of a good working relationship with the NEA was important to student outcomes and community success.

The newcomers seeking the positions all spoke of a need for a good working relationship with the NEA but had little knowledge in relation to NEA relations or protocols. 

Ms Jackson and Ms Murphy alluded to issues with staffing and with morale. Each spoke to the need of better support for the educators and staff but none of the challengers offered any proposals nor concrete options to tackle issues of concern. Each had talking points but did not offer any concrete plans or proposals.

The only alternative proposal offered by the challengers was from the youngest Josiah Stephen Vesey. He suggested there needs to be better special education programs, and class sizes needs to be reduced; however he did not detail a plan of how to address the issue of class size. 

Each challenger candidate, that bothered to show, certainly had a passion for education as did the incumbents. Yet none of the challengers impressed upon the audience an understanding of the limitations to the school board members role.

As an example, there was a reference to staffing concerns, support for teachers and moral. 

But the board of education by law is not allowed to engage individual cases nor address complaints of staff.

The Board of Education only has direct oversight of 1 employee and that is the school superintendent.

The Board is prohibited by law in any interference in ANY personnel matters, decisions on staff disputes nor issues of disciplinary concerns. The law is very clear that those issues are to be addressed by the supervisor, and escalated cases then go to the operations superintendent, and ultimately the superintendent but never the school board.

Interference by the board is a serious breach of state law with significant legal consequences.

The budget and budget oversight is a clear responsibility of the school board.

There is a serious misconception about the present school board and its oversight. The present board has received outstanding acclaim from the state and from auditors over its level of transparency, accountability and accuracy.

The overall budget is close to $100 Million and is audited internally, and by a third party accounting firm and reviewed by the state. The level of issues at APS were so minimal the last inspection state leaders have referenced APS accountability and transparency efforts as a model for other systems. Results of audits can be found at https://www.alamogordoschools.org/district/departments/business-and-fin…

Per the audit company, Audrey Jaramillo of the Jaramillo Accounting Group said via email. "The District’s leadership and its finance group (K12 Accounting) have greatly improved controls and accounting operations over the past three years." The auditor Audrey (Jaramillo) said,  “this is one of the best school district audits she's ever seen."

The authority of the school board is limited at the local level, as Amanda Jewell emphasized during the forum in her closing address that “the board by law has 3 primary jobs…
- Hiring the Superintendent 
- Budget 
- Policy”

Public debate over curriculum seems to be a hot topic. Curriculum is NOT policy. What should be and what should not be taught in the public schools is not within the authority of a local school board in New Mexico. The fact is the local school board does NOT have authority over curriculum mandates, diversity mandates nor policies regarding student staff confidentiality. Those policies are directed by the state and the local authority must execute policies to ensure state mandates are implemented. The curriculum is directed by the state. The board may devise policies that are consistent with state mandates. The local board is responsible to ensure compliance and oversight that state mandates are implemented and followed to ensure state and federal funding and student outcomes of success per state and federal guidance.

The public when choosing candidates for the Alamogordo School Board need to ensure they are selecting candidates familiar with the authority vested in the position and familiar with the limitations of authority. 

The incumbents are well versed on the laws and the last 2 years have made great strides in transparency.

To better understand the role of the school board the law outlining their duties is below…

According to § 22-5-4 NMSA, the authority and duties of the Board of Education are:

• Develop educational policies for the school district (not curriculum)
• Employ a local superintendent for the school district and set the superintendent’s salary
• Review and approve the annual school district budget
• Acquire, lease and dispose of property
• Have the capacity to sue and be sued
• Acquire property by eminent domain pursuant to the procedures provided in the Eminent Domain Code (§42A-1-1 NMSA 1978)
• Issue general obligation bonds of the school district
• Provide for the repair of and maintain all property belonging to the school district
• For good cause and upon order of the district court, subpoena witnesses and documents in connection with a hearing concerning any powers or duties of the local school board
• Except for expenditures for salaries, contract for the expenditure of money according to the provisions of the Procurement Code (§13-1-28 NMSA 1978)
• Adopt rules pertaining to the administration of all powers or duties of the local school board
• Accept or reject any charitable gift, grant, devise or bequest. The particular gift, grant, devise or bequest accepted shall be considered an asset of the school district or the public school to which it is given
• Offer and, upon compliance with the conditions of such offer, pay rewards for information leading to the arrest and conviction or other appropriate disciplinary disposition by the courts or juvenile authorities of offenders in case of theft, defacement or destruction of school district property. All such rewards will be paid from school district funds in accordance with rules promulgated by the Public Education Department
• Give prior approval for any educational program in a public school in the school district that is to be conducted, sponsored, carried on or caused to be carried on by a private organization or agency

Administrative Code Duties

The Board of Education will, in accord with the Administrative Code of the Secretary of Education:

• Approve and support the District’s Educational Plan for Student Success (EPSS) and each school site-level EPSS action plan
• Employ and evaluate the superintendent on an annual basis in accordance with § 22-10-3-1 NMSA 
• Ensure that each member of the board participates in a planned program of training that will assist in the performance of specified duties. All local school board members must receive a total of five (5) hours of annual training
• Delegate administrative and supervisory functions to the superintendent
• Refrain from involvement in delegated administrative functions
• Review, revise as needed, and submit policies to PED on an annual basis
• Award diplomas to students who have successfully completed graduation requirements
• Ensure the alignment of district curricula with Content Standards with benchmarks
• Ensure that district funds are appropriately managed and disbursed
• Be responsible for oversight of revenue and expenditures within the district budget
• Accept responsibility for ensuring the success of each school in the district

More News from Alamogordo

• Attorney General Raúl Torrez Warns Those Affected by Recent Natural Disasters of Potential Scams Attorney General Raúl Torrez Warns Those Affected by Recent Natural Disasters of Potential Scams
• Tax and Rev allows extension for Ruidoso disaster relief Tax and Rev allows extension for Ruidoso disaster relief