Joyce Barela News Today

News from Grant County, New Mexico

While the Cobre Consolidated School District’s board was reviewing their bills at their meeting Monday, board member Gilbert Guadiana, who filed recall petitions against board President Ralph “Toy” Sepulveda and Vice President Frank Cordova earlier this year, asked about invoices for the board leaders’ representation at a district court hearing in May. “I’m particularly interested in any payment that may have been made and/or reimbursed related to the representation of …

The Cobre Consolidated Schools Board of Education voted to approve new Superintendent Jeff Spaletta’s contract at their regular meeting Monday evening, officially making Spaletta the district’s new leader. After some discussion about items that were changed on the original contract by the district’s attorney, the board made two more changes to Spaletta’s contract: one that requires 260 days of work, and one that would require the signature of all board …

The Cobre Consolidated Schools Board of Education held their regular meeting Monday night, during which they made final plans for this week’s interviews of finalists for the district’s next leader. John Bash of Hazard, Young, Attea, and Associates attended the meeting virtually from Arizona to give the board an update on superintendent interviews scheduled for Wednesday. “We have put together the plan for each candidate — they’ll arrive in staggered …

All four applicants for Cobre Consolidated School District superintendent were approved by the district’s board to be moved forward to interviews, which will take place during a public special meeting next Wednesday. Three applicants are well-known in the area and one is from neighboring Doña Ana County.  This decision was made after an hour-and-a-half closed session, for which all five board members, interim Superintendent Joyce Barela, and representative of Hazard, …

During their regular meeting Monday evening, the Cobre Consolidated Schools Board of Education voted to forgo building a wrestling gym for Cobre High School in favor of a new elementary school gym for Central Elementary, under the pressure of a bond spending deadline. The $1.2 million in bond money had previously been projected to cover the cost of both buildings, but with rising costs of labor and materials since the …

The Cobre Schools Board of Education came together for a special meeting Monday evening to discuss their application for $2 million in CARES Act funding and their ongoing search for a new superintendent. Interim Superintendent Joyce Barela began the meeting by reviewing a revised budget for the CARES Act application that the district has been working on. The original budget, which had been approved by the board in an earlier …

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The Cobre Consolidated Schools Board of Education held their meeting Monday evening with newly appointed member Canuto Molina taking an oath of office. Molina was selected from among six applicants at a special meeting last month. John Kennedy spoke to the board regarding the N.M. School Boards Association Policy Service, looking to get the board’s approval to move forward. “In the last six months, I became the director of the …

The Cobre Consolidated Schools Board of Education met Monday evening, and the main order of business was the interview process to fill the fifth seat on the board left vacant after Gabriel Holguin resigned to assume the position of wrestling coach at Cobre High School. At last Tuesday’s special meeting, each board member agreed to draft a question for candidates and submit it to the superintendent’s administrative assistant by midday …