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School board notes positive feedback on district calendar

CLOVIS — Before approving the 2020-21 district calendar in a unanimous vote, Clovis school board members noted overwhelming positive feedback from community members.

They received a few more hurrahs at the Tuesday meeting from elected officials, confident they’d gotten more than a fair deal.

The district calendar begins July 1 for K-5 Plus programs, with most students reporting Aug. 17 and preschool and kindergarten students Aug. 24.

Curry County Commissioners Chet Spear and Seth Martin expressed thanks because the instruction period doesn’t begin until the Curry County Fair, set for Aug. 11-15, concludes.

Spear noted the fair was the 100th, and, “we’re going to try to make it really special.” Spear noted concerts are already lined up with Michael Salgado and Aaron Watson, and fair officials are working on some type of Monday night kick-off event.

Martin said the obvious benefit was for the kids who raise animals for the fair and won’t have to balance the first week of school versus fair participation. He anticipated the fair would see a higher amount of non-agriculture entries as well.

The school year includes a May 23 Clovis High graduation, set on Sunday to avoid conflicts with spring sports championships, and May 27 as the last day of school.

“It’s hard to pick those dates,” board member Terry Martin said, “but we’re trying our best to not conflict.”

Board members credited administration for their work creating the calendar, which also includes eight early releases for professional development. The first 1 p.m. early release is Sept. 2, and releases follow on the first Wednesday of each month with January excluded.

In other business at the meeting:

• The board got a bit of mixed news from its 2018-19 audit report by Jaramillo Accounting Group.

The bad news was the district has to find another auditor, since audit rules only allow a school district to go three consecutive years with the same auditing firm.

The good news, managing partner Audrey Jaramillo said, was a largely clean audit on a district with $107 million in expenditures.

“That’s a lot of information, a lot of hard work,” Jaramillo said.

Finance Director Shawna Russell credited her staff, noting, “it takes a whole group of us to get that accomplished.”

Jaramillo said she was required to report an extra $412 the district didn’t account for, when actual property tax collection was higher than the anticipated. Jaramillo said that while it must be reported, it’s not an uncommon incident because the budgeting is done in advance by the Public Education Department and county assessor’s offices and not by school districts.

Martin, a trustee for Clovis Community College, said CCC is also losing Jaramillo for its audits and he is disappointed with both developments.

“It seems like from Day 1, everybody got along,” Martin told Jaramillo. “You have made us better.”

• The board moved its officer reorganization period to June, with the new board assignments to begin in July to coincide with fiscal years.

• The board approved a pair of out-of-state trips for the Clovis High wind symphony and the Air Force Junior ROTC.

Music Director Brandon Boerio said the trip to Canyon would allow the symphony to take advantage of recently remodeled facilities at West Texas A&M and their acoustic improvements.

Maj. Alan Fields said the ROTC students would spend April 16-19 traveling to and from Dallas and would have opportunities to see an F-35 production facility, the Holocaust Museum and the Sixth Floor Museum.

• Boerio brought up various band directors to thank administration for its support, following a day declared in honor of the CHS band at the state legislative session.

Boerio said a man who watched the CHS band win at the Zia Marching Festival wrote a kind letter to city officials — so kind, Boerio said, he suspected former band director Norvil Howell was playing a prank. The letter was forwarded to area legislators and proclamations were read in the House, Senate and governor’s office.

Band director Bill Allred said the band received a state flag that flew over the Capitol during the session, and it would be encased along with U.S. flags the band has from a presidential inauguration and from an overseas conflict.

• The board nominated Carrie Nigreville, the district’s executive director of strategic planning and school support, as its New Mexico School Board Association award recipient.

Superintendent Renee Russ said “we could stay here all night” discussing Nigreville’s successes and qualifications for the award. Russ said Nigreville would be recognized in May.

• The next board meeting is scheduled for 5:30 p.m. March 17, due to spring break falling on the board’s normal “fourth Tuesday” schedule.

 
 
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