Serving Clovis, Portales and the Surrounding Communities
PORTALES — Portales Municipal Schools laid the groundwork for an election next year to renew $7 million in general obligation bonds during its regular meeting Tuesday.
A resolution approved unanimously by the school board calls for a Feb. 16 election to be conducted entirely by mail. The Roosevelt County Clerk’s Office bears the responsibility for running the election, and the district is on the hook for the postage for the ballots — both to and from voters.
“Just like with the last bonds,” Superintendent Johnnie Cain said, “we’ve taken care to make sure it doesn’t raise taxes for the residents in the county.”
The four-year bond would largely go to a new roof and various building work at James Elementary and athletic field improvements at Portales High School, but Cain said the money will also provide for several smaller-scale renovations.
Board member Rodney Savage said the all-mail election gives him concerns because it relies on voter registration lists that aren’t necessarily updated, and he recalled during a previous all-mail election that ballots were mailed to people who had either died or no longer lived at that address. Administrative staff said they would work with the county clerk’s office.
In other business at the Tuesday meeting:
• Cain predicted that Roosevelt County would not meet COVID-19 gating criteria to allow in-person schooling, meaning the district would not restart hybrid learning on Monday as planned for months. The prediction turned out accurate, as later on in the week the state reported three consecutive state records for new COVID-19 cases.
According to the state COVID-19 public data dashboard, Roosevelt County between Sept. 29 and Oct. 12 had 24.7 new daily cases per 100,000 residents and test positivity of 11.8% — well above the 8 and 5% required for a county to be in the “green” and have a chance to resume in-person education.
Cain thought it was possible the county would not be cleared for the remainder of the calendar year, but that the district would be ready to begin hybrid learning as soon as possible once they receive a go-ahead from the Public Education Department.
• According to the 120-day enrollment report, the district is down 88 students from last year. Cain said he has spoken with legislators about a desire to create 2021-22 budgets based on 2019-20 numbers and not the current year.
“We’re not the only ones down like this,” Cain said. “It could be devastating to districts.”
Cain said he believed teachers were doing their best, but that many factors out of their control were against them. He noted a documentary he saw about how schools shut down in New Orleans for a year due to Hurricane Katrina needed three years to get those students caught up, and imagined the state may have a similar situation on its hands.
“We’re going to have to rethink school as we move forward,” Cain said. “We’re going to see that across the board.”
• Athletic Director Mark Gallegos said the past week was obviously trying, with public health orders not changing to allow youth sports until 2021. Gallegos said coaches, who often see kids in a different light than teachers, are spending much of their time counseling the kids on mental health issues.
• The board met in executive session for 40 minutes to discuss pending or threatened litigation, and took no action after returning to open session.
• The next meeting is scheduled for Nov. 9.