Clovis school board honors music programs

CLOVIS — The Clovis Municipal School district went just over a year without in-person art or music. Music Education Brandon Boerio told the board Tuesday how the students returned, almost without missing a beat, back to their winning ways.

A pair of music programs were honored at the board meeting for their statewide victories, with the Clovis High School band taking its ninth consecutive state championship at the Zia Marching Fiesta Oct. 23 and choir students dominating the Southeastern New Mexico Music Educator’s Association Vocal Solo and Ensemble Festival on Oct. 7.

That, Boerio said, was after the students went from March 2020 to April 2021 without in-person instruction.

“Our students were troopers,” Boerio said, later noting administrators “doubled down their efforts to get our programs to recover.”

The band teamed up with the Wildcadettes dance team for the first time in school history, with Boerio noting the dance team lost a competition opportunity as well. The “Home Run” baseball-themed show took the top honors at all four of its competitions, including at Lubbock and Amarillo with Texas schools that didn’t stop playing during the pandemic.

Board member Paul Cordova, who was at the Zia event, complimented the band on its sound, noting, “It sounds like you’re listening to a CD.”

The choir competition, meanwhile, saw the CHS and CHS Freshman Academy choirs race up 30 soloists and six ensembles with superior ratings, along with seven outstanding soloists and the outstanding ensemble.

To describe the difficulty in teaching music virtually, Boerio said to imagine how disjointed the average  “Happy Birthday” song is in a Zoom meeting. Then he asked the audience to imagine that same Zoom meeting used to teach 30 people how to play an instrument.

“Our team did a remarkable job of making music work remotely,” Boerio said, “even though it’s almost impossible.”

In other business at the Tuesday meeting:

• David Kutas, a senior project director for the University of Virginia’s Partnership for Leaders in Education, gave a quick update to board members while he was visiting the district for a site visit.

The partnership serves more than 100 school districts in 25 states to identify educational priorities and practices, and Kutas said in many cases the work done by the Clovis district is sent to other schools as the example to follow.

The board asked Kutas about how schools can best succeed without getting too into details, and Kutas said much of it comes down to autonomy for principals.

“It can’t be a top-down approach,” Kutas said, “but it also can’t be, ‘OK, principal, here are the keys.’”

• Joe Strickland, Deputy Superintendent for Employee Services, introduced a board policy revision regarding student fees and charges.

The policy, which will be considered at the next meeting, would be amended to provide more leniency for students who owe fees. The current policy, Strickland said, has created instances where students in their mid-20s seeking jobs can’t get high school transcripts. The new policy, he said, would provide flexibility but still hold people accountable.

• The board accepted a policy change to increase vacation carryover days from 30 to 31. Deputy Superintendent of Finance Shawna Russell said payouts of 30 days of vacation or less are subject to retirement and retiree healthcare premiums for both the employee and employer, while payouts of 31 days or more are not.

• In a non-action item, Russell discussed the district’s Per Pupil Expenditure report, with a breakdown of how much money each school site spends per student.

With the exception of Los Ninos Early Intervention Center ($30,917.42) and the iAcademy ($17,827.16), campuses generally spend between $11,000 and $14,000 per pupil. While some schools spend more because of bilingual programs and other measures, Russell said most differences are simply based on the certification levels — and consequently, salaries — of teachers.

• Boerio also discussed elementary art, and how virtual schooling has become a habit. The three elementary art teachers have done classes from their home campuses, and the classes were then broadcast to other elementary schools. Additionally, Boerio said, the teachers have rotated for the last few weeks to give every elementary school one in-person art class.

• The next meeting is scheduled for 5:30 p.m. Nov. 16.