The ARC data also indicated that a new school is not necessary in the upcoming election, but that additional classrooms are. He estimates the value of all the requests for the district total more than $200 million. Jacquez said the tentative bond amount is $52 million, and requests for capital improvements have been made from nearly all schools. The data can be used for the February 2018 school bond issue. LCPS Deputy Superintendent Gabe Jacquez reported on new data received from Architectural Research Consultants (ARC) that describes which schools need additional classrooms. The rating is critical and could impact the interest rate of LCPS bonds which are used to pay for capital outlay needs Ewing said he hopes the current rating of AA3 will remain the same. If the funds are provided, this would equate to nearly $700,000 for LCPS.Īlso, a small team from LCPS went to Dallas recently to pitch the district’s financial stability to Moody’s Investors Service, which sets the district’s bond credit rating. He said he's still awaiting word from the New Mexico Public Education Department about whether LCPS will receive an additional $16 per student from the state's education funding formula, the equalization guarantee.
Budget updateĮwing gave an update about budget changes. He said the data will be used to enhance instruction without shaming students or teachers. He said teachers should remain focused on instruction and that test scores are simply used to tailor instruction. Superintendent Greg Ewing reminded the audience that he continues to question the validity of the process.Įwing said: “We don’t have failing schools.” Vega compared the 2017 letter grades to last year’s. The findings were discussed with the School Board. Meanwhile, the PED recently released letter grades for all districts in New Mexico. During emergencies, Vega said the school also will have a true representation of who is in the building. The new method has teachers recording whether students are present, absent and tardy. Prior to this year, teachers would record in Synergy only when a student was absent. LCPS Chief Technology and Research Officer Albert Vega reported on a change in recording student absences. More: LCPS to eliminate paper report cards for middle, high schools Attendance reporting data expanded Miller-Tomlinson explained that each kindergarten class is entitled to an educational assistant once the class size reaches 15 students. In addition, four elementary educational assistants were reassigned to kindergarten classrooms within the district. "Since our initial staffing estimates were fairly accurate, it helped speed up the process and cut down on the number of changes we had to make this year."īased on the school staffing allotment and class size figures, Mesilla Park Elementary and Valley View Elementary each lost one teaching position, and Monte Vista Elementary, Sonoma Elementary, Tombaugh Elementary, Columbia Elementary, East Picacho Elementary and University Hills Elementary each gained one teaching position.Ī part-time math teaching position at Sierra Middle School was also made into a full-time position, in order to draw a more competitive pool of job applicants. "Our principals did a good job of estimating class sizes at their schools and developing solutions that worked well for everyone," Miller-Tomlinson said. Wendi Miller-Tomlinson, LCPS assistant superintendent of teaching and learning, announced that district officials have reviewed, adjusted and finalized staffing allotments for schools across the district for the 2017-18 school year. LAS CRUCES - Las Cruces Public Schools officials discussed school staffing, school grades and school water quality, among other topics, during a Sept.