Santa Fe/ Planned Buyer of Former St. Catherine's Indian School Property Steps Aside
By Mark Oswald
ABQ Journal Staff Writer
September 28, 2012
A Missouri nonprofit has decided against buying the former St. Catherine's Indian School property, at least for now.
- "We have decided that, until we can come to agreements about everything that surrounds St. Catherine's, we're going to step back," said George Briscoe, board chairman of Hope 4 Today of Chesterfield, Mo., which promotes youth literacy.
John Polk, attorney for businessman Max Tafoya of Albuquerque and New Mexico Consolidated Construction Services, current owners of the historic campus, confirmed in an email that Briscoe had canceled closing on the deal.
Polk said that Briscoe was upset with liens that a real estate agent has filed against the property alleging that Tafoya owes her $352,000.
As of Tuesday, Briscoe said, "we have walked away from our agreement."
Briscoe said that, under the proposed purchase arrangement, Hope 4 Today would have satisfied a bank note on the 18-acre property near downtown Santa Fe and also taken care of "valid" liens on the site.
But he said a city court petition seeking fines against Tafoya for the deteriorating condition of the St. Kate's buildings is a problem. He said paying $500 a day in fines would be "contrary to our purposes" if Hope 4 Today seeks donations to acquire and renovate the Santa Fe campus.
He said it's his understanding that city officials are willing to discuss the issue of fines. "We have to deal with that as time moves forward," Briscoe said.
"It's such a magnificent place to be clouded in the cloak of all this mystery and intrigue," Briscoe said. "It's amazing it hasn't been renovated to date."
New Mexico Consolidated, owned by Tafoya, purchased the campus from the school's former operators, the Sisters of the Blessed Sacrament, in 2005.
Since then, the campus and its old buildings - many of which date to the 19th century - have sat vacant.
Tafoya has indicated he wanted to sell all or part of the campus on Griffin Street to the federal government for expansion of the adjacent Santa Fe National Cemetery. But city government, under its ordinances controlling historic properties, rejected his plans to move or tear down some structures so land could be transferred to the cemetery.
In April, New Mexico Consolidated filed a court appeal alleging the city had rejected those plans to force sale of the property to the city.
Adding another complication, Tafoya was indicted in February on charges that he lied to get almost $11 million in federal construction contracts through a program targeted at veterans with disabilities. The charges are pending in federal court.
And recently, the liens filed by real estate agent Patricia Barey surfaced, "slandering" the title to the campus and hindering sale of the property, alleges a court complaint by Polk, Tafoya's attorney.
Briscoe said Hope 4 Today promotes youth literacy by publishing and distributing books across the country. He said St. Kate's could also be used for housing for veterans to learn skills to transition into civilian life. Briscoe said his group's programs could possibly co-exist with a charter school at St. Kate's.
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Alamogordo/ City Moves Ahead with Challenge to PED Equalization Formula
By John Bear, Staff Writer
Alamogordo Daily News
September 27, 2012
The city of Alamogordo will move ahead with a challenge to the New Mexico Public Education Department's equalization formula, though the superintendent of the local school district is not optimistic the plan will succeed.
The state's equalization formula bleeds off about three quarters of federal impact aid money allocated to Alamogordo Public Schools, which the district receives from the federal government to help provide education to military-connected schoolchildren.
New Mexico is one of a handful of states that equalize the amount of funds each school district receives.
The City Commission voted unanimously Tuesday night to proceed with a challenge to the formula, which Mayor Susie Galea said will bring about $2.5 million a year to the school district.
- She has argued that because Otero County has a large amount of federally held land, the school district should receive its full entitlement of Federal Impact Aid.
- She said the city will work with state legislators in an effort for the school district to receive 100 percent of that funding.
APS Superintendent George Straface said he is "not very optimistic" about the district getting some relief but will support the city's efforts.
- "I would be pleasantly surprised, but I'm going to still work with it. I admire the city for helping us," he said.
Straface said he hasn't had a chance to speak with the mayor regarding the issue and isn't sure how she arrived at the sum of $2.5 million.
Straface said the district received about $800,000 in Federal Impact Aid last year, but after the state equalization hit, that amount was closer to $200,000.
- The district is required to count every student connected to the military or Indian nations and receives the allocation directly from the federal government, which it then reports to the state.
- He said the state also reduces by about 75 percent the money the district gathers through local property taxes.
District 3 Commissioner Robert Rentschler asked Straface during a commission meeting if the amount of money Alamogordo received was on par with a city such as Clovis.
- "The state equalization formula is very complex," Straface said.
- "The simple answer is yes, we have a unit value that is equitable across the state for every school district.
- The issue then becomes what's available in terms of taxable land in our community - and we are distinctly lower than Clovis."
Clovis also borders a large military installation, but Galea said it has a larger state tax base than Alamogordo.
Straface said about 78 percent of Otero County is federal land, including Holloman Air Force Base, parts of White Sands Missile Range and the Lincoln National Forest.
- "What that does is limit the amount of property tax we get," he said. "That means you get less dollars to fund your operation. And the formula the state uses is whatever we get in tax dollars, they take 75 percent of that away."
Straface said it is possible that New Mexico might reduce state money to the district if it is granted its full federal entitlement.
State and federal law guide how the formula is implemented, but federal law also provides for FIA to assist school districts whose tax bases are lessened by military installations, Indian reservations and other entities that are excluded from state taxes, according to city documents.
City attorney Stephen Thies said the state has authority to offset some of the money the federal government doles out to school districts as long as it has federal certification to do so.
The Zuni school district, west of Albuquerque, currently has a challenge against the equalization formula pending in district court.
- The district has about 2,000 students - 99 percent of them being registered members of American Indian tribes.
- Property within pueblos and reservations cannot be taxed by the state, documents show.
Straface said another New Mexico school district previously tried to challenge the equalization formula, but was struck down by the state Supreme Court.
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Cibola County/ Life of an Educator: Superintendent Kilino Marquez
By Bob Tenequer
Cibola Beacon Staff Writer
September 28, 2012
Kilino Marquez, 61, pointed to a box of crayons sitting on a bookshelf in his office.
"See that new box of crayons, there is a story behind that," he quips.
He recalled that when he attended elementary school that his mom and dad could not afford to buy him crayons.
"I had a plastic bag full of crayons that were broken and dull. And all the other children had new boxes of multi-colored crayons," Marquez said.
During his first year of his 10-year career as the superintendent of Grants/Cibola County Schools, he shared this story with staff to illustrate that not all students have access to the quality resources they need to be successful in school.
The staff at Mesa View Elementary School gave him a new box of crayons, with a note that read: "We want our superintendent to have his first box of 'state of the art' crayons."
During his 38 years as an educator, he became cognizant of the value of education and the effect educators can have on young lives.
Like precious stones of wisdom, Marquez recaptures vividly the knowledge and understanding shared by acquaintances and colleagues, as well as comments and incidents, that have helped shape his life.
Early influences
One such individual who had such a big effect in his life was Aaron Lopez, who was the Seboyeta High School principal.
Lopez was killed in an automobile accident, 50 years ago.
"This man was such a 'people' person," Marquez said. "If anything happened to someone's son or daughter, he would make home visits. I seen the way this man handled himself in the community. It just awed me how much sway he had on peoples lives," recalled Marquez.
The superintendent noted an incident when he and another student named, Waldo Garcia, had broken a window at the school.
"At the time breaking a school window was like a federal offense," Marquez chuckled with his signature laugh and broad smile. "I will never forget what this man made us do. There were two piles of gravel in the parking lot. He gave me and Waldo shovels to spread the gravel - mind you we were fifth graders."
The superintendent said, "We had to do this as part of the consequences. He didn't want our parents to take the burden; he wanted the students to be responsible for their actions. Now, every time I see elementary students being taught to be accountable for their actions by principals and teachers, it reminds me of this incident. It seems funny, but I remember this little incident that has stuck with me for years."
Marquez commented, "Sometimes as parents we try to protect our youngsters from being accountable for their actions. I think that hurts them more than helps them."
He noted that he believes, "You have to trust the school system, and that schools have the same interests parents do."
Marquez said his mother and father had the vision and foresight of what was going to happen in regards to their children's education. "They both gave us support and encouragement to be successful," the superintendent noted.
He recalled his father driving him to the Laguna Pueblo village of Paguate to catch the bus to Laguna-Acoma High School. "I remember how scared I was going from a little school in Seboyeta to a big school like Laguna-Acoma," Marquez remembered.
"Our bus driver's name was Elizabeth Ray, from the village of Paguate. She was a strict disciplinarian and emphasized the importance of discipline. There was no horseplay or talking. The best thing you could do when riding the bus was to get a book and read."
After that, he said, everything seemed automatic regarding education.
"A lot of times you stop and think, 'How did I get here?' It wasn't necessarily in the classroom; it was people that somehow crossed our paths as we were growing up," said Marquez.
Getting a College Degree
Marquez said that he was the first in his family to get a bachelor's degree at the University of New Mexico, UNM, in 1975.
"I don't remember having a discussion with my father regarding going to college. It was more like...just expected," explained the administrator. "It wasn't like, 'Are you going to go?' It was 'What school are you going to go to?'"
The superintendent said that he breezed through his freshman, sophomore and junior years in high school, and his academic performance was outstanding.
In his senior year, Marquez explained, "Boom - the bottom just fell out, and it didn't seem like a challenge anymore." He began to think about dropping out.
As he prepared for graduation, he contemplated where his was going to go to college. The young man met with a school counselor who said she didn't think he could make it at UNM. The university was too big. She commented that students couldn't go from a small rural school, like L-A, and make it at a big university.
"Her brazen comments really hurt me," said Marquez sternly. "When someone tells me that I can't do something, I get real stubborn and resistant, dig in my heels and push back.
When I had a little difficulty in class at UNM, I think about her comments and it gave me the motivation to try harder," commented Marquez.
The Beginnings of Teaching
When a vocational education teacher left Laguna-Acoma High School in the middle of the school year, it provided Marquez the opportunity to step in as substitute teacher. He was in his senior year in college with six credit hours needed to finish his degree requirements. He completed the remaining credit hours that summer.
"That first day of class with those students was like a natural thing for me. And I haven't regretted it one day since then," he said proudly. "I have always stood for the 'underdog,' that student that doesn't come from a perfect home environment and may not have the proper parental guidance. Throughout my career I have worked to help them make the connection between how getting a good education could improve students' quality of life," commented Marquez.
While serving as the vice principal at the school, he worked with Gerald Kie, who was the principal and Marquez' mentor.
Marquez recalled Kie saying, "You know Mr. Marquez, fundamentally, all youngsters are good. When a child is born, they are pure and innocent. We create those children into the types of adults that we want them to be. And sometimes we are not the greatest examples as educators, but we have the opportunity to be role models for these students to buy them time to mature."
After teaching at Laguna-Acoma for 25 years, Marquez said that greatest gift - a term of endearment - was when former students call him "Coach."
"By them saying that word reveals to me that I had an effect on their lives. They don't know how good that makes me feel," said Marquez. "You take an educator whose heart is in the right place, has that work ethic, and really care about people and communities, they will be successful."
Marquez added, "I tell the staff that the 'thank you' and rewards are not immediate in education. It will come when these youngsters that you are working with reach their late twenties, because that is the time they mature to the level of adulthood."
He added, "I hear presidents, politicians, doctors and lawyers say that there was one teacher or teachers' influence that by a comment or action changed their lives. And this is what I truly believe."
Marquez has been married to his wife, Nicki, for 37 years. The couple has two children, Charles and Kristy. The family resides in Bibo in eastern Cibola County.
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Moriarty/ Moriarty-Edgewood School District to Offer Free Meals
By Lee Ross
Septemeber 27, 2012
Mountian View Telegraph
The Moriarty-Edgewood School District will be offering two free services for students attending Moriarty and Mountainview elementary schools.
According to District Superintendent Karen Couch, the two elementary schools will offer free breakfasts and lunches as well as after-school academic programs.
"We feel like it's going to be a real boost for both schools," she said.
- Because 80 percent or more of the students at the schools are on free or reduced lunches, they qualified for Provision 2, a federal program that pays for student nutrition in low-income areas.
The schools each also qualified for a $250,000 in 21st Century Learning Center Grant.
- The grants are administered in partnership with the Rio Grande Educational Collaborative.
- The four-year grants will allow the schools to supplement the curriculum from the school day and provide opportunities for enrichment and intervention, Couch said.
"We're shooting for a start date of right after winter break," she said. "We're going to focus on math and reading, but I'm certain we can incorporate every core subject."
The district is also putting together projects to use up the last $250,000 of its bond money.
- That money will be used to install Mondo vulcanized rubber flooring in all the elementary schools. The flooring is designed to provide a more forgiving surface - giving a bit more bounce - when students fall during athletic activities, as well as being antibacterial, because the multi-use rooms also are used as cafeterias.
- Each school had about $95,000 to use for improvements to their multi-purpose rooms. Part of that money was already used to replace aging tables, Couch said.
"Many of the tables were in very poor condition," she said.
The district is gearing up for another general obligation bond election in 2013.
- According to Couch, the district may choose to ask voters to approve somewhere between $18 and $20 million.
- An election for $20 million may cause a slight increase in property taxes, but specific amounts are not yet available, she said.
- The district's consultant, George K. Baum, will bring those figures to the school board at its next meeting.
Finally, the district recognized Thomas Fullerton, Justine Garcia and Michael Pike, three Moriarty High School students who used the district's virtual learning center, a system called Education 2020, to meet the requirements for graduation over the summer.
"These three students worked their tails off," she said. "They were not able to grad with peers in May, but they were extremely excited about being able to work through the credits that they needed to graduate."
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Deming/ Getting 3rd-Graders to Garden
Children learn where food comes from
Deming Headlight Report
September 27, 2012
A great way to get kids started in the garden is the National Bonnie Plants 3rd Grade Cabbage Program. It's free to any third grade classroom in the country and teachers can register now at http://bonniecabbageprogram.com/.
In 2002, Bonnie Plants initiated the 3rd Grade Cabbage Program with a mission to inspire a love of vegetable gardening in young people.
- Each year, Bonnie trucks more than one million free O.S. Cross cabbage plants to 3rd Grade classrooms across the country (O.S. stands for oversized these cabbages can grow upwards of 40 pounds making the initiative engaging and fun for kids).
- Teachers distribute 2-inch plants with instructions, provided by Bonnie, to students to carry home and grow.
- At the end of the growing season, teachers select a class winner, based on size, appearance and maturity, and that submission is entered in a state scholarship drawing.
- The state winners are randomly selected by each state's Director of Agriculture, and Bonnie Plants awards a $1,000 scholarship for education to one student in each state.
As one of the first companies to sponsor a national vegetable gardening initiative for kids, Bonnie Plants has delivered over 11 million cabbage plants, nationwide, in the past 10 years, fostering an interest in gardening, healthy eating and the environment.
"The Bonnie Plants Cabbage Program is a wonderful way to engage children's interest in agriculture, while teaching them not only the basics of gardening, but the importance of our food systems and growing our own," said Stan Cope, President of Bonnie Plants. "This unique, innovative program exposes children to agriculture and demonstrates, through hands-on experience, where food comes from.
The program also affords our youth with some valuable life lessons in nurture, nature, responsibility, self-confidence and accomplishment."
Why a cabbage?
Cabbages were the first plant sold by Bonnie in 1918. The cabbages used for the third grade program are OS Cross (Over-Sized), which is known for producing giant, oversized heads, making the process even more exciting for kids. The biggest cabbage grown in the contest weighed in at 65 pounds.
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Santa Fe/ LETTER: School Upgrades Complement City
By Fred Lujan
The New Mexican
September 27, 2012
Kudos to all the people responsible for and who were directly involved in the remodel and additions to Carlos Gilbert and Gonzales schools.
The finished products are beautiful and fitting for our city.
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Washington DC/ Education Department Awards $290 Million in Grants to Incentivize Top Teachers
By Josh Lederman
Huffington Post
September 27, 2012
The Obama administration is awarding $290 million in grants to reward top teachers and boost opportunities for teachers who work in impoverished schools.
The Department of Education says the funds will flow to almost 1,000 schools in 18 states plus the District of Columbia.
- The program is intended to encourage school districts to incentivize good teaching through faculty evaluations and performance-based pay.
- Some of the grants focus on science and math teachers, which President Barack Obama has said is a top priority.
- Public school systems in New York and Los Angeles will use the funds for a compensation program that's based on career ladders.
Education Secretary Arne Duncan says there's a desperate need for top teachers and principals to have greater influence over their colleagues.
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Washington DC/ Traditional or Charter Schools? Actually, They Help Each Other
A new study suggests that best practices from charter schools can help student achievement at underperforming public schools. The issue is getting the two to cooperate.
By Allison Terry, Contributor
CSmonitor.com
September 27, 2012
Charter schools are not a silver bullet for education reform, a new report says, but applying the best practices from some charter schools to low-performing public schools may increase student achievement.
Early data show that the strategy - applied in Houston and Denver pilot programs - yielded "promising" results, according to the report, titled "Learning from the Successes and Failures of Charter Schools" and released Thursday by the Hamilton Project at the Brookings Institution.
The study could help improve cooperation between charter schools and traditional schools, which have often viewed each other as competitors.
- The debate about whether charter schools or traditional schools are more effective is a false one and misses the central point, said Secretary of Education Arne Duncan at the Hamilton Project's education forum Thursday in Washington.
- "The question isn't: Do we need more charter schools, traditional schools, gifted schools, or magnet schools?" he said. "We need better public schools. Kids don't know what kind of school they go to. All they ask is, 'Do I have a good teacher?' "
The report focuses on the work that Harvard economics professor Roland Fryer did with the Houston Independent School District (HISD) to develop a pilot program targeting nine of Houston's lowest-performing middle and high schools in 2010-11 and 11 elementary schools in 2011-12.
Dr. Fryer, who is the faculty director of Harvard's Education Innovations Laboratories (EdLabs), studied 35 charter schools in New York and discovered the top five practices that separate low- and high-achieving charter schools:
(1) extended time at school,
(2) strong administrators and teachers,
(3) data-driven instruction,
(4) small-group tutoring, and
(5) creating a "culture of high expectations."
Fryer and HISD superintendent Terry Grier used grants from the US Department of Education and private funding - together totaling $2,200 per student - to implement the five practices. To meet those goals, the schools:
- Extended the academic year by five days and added one hour to each day.
- Replaced 53 percent of the teachers and all of the school principals.
- Assessed the students every six weeks, reviewed the effectiveness of teaching methods from the data they had gathered, and set new goals.
- Gave sixth- and ninth-graders two-on-one math instruction by full-time tutors.
- Established a culture of high expectations by posting goals in the classrooms.
Dr. Grier said that fixing low-performing schools is not rocket science. "I've never been to a high-performing school that didn't have a good principal and good teachers," Grier said at the Hamilton forum.
The report says the test scores, especially for math, increased dramatically (though it did not include the test scores). Fryer calculated that the progress in Houston was equivalent to giving the students an additional 3-1/2 months of math instruction and three weeks of reading instruction. The report shows similar progress for the pilot program in Denver, which began in 2011.
Fryer says he is optimistic that other school districts can adopt these methods and achieve similar results. But there are still barriers that Fryer sees to broader acceptance of his methods.
- "The biggest challenge we have right now is: Do we have the right talent?" Fryer says. "Do we have a big enough pool of leaders and teachers who want to do this work? It's incredibly difficult."
Part of that work is building cooperation between charter schools and traditional schools. Fryer's research is helping to transform the debate about charter schools, says Steve Mancini, public affairs director for the charter school network Knowledge is Power Program (KIPP).
"He is bridging the gap between the academic ivory tower and front lines," says Mr. Mancini. "He takes research and makes it relevant for the neediest kids."
KIPP's schools already employ Fryer's suggested practices and are working with school districts to develop programs and leadership training to introduce successful charter school elements into traditional schools this year. Mancini says this indicates a shifting in policy that is less rigid and more collaborative.
This "cross-pollination" is breaking down the barriers and confrontation that often exist between proponents of strict charter-school methods and proponents of traditional-school methods, says Mitchell Chester, Massachusetts education commissioner.
"We want to make that impermeable wall permeable," Commissioner Chester says. "What lessons we can learn and share so that we can start to think about models that don't fit neatly into one camp or another."
