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Education

  • Teachers Want Reform

    Teachers, parents and administrators say they’d welcome a reform of New Mexico’s teacher evaluation system.

    But they say the current rule has been rushed and doesn’t account for challenges outside the classroom.

    The state chapter of the American Federation of Teachers led a protest Wednesday before education officials met in a public hearing. The Greater Albuquerque Chamber of Commerce is among supporters of the new rule.

    Efforts to replace the current evaluation system with one based on student test score gains failed in the Legislature.
    Education Secretary Hanna Skandera then moved to overhaul the system through administrative rule.

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  • UNM-LA to offer programs for younger students

    UNM-LA will host “University Experience,” from July 23-27. This program is a newly designed and invigorated version of what was once called “Children’s College.”  
    This program includes two components, the “University Adventures” program for students entering grades 4-7 and “University Explorations” for older students entering grades 7-12.  Seventh graders may select either program, depending on their interests.

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  • Board green lights bus loop

    Months of debate, rejected plans and much discussion came to an end Tuesday during the Los Alamos Board of Education meeting.

    Board members were able to reach a consensus regarding the proposed bus loop at Los Alamos High School and voted 5-0 in favor of study number eight, which would have buses entering school grounds from Diamond Drive and exiting onto Orange Street.

    According to a press release from Los Alamos Public Schools, the High School Bus Loop Committee met on July 3 “to review the high school bus loop option that will be presented to the school board at the July 10 meeting.

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  • Bus loop plan moves forward

    At Tuesday’s meeting, school board members voted 5-0 to push forward with a plan for a bus loop at Los Alamos High School. They also voted 4-1, to allocate funds for landscaping the project. LAPS Board Member Melanie McKinley voted against the landscaping motion. The board action has cleared the way for construction of the bus loop to begin. Read the full story in Thursday’s Los Alamos Monitor.

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  • DPU-PEEC program reaches out to LA schools

    Did you know you can create a “battery” using the malic acid in an apple? Or that light can make things move? Students in the Los Alamos Public Schools are experimenting with these and other hands on projects through outreach programs sponsored by the Department of Public Utilities and implemented by the Pajarito Environmental Educational Center.

    DPU initiated the program after the New Mexico Office of the State Engineer mandated outreach to the public schools and the general public as part of a resolution regarding water rights compliance issues. DPU has $20,000 budgeted for the program, and has contracted with PEEC for the last three years to provide the service.

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  • LAPS make the grade

    Governor Susana Martinez announced the release of the first official school grades under New Mexico’s new School Grading System Monday. This announcement marks the first time the state has utilized a school accountability system created specifically for the students of New Mexico.

    Over 830 elementary, middle and high schools were measured in several areas of student achievement. As opposed to basing the system on a single test score, these school grades are calculated using at least three years’ worth of data whenever possible in areas such as academic growth, attendance, support of both the highest and lowest performing students, and college and career readiness.

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  • District pay raise vote lacked transparency

    The Los Alamos Public School District Board of Education may have violated the state’s Open Meetings Act when it voted for employee pay raises during a special meeting last month.

    The public notice of the board’s May 24 special meeting had no mention of pay raises for certified and non-certified negotiated school employees nor did the agenda presented before the meeting.

    But despite the lack of public notice that the board would formally take up the issues of employee pay raises, and also that question being asked of the board by Board President Kevin Honnell and the Los Alamos Monitor, the board voted in favor of a 3-percent pay raise.

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  • No date set for LAMS contractor state hearing

    The company awarded the contract for the Los Alamos Middle School construction project will have to appear at a formal hearing before the state Taxation and Revenue Department.

    The hearing will determine whether or not the company’s in-state preference certification was justly received. A date for the hearing has not been set.

    That’s the latest the in an ongoing investigation into whether McCarthy Building Companies received the certification from the department in error.

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  • School board mulls new Bus Loop plan

    The Los Alamos Public School Board of Directors considered a new bus loop proposal Thursday evening after several other proposals had been rejected throughout the last year – but the proposal, which will be voted on at the July school board meeting, may come too late as there’s little time to undertake the project before the start on the new school year Aug. 13.

    Superintendent Gene Schmidt said it’s the third such attempt to reach a happy medium.

    In May, the board rejected what was thought to be a final plan stating there were too many uncertainties with the proposal. The board also rejected a bus loop proposal last year.

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  • LAMS contractor certification comes under state scrutiny

    The state Taxation and Revenue Department now believes McCarthy Building Companies — which was awarded in-state preference certification by the state — is actually not eligible for the perk and is seeking to revoke its status.

    “The Department is taking the necessary steps, in accordance with New Mexico law, to issue a notice of contemplated action to remove this designation so that the preference cannot be applied to its bids for public projects,” Department Spokesman S.U. Mahesh said in a recent email.

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