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Education

  • Sunday Session: LAPS Board Set to Review Super's Contract

    The Los Alamos Public Schools Board of Education has scheduled a rare Sunday afternoon executive session to review the superintendent's evaluation and contract.

    The executive session, which is closed to the public, will take place at 4 p.m. Dec. 18 at 209 Navajo in Los Alamos. An Internet search of the address for the meeting indicates the location is the private residence of school board member Kevin Honnell.

    The superintendent, Dr. Gene Schmidt, has been superintendent of the district since July 2009. Schmidt currently earns $142,300 a year which ranks his compensation in the top 10 among the highest paid school chiefs in the state, according to information on the New Mexico Public Education Department website.

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  • Paws and Stripes

    The Los Alamos High School NJROTC went to West Mesa High School last weekend and competed in the Area 9 “West” Academic, Physical Fitness and Drill Championships.  They placed as follows:
    First place: Academics
    First place: Tug-of war
    Second place: Physical fitness
    Second place: Color guard
    Second place: Inspection
    Third place: Armed drill
    Third place: Unarmed drill
    Individual Awards went to:
    Jodi Cull-Host — First place medals in academics; second place push ups; and a third place medal in sit-ups and as a platoon commander.
    Kyle Partin — Second place medal in academics and third place medal as a platoon commander.

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  • LAMS welcomes new assistant principal

    Los Alamos Middle School Principal Rex Kilburn has a new secret weapon for the Hawks, Assistant Principal Anna Vargas-Gutierrez.

    Vargas-Gutierrez arrived at LAMS one month ago, jumping in with both feet by introducing herself and making the rounds at lunchtime to meet both staff and students.

    The new AP said she always heard many positive things about the Los Alamos Public Schools and after working at the district administrative level for the past two years, she had a desire to return to working more directly with students.

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  • School officials fear more funding cutbacks

    Los Alamos Public Schools was tasked with trimming $600,000 from its budget this year and may be in for even more cuts.

    A meeting of the state Legislative Finance Committee, next week at the State Capitol, will determine if the budget issue will go to the Legislature during its upcoming session. The action has come about after the LFC and the Legislative Education Study Committee did a study on revising the school funding formula.

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  • School board looks at redistricting

    Following each decennial census, the Los Alamos Board of Education is required to realign school board districts. As a result of this action, the board is required to hold two public meetings.

    The first meeting was Nov. 14 at Piñon Elementary school, however only LAPS employees showed up and the meeting was adjourned shortly after it was called to order. The next meeting is scheduled for 5:30-6:30 p.m. Nov. 28 at Los Alamos Middle School. During this time, the board will present different options for realignment. The requirements that must be met are: to have two public meetings and have maps showing the districts.

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  • Minimum retirement age of 55 proposed for teachers

    ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) — New Mexico's retirement program for teachers and college faculty proposes to improve its long-term finances by establishing a minimum retirement age of 55 for educators and limiting cost-of-living increases for retirees.

    The Educational Retirement Board voted Monday to recommend the proposals to the Legislature, which has to change state law to implement any pension revisions.

    The retirement program covers 97,000 current workers and retirees.

    Most educators can retire with full benefits at any age after working at least 25 years, although that has increased to 30 years for those hired starting in July 2010. The proposed minimum retirement age would not apply to workers within 10 years of retirement.

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  • Legislative report faults state school funding system

    SANTA FE— New Mexico needs to revamp how it distributes more than $2 billion a year in taxpayer money to public schools because the current system is too complicated, difficult to administer and shortchanges needy students, according to a report released Wednesday.
    Two legislative committees issued the report critical of the state’s school funding formula, which was established in the 1970s and is supposed to treat districts equitably. Nearly half of the state’s annual budget goes to pay for operations of New Mexico’s more than 170 school districts and charter schools.

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  • Construction delays dominate session

    Just like the song that never ends, call the work being done at Los Alamos High School the project that never ends.  Another deadline has been pushed out a week and now the administration department, Family and Consumer Science and nurse’s office will have to wait until Nov. 21 to move into their new digs.

    During Tuesday night’s school board meeting at Los Alamos High School, David Wharram, Gerald Martin owner’s representative for Gerald Martin construction, told board members that despite the schedule issued by Flintco, the move-in would have to be delayed a week.

    “Flintco said the school facilities would be ready to move in on the 14th, but not all the systems may be working,” he said.

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  • Board looks at performance indicators

    Community colleges are having a positive impact in New Mexico based on a number of performance indicators that were reviewed during The University of New Mexico-Los Alamos Advisory Board meeting Monday night on the UNM-LA campus.

    UNM-LA Executive Director Dr. Cedric Page spoke about personnel matters and the college’s annual performance report. He presented a report about New Mexico community colleges that showed the results of community college performance-based indicators.

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  • Educators question rules for grading schools A-F

    SANTA FE, N.M. (AP) — Educators are cautioning Gov. Susana Martinez's administration against rushing the implementation of a new law that will assign grades A to F to rate the performance of public schools.

    Teachers, superintendents and others raised questions Monday about proposed rules by the Public Education Department for the school rating system enacted earlier this year.

    Gloria Rendon of the Coalition of School Administrators suggested the new grading system initially be implemented in a few schools to serve as a pilot for working out potential problems.

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