Saturday, February 3, 2007

School gyms, transportation center added to LL Schools' wish list

Kenn Rodriguez News-Bulletin Staff Writer; krodriguez@news-bulletin.com

Los Lunas The New Mexico State Legislature is in the midst of its 60-day session, and the Los Lunas School Board is hoping area legislators will help it take care of several needs in the district.

By a unanimous vote of 5-0, the board last week amended its six-project legislative appropriation list to include money to build gymnasiums at Tomé, Peralta and Bosque Farms elementary schools. The board had been asked by school district lobbyists in Santa Fe to prioritize its projects but decided instead to give them all equal weight and add the gym requests as well.

Superintendent Walter Gibson said that not prioritizing the projects would not necessarily hinder the district's ability to get money and said that the list would be prioritized in some way, most likely by legislators.

"There's a finite amount of dollars and ... there's a certain amount of interaction on this, and I will be lobbying and so will the board at various times," he said. "I suspect that they'll come back to us individually and say 'What's your priority? What do you want?'

"Because I don't know what the money is nor do they," Gibson said. "But when that becomes obvious, if we need to cut it back, they'll probably ask us what we want. The risk is if we do a gymnasium, it's going to come off our available capital funds for PSCOC because it's always a deduction."

The three gymnasium projects, whose costs top over $1 million apiece, were added to a list that includes four projects at the new Valencia High School — bleachers ($125,000), construction of a field house ($1.2 million) and money to purchase library books ($100,000). The list also includes two projects at Los Lunas High School — lights and improvements for the school's soccer fields ($560,000) and an electronic marquee ($50,000).

The district is also seeking $250,000 for an East Side transportation center that would allow the district to house buses that serve students on that side of the river and cut maintenance and transportation costs.

The total amount of money Los Lunas Schools was requesting before the amendment was $2.285 million. In the 2006 session, the district secured $1.798 million for eight projects ranging from weight room upgrades and track and artificial turf installation at the school's football stadium to $150,000 for computer upgrades at Bosque Farms Elementary.

Gibson cautioned the board that adding the costs of the gymnasiums to the legislative appropriations package might endanger the district's ability to get matching funds for the proposed West Side elementary school from the state's Public School Capital Outlay Council.

Gibson said that the board is simply trying to cover its bases in regard to funding issues and said that many schools districts have wants and needs similar to Los Lunas'.

"If you look at any school district in the state, they have a wish list," he said. "Now, the bigger the district, the more you can ask for, and we're the eighth or ninth largest district, so I would assume, in the pecking order, we'll get something in that range."

The board also discussed action on the laying down of an all-purpose track and artificial playing surface at Los Lunas High's football stadium.

Installation of the artificial turf has been delayed by extra engineering concerns, mostly drainage issues that have increased the price tag of the project by approximately $300,000. The district tabled a vote on approving the LLHS field improvements until the next meeting on Tuesday, Feb. 13.

In other business, the board heard a report from Desert View Elementary Principal Jeannie Moore and honored Donna Oney and Cathy Casaus, the school's certified and classified employees of the month.

Desert View Elementary and Raymond Gabaldon Intermediate School were both recently recognized by the New Mexico Public Education Department for achieving targeted marks in math and reading and recording positive increases in both core subjects in the past two consecutive years.

The board also approved a resolution supporting Gov. Bill Richardson's GRIP 2 roads initiative and unanimously approved a new district-wide math curriculum.

The curriculum, which had been in the works for several months, aligns the district's math programs from school to school as well as from kindergarten through 12th grade and includes many target marks that exceed New Mexico state standards.

Lastly, the board went into executive session to discuss on-going litigation regarding a case involving a special education student and the district.

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