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Saturday, August 23, 2008 Fewer students than expected register in LLLos Lunas On the opening day of classes, the Los Lunas Schools registered 8,012 students — down by about 100 from last year's first day. "We're hoping for a bump in enrollment," Superintendent Walter Gibson told the Los Lunas Board of education on Aug. 19. On Thursday, he said updated totals for the district were to be taken on Friday and weren't yet available. Many principals indicated that they called the families of virtually every student who didn't show up for classes, he said. The district had expected about 8,800 students to be enrolled — "not good news for next year's state formula" for per-pupil funding, he said. He expected the figures to rise. In some cases, he noted, high school students feel that "they don't need to come on the first day or the first week." Meanwhile, the board approved an ambitious list of construction projects expected for the next two years. During the 2008-09 school year, Gibson said, the district is hoping do $6.4 million worth of work. The projects would include:
The district would also set aside about $280,000 for inflation or unexpected costs. The district is in the process of selling $6.5 million in bonds within a month; much of the funding would come from there, Gibson said. During the 2009-10 school year, among the projects being planned are:
The third year of the possible projects — now just being considered — may include a gym at Los Lunas Elementary; the addition at Peralta Elementary; money for a future school or additions and other miscellaneous projects. "It's a little more sketchy because we don't know what growth will look like," Gibson said. The 2011-12 possible proposals would include a gym at Ann Parish School and improvements at Los Lunas High School. The high school project could cost up to $20 million to $25 million, the superintendent said. Gibson recommended two architectural firms to do projects including renovations at Bosque Farms and Peralta elementary schools and gyms at Tomé and Valencia elementary schools along with a number of other smaller projects such as cafeteria renovations at Los Lunas Middle School. But the board indicated that it didn't like to award contracts before negotiating costs. Board member Art Castillo said that he feels strongly that the board shouldn't "award jobs to vendors when we haven't been told what they're going to charge us. We as a board are being put out on a limb." Gibson said that traditionally the district has awarded architectural contracts that way. Once a firm is chosen, "our job is to negotiate that contract ... If we can't come up with a satisfactory agreement for the contract, then we'll come back and say we can't come to an agreement," he said. The issue remained tabled. In other action, the board:
The percentage of schools making AYP in the state went down 12 percent, Gibson said, "but, in the big picture of New Mexico, we held our own."
Gibson asked that members of the staff investigate the situation and get back to Perea. "This board won't tolerate leaving kids out on the street," said board president Frank Otero.
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