Year in review: ENMU president resigned

Editor's note: This is one in a series of stories recapping news events in 2016.

The search for a new Eastern New Mexico University president in 2017 began early in the college's fall semester.

Current President Steven Gamble tendered his resignation to the university in May.

After executive search firm Witt/Kiefer was chosen by the university's board of regents in September, the process of finding candidates for the position of president began in earnest.

In early November, Senior Partner Zachary Smith and Associate Sophie Stava met with various groups that make up ENMU's demographic — including students, faculty, staff and community members — to outline the characteristics the community wanted to see in Gamble's replacement.

"We take the themes that we hear, and we drop these things into the profile, and we also drop in information about the campus, about the community and try to paint a clear picture about what this position will be for the next president," Smith said at the Nov. 11 ENMU Board of Regents meeting.

After the outline — or "leadership profile" — was made, Smith said a Witt/Kiefer research team would begin searching for candidates by sending recruitment letters, making phone calls and utilizing a network for possible recommendations, a process that would likely take 8-10 weeks.

After interested candidates began to amass, Smith said his firm would begin a vetting process using video interviews.

Witt/Kiefer will then meet with the university's search committee on Feb. 15, to narrow the candidates to a group of roughly 8-10 semi-finalists, according to Smith.

March 9-10 will see the first round of interviews being conducted, most likely in Albuquerque, with finalist interviews conducted on campus a few weeks later.

In other 2016 education news:

• General Obligation Bond C, which granted ENMU $11 million, passed in the November election.

According to Gamble, the bond increased the funding for construction of the Golden Student Success Center - the university's new library facility, which is set to be operational by June or July of 2018 - to $26 million.

• Ranchvale Elementary School in Clovis was removed from Clovis Municipal Schools' roster in April after New Mexico Secretary of Education Hanna Skandera signed off on a measure to close the school.

The action resulted in educational services no longer being offered at Ranchvale as of the 2016 fall semester.

Voting to close the school in a February meeting, Clovis school board members cited safety, water and overall structural concerns of the building.

Clovis Superintendent of Schools Jody Balch said the school district was charged with exercising due diligence with regard to funds.

"We believe the NMPED acted in the best interest of all parties regarding the closing of Ranchvale Elementary School," he said. "Closing a school is never an easy task, but the hard questions have to be asked and answered. We believe we have a responsibility to be frugal with taxpayer dollars."

Ranchvale was formed in 1917-1918 and served as a consolidation of the schools Sunshine, Ideal, Bethal and Fertile Valley.

• ENMU faced an uncertain financial future with the university making cutbacks in anticipation of state funding cuts.

Gamble reported in a November board of regents meeting that the New Mexico state legislature is $100 million short for the current year's budget, which would likely mean a 2.5 percent cut to the university, or $600,000.

"Something could happen between now and January (the legislative session) to ameliorate this, but right now, that probably is the best case scenario. That will mean we have been cut an even 10 percent for the year," he said. "They also will set the fiscal year '18 budget in this January session. That's probably not going to be pretty either."

• A timeline for the new Parkview Elementary School in Clovis became clearer this year.

In a June Clovis Municipal Schools Board of Education meeting, Deputy Superintendent of Operations Carrie Bunce provided board members with a build update.

"We just met with the architects last week on 90 percent completion of our drawings," said Bunce with regard to the $17 million, 60,000 square-foot construction proposal, which will be located on 10 acres of donated land on 14th Street.

"And we have the final layout of what Parkview is going to look like. We also met with PSFA (Public School Facilities Authority) two weeks ago, and they have changed our funding slate. Parkview got bumped as gas prices fell, so they moved us to what they call P-3 of 2017, which our funding would have been April or May 2017," he added. "Now they have sold some bonds to move us to P-1 of 2017. We could receive funding as early as January or February - allowing us to begin construction in April or May."

The new building, which would accommodate up to 540 students, has a timeline that is advantageous for the school district, according to Balch.

"By starting in January, the school would not be ready the following August, so that would give a full year to build and allow us a full four months to get everything in order," he said.

• The Portales Municipal Schools Board of Education debated changes to the Portales High School graduation exercises after a recommendation to honor all students with a 4.0 grade point average by PHS Principal Mark Gormley in June.

The recommendation would phase out the recognition of a valedictorian and salutatorian, which Gormley said makes students competitive "to the point they are selecting and making choices with their academics so they can jockey for ... valedictorian or salutatorian."

Gormley expressed concerns over the stress it causes students to compete for the two titles.

Due to the 2016-17 school year, PMS Superintendent Johnnie Cain said that no timeline was planned for discussing the changes.

Cain added that no students currently attending PHS would be affected by the changes.

"Even if we would have done it, it wouldn't have affected anybody who was in high school at this time. If we were to do something like that, it would have to be like a four year phase-in," he said.

• After 31 years instilling a love for music in Clovis Municipal Schools students, Director of Music Education Alan Dropps served his final day on the job Nov. 30.

Dropps expressed his gratitude for the community and school district who allowed music to thrive under his direction.

"This community has always supported music education; we have great community support, and the expectations that were set many years ago still remain," he said.

• Clovis Municipal School established a facility curfew for the entire 2016-17 school year following $10,000 in damages from vandalism and theft at nine Clovis schools.

"Trespassing signs will address the times of the day people can be on our properties," Balch said. "People will not be permitted on properties between the hours of 10 p.m. to 4 a.m. The practice applies to everyone unless there's an event that's taking place at a particular site that lasts later than 10 p.m. This practice will be in place for the entire year, and the police will be called if and when people are on the properties after the designated hours."

• A bond that would raise taxes to pay for several improvements in the Floyd school system was rejected by voters in a February election.

According to Floyd Municipal Schools Superintendent Damon Terry, the school district was trying to obtain $1 million in funding from the bond to match state funds they were to receive to help with a number of school projects, such as moving the school's playground and building a new kitchen.

If passed, the bond would have increased Floyd school taxes from 2.471 percent (per $1,000) to 10 percent (per $1,000), an amount still lower than Portales schools' 10.425 percent, Terry said.

According to clerk records, 118 votes were cast in the election with 36 for the bond and 82 against.

"There's always different opinions on why it failed, but I think it's often people's concern over the economy," Terry said of the election results. "When you talk taxes, it's often a dirty word anyway, then when you add the burden of the economy to that ..."

• Mesa Elementary School in Clovis was recognized in September by the U.S. Department of Education as one of three 2016 Blue Ribbon Schools in New Mexico.

According to officials, Mesa also earned the award — one of the highest honors for excellent academic achievement or academic improvement in the nation — in 2001.

Mesa was recognized for Exemplary Achievement Gap Closing.

"Closing the achievement gap to me is a big deal, because it means not just our 'high' kids are doing well and not just our 'average' kids are doing well," said Mesa Principal Julie Howell.

According to the USDE website, the Blue Ribbon Award "affirms the hard work of students, educators, families and communities in creating safe and welcoming schools where students master challenging content."