Portales resident suggests 'hardening' schools

PORTALES — A Portales resident on Monday suggested the Portales Municipal Schools undergo a “hardening” to prevent incidents of violence in the future.

Sam Rigsby brought concerns to the school board about mass shooting incidents in other parts of the country, encouraging board members to consider “hardening our schools in the method of a voluntary armed employee situation.”

Rigsby clarified that while he wouldn’t want to make any decisions if a plan were made, he was willing to “do legwork, information gathering, whatever.”

He added that he had already spoken to the Roosevelt County Sheriff’s Office, which offered its advanced firearms instructor to help train any employees.

“I have talked to a lot of people, and I’m sure y’all have heard from a lot of people already, and it’s a procedure, as we know. The wheels of justice and bureaucracy run pretty slow, so it’s something that I think needs attention fairly quickly in order to get something done,” Rigsby said.

Board member Rod Savage said he believes that any proposition to arm staff would require extensive consideration.

“We’ve done a lot to improve security, and it’s gonna be a never-ending process. We hear a lot about arming the teachers, and it sounds good, but I know some teachers that I wouldn’t care to arm,” he said, “and I don’t think they’d be qualified. But under the right circumstances and the right training, there may be some. It’s gonna be expensive, it’s gonna take some time, some thoughts, some training.”

Also at Monday’s meeting:

• The board of education voted to reorganize itself with board member Inez Rodriguez as president, Alan Garrett as vice president, and Randy Rankin as secretary.

• Board members recognized the achievements of several students across the district: Portales Junior High School student Karen Ivarbol, who won the 2018 district Spanish spelling bee; The Portales High School Business Professionals of America, who won in several categories at regional and state competitions; the Portales High School Mathematics, Engineering, Science Achievement club, which received several first- and second-place prizes in regional competitions; and the PJHS Future Farmers of America club, which achieved fifth place in the organization’s state leadership contest.

• The board approved the sale of a $2 million installment of $7.5 million in general obligation bonds that were passed in the 2017 election, as well as $650,000 in education technology bonds.

According to Evan Kist, vice president of the district’s financial advisor RBC Capital Markets, the district will begin paying its debt service on the GO bonds (a total of $2.3 million) and the ETNs (a total of $687,616) in August of 2019 until August of 2030.

• A bid of $1.3 million by construction firm Nick Griego and Sons and Cheery/See/Reames Architects for the renovation of the PJHS cafeteria was approved.

In addition to increasing safety and functionality for students, the renovation will include vinyl tile and a redirection of construction from the front of the cafeteria to avoid damaging a sewer line, according to Superintendent Johnnie Cain.

PMS Director of Maintenance Nat Gomez said Nick Griego and Sons will begin construction on the last week of March and finish in the first week of September.

Cain added that in that time, food would be prepared at PHS and sent to the PJHS gymnasium, where students would eat lunch.