Michael Sharp of of Research and Polling, Inc. attended the meeting via zoom to update the Board on redistricting. Screenshot/ladailypost.com
By BONNIE J. GORDON
Los Alamos Daily Post
bjgordon@ladailypost.com
The March 24 Los Alamos School Board meeting kicked off with congratulations to the Los Alamos Middle School’s Team 2 for their victory at the Regional Science Bowl. A Los Alamos High School team placed second in its competition.
Board Member Ellen Specter was absent. All other Board members attended the meeting.
LAPS Transportation Director Keith Rosenbaum provided the Board with a request for new bus cameras.
“The current system is eight years old and beginning to fail,” he said.
Another reason the cameras are needed is the number of drivers who are speeding past the stop arm when it is extended on the bus. So far this year, there have been 225 “runners”, Rosenbaum said.
“We’re desperate to curtail this number,” he said. “My greatest concern is that a student will be hit.”
The new cameras also would provide a 180-degree view of the inside of the bus, Rosenbaum said.
The Public Education Department has helped with $9,996 and LAPS has already budgeted $74,000 for new cameras, Interim Superintendent Jennifer Guy said. The total cost of the cameras is $84,000. The Board passed the funding request unanimously.
Michael Sharp of Research and Polling, Inc. gave an update on redistricting. LAPS has contracted with the firm to help with the redistricting project, which will shape the districts used to elect school board members.
Sharp gave a full presentation of the redistricting process at the Feb. 24 meeting. Read that story here.
This time Sharp focused on the plans he has developed so far for dividing LAPS into districts. Plans A through E all retain the five-district set up now in place. He said that “Plan F is what the School Board would like”. The plans can be reviewed here.
Guy told the Board that she was generating a survey to collect information on the preferences of citizens in Los Alamos. The Board is in the early stages of redistricting at this point and will be discussing redistricting further in the future.
Guy informed the Board that a 180-day calendar for LAPS, which is similar to last year’s calendar, has been prepared.
“We’ll further explore adding 10 days to the calendar for the following year,” Guy said.
The Public Education Department has said they will offer teachers a 3 percent raise as well as pay for the extra days if school districts increase the school year by 20 days.
“This is a deeper and larger discussion than we could have for this year,” Board President Melanie Colgan said.
In other business, the Board voted unanimously to proceed with hiring a construction manager for the Chamisa and Pinon school building projects. The CMAR method establishes a Guaranteed Maximum Price (GMP), or price limit that the project cannot exceed. The construction manager is contractually bound to adhere to the GMP and is financially liable if the project goes over budget.
“We want to lock in projected costs now, not in three years,” Guy said.
The Board approved a motion that LAPS pay the employer portion of insurance premiums for employees working 15-19 hours per week. Fifteen employees will benefit from this. Employees above the 19 hours already receive this benefit.
Principal Brian Grass of Mountain Elementary School gave an annual report to the Board. His presentation can be viewed here.
