The soon to be vacant Cariños de Los Niños Charter School has a long list of amenities.
The 1,612 square foot building includes a large warehouse, a combined lunchroom and gymnasium and numerous classrooms, as well as being wired for high speed internet connections, making it a desirable piece of property.
While two buyers have already made offers to purchase the school, it is unclear who has first right to the building.
Hunched over a small table, the perfect size for elementary school students, the Cariños Board unanimously voted, April 30, to close the school at the end of June. Eight days later, May 8, Rio Arriba County Manager Tomas Campos sent a letter to the Board offering to purchase the nearly four-acre property for $60,000.
During a special Board meeting held the same day, members went into executive session to discuss its disposal. When they came out of executive session, members unanimously voted to accept the offer on the condition of its approval from the New Mexico State Board of Finance.
Campos said the building will be used to expand the County’s RAC-STOP program and student participants will use the site.
After learning about the County’s offer, La Tierra Montessori School for the Arts and Sciences Governing Council President Julie Ann Hill-Clapp emailed Cariños Chancellor Vernon Jaramillo to ask why they were not given an opportunity to purchase the property.
“I am interesting (sic) in understanding why this same offer has not been extended to La Tierra Montessori School as we expressed an interest in the building and are currently providing education to the children of Rio Arriba county,” she wrote. “La Tierra Montessori School would like to take this opportunity to provide a counter offer of $30,000 to the offer Cariños de los Niños Charter School extended Rio Arriba county.”
Jaramillo forwarded the email to Cariños Board member Father Terrance Brennan. In his reply, he gave her 72-hours to alert him to any laws or regulations that would prohibit the sale.
“From the time that our Board determined that we must close our charter school, we have been in constant contact with our school s (sic) attorney and the staff of the New Mexico Public Education Department to assure that all proper procedures are being followed,” he wrote. “Our decision to convey the real estate and improvements was based on the best interests of the community, in our estimation.”
The County originally offered to purchase the building for $30,000, but the price rose to $60,000 because the Public Education Department wanted to make sure the sale generated enough money to cover all of the school’s payroll obligations and outstanding debts, Brennan said.
According to online County property records, the school has an actual value of $1,953,459 and an assessed value of $651,153.
County connections
Brennan said he does not know when the negotiations for the building’s sale to the County began.
“Possibly a month ago,” he said. “I could not tell you. Actually, one of our Board members has been more active than I have with this. We have been talking with the County manager and at least one commissioner.”
The commissioner was Alex Naranjo, who attended the April 30 meeting during closed, executive session. After he left, the Board went into public session and voted to close the school.
Brennan referred all questions to Board Vice President Leo Marquez, and he said has been the most involved in negotiations with the County.
Marquez said they began one or two months ago, but that he could not remember an exact date.
His main priorities are the students’ welfare and making sure they have a smooth transition into a new school, as well as preserving the building’s historical value and getting it back to its original owners, the County.
Job shopping
Prior to voting for the school’s closure, Marquez submitted his resume for consideration for a high-level job at the County.
In April, former deputy County manager David Trujillo resigned. According to documents obtained through an Inspection of Public Records Act request, Marquez submitted his resume prior to the job being advertised.
As of May 29, the job remains unadvertised.
Marquez made the motion May 8 to approve the sale of the school to the County. The Board plans to take another vote on the sale during its May 30 meeting.
During a May 25 interview, he said he has not applied for the position and is not a County employee.
“Should I choose to apply for the (deputy) County manager position and the stars line up, I will recuse myself,” he said.
Who gets the building
Marquez said the Cariños Board has been in contact with Public Education Department officials and working with their own lawyer during the closure and sale process.
According to Campos’s offer letter, if a new charter school is opened within three years of the purchase, is within Española city limits and the County is not utilizing the building, they will enter into negotiations for the new school to use it instead.
Hill-Clapp wants to know why the building cannot be used by an existing school.
La Tierra is in Ohkay Owingeh and cannot build on the leased property site.
“We are a charter school,” she said. “We are looking for a building we can move into that would allow us to grow and do other things that we can’t do here currently. The building isn’t owned by us. We are never going to be able to expand (and) we can’t improve without permission from the tribe. We are very happy where we are, but would like to grow out school.”
According to the charter schools statute, “if a school district is seeking approval of a disposition of real property that includes a building, it must submit evidence the building does not meet public school capital outlay council occupancy standards or that all charter schools located in the district have declined within a reasonable period of time set by the school district, use of the building.”
In 2014, the Cariños Board settled a lawsuit with the Española School District and as part of the settlement, was given the building and its own charter.
While La Tierra and Cariños are within the District’s boundaries, Public Education Department officials did not return calls, by presstime, inquiring about the rules the Board must follow when selling the school.
Public Education Commission
Jaramillo said he has not been in contact with the Public Education Department during the closure process.
But according to documents available on the Department’s website, he has been in contact with the Public Education Commission, a bureau within the Department. The Commission is composed of 10 elected officials from different regions of the state and it approves all school charters.
Board President Juanita Cata and Jaramillo notified the Commission May 4 of the school’s closure. Prior to this meeting, the Commission notified the school Board, April 26, of its intent to revoke the school’s charter.
“On April 13, 2018, the PED (Public Education Department) presented the PEC (Public Education Commission) with a detail report listing several concerns about the school based on the following: FY17 audit findings, the school’s failure to comply with all requirements of the Corrective Action Plan, a Notice of Contemplated Action to revoke the licensure of the school’s head administrator and the school’s failure to meet or make substation progress toward the academic performance standards in the contract and the department’s standards of excellence,” the document states.
A revocation hearing was schedule for May 9, one day after the Board voted to sell the property to the County, but was canceled after the Board’s decision to close the school.