By Marty Mayfield
KRTN Multi-Media
Another year has gone by and it’s time to discuss contracts and budgets, so the Raton School Board met Tuesday evening February 20, 2024, in a special meeting to discuss the superintendent contract and once again they gave Superintendent Kristi Medina a one-year contract with a small pay increase up to $137,500.
Based on a quick survey Medina did she found that she has the biggest school district and yet is the lowest paid superintendent around the area. Medina was hoping for a two or three year contract which is pretty standard for superintendents in New Mexico. Medina was disappointed that it was only a one-year contract, she said she will accept that and continue with her job giving 110%.
According to Board President Jason Phillips the board is very pleased with Medina’s performance and are planning on keeping her as long as they can but have decided that with all the staff and lower admin positions being on one-year contracts it seemed a good idea to keep the superintendent on a one-year contract schedule. Phillips also noted that there is a new ruling coming down from the state that boards need to wait 60 days after a board election before they can approve superintendent contracts. This year there are two new board members to deal with the process.
This will be Medina’s fourth year as superintendent, and she has projects in the works and ongoing that she is hoping to see to fruition. The school has received grant money to do some renovation work in the high school cafeteria and the school is using rescue funds to add an HVAC system to Tiger Gym. This is a project that will benefit the school for years to come as the gym will remain in use for some time to come.
The big project Medina will have on her plate this year is the new school campus planning and design. She noted that that part of the project will likely take about a year to complete. She noted that since this project is so big and will be a part of the community for many years to come, she wants community input in the process.
Medina said the staff she has will remain mostly in tack for the next year as it is a mostly younger group of teachers. She noted that there will likely be one retirement, but she hasn’t heard of any decisions one way or the other yet. Her biggest staffing issue this year is to fill the principal positions at the intermediate school and the high school. Right now, those positions are staffed by Justin Mattorano at RIS and Jolene Starr at the high school as interim principals. She noted that the jobs will be advertised and interviewed to fill those positions. Medina felt that teacher retention is important to the district success and is happy that teachers are sticking around.
