Raton School Board Approves Renovations and Bus Purchase

By Marty Mayfield

KRTN Multi-Media

The Raton board of Education met on Thursday evening September 17, 2026, for their monthly meeting where they approved the disposition of property and renovations to locker rooms at the gym and the press box at Tiger Stadium.

The board heard from principals noting that they are still working with Synergy to obtain attendance numbers. There are still some issues with syncing the new systems with the older systems.

Discussion about the new cashless system with both ticket sales and concession stand has been positive. The kids who come to the games are using prepaid cards and it is working well and reduces the risk of theft and better meets auditor’s expectations.

There is a big list of equipment, mostly chromebooks that has reached its end life and needs to be removed from the asset list. Board members approved to remove those items from the asset list.

The district accepted the bid from Norcon of New Mexico for renovations in the locker rooms at Tiger Gym. Total cost of the project is $99,907.55 including $7,621.28 for New Mexico GRT. The project will replace lockers and benches in the locker rooms with the lockers to be placed on a new concrete slab.

The only contractor bid for renovations of the Tiger Stadium Press Box was Archuleta Construction for $99,622.37 including NM GRT of $7,952.37. The project will include the replacement of windows, clean up and replacement of flooring and ceilings as well as replace all the counter tops with new laminate tops. The renovations will begin after the last football game of the season. The renovation was approved.

The board then heard a proposal for new buses. The first bid from Tillery Bus Sales for a 2027 propane Bluebird bus for a total of $159,596 and the second proposal from Tillery was for a slightly different style bus that came in at $161,096.00. The board approved the purchase of both busses and will see one bus soon and the other one is about two months out.

The board approved the public participation policy for board meetings with the board president recognizing speakers and holding speakers to three minutes, but the board president may allow more depending on the presentation and number of speakers wanting to address the board.

Policy Advisory No. 275 – GCIA – Teacher Residency Program

Policy Advisory No. 276 – JICJ – Use of Cell Phones and Electronic Devices in Schools

Policy Advisory No. 277 – JLCEC – Cardiac Emergency Response Plan – Automated External Defibrillators

Policy Advisory No. 278 – JLF – Reporting Child Abuse/Child Protection

The above policies had their final read and were all approved with minimal changes to the cell phone policy to better define what devices are covered.