By Marty Mayfield
KRTN Multi-Media
The Raton Board of Education met on Thursday evening October 16, 2025, for their regular meeting hearing about possible wireless device policy changes after two months in practice.
Carson Burke presented the student senate report noting they are hosting a blood drive later in October and are working on a dinner for November.
The board heard from a group of seniors concerning the date and location of the 2026 graduation ceremony. Senior Clayton Kelley speaking for the seniors wants graduation to be moved from Saturday May 23 at 9:00 a.m. to Friday May 22 at 7:00 p.m. in Tiger Gym. More than half the seniors have signed a petition along with several parents to make this move.
Victoria Kelley noted that engagement is up with the new policy however with some special education students who are required to have ear buds it has raised some concerns. Kelley feels the district needs to put a little more teeth in the policy. Board member Ryan Boone asked if the policy needs to be school specific and do some classes have stricter rules. Kelley noted that some teachers want to have phones turned in for the class and returned at the end of class. One complaint is that if parents have to come retrieve the phone for a student often the parent will hand the phone right back to the student right in front of the staff in the office which is frustrating for staff trying to enforce the policy. There is some conflict between the cell phone policy and the discipline policy with the board feeling the cell phone policy needs to be broad as put down by the state, but the discipline policy can override the cell phone policy as far as the discipline policy is concerned. Phillips noted this is still a work in progress and further fine tuning on the policy will be required.
The fixed asset inventory discussion was postponed to the next meeting.
The board approved the following policies.
Policy Advisory No 270 – EGAD – Copyright Compliance – Final Read
Policy Advisory No 271- IJNDB – Use of Technology Resources in Instruction – Final Read
IJNDB-R – Use of Technology Resources in Instruction – Final Read
WNDB-E – Use of Technology Resources in Instruction – Final Read
Policy Advisory No 272 – IJNDC – Use of Artificial Intelligence – Final Read
