School board seeks applicants for seat; Appointee to fill spot left vacant by Holland’s recall

For the second time in the past two months, the Raton school board will be taking applications to fill a vacant seat.

The Raton school board, at its Monday meeting, set a deadline of Friday, May 24, for accepting applications from people interested in completing the term for the seat vacated by Michael Anne Holland, whom voters recalled from the board in late April.

The board had previously filled a seat vacated by Sheila Castellini, who was also targeted for the April recall election before resigning in March. Ted Kamp was selected to fill that seat.

During Monday’s meeting, board President Anne Litchfield suggested the board could approach those who applied for the last vacancy, but board member Jimmie Saccomanno said there might be “other interested parties” in serving on the board and some of the five who previously applied “may not be interested now.”

Applications will be available at the Raton school district office and must include a resumé and letter of interest when they are returned. The board plans to meet Tuesday, May 28, to review applications and decide whom to interview. Interviews will be conducted Monday, June 3, at 6:30 p.m. and the board is expected to appoint its new member at that meeting.

During Monday’s meeting, the board appointed Kamp to serve as secretary, a position previously held by Holland.

In other business, the school board:

Scheduled two public hearings regarding the district’s 2013-2014 fiscal year budget. The first will be held this Monday at 5:30 p.m. and the second will be held June 3 at 5:30 p.m. Both hearings will be at the Krivokapich Media Center at Raton High School.

Learned from Raton High School Principal Joanna Johnson that the Raton Fire Department will offer a basic emergency medical technician course to high school students, which will allow students who complete the course to take the test to receive a basic EMT certification. She added there will also be a new building trades-math course, which will “team up” vocational education with mathematics, focusing on students who need a fourth year of math but do not plan to attend college.

Learned from Assistant Superintendent Paul Milano that the Colfax County commission has budgeted $60,000 to continue the health care career pathways program at Raton High School.

Learned from high school counselor Lynette Simpson that, as of Monday, 59 Raton High School students have received a total of 151 scholarships and that, of the 72 graduates, 97 percent of them have either been accepted to a higher-learning institution, enrolled in the military or have a “career plan” in place.