[November 24, 2009] No answer from APS: School board to ask Harris to take unpaid leave Tweet Nov 24, 2009 (Alamogordo Daily News - McClatchy-Tribune Information Services via COMTEX) -- The Alamogordo Municipal School Board met Monday "to possibly take action for employment options for superintendent," according to a posted notice from Alamogordo Public Schools. New Mexico Public Education Department Secretary Veronica Garcia has signed a determination in a case filed against Alamogordo Public Schools Superintendent Mike Harris, wherein he may lose his state superintendent and teaching licenses. The board met to determine a course of action following the PED's decision, which has not yet been released to the Daily News. About 40 audience members attended the meeting and, according to Web site manager Donald Yee, an additional 70 people logged on to a live feed of the meeting provided by www.everythingalamogordo.com. After saying the pledge and accepting the agenda, board president Allan Rickman called for a motion. Board member Sue Medina made a motion to begin proceedings to serve the superintendent with a notice of intent to terminate. An audience member interrupted the proceeding to ask, "Do we have public input on this?" "No," Rickman said. Medina's motion failed due to lack of a second. The audience member asked if there was a reason the public didn't have input. Rickman explained in a special meeting with specific action items, according to the Open Meetings Act, there is no public discussion. Then board member David Ceballes made a motion to request Harris agree to take leave without pay unless or until a stay is granted. Harris has filed an application to Garcia for a stay of her decision to revoke his state licenses pending the outcome of the review of the decision in District Court. He has 30 days to file an appeal of a negative decision in District Court. In this case, the appeal will have to be filed by Dec. 13. The motion was seconded and passed the board by a vote of four to one, with the one opposed being Medina. The meeting adjourned at 6:04 p.m. A number of audience members called out "recall, recall," to encourage a petition being passed around to recall school board members. Several units of Alamogordo Department of Public Safety officers were present in case of trouble. Harris was out of town and unavailable for comment. Contact Elva K. Osterreich at [email protected]. To see more of the Alamogordo Daily News, or to subscribe to the newspaper, go to http://www.alamogordonews.com. Copyright (c) 2009, Alamogordo Daily News, N.M. Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services. For reprints, email [email protected], call 800-374-7985 or 847-635-6550, send a fax to 847-635-6968, or write to The Permissions Group Inc., 1247 Milwaukee Ave., Suite 303, Glenview, IL 60025, USA. [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ]