***Outcome of today's hearing on the case that would determine whether Larry King can move forward with his petition to recall Gallup McKinley County Schools Board of Education President Titus Nez:
Judge Robert Aragon denied the position of defendant, Titus Nez, to dismiss the recall. Aragon said he could have an answer as early as tomorrow morning on his decision whether to allow the recall to proceed.

It's unclear what prompted King to take the step to recall Nez, but some sources say that the board behaved unethically when they placed Superintendent Frank Chiapetti on administrative leave. The Sun will continue to provide updates on this matter.

The Gallup Fitness Center will soon have a different name called the “Cecil Garcia Fitness Center” by the end of this month. The new name will be in memory of former City Councilor Cecil Garcia and his total life commitment to physical fitness.

The idea for the name change was pitched to the Gallup City Council on Nov.10, by two close friends of Garcia’s, Joe Milosevich, owner of Joe Milo’s White Water Trading Co., and former Mayor, John Pena. It was approved unanimously with a vote of 5-0.

Garcia has been described as an avid fitness guru by all that knew him, including longtime friend, Milosevich. He knew Garcia since he was in junior high and after high school, they both got married, lost touch, but were reunited one day as they were both working out at the fitness center in Gallup. They would continue to be workout partners for the next 15 years.

“He was always, even in high school and college, always conscious of his health,” Milosevich said. “He took good care of himself throughout his whole lifetime.”

As workout partners, their usual workout times were Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays. After their workout, they would eat lunch together and talk about current events.

“He was here every day at the same time,” DJ Estrada said. Estrada has been working at the Gallup Fitness Center for three years as a recreation coordinator.

“He always used to come in here about 1-1:30 pm. Him and Joe Milo. That was his workout partner. They would sit here on the bikes and talk about sports and daily things. They would go on the bikes for 30 to 40 minutes and go into the weight room.”

Among other work projects, Garcia was known to be instrumental during his tenure as city councilor in getting the right people to operate the fitness center, but he also helped with getting the place cleaned up and adding new equipment to the facility.

“It was a huge push by Cecil in making improvements at the fitness center because we had struggled for quite some time, in terms of it costing the city a lot of money to run,” Allan Landavazo, current City Councilor for District 2 and a close friend of Garcia’s said. “I think based on membership, and the fees collected, the center basically pays for itself today.”

On average, the fitness center has approximately between 250-300 people that sign in on a daily basis and that number continues to climb. While most fitness centers are closed during all major holidays, the Gallup Fitness Center is closed only on Thanksgiving, Christmas, and Easter, another effort that was pushed by Garcia.

“Go down there at 4:30 pm every day and you are lucky to find a parking place,” Milosevich said.

The Gallup Fitness Center was once privately owned and was eventually bought out by Gurley Motor Company. In 2002, the Gurley family decided to donate all the land including the fitness center to the City of Gallup.

Pena, a good friend to Garcia, was mayor at the time of the donation and he said he was waiting on someone that he considered worthy of naming the fitness center after. Since he knew Garcia was a long-time member and fitness fanatic, he said that was the reason why he supported to have the fitness center renamed after Garcia.

“He [Garcia] always talked about quality of life,” Pena said. “I think that the fitness center is the number one ‘quality of life’ operation that the city has, period.”

If Garcia would have been reelected, his goal was to expand the fitness center so that the machines were spaced out nicely, and he wanted to add a juice bar, Milosevich said, adding that Garcia just wanted a nice fitness center for Gallup.

Plans are underway to purchase a sign, and it will most likely be paid for out of city coffers.

“It should be very cost efficient,” Landavazo said.

Currently, there is a small sign that sits by the front door entrance.

“Cecil was always a very positive person. Even at the gym, he would talk to everybody, young or old, and he’d tell them to take care of their health,” Milosevich said. “That was just the type of guy he was.”

Cecil E. Garcia, former Gallup City Councilor for District 4, passed away on Oct. 19 from a blood disorder. He was born on Feb. 6, 1950 in Grants, NM.

Manuelito slips on ice prior to meeting

Gallup-McKinley County Schools Board of Education President Titus Nez and Board secretary Priscilla Manuelito were recently both summonsed to the Gallup District Court, pending a complaint charge that may recall their positions as Board members.

Nez is scheduled to appear at the Gallup District Court on Nov. 23 at 11 am and Manuelito is scheduled to appear in court on Nov. 30 at 9 am the following week.

There was no discussion on the matter at the Board’s regular meeting on Nov. 16 and no comment from either party was given at press time.

In the same night, before the meeting started, Manuelito was walking towards the front entrance doors to the Student Support Center when she accidentally slipped on a patch of ice. Paramedics were called and she was taken to the nearest hospital. The extent of her injuries is unknown at this time.

However, the board meeting resumed and it was all business as District 5 Board member Lynn Huenemann discussed a summary of the board’s four goals that aim to strengthen the district’s operations and educational impact on its students.

The first goal is establishing the board’s goals and study topics.

“I think we each individually have our hopes of contributing and strengthening the education of our students,” Huenemann said, “but we haven’t articulated any specific goals for the year or even longer term, or shorter term.”

Huenemann addressed the second goal that involves the concerns associated with low testing scores on state tests of students within the districts and how to improve student achievements.

The third goal was to look into conducting open public forums by engaging ideas with constituents, parents, teachers and students.

“Sometimes teachers don’t feel free to say what they are thinking because they got to go through the chain of command,” Huenemann said. “They might be inhibited by a principal or just by their expectations. If we had some open forums where everybody could share their ideas, comparisons and to communicate together.”

The last goal is the Board’s role and responsibilities in supporting the revitalization of Navajo and other languages.

“I have to say, institutionally and historically, it’s the schools more than any other institution that probably have undermined, caused the lost of native language and some other languages in our various heritages,” Huenemann said.

Board President Titus Nez said since each student, teacher and parents have different goals and ideas, he would like to sit down first with his district’s parent advisory committees, students and schools and come back to the board room to exchange ideas.

“I think we can stand and say this is where we want to be, in the coming months and coming years,” Titus said. “If you keep your goals to a minimum, one to three years, you want to see the performance measures on those objectives and when you do that, you know that you have succeeded in prioritizing your goals.”

District 1 Vice President Kevin Mitchell suggested the best way to start dialogue about addressing the board’s goals is by having work sessions between board members, that way everybody is aware of what to take back to their communities.

“I had a parent’s forum in Tohatchi last month,” Mitchell said. “I am planning on continuing this and having another parent forum and bring in different areas from central office from our administration to communicate and answer questions that our communities have.”

It was recommended by Nez to conduct a work session an hour and half prior to the Dec. 21 regular board meeting, if weather permits, to discuss an exact date on conducting a future open public forum.

“I like the idea of hosting a district forum in my area to talk with parents,” Nez said. “A lot of times these elders, don’t have transportation to get to the schools. I think I feel more comfortable sitting down reaching their homes and listening to them.”

Superintendent Frank Chiapetti had no comments to add as he remained mum throughout the whole meeting.

Chiapetti was recently under investigation and was placed on administrative leave on Aug. 17, while Special Education Direct Carmen Moffett served as acting interim superintendent. He returned to his post Nov. 12.

Chrissy Largo

Sun Correspondent

Gallup-McKinley County Schools Board of Education voted 3-2 to retain Frank Chiapetti as superintendent.

The long-awaited results of Chiapetti’s fate came to a close after the Board spent nearly three hours hashing out their differences while in executive session at a special meeting Nov.12.

At the end of the meeting, each of the five-member board members gave their testimonies following the vote.

District 5 board member Lynn Huenemann, who supported Chiapetti’s return, was the first to speak about how the district has a long history of trying to find out ways on becoming fully educationally effective. He believes that the board is not there yet.

“We need to move this whole district forward beyond its history,” he said. “Where we have students that are not performing at the levels that they need to be at and it is not because they can’t, it is because we haven’t found the most effective methods to relate to kids in our district that from many backgrounds.”

Board secretary Priscilla Manuelito, who voted against the return of Chiapetti, clarified that the school board was a “new board” and that they will continually be actively involved.

“We will move forward and continue to use our authority as board members, that you have elected us to do, to control the district through the budget, through the district policies, and with our superintendent,” she said.

However, District 1 Vice President Kevin Mitchell apologized to staff and former staff who he deemed were treated unfairly, and in his words, “bullied.” Mitchell voted “no” to reinstate Chiapetti.

“I know that it is a little too late for this, for we have lost many great employees,” he said.  “As a board member, along with the rest of the board, we want to move in a new direction.”

Board President Titus Nez said he has seen the fear, anger and sadness within the board room and asked why children’s education is aligned with self-interest, politics, and retribution.

“What happened to the harmony?” he asked. “As a leader, we have forgotten the basic principles of being fair and impartial. This is not a racial issue.”

Sonlatsa Jim, a concerned parent who attended the meeting, says she feels disappointed about the outcome.

“I don’t think that all the voices were heard across the district,” she said. “I don’t think that the true issues that have disturbed our school district were disclosed. I hope that as time goes, we will start to get the truth out there.”

Chiapetti’s parents, Beth and Frank Sr., who were not able to make it to the last meeting held on Nov.2, however, they were present at last night’s meeting to hear the outcome of their son’s deposition.

“We are just glad that it is over with and hope that things get on with the education with the students,” said Mr. Chiapetti Sr. “He has always been for the students first and it’s been a trying few months.”

Superintendent Frank Chiapetti said his main goal was returning to the school board and to keep moving forward.

As for the investigation that was brought up against him and the complaints mentioned at the meeting, he says that he has not yet been given a report.

“I will have to read the report to see if some of it is perception,” he said “Unfortunately I do not know the exact context of everything they came out with. Once I read it, I will be able to know more.”

Chiapetti was placed on administrative leave Aug.17 and Special Education Director Carmen Moffet has been acting as interim superintendent. The results and cost of the private investigation are pending. A spokesperson for district has declined to release a copy of the investigative report to the Gallup Sun, citing that they are allowed up to 15 days under New Mexico's Inspection of Public Records Act.