Wagon Mound superintendent gets trial date on job status

SANTA FE — A state District Court judge has set trial dates in a case involving the tenure of the superintendent of Wagon Mound Public Schools.

Superintendent Sheryl McNellis is asking for a ruling to affirm that the three-year, $99,000-peryear contract she signed earlier this year is still valid; a temporary restraining order keeps the contract in place for now. The judge has not taken action on motions to dismiss the order that was put in place when McNellis sued on June 30.

During a hearing last week, Albuquerque District Court Judge Alan Malott set the trial for April 9-13 next year. The scheduling order dated Wednesday also sets ground rules for future motions, witness disclosures and discovery. The judge appointed a mediator and required both sides to participate in good faith negotiations before Dec. 15 in an effort to resolve the case.

McNellis signed the contract extending her employment with the school district through June 2020, after the Wagon Mound school board in January voted 3-2 to do so. But after the makeup of the school board changed to include three new members, it voted 4-1 during a special meeting last month to declare the contract invalid and void. The majority contended that one of the former board members who voted to extend McNellis’ contract, Debbie Coca, shouldn’t have been on the board in the first place because she didn’t live in the school district.

McNellis’ lawsuit contends that school board chairman Tony Rubin was upset that McNellis got the contract and “sought ways to remove her from office.” In addition to calling the special meeting last month, Rubin filed a complaint with the state Attorney General’s Office alleging violations of the state’s Open Meetings Act at the meeting at which the school board voted to extend McNellis’ contract and that Coca had been ineligible to vote.

Coca was appointed to the board to fill a vacancy in July 2016. But according to a letter from the school district’s attorney, while McNellis owned a ranch within the school district’s boundaries, she actually lived outside the district in Las Vegas, N.M.

McNellis, who filed her lawsuit June 30, alleges that the board’s action last month to invalidate her contract “placed a cloud” over her reputation, jeopardizes her income and future employment status, and “undermines the public trust in votes cast and decisions made by public bodies.”