School OK'd for religious curriculum

BLOOMFIELD — New Mexico Secretary of Education Veronica Garcia has said a Bloomfield school can use a curriculum that contains religious content until the end of the school year.

The Family Home School has been given an additional 90 days to cease using the A Beka curriculum, a well-known Christian program. The original deadline for the public school to stop using the texts was Friday.

Teacher Kathy Harper says she's happy about the extension. "It will really lift a burden and make my life a little bit easier. We can keep on with what we've been doing and I'm really grateful," she said.

Family Home School is a public institution funded by the Bloomfield School District that serves 21 students between kindergarten and fourth grade. Garcia mandated the curriculum's removal in a Feb. 19 letter to Bloomfield Superintendent Randy Allison because any sectarian doctrine is prohibited from being taught in public schools.

Harper said the A Beka curriculum suited the diverse age range of the students, but the math and reading books contain Bible quotes and stories.

Allison had asked for the deadline extension so that Harper could avoid disrupting the learning process in the middle of the school year.

The district had approved the curriculum, and Family Home School used it for more than a decade with no opposition.

Garcia says the new deadline for the curriculum to be removed is June 11.

Cathedral to get new cross

The 40-inch tall, 900-pound cross was "literally wobbling" on its pedestal when it was removed from the apex of the Cathedral Basilica of St. Francis of Assisi on Jan. 28.

According to John Lambert, the contractor for the basilica's exterior maintenance, repair and preservation effort, the thick metal dowel anchored into the base of the cross was badly rusted, and a section of stone on the lower front side of the cross fell off even before workers attempted to lift the cross off the anchor. In his notes, Lambert said, "We are very fortunate that we removed it today."

At 7 a.m. March 24, a replacement cross will be hoisted by crane to the apex of the cathedral by Lamoreux Crane Services of Santa Fe, according to a news release. The new cross was created by Kopelov Cut Stone of Bernalillo. The original cross, which was installed in about 1886, is being stored until the archdiocese's museum can take possession of it.

Grant applications due next month

The Las Campanas Community Fund at the Santa Fe Community Foundation will be awarding $50,000 in grants this spring.

Nonprofits addressing animal welfare, arts, civic affairs, education, environment and health and human services in Santa Fe County are invited to apply. Individual grants are expected to range from $1,000 to $5,000.

Applications are due April 8. Applicants should mail 12 copies to Christa Coggins, the program director at the Santa Fe Community Foundation, P.O. Box 1827, Santa Fe NM 87504-1827, or hand-deliver them to 516 Alto St.

The grants are funded by the Las Campanas Limited Partnership, and recipients are selected by the Las Campanas Community Fund Committee, which includes residents of the development.

Girls' School to hold fundraising auction

A getaway at Corkin's Lodge in Chama, a week-long stay at a Santa Fe guest house, Pilates classes, horseback-riding lessons and facials are among the items to be auctioned off Saturday at the Santa Fe Girls' School's annual fundraising auction. Tile-inlay end tables handcrafted by Matt Surprise and finished by the sixth-grade art class will also be auctioned off.

The event is from 6 to 8:30 p.m. at the Inn of the Governors. Tickets are $15 each or two for $25. Raffle tickets are also available at $10 or two for $15. Proceeds support the school's tuition-assistance program. The Girls' School offers a single-gender education in small, seminar-style classrooms.