Serving the High Plains
Serving the High Plains
Much of a 15-minute meeting of the Tucumcari school board on Jan. 21 was spent discussing the governor’s recent order to eliminate a teacher-evaluation system.
During the public-comment part of the meeting, board member Corinne Hayes asked what would happen in the wake of Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham’s executive order Jan. 3 for the New Mexico Public Education Department do away with the PARCC test, an acronym for Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers, and find new ways to track student achievement and evaluate teachers.
Schools superintendent Aaron McKinney said PARCC testing wouldn’t be eliminated this school year but would be shortened. He said PARCC testing would be gone by the next school year.
McKinney said the Legislature is looking at alternatives for evaluating teachers, but “it’s hard to say right now” what will emerge.
Previous governor Susana Martinez implemented PARCC testing and evaluations, but they proved unpopular among teachers and other critics. Lujan Grisham and her Republican gubernatorial opponent, Steve Pearce, criticized the system while on the campaign trail.
In other business:
• The superintendent’s report noted the recent resignations of elementary-school librarian Cristy Dockter and custodian Michael Marroquin. Assistant Superintendent David Johnson and McKinney said the district won’t advertise to fill the librarian position until they clarify from the Public Education Department on its requirements. Johnson said the department is “in turmoil” since the new administration took over in early January, and the waiting time for it to issue a teaching certificate is two months. “It’s a mess,” he said.
• The board during the consent agenda approved a $100 donation from Suzy Moya in memory of A.J. Moya to be used for the senior class expenses.
• The board approved a second reading of policy advisories regarding homeless students.
• The board approved a $5,952 award from New Mexico Arts to be used for a one-week residency for Brent Holl of Virginia to work with elementary students to help build new marimbas for the Tucumcari Elementary School Nyoka Marimba Band.
• The board approved a 2018-2019 Rural Low Income Schools application to the Public Education Department for $17,832 that includes $146 from the previous school year. According to the application, $13,225.08 will be used for salaries and benefits for an English-as-a-second-language teacher and $3,931.25 for software for classes.