Serving the High Plains
Serving the High Plains
The Tucumcari Public Schools board approved the addition of powerlifting as an activity for next winter.
Superintendent Aaron McKinney noted during the board’s Jan. 16 meeting that Logan and Santa Rosa already had added powerlifting as an extra-curricular activity. San Jon also is participating in it.
Logan’s boys team won the inaugural powerlifting state tournament in 2021.
Board President Heather Gonzales supported the proposal, saying it “would benefit our students.” The board unanimously approved the measure with little additional discussion.
After the meeting, McKinney said he was considering two candidates to coach the activity. He said Tucumcari powerlifting would begin during winter of the 2023-2024 school year.
Dillon Metzgar of the New Mexico Activities Association stated in an email last week that 57 schools have signed up to participate in powerlifting this school year.
He said the NMAA approved the designation of powerlifting as an official NMAA sport for the 2023-2024 season.
In other business:
— The board approved its annual audit for the 2022 fiscal year, which had been released by the state auditor’s office in November.
The audit by Accounting & Financial Solutions of Farmington detailed two minor findings as “other noncompliance” regarding internal controls of cash receipts and budgetary expenditures.
— McKinney said during his superintendent’s report that work had begun to upgrade climate control systems at the elementary school. Work had been delayed for months because of supply-chain problems.
McKinney said he has asked the contractor to consider working on weekends to so the upgrades are finished as quickly as possible.
He also said the building’s boiler system would remain as a backup.
— McKinney said the school district would borrow county road equipment to spread millings on a potholed stretch of South 14th Street adjacent to the baseball and softball diamonds.
— Middle-school principal Lendall Borden said students’ grades had “tremendously improved” after the end of remote learning.
Elementary principal Tonya Hodges said staff will undergo training this month on using Narcan for emergency treatment of opioid overdoses.
Hodges also said 67 students are in the pre-kindergarten program, one of its biggest classes ever.