Serving the High Plains
Serving the High Plains
The board for Logan Municipal Schools will have two candidates to consider for interim superintendent, including a former superintendent of House Municipal Schools.
The candidates are former House superintendent Bonnie Lightfoot of Tucumcari and former Texline principal Ross Perschbacher of Amistad. Candidates were required to apply before noon Dec. 5.
Lightfoot was superintendent at House in southern Quay County from 2017 to 2023.
In March 2023, the House school board placed Lightfoot on paid administrative leave. Parents there said that was in response to the handling of an alleged threat by a student.
The board hired Coby Norman, formerly a principal at Farwell, Texas, to be interim superintendent days later.
The board and Lightfoot in July 2023 mutually agreed to end her employment at House and give her a $180,000 lump sum as part of the settlement.
The same month, the New Mexico Coalition of Educational Leaders honored Lightfoot as the New Mexico Schools Superintendent of the Year, describing her as “a trailblazer in transforming the educational landscape of her district.”
Since last summer, Lightfoot has worked as a consultant or contractor, including at Cooperative Educational Services, Dynamic Leadership Solutions of New Mexico and at Grants-Cibola County Schools, according to her resume.
Lightfoot had previous education stints at Roy, Cimarron, Moriarty, Magalena and Aztec.
Perschbacher was a principal and athletic director at Texline Independent School District from 2018 to 2024, according to his resume.
He also was a teacher and coach at Clayton from 2009 to 2016.
The Quay County Sun obtained the candidates’ information from an open-records request.
The board was scheduled to meet Dec. 9 to discuss the candidates in a closed executive session but would take no action that day. (The meeting was after the Quay County Sun’s deadline.)
The board during a previous meeting officially set a goal to hire an interim superintendent by Dec. 16. Current superintendent Dennis Roch retires on Dec. 31 to take a position as caucus chief of staff for New Mexico Senate Republicans.
Roch, also a former GOP state representative, announced his retirement last month. He had been with the Logan school district since 2013.