Serving the High Plains
Serving the High Plains
SAN JON — San Jon High School won’t host basketball games at the Ed Lee Activities Complex for a few more weeks because of problems with its gym floor — again.
Athletic director Bobby Kandel told the school board during its Dec. 9 meeting that cupping in one corner of the floor worsened after heavy rains hit the region starting in late October.
It is believed that water intruded underneath the floor in that area. Kandel said that same corner of the gym has experienced problems before.
The affected area involves about 500 square feet.
Kandel said the boys and girls basketball teams will play in the campus’ old gym until the floor is repaired.
Superintendent Alan Umholtz said the district has submitted an insurance claim on the floor for repairs.
Kandel said he was hopeful the floor would be repaired by the popular Bitty Ball Tournament in mid-February.
If not, he said the district would find ways to work around it.
Kandel also reported the district’s new track has been completed except for some striping.
“It’s very nice. And the kids are stoked. They’re super-excited,” he said.
Kandel said the new track probably would entice more San Jon students to participate in the sport.
In other business, principal Sharla Rusk said the district would begin an after-school tutoring program in January from 4 to 5 p.m. on Mondays and Wednesdays.
The program would include transportation for the students, with a drop-off point at the McDonald’s parking lot in Tucumcari, she said.
Rusk also presented reading proficiency results for students from kindergarten through seventh grade, collected monthly by Istation from August through December.
Rusk said the results showed significant improvement across the board.
She attributed that to more intervention, plus teachers being aware that such results are being monitored.
Rusk also said the New Mexico Public Education Department about six years ago began placing more emphasis on phonics and other methods via the LETRS program, known as Language Essentials for Teachers of Reading and Spelling.