JISD employee orientation Monday
by John Earp
On Monday, Jal Schools staff went through orientation, with Superintendent Brian Snider said, “This is probably the best staff I’ve ever seen here in Jal, what do you guys think?” He said, “I want our kids when they graduate to go out to be the boss of wherever they are at. I want them to run the oilfield if that’s what they’re going to do. Like 80% to 90% of our kids probably go into the oilfield. Why do we not have them running it? What’s wrong with that? So that’s why I think we want to teach them skills. We’ve already been doing that for several years, but I want to take it up to the next notch this year, and I think this is the staff that can do it. Or I know that it is.” Snider mentioned the foundational skills that junior high and high school students were going to learn this year, including Coach “Bubba” Ross, whom Snider said had been “recycled” as the new shop teacher.
Snider then introduced Principal Karen Komar and gave her the mic. She then introduced new elementary staff members. One thing she noted was that the school was departmentalizing the 4th, 5th and 6th grades, with each teacher focusing on a specialty subject. She introduced Monica Butts as a new instructional aide. She also introduced Mrs. Jackie Ford as a new mathematics aide, longtime girls’ basketball and softball coach Mr. Emmy Lujan as a new elementary physical education teacher, Amanda Martinez who has moved up from being a regular substitute teacher to become the Read 180 Monitor. Another new teacher is Mrs. Kami Satterwhite in 4-year-old Pre-K. Satterwhite is the wife of Jal High’s new head football coach and athletic director, Mr. Brent Satterwhite. Ruby Uranga, who will be working in the special education department. Mrs. Komar mentioned Natalie Nunez and Zayda Fuentes as recent graduates of Jal High who have been added to the staff. Mrs. Andrea May, who retired last year, is coming back as a teacher’s aide.
Snider then introduced Principal Buddy Little, who then proceeded to introduce the new junior high and high school staff. He mentioned his hope that Jal Schools would raise its scores so much in the next few years that, “I hope that our staff is actually teaching the staffs from other school districts in that training center.” He had Ms. Tiona Fabela to introduce Ms. Leselie Galindo, who recently attained her degree and will be working as a behavioral specialist working with children with autism. Ms. Nieto then was given the mic to introduce Ms. Gonzales, who will be teaching secondary math as well as coaching basketball and softball. Gonzales comes from El Paso originally. Little added that Gonzales was teacher of the year in her district and one of the finalists in the El Paso region. Mrs. Loftis was then given the mic to introduce Mr. Jeff Hess, who will be teaching theater and high school English teacher. He last taught in Tatum for 24 years, and was born and raised in Ann Arbor, Michigan. Little added that, “From previous experience, he puts on a real good show. You want to go. We’ve had, believe it or not, 35 or 40 students enrolled in theater.” Ms. Faulkner then introduced Ms. Jennifer Mendoza, who will be working in special education.
Mrs. Taylah Mata then introduced Mrs. Laura Parsons, who had been a stay-at-home mom for several years before becoming an instructional aide as well as a junior high volleyball assistant coach. Mr. Ross introduced Mr. Peacock, who comes to Jal from Texas, where he accumulated 30 years of coaching and teaching. He will be teaching ISS and will coaching football and track. Mrs. Owens introduced the new culinary arts teachers, Bethany Ragland, who grew up in Andrews but has lived in San Antonio for 13 years. She has a degree in culinary arts and has been working as a pastry chef for the last five years. She will be living in Andrews. Mr. Joe Soliz then introduced Mr. Gary Simmons, a 1979 graduate of Jal High, who has come back to Jal to coach girls’ basketball. Simmons has 38 years of teaching and coaching experience. Simmons has 20 years as a basketball/athletic director and 15 years as a football coach. He grew up in Jal, and his father worked for El Paso Natural Gas. Little mentioned that Simmons has a phenomenal record as a girls’ basketball coach.
Mr. Johnny Estrada then introduced Martha and Victor Soliz, high school sweethearts from Hereford, TX. Mrs. Soliz has 31 years of teaching. Mr. Soliz has 29 years of teaching. She is also a former principal. She will be teaching Spanish. Coach Soliz will be teaching algebra and geometry. He is a former marine and is also Texas Tech graduate. He will be coaching junior high football, junior high basketball and junior high track. The Solizes have been married for 38 years. Little added that Soliz will be replacing him in mathematics, and is an outstanding math teacher. Mrs. Soliz will be building Jal Schools’ ELL (English language learning) program. Mrs. Savoie introduced Mr. Joel Willmon, who will be teaching algebra II and Math 180 and also some math at the elementary school. Willmon has 34 years in education, 12 as a teacher/coach, 13 as a secondary principal, and 12 years as a superintendent. Little said Willmon will do an exceptional job teaching math in 3rd, 4th and 5th grade. Ms. Lavodis May introduced Vanessa Aguilar, a 2005 graduate of Jal High, is joining Jal Schools as an instructional aide for the special education department.