Back to School
By John Earp
This past Monday in the Jal Elementary Cafeteria, teachers, aides, and all support staff attended orientation and training in preparation for the beginning of classes on Thursday the 7th. About 120 staff members assembled bright and early at 8:00 a.m. to fill out various forms, including filling out their contracts, making sure their contact information with the school is updated, and various other administrative paperwork.
Superintendent Brian Snider said, “This is probably the best staff I’ve ever seen, that I’ve ever worked with, and I’ve been in Odessa and Hobbs, and you guys are better than all of them. So, just saying. I’ve even been to Eunice. I don’t need to tell you about Eunice. What we want is certified staff members. We don’t just want them certified, and we want them experienced. We’ve done really well bringing in some experience into the district. We’ve also got some newer people, we’ve got a mixture of everybody, we’ve got aides that are becoming teachers. It’s really nice seeing the mix of everyone. We’re up to around 120 staff members, with 80 to 90 several years back. So, the demand is growing for our school district. We’ve had more people trying to enroll from other districts than we’ve had before. I’ve had to actually say no. I usually never do. So, if they’re out of state, we have to pay the tuition. They will have to pay tuition to be from out of state, if we have room, but we literally are building onto two buildings. That should tell someone, you know, hey, wait a minute, they may have problems, they may need a little bit more room. Once we have the room, when have everything in line, I have no doubt that we’re going to be one of the best districts. It’s really nice having a school district that people want to come to. It’s wonderful, and it’s because of the staff. The staff, the experience, and the education that our kids are receiving is very important.”
Snider then mentioned the district’s pay raises, which come to a total of 40% increase in salaries across the board since 2020. He said, “Teachers still don’t make enough. That is so true. Everybody would have to have a doctor’s salary to even begin to try and compensate teachers for what all they do, what all they put up with. A public school is also a public lightning rod for scrutiny. Hopefully it doesn’t come from within, but when it does, we have to go and visit about it and say, what’s wrong? What are we going to do? How are we going to make it better? That’s all that we can do as a public school. Because you think about it, teachers are humans, just like the children that they’re teaching. It’s not like you’re in a superhuman robot that does nothing wrong and everything you do is perfect. That’s not the case. So the expectation is there coming into this school year, but I have confidence that every staff member will meet that expectation; if not, exceed that expectation. I’ve never been more satisfied and more confident in the staff, and I’m not just saying that, because if I was, I would probably be leaving. Because you guys are the reason our success has come to where it is everywhere I go. Every principal, every staff, it’s just total buy-in on what we’re doing. Mrs. Komar, Mr. Little, they’ve never said, “Well, the third grade is saying, they’re not going to do it. They’re asking, what do we get next? How do we get better? What are we going to do? And get better doesn’t mean that we were bad. It just means that we are going to improve. That’s all that it is simply.”
Introduction of new staff members was made by Jal High School Principal Buddy Little and Jal Elementary Principal Karen Komar. A presentation on vertical alignment was made by Jal High School Principal Buddy Little, followed by an introduction of new Jal Elementary staff by Mrs. Komar. Mr. Little mentioned how much more information is necessary for students to know these days, with the advent of artificial intelligence especially. He explained that vertical alignment involves building upon each successive year. He compared missing educational milestones to a ladder, with rungs missing if a student unfortunately gets behind, thus putting the student in a position of always being behind throughout their educational career.
Principal Karen Komar then gave a presentation on data-driven instruction, which, she said, “Uses student performance data to guide and personalize teaching methods.” She went on to mention that data-driven instruction is designed to improve student outcomes, is based on evidence, assessments, and feedback.
Afterwards, several dozen staff members stayed in the cafeteria for a refresher/recertification class for CPR. Later on Monday evening, the district hosted a back-to-school bash for junior and senior high students and parents at the Aquatic Center. Hotdogs and watermelon were served. Prior to attending the bash, parents and students were required to have registered their students online or at the administration office.
