Principals’ Reports
By John Earp
At the December meeting of the Jal Board of Education, Jal Elementary Principal Karen Komar gave her Principal’s Report. She mentioned the Jal Elementary Christmas Program would be the following day, December 18th, which was covered in the December 21st edition of The Jal Record. Komar mentioned the Christmas Luncheon for 3rd through 5th grades on December 20th as well as the retirement party for Mrs. Samaniego on the same day at 2:30 p.m. Samaniego is retiring after 35-1/2 years as a teacher. Mrs. Komar expressed her appreciation to the board members for participating in field day. The Jal Schools Facebook page said, “Our “Invite a Guest to Lunch Day” for kinder through second grade was a success! Thanks to those who were able to join us, especially our first responders!” Mrs. Komar said the first responders came to join in the luncheon, sitting with kids whose parents were not able to attend. She also said the school plans to continue to hold similar events, though on a smaller scale.
Later in the meeting, Jal High School Principal Dusty Loftis gave his report. He began by stating enrollment at the high school was 157 students, while it was 121 at the junior high for a total of 278 in grades 6-12. He said the school had gained about 10 students from the previous month. He added that the school is still collecting data on students, parents and faculty in order to make the recommendations for the six-year plan. Loftis said the recommendations were supposed to come back to the school in January or February. The Rocketry students went to their reviews. He said the students would go to NASA in Houston next year. Loftis says he has “all the faith in the world” that the Rocketry Team will be ready for the rocket launch in April, and “be the best of the best like we kind of always are in that.” Board President Jim Gooss asked why the team did not go to Houston this year. Superintendent Snider said it was because there were only three students on the rocketry team this year, “and we can combine classes next year.” He said the drop in the number of rocketry students was because last school year was the first year JHS sent juniors to CTECH at Hobbs High School, which many students preferred over rocketry. Loftis said the CTECH program almost destroyed the rocketry class, but next year he expects 13 rocketry students in combined classes.
Mr. Loftis said the winter expo is planned to be tied into the Veterans’ Day in the auditorium. The school has been putting different projects on social media. He also noted that the shop students have made wooden Christmas trees, and were selling some of them to the public, with the funds going back into buying more material for future shop projects.
Loftis mentioned a training that the administration team recently had, which delved into personality types and how different personalities impact interpersonal dynamics. He said that the entire staff would be going through the program eventually. Both he and Mr. Snider said the program was excellent. Snider said it had to do with stress management and leadership styles, and learning how to draw from others’ strengths.
