The Upside Down Triangle
Dear Editor, Let’s talk about the topsy turvy upside-down triangular model our school district seems to adhere to. By that I mean continuously trying to improve education without a solid foundation.
I recently heard concerning news about sending Instructional Coaches throughout the district back to the classroom or they may choose to do two jobs as Vice Principals/Dean of Students and Instructional Coaches (ICs). Unfortunately, these exceptional educators found out about this change by seeing their positions posted on the district website before being informed of this personnel change. Principals themselves had no idea.
These positions are critical to school improvement and academic achievement, especially at the elementary level. Sending Instructional Coaches back to the classroom would help one class of students, leaving ALL other classes and teachers without support. Currently, our fourth, fifth, and sixth graders, the Covid group, need intervention, remediation, and expert support. Grades K-3, need diagnostic, differentiated processes and tailored interventions, cohesive and coherent research- based curriculum. ICs are selected because they possess the knowledge to improve instruction for existing licensed educators and even more so for the multiple unlicensed permanent substitutes currently in classrooms. Without ICs, even larger gaps will occur, and on-site monitoring implementation of school or district initiatives will be limited.
Professionally, instructional support personnel and Vice Principals have conflicting job responsibilities. One is supportive and one is evaluative. It is frowned upon within the profession to have an evaluator also trying to fulfill the position of support, mentoring or coaching. If you understand the overwhelming responsibilities of current schoolbased administration, you know it is unreasonable and impossible for one person to do both jobs effectively.
According to research, Instructional Coaching provides more long-term, continuous and sustainable improvement than investing in any other forms of professional development.
This district historically focuses from a top-down perspective. Elementary schools are often overlooked and under supported. When our elementary kids don’t meet performance expectations, finger pointing begins and no one examines the difference in support between secondary and elementary components of this district. Typically, Superintendents and central staff come from a secondary background and thus focus on their own area of expertise. When was the last time we had district leadership that came from an elementary background that truly understands the foundational level of education? This top-heavy upside-down triangular perspective traditionally leaves elementary schools without the most important resources for getting raw students off to a successful start. Funding in education has increased immensely, however, academic performance stagnates or drops. Wonder why?
I don’t know if a final decision has been made regarding these positions, but Instructional Coaching, with continued support, is one of our district’s most valuable assets for avoiding even more academic decline.
Beth Head Retired Educator
Takes Some Time
Dear editor, Nice follow-up article in the 04-23-25 Cibola Citizen on the Aggressive Christian Missionary Training Corps from Fence Lake NM, guess it makes no difference who the officer was who started the investigation and removed a Jamaican mother with her infant child late at night from the compound because Sheriff Mace “could not trust anyone else to do it right.”
I was once told that being a police officer is a thankless job; there is no gold watch or retirement party, and most will forget you five minutes after you are gone and look for the next police officer to help them. After serving 18 years with Mace, he saw fit to give me a Henry Golden Lever Boy Action 22 Rifle engraved with my name, years of service, and a small party at our old office upon my retirement in 2018.
Another article that surprised me in this week's Cibola
Citizen was the amount of money the schools and local police were willing to spend on security, almost 2 million. This came up years ago when Albuquerque's Schools refused to install active shooter software in all the schools because it cost too much. Maybe Governor Grisham should spend money on school safety instead of an abortion clinic. It seems in NM we are more concerned with making sure children under 18 get access to abortions and sex changes.
Hats off to both city police departments for putting up license plate readers around town, and the Cibola County Sheriff & NM State Police for putting them in all the vehicles. I was told you could enter other license plates for sex offenders, persons on probation, suspicious plates used by known criminals involved in crime scenes, etc., registered owners who are concealed carry permit holders, and wanted or stolen license plates. The trick is to stop people without violating someone’s rights and find them before they commit another crime. I always told the new rookies I trained there that there was no big brother FBI, CIA, DEA, ATF, etc, we were it. It just takes some people longer to figure it out, I guess.
Signed
Mr. Harry L. Hall USAF Veteran Retired Police Sheriff Lt. 38+ Years