Schools celebrate success

San Jon, Logan Elementary students, staff and administration received a personal congratulations on the schools earning an 'A' in the state's grading system from New Mexico Public Education Secretary Christopher Ruszkowski.

"If the students, teachers, staff and communities of these schools have not already celebrated, they need to do so now," Ruszkowski said.

Ruszkowski said he visited San Jon and Logan elementary on Thursday as part of the Straight 'A' Express. He said it is a tour honoring the schools in the state that earned an 'A' on the annual school grading system.

"This is part of the NM PED's efforts to recognize these schools and communities for the amazing work they are doing," Ruszkowski said.

Ruszkowski said the three major reasons for the Straight 'A' Express are to:

• Celebrate the success the schools in the state have made over the past six years, "Many schools have made bid improvements," Ruszkowski said.

• Bring the community and schools together, "Some of our schools are having incredible success, but we need the parents, the school board and local legislators to come together to work together to continue this success," Ruszkowski said.

• To learn, every time we visit a school we write a blog about the school and what they did to improve their grade or continue their success from the previous year. "This gives us a chance to share information with the other schools of the state," Ruszkowski said. "Administrators and teachers can look at the blogs, take ideas from them and incorporate them into their own schools.

Ruszkowski said it is creating a repository of ideas that have been proven to work by other educators. He said these are practices, ideas used by fellow educators that have yielded success. These items include: curriculum, teachers observations, extended school day, nature of the contract or partnerships with PED on a program, Ruszkowski added.

"When completed this will be 180 practices available for other school districts to use for their improvement," Ruszkowski said.

Ruszkowski said San Jon Elementary was honored for their efforts for bring their 2014, F, up to an A for two years in a row (2015-2016, 2016-2017). He said this is a great accomplishment that deserves recognition.

"It was pretty exciting with the PED secretary come to the school to celebrate with the students, teachers and staff," said San Jon Superintendent Colin Taylor.

Taylor said the improvement of the school's grades is a testament to the dedication of the teachers, staff and administration to provide the best education for the children.

Ruszkowski said Logan's accomplishment was earning an 'A', for three consecutive years.

"Having the secretary of the PED, come down to personally congratulate and celebrate the students on their success will boost their overall excitement toward testing," said Raynee Wallin, Logan elementary second grade teacher.

Wallin said this acknowledgment will fire up the students, driving them to a desire to continue their success.

Ruszkowski said in total the Straight 'A' Express will tour 60 school district visiting the 121 schools out of 850 in the state that earned an 'A.'

School grades

House

• Elementary - D

• Middle - C

• High - B

Logan

• Elementary - A

• Middle - C

• High - C

San Jon

• Elementary - A

• Middle - C

• High - C

Tucumcari

• Elementary - B

• Middle - C

• High - C