Students, staff prepping for first day of school

The hustle and bustle of the school year is upon us and students and staff from Portales and Clovis schools have been busy.

Some have popped in to meet their teachers for an open house while others are preparing to make transitions to new schools - whether that is moving to the next level of education or into a new building.

For Clovis, K-12 will start class Monday, while only grades 3-12 will start Monday in Portales. Portales grades 1-3 will start on Aug. 19, while pre-K classes will start on Aug. 20.

It's looking to be an exciting year for many, with schools like Highland Elementary moving into a new building and others, like Portales High School, starting new programs and prepping for the football season.

In Clovis, teachers and staff from Highland are excited to test the facilities, including a sensory room where teachers can take rowdy kids to calm down and new playground equipment with everything from four-square to tetherball.

"I love it. It's spacious, bright, everything's brand new," said Anna Bullard, a second-grade teacher at Highland. "After being in such an old building it really makes a huge difference. Now everything matches and everyone has the same everything."

Highland Principal Brenda Benfield said the school has some different opening-day rules and procedures since the layout of the new building is different than the old.

"We have great parents so I don't think it will take long for them to understand the new procedures, mainly dropping off and picking up kiddos," she said. "I'm sure there will be a lot of excitement from the kids like usual, but we'll help them learn the procedures like we always do."

Portales High School Principal Arturo Ontiveros is prepping for his second year leading the students.

"We seem to be on top of things and we're ready for the kids," Ontiveros said. "We're excited. It's only my second year doing this and it's been a smoother transition. It's been a big learning process."

Ontiveros said the school has added a few new interesting classes this year. One is a rocketry program called Systems Go.

There is also Ed Rising, a class to set students who wish to be teachers on the correct path.

"Both Clovis and Portales know we've had trouble with the low number of student teachers coming into the profession," Ontiveros said. "This will hopefully get us going in the right direction."

Ontiveros also noted the school will be adding its first esports team, which will compete in spring as a sanctioned event through the New Mexico Activities Association.

Mike Prokop, a freshman English teacher at Portales High and coach for the school's football team, was busy at an open house on Friday, meeting teachers and students before the first day.

"The first day of school is hectic," Prokop said. "You've got to meet all your kids, give them the same spiel: what your expectations are, what you're like, what you don't like."

Prokop, who has been teaching 39 years, said the most rewarding part of starting a new year is getting to see familiar faces from previous years and keeping tab on their grades to see if he managed to make a difference for them.

George Pavalok toured Portales High on Friday with the five boys he looks after through the New Mexico Christian Children's Home. Pavalok said all five are on the football team and itching to start the season.

"For the three that are seniors, this is it. We just want to get this started for the senior year of sports," Pavalok said. "A lot of them have gone to different colleges and universities over the summer already."