State education secretary visits Floyd schools

For New Mexico Public Education Department Secretary Kurt Steinhaus, visits to schools in Elida and Floyd on Thursday were sort of a homecoming, since both school districts are in Roosevelt County, where Steinhaus grew up and got his bachelor's degree.

In fact, he said as he toured Floyd Schools' elementary classrooms Schools building Thursday with Superintendent Damon Terry, his mother-in-law Pat Glasscock once taught in the Floyd School.

Steinhaus grew up in Portales and received his bachelor's degree in Music Education from Eastern New Mexico University.

Steinhaus visited Floyd Schools as the third stop in a two-day tour of eastern New Mexico schools that began on Wednesday, with a visit to schools in Fort Sumner.

On Thursday, Steinhaus stayed in Roosevelt County. Before visiting Floyd Schools, he paid a visit to Elida Schools, where he lunched with high school students before touring elementary and junior high school classrooms with Superintendent Tandee Delk and Principal Waverly Criswell.

As Steinhaus and Terry toured Floyd School's classrooms on Thursday, there was no sign of the animosity a year ago that resulted in the Floyd School's board of education being suspended by the New Mexico Public Education Department.

The suspension resulted from the Floyd board's refusal to make mask-wearing in classrooms mandatory,as the PED had directed, while the COVID-19 pandemic was still active. The Floyd board voted on July 26, 2021 to make mask-wearing and other COVID-19 protocols optional.

Then PED Secretary Ryan Stewart in August 2021 made good on his threats to suspend Floyd board, but kept Terry as the superintendent.

Early this year, the suspension was lifted when three of the five board members who had been suspended were replaced in an election, and the remaining two suspended board members resigned, Terry said.

The board members who had resigned were later reappointed to the board, Terry said, after the suspension ended.

Steinhaus was named Secretary of Education after Stewart resigned in August 2020, citing family health issues.

On Thursday, Steinhaus and Terry agreed the matter was water under the bridge, and both said they were looking toward the future and, in Steinhaus' words, "to do what's best for the kids."

Both said they were relieved to start a school year with students in classrooms as usual, after two school years had been marred by the strains of mask-mandates and remote learning.

Terry described how school buses had delivered assignments and homework during remote learning, as well as meals that would normally be served in class.

While Thursday's tour continued, Terry announced that Floyd Schools were fully staffed with teachers for the 2022-2023 school year.

Terry and Steinhaus also discussed how they would announce with a banner at a Watermelon Welcome event Thursday evening recognizing Floyd Schools for gains achieved in primary grades through the Istation program, which measures student progress while providing lessons that accommodate and advance student learning levels.

Steinhaus and Terry also talked about the district's reluctance to ask for a new building, despite the age of the current building.

Due to Floyd' small enrollment, Terry said, a replacement building would be about half the size of the current structure.

Terry, who has worked in the Floyd School for 21 years, said he remembers attending classes as a child in one of the classrooms that he and Steinhaus visited during the tour.

Terry said Floyd High School graduated only five senior in May. The high school's enrollment is very small, but he said the district is seeing increases in middle school and elementary enrollment.

Floyd Schools' enrollment in the 2021-2022 school year was 225 students. Of those students, 47 were in high school, according to PED data.

Terry and Steinhaus also discussed school bus trips. One third-grader said his bus trip was 24 minutes each way.

Terry said students from kindergarten to high school will be on the same buses, and Terry said he will serve as a substitute bus driver as needed, since he holds a CDL driver's license.

"In a small district," Terry said, "everybody does a little of everything."