Wooooo! Blue Ribbon for Zia school

Not long ago, when COVID-19 hollowed out hallways across the nation, school administrators and teachers fought to answer one question: What will the future look like? 

Since restrictions have been lifted, researchers have found a discouraging answer to that question: Test scores are down; mental health challenges are up; chronic absenteeism and teacher burnout are becoming frighteningly common.

But step inside Zia Elementary's gym last Thursday, for its Blue Ribbon celebration, where kids hollered like it was 1964 and the Beatles were crooning on Ed Sullivan, and the pandemic feels like a faint dream that you spend time deliberating whether it was real or not. 

So, the question then becomes how did Zia Elementary not just survive, but become one of 356 schools in the nation – and one of three in New Mexico – to receive the coveted National Blue Ribbon award? The award means Zia is being recognized by the U.S. Department of Education for creating a secure, welcoming educational environment where students master challenging and engaging concepts. 

For Brandon Boerio, Clovis Municipal Schools director of Educator Quality, it could be a byproduct of the 1:1 Chromebook Initiative, which many Zia students, staff and parents embraced.

Started just before the pandemic, the program gave each student their own Google Chromebook. Students used it at school and took it home to do schoolwork, Boerio said.

This created a more seamless transition when in-person learning turned virtual because both students and teachers were already familiar. In doing so, it left students better prepared when classes went back to in-person. Hence, providing a runway to win the award. 

"Our technology director, they kind of already saw the need, that there were a lot of great resources that were going to be web-based online learning, and wanted to get that technology in kids' hands," Boerio said of the initiative. "We also know that in our community a lot of kids may not always have access to that. So if we can provide that for them, it just gives them a better set of tools."

This was unlike many other school districts across the U.S. 

According to a survey by GBH Education, a Boston-based public broadcasting group, "Only 66 percent of teachers reported being very or extremely confident in using digital media services for teaching, and 1 in 7 had not previously used K-12 digital media services."

"We had a great teaching staff, and so they really committed to getting online, getting in front of the camera, having kids be present in front of the camera. You know, we really changed up how lessons look to be more engaging for kids," said Boerio, who recalled parents picking up homework packets for their children, too. 

Though it wasn't easy, teachers, students and staff persevered through the COVID era and now technology-based programs on Chromebooks is common practice. 

A few weeks ago, Marina Rodriguez, a Zia Elementary first grade teacher, showed a reporter a reading program on a Chromebook. 

"Let's see what exciting exercise in the first phony fun we have in store today!" a cartoonish mouse said when beginning a lesson on phonetics. 

"They enjoy it, so it's a good time," Rodriguez said. 

By implementing lessons such as this, it helped lay the foundation for the Blue Ribbon award and Thursday's assembly. 

"We all had a hand in making Zia a Blue Ribbon School" read a poster plastered on a wall of the gym, where pride and blue were in abundance. 

Jay Brady, Clovis Municipal Schools deputy superintendent of Operations, Technology, & Athletics, kicked off the ceremony. Face flush crimson, with the energy of a WWE wrestler hyping up a crowd, he bellowed into the microphone. 

"Wooooo!" he said, channeling his best Ric Flair impression.

The crowd thanked former Zia Elementary Principal Jennifer Longley and greeted her replacement – Kaylene Davis – with warm smiles and nonstop racket. 

Perhaps, the biggest cheers came when representatives of Blue Bell Creameries came to the microphone. 

"How many of y'all like ice cream?" the man shouted. 

Students responded with screams loud enough to crack glass. Maybe "like" was an understatement. 

Nothing topped those screams. Not the announcement that Thursday would be known as Blue Day, or shoutouts that state lawmakers Andrea Reeb and Martin Zamora and Clovis Mayor Mike Morris were in attendance. 

After the event, when people in suits shuffled out for other adult duties, kids eagerly lined up in the formerly hollowed out hallways to eat ice cream with mini wooden spoons. 

Considering what they overcame, they deserved it. 

"They worked so hard during the pandemic, and that was a struggle, that was a struggle for all schools and all students and teachers. But to win this award now, just a few short years later, that's one of the reasons that it's such a huge audience," Davis said, in between bites of vanilla ice cream.