By Margaret Hopper

It's spring again and time for Assignment-Shuffle at Silver Consolidated Schools. In the past, questions arose as to why principals were moved around when they just wanted to keep on doing what they had been doing. The answers don't always get printed, but according to Superintendent Lon Streib, new ideas, changes, can be good for a school. Equally true, principals need to be trained, and there are differences between high school assignments and those at elementary level.

In late breaking news before noon on Friday, Lisa Lucero of Human Resources and Transportation said Victor Oaxaca had been selected as the new principal for Silver High School. More information will come at a later time.

This year, two retirements, Wayne Mendonca, at right, at La Plata, and John Carter at Harrison Schmitt, are signaling changes again.

Mendonca says he has enjoyed teaching history and being an administrator for 31 years, nearly all of it at Silver District. The past five years have been as La Plata's principal. He has enjoyed working with students and teachers, the parents, and bringing the best improvements possible to the middle school.

The teaching staff is good, it has grown in its ability, and the student test scores show this, he says. A major change has been the technology improvements. The improvement in computer skills has required adjustments. The students are responding; they do what kids do.

In his first year of retirement, he says he and his wife will be doing the many things they have put off for a long time. After those things are finished, they will think about what to do next. While he has nothing specifically in mind now, he says, there will be ideas for what comes next.

Mendonca's replacement is Beth Lougee, present high school principal.

According to Streib, she has implemented important changes with Career Paths and needed curriculum changes. She has also forged relationships with WNMU and is ready to bridge transitions between middle school and high school. GǣThere are excellent teachers now at La Plata, who work hard and who can raise district standards.Gǥ All principals have that focus. Lougee has been away on business and no statement was possible this week.

Carter, at left, came out of retirement two years ago to head Harrison Schmitt after nearly four years as a maintenance person at El Refugio, the local women's shelter. In his active career, he claims fourteen years as an instructor in industrial arts and nine as an administrator at La Plata. There was military service, too, when he was crew chief for a fighter plane.

He relates that he was always interested in the practical skills and considers them especially needed in New Mexico, where not all students want or need a college degree to make a living. Now he is retiring again, as his wife also retires from teaching, and they plan to travel some and restructure their activities in their retirement years. He says he enjoys hearing from past students or parents that the GǣshopGǥ classes meant much to his students, even if such work didn't become their final careers.

His replacement is Leslie Ormand, at left, whose total teaching experience spans 20 years. In a statement she wrote, she said she has held a variety of teaching positions in grades K-12; she was currently the Title 1 reading teacher for kindergarten and 1st grade. Her faith and family have fueled her desire to make a meaningful impact on the children in the community through education and example.

She welcomes the opportunity and challenge of being selected as the new principal of Harrison Schmitt Elementary, and values the leadership of Mr. Carter. She wrote she would continue to build on that momentum to provide the very best environment for teachers and students to achieve their highest potential.

There are other positions to be considered, too. As Ormand leaves a Title I space, and Debbie Steel, also Title I is no longer available, new people will fill those positions. One replacement has been decided; another should be determined soon. The process will continue, always looking for the person who seems to fit some need for a particular school.

On the hiring of a high school replacement for Beth Lougee, Streib said about 15 applications had been received. Of these, three were interviewed. A fifth, Gregory Lelvin of Texas had removed his name after accepting a position elsewhere. Three are from New Mexico; two are local. Victor Oaxaca was an assistant principal at Silver High after 16 years as a math teacher.

The interviewing committee was made up from a variety of eleven different departments, not only academic, but custodial and secretarial, and others, too. Each department had a question to ask at the interview, specific to its interests, and each interviewee had a total of seventeen questions. He said it was possible for the committee to fill the position after the interviews this Thursday, April 14. If not, a new round of applicants might be sought and the process repeated.

Overall, Streib said there were a number of reasons for moving administrators around. If a school had a need for strengthening certain subjects, such as math or English, certain ones with that aptitude would be assigned there to build those areas. When the improvements were seen, that person might be reassigned to another school needing similar upgrades.

A year ago, Louis Alvarez was moved from La Plata Middle School as an assistant principal, to become Sixth Street Elementary School's principal. GǣHe had good potential,Gǥ Streib said of him then. GǣHe needed opportunities to develop that further. The different circumstances would require decisions and he would carry more responsibility. His performance would improve with the experience."

Assignment is based on the particular needs of the school and its students. He said that this approach seems to be working. Some schools are already showing improvements in math and reading where the choice of a principal was made for those reasons. Those scores are coming up.