By Marty Mayfield
KRTN Multi-Media
Raton Public Schools will begin the new school year with a new superintendent, Dr. Christopher Bonn, who comes to Raton after going from coach to teacher and up through the ranks to superintendent.
He comes to Raton with an enthusiasm that is contagious and a hope to make school fun again. Dr. Bonn sees promise in Raton and is hopeful to bring back the excitement of learning once again to students. But first he has the challenge of getting students back in the classroom. His plan begins with a hybrid approach bringing 50% of the students back on Monday and Tuesday and the other 50% coming in on Wednesday and Thursday with Friday being left open for cleaning the school with a 48 hour disinfection period. At this point that plan could change and likely will before doors open up in August. Busses will only be able to operate at 1/3 capacity with occupancy in the school buildings at 50% capacity. Masks may allow a little more occupancy on buses but it will be tough for the district to meet with the number of students riding buses.
With Raton grossly deficient in the IT Department teachers will face a challenge to get assignments to all students and possibly have them participate in classes by video. Dr. Bonn is well aware of the issues as he comes from a frontier community that didn’t even have internet connectivity, however he has a plan for that and is working with T-Mobile and the 2.0 grant to provide students with a hotspot. All of these plans are currently in the works and dependent on availability.
Sports will be under scrutiny and must abide by the rules for masks with any violations carrying the penalty of forfeiture of the entire season. Bonn noted that coaches are being trained on what they can and cannot do to meet the requirements. He is planning on a sports season this year with or with out fans, again it will be dependent on how the virus spreads.
Bonn realizes that participation at sporting events is a problem that has been around for years and is a result of how we are raising kids. He again, wants to make school fun and get that participation back and improve school pride by making it fun again. Bonn also noted that students who participate in fine arts learn better and have better participation in school activities. Bonn noted that the budget Raton is strapped with is less than Raton had 20 years ago but expenses have gone up. With a smaller budget fine arts get cut first which he feels is a mistake as student perform better with those skills.
Dr. Bonn is ready and wants to make school fun again, stay tuned as he challenges his principals, faculty and staff to bring back school spirit and pride to the school system and the community. He feels the community will pull together and as the school year progresses students will rise up and shine and come out better.
Congratulations Dr. Bonn. Thank you for working hard for the community of Raton. It is a wonderful place to live and we are grateful you have taken the challenge of coming to the community and bringing your leader ship, your passion, and your commitment to the children! We are proud of our schools and eager for you and your leader ship to take us to the next level during this difficult time. All the best to you!