MARFA — This week Marfa ISD School Board trustees named Rosie Martinez, the elementary school principal, the principal of both campuses and named Linda Ojeda, the athletic director, the dean of students.
“These are two ladies that are well respected in this district, that teachers can look to for mentorship and for guidance,” Interim Superintendent Arturo Alferez said of the decision. “They are invested in the district, invested in the community, invested in the students. You just can’t go wrong there.”
Martinez has served as the elementary school principal since last year, and before that worked at the district as a special education teacher for three years. Ojeda has been with the district for 18 years, having served as a coach, English teacher and Marfa ISD’s first-ever female athletic director.
Ojeda told The Big Bend Sentinel while her title is dean of students, she will be, in essence, serving as the junior high and high school principal, taking on the duties of initiating programs and overseeing student discipline and student activities. She said she requested the title be in place this year while she works towards earning her principal certification through a program at Sul Ross State University.
“I really didn’t feel comfortable being referred to as a principal when I’m still in the certification program, because I just started it,” Ojeda said.
Ojeda holds a master’s in education. This summer she’s embarking on the new principals academy, which she said has been useful for making connections with other area school administrators and learning about “the bigger picture” of running a school, including financial and legal aspects.
Two years ago when the junior high and high school principal position was vacant — before Candy Dominguez took on the role for one year — Ojeda stepped in to handle some of the duties, so she is familiar with what the principalship entails, she said.
Ojeda will likely remain involved with the athletics program, while delegating some duties to other coaches, she said. The role of the district councilor, or student success coordinator, remains vacant after the February resignation of David Natividad. Ojeda said she and other administrators are sharing the duties of that position for now and assessing the financial feasibility of hiring someone new.
As the seasoned coach and teacher moves into her new position, she said she wants the community to know, “We’re trying to, as a unit, as a team of educators, to really put out the best opportunities for our kids.” Ojeda said administrators are working to “give students a leg up no matter how much time that’s going to take” by pushing opportunities for college credit, Career Technical Education (CTE) and participating in the new BBRISE program.
Come the start of school in August, Ojeda said she will encourage junior high and high school parents to ask questions and get comfortable coming to her from the get go, realizing communication goes both ways, and administrators will be checking in with them about their students too.
“At the end of the day, I want us to be consistent. I want to be consistent with what we provide. I want to be consistent with — I hate to say — discipline,” Ojeda said. “I want to open up some lines of communications with parents or with guardians who may not feel comfortable coming in.”
Martinez said she’s optimistic about next year’s outlook and the current team of administrators rallying around the district. “I really do believe that the administrative staff that we have, I think we all share, pretty much, a common goal,” Martinez said. “We’re all from the area or the community.”
“I think we’ve changed the culture a little bit so that the teachers know that we’re working with them and for them to help them,” she added.
She said, “A lot of good things are happening,” among them the installation of a new computer lab at the elementary school where students will work on everything from keyboarding to media, including broadcasting and podcasting.