MARFA—New Marfa ISD Superintendent Stephen McCanless is now also taking on the role as the district’s junior high/high school principal. In early September, the Marfa ISD community was issued a memo about the change.

“This decision was made to better serve all our students … This change aligns with our district theme of Elevate Excellence as we move forward in our work to make Marfa ISD an A-rated district,” the statement reads. 

McCanless told Big Bend Sentinel that after a couple of weeks of observation, it was clear that Principal Rosie Martinez was “stretched very thin” as the only administrator on both elementary and JH/HS campuses with authority to evaluate teachers, implement discipline and file reports to the state. 

“[The decision came from] me observing classrooms and seeing what is needed because elementary, you know –– first, second, third [grades] –– those are your building blocks. Students must be learning the reading, the writing, the speaking, the listening. Those are the basic skills they must have to come to junior high.

“So as I looked at all that and looked at classroom instruction, I made the decision that Ms. Martinez must be focused on elementary only. She needs to be in those classrooms. She needs to be observing. She needs to be coaching, and she doesn’t need to be worried about secondary at all,” McCanless said.

Linda Ojeda, currently pursuing her principal’s certificate, remains the JH/HS dean of instruction as well as district athletic director and will continue in a role equivalent to vice principal, according to McCanless. 

Mr. McCanless is a certified principal and superintendent and has experience as both a junior high and high school principal. Since he’s already walking the halls of the JH/HS adjacent to his superintendent’s office and has decades of experience as an administrator, he aims to lighten both Martinez’s and Ojeda’s workloads so they can focus on other things.

“I’m able to organize and structure my superintendent responsibilities and get those done 100% while still serving as the 6-through-12 principal,” he said.   

Along with restructuring district roles to support student success, Marfa ISD has also recently announced two new programs to facilitate college and career readiness, an area in which the district has historically performed poorly per TEA school accountability assessments. 

In the last two weeks, the district has announced participation in two new college readiness partnerships.

Texas A&M Agrilife Extension’s Rural Student Success Initiative has selected to partner with Marfa ISD to increase the number of rural students enrolling in and completing a postsecondary certificate or degree program. RSSI aims to “improve the professional competency” of rural school district teachers to guide students as young as eighth grade to college and career readiness. Marfa is the only school in the Big Bend region to currently participate. 

The district also announced a partnership with the Sul Ross State University program GEAR UP. Marfa joins other area districts to offer eighth grade students college and career readiness opportunities and mentorship as they move into high school and beyond. According to promotional materials, GEAR UP “strives to provide services in three key areas to improve academic achievement, high school graduation, and college enrollment.” Through student development, parental development and institutional development, the federally funded program will offer tutoring, after-school academic success skills programs, intensive summer camp programs, college and financial aid workshops, individual counseling, mentoring, scholarship opportunities and more. 

For more information on future events and activities, check out marfaisd.com or Marfa Shorthorns socials on Facebook and Instagram.