Although new Española Valley High School Principal Tom Graves has only been in Northern New Mexico for about two weeks, he’s been busy performing tasks not usually associated with a school principal.
Dressed in a short-sleeve shirt and jeans, Graves looked less like an administrator than a member of the many cleaning crews employed by the school, while sitting in his new, yet mostly empty, office during his fourth official day on the job.
“What I have spent most of my time doing is shoveling curbs, cleaning up the campus,” the Chicago, Ill. native said. “I have been kind of doing the manual labor thing.”
Graves proved he was serious about his task of beautifying school grounds by producing a shovel from the bed of his pickup truck, before resuming his other duties and attending various planning meetings with staff.
He said it is important to have the campus look as neat and clean as possible, in an effort to set high expectations of staff and to go about the business of education.
“He has an incredible work ethic,” Assistant Principal Kelly Rinaldi said. “I think he has all the values that our students need to see and he will be a wonderful role model.”
Rinaldi said although she has only worked with Graves for a short period of time so far, it is evident to her that his sole focus is to improve the school and do the best for Española Valley High School students.
“It’s important that people see he is willing to roll up his sleeves, as we all are, to do whatever needs to be done to make sure our students are successful,” she said.
Administrators at the District informed Rinaldi since her current contract would end June 30, it would be up to Graves to hire his own assistant principal, but she was welcome to apply for the position. Rinaldi said Graves has recommended her for the job during the 2016-17 school year.
The new principal said someone told him there was an opening available in Española and it seemed it would be the perfect opportunity to continue doing school improvement work throughout the country. He’s worked in several states, to include Florida, Georgia, Alabama, Tennessee and Wyoming.
Graves has shown his commitment to discipline in the past. He was a five-time all American at Auburn University, where he ran track and field and cross country. He was also an Olympic trials qualifier for the 5000-meter event in 1980. On the educational front, he has 25 years experience in various roles, including posts as a high school biology teacher, track coach, school counselor and superintendent.
His prior administrative positions include stints with the Washington County Public School District, in Virginia, where he was an assistant superintendent; the Putnam County School system in Tennessee, and Carbon County Schools in Wyoming.
Despite his numerous travels and previous assignments, Graves said he was eager to begin work in Española. When considering the position, he had heard about the crime rate in Rio Arriba County and prior troubles at the school, but this did not faze him because he believes a lot of it has to do with misconceptions and perception.
“I am incredibly excited to be here in this beautiful part of New Mexico,” he said. “I am incredibly impressed with the staff, students and personnel at Española Valley High School.”
Graves said he believes his main duty is to increase expectations, both academically and behaviorally.
“I am always up for a challenge,” he said. “That’s why I am here. Basically, what I do is I am a school improvement specialist. Discipline, responsibility and hard work, that’s what we are all about. If we can teach kids those three things, they are going to be successful in whatever they choose to do later in life.”
The new principal said he is very pro-student and plans to have programs in place, which he said will virtually eliminate suspensions at the school.
“It will be a privilege to be going to Española Valley High School during the regular school day,” he said. “As long as you are with the program, we will take care of you. If you choose not to be with the program, we are still going to provide a quality education, but it’s going to be an alternative setting after school.”
Graves said the goal is to provide an education to those students attending school during the regular school day, but for students who need extra help and extra guidance, accountability school will be an option for them.
He said this program will be a daily after-school program, which will run from 3:30 to 6:30 p.m., and is designed to help students with behavior and academic problems, while also providing an opportunity to rejoin the traditional school program.
“Kicking a kid out of school doesn’t do anything,” he said. “So what we’ll do is say, ‘Hey you are being disruptive during the regular day so we are going to provide you an opportunity to get you instruction and the help you need so that we can get you back during the regular school day.’”
Graves acknowledged that truancy has been a big problem, not just in Española, but throughout the state and that is a problem he aims to address.
“One of the most important things we can teach kids is the discipline to be in class on time,” he said. “We will help them do that because that is a lifetime skill that always helps.”
He said the school will also give students an opportunity to make up missed work on Saturdays.
“Failure is not going to be an option here,” he said. “Failing tests, quizzes, not doing your homework, not doing projects is unacceptable. They will do them and we are going to given them an opportunity to do that and still earn full credit.”
Graves said punitive measures to address truancy is not the answer.
“It’s easy to kick kids out of school, but this takes effort and I care enough about kids that I am willing to take the extra effort to make them be successful,” he said.
Neither District interim superintendent Myra Martinez nor Board President Pablo Lujan returned calls to comment on Grave’s hiring.