Starla Jones/HMS Just like his signature trumpet solo, Rusty Crowe has “Got to Fly Now.” After spending 19 years at the helm, Crowe retires next month as Hobbs High School band director in order to move closer to his daughters and grandchildren. Known during basketball games for his red-faced rendition of the upper-range, ear piercing notes from that Rocky song, …

ANDY BROSIG NEWS-SUN After more than a year of fluctuating numbers, enrollment in the Hobbs Municipal Schools is inching its way back toward pre-pandemic levels. They’re not there yet, LaShawn Byrd, deputy director for data analysis for the district told the Hobbs Board of Education last week. But the outlook is “definitely positive,” she said. School districts across the state …

Jason Farmer/News-Sun Back in 2019, the Hobbs cheer squad won its first NMAA state championship. Then the COVID-19 pandemic hit and wiped out sports, canceling the 2020 championships and a chance to repeat. Schools slowly re-opened for the 2020-21 year and all sports were condensed into four months. Because of that, Hobbs elected not to participate in competitive cheer. “We …

NEWS-SUN STAFF REPORT On Thursday, the New Mexico Junior College Board of Directors announced the five selected finalists for the presidency of NMJC. “We would like to thank the entire college community for your continued interest and support in the process to identify our next president. I would also like to take this opportunity to thank each member of the …

Dorothy Fowler/News-Sun What’s 60 feet long, 30 feet wide and packed with plenty of ripe, climbing, red tomatoes, blooming geraniums, budding lantana and a variety of other growing things — all of which were propagated from existing plants? It’s the greenhouse on the campus of Lovington High School, where teacher Montana Hagler and 133 students, plus Lovington schools’ director of …

SANTA FE (AP) — New Mexico’s governor signed law four bills into law that will increase funding for education, including major hikes to teacher salaries. Democrat Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham held the ceremony Tuesday outdoors at an elementary school in Santa Fe, following the passage of the bills by the Legislature last month. Flanked by schoolchildren and the national leader …

New Mexico increases focus on race in K-12 despite backlash By CEDAR ATTANASIO Associated Press / Report for America SANTA FE, N.M. (AP) — New Mexico’s K-12 students will see a greater focus on race and ethnicity, including Native American history, in their curriculum over the next two years under new standards aimed at making social studies teaching more culturally …

Lawmakers approve $10k raises for many New Mexico teachers By CEDAR ATTANASIO Associated Press / Report for America SANTA FE, N.M. (AP) — A measure that will increase minimum salaries for New Mexico teachers and counselors by as much as 22% cleared its final legislative hurdle late Monday with a unanimous vote in the House. The bill, approved by the …

New Mexico confirms K-12 education testing, secretary By CEDAR ATTANASIO Associated Press / Report for America SANTA FE, N.M. (AP) — New Mexico’s top educator said Wednesday the state will carry out testing of K-12 students this spring, after receiving waivers to federal testing requirements for the past two years. “We do have a statewide standardized assessment that will be …

Gabrielle Arsiaga/News-Sun When it comes to answering a call for service, National Guard Specialist Cassandra Sierra and Sergeant 1st Class Clarence Galassini are all about doing their part —whether that be in a classroom or out on the battlefield. As a way to help alleviate some of the staff shortages New Mexico schools have been experiencing due to the COVID-19 …