Piñon earns Blue Ribbon recognition

Santa Fe elementary school one of three statewide to win honor

It was a moment for the entire Piñon Elementary School community to share, but Principal Janis Devoti could only gather a small number of staff at the mostly empty campus for the news.

The U.S. Department of Education on Thursday announced Piñon had been named one of its National Blue Ribbon Schools for 2020. The school was honored, in particular, for its efforts to close achievement gaps.

Teachers and other Piñon employees erupted in cheers. The moment was joyous, Devoti said, but she felt it was incomplete — and a bit bittersweet — without the presence of a key part of the school’s success: its student body.

With Santa Fe Public Schools continuing to operate in a remote learning model in response to the coronavirus pandemic, Piñon Elementary students remained tucked away at home, behind their computer screens.

“It would have been icing on the cake if we could have had the students here,” Devoti said.

Still, she planned to find a way for the school to celebrate the accomplishment together Friday as teachers of each class announce the news.

Piñon Elementary was one of 317 public K-12 schools and 50 private institutions nationwide to receive the honor this year, including three in New Mexico. The other two were Gil Sanchez Elementary School in Jarales, part of the Belen Consolidated School District, and S.Y. Jackson Elementary School in Albuquerque. The National Blue Ribbon Schools program, in its 38th year, has recognized more than 9,000 high-performing schools.

Schools are nominated by the state’s top education official — in this case, New Mexico Public Education Secretary Ryan Stewart.

Piñon, which opened in 1979 in southern Santa Fe, had the ingredients for such an award in large part because of Devoti’s presence for the past four decades. She said consistency within the staff — some of whom also have been at Piñon for years — has been crucial in developing a rapport with parents and students, who come from a wide range of backgrounds.

“Many of my parents are alums of the school,” Devoti said. “… My assistant principal [Danielle Aagaard], her parents were also teachers here. So it really is a community school.”

And what a community.

In a summary submitted as part of Piñon’s Blue Ribbon nomination, the school says, “We are a family, a Pinon Eagle family.”

“The student body is composed of many students whose parents and grandparents attended Pinon,” the summary says. “Several staff members also were Pinon Eagles. Together, the multi-generational population works side by side to provide a rich and enduring academic experience for students.”

The summary also touts the school’s diversity. At one time, the school boasted there were 15 languages spoken among its students. That is no longer the case, Devoti said, but 22 percent of Piñon students are learning English as a secondary language.

More than 80 percent of students are Hispanic and 60 percent qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, a federal indicator of poverty.

The school’s diversity played a role in its selection as a Blue Ribbon winner. It was recognized in large part for boosting academic achievement among minority and low-income students.

The New Mexico Public Education Department has named Piñon a “Spotlight School” — one with academic proficiency rates ranked among the top 25 percent of public schools in the state. The school also earned a “Designation of Excellence” for its work in math.

During the administration of former Gov. Susana Martinez, Piñon Elementary was a bright spot for the Santa Fe school district when the Public Education Department issued its annual school grades. It achieved B’s in its first three years of the grading system and A’s in the following three years.

Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham ended the controversial evaluation system after taking office in 2019. Under the program, schools with high numbers of minority children, English-language learners and kids from low-income families tended to fare far more poorly than those with fewer minority and low-income students.

Piñon bucked the trend. In July 2019, when the state released statewide student proficiency rates, based on standardized math and reading tests administered the previous spring, Piñon stood out. It had improved its reading scores by 5.2 percentage points to reach 50.5 percent proficiency. It raised its math scores by 4.4 percentage points to 43 percent.

Devoti said at the time, “I’m pleased our scores are going up, but we will not feel like we are done until we have 100 percent kids proficient. We know that we still have 50 percent of our kids to move. That’s our barometer for success.”

Santa Fe Public Schools superintendent Veronica García lauded Piñon Elementary on Thursday. “They are really closing the gap,” she said. “It’s through focused work with high expectations, and I am just real proud of them.”

Devoti credits the consistency that has been a staple at the school. Communication between teachers, students and parents remains constant, she said, even as they work remotely. Teachers set aside time each school day to meet online individually with parents and students to get feedback.

Devoti said she believes in the value of individualized instruction to ensure each student’s needs are met. The Piñon students’ work ethic has been exemplary, she added — especially in the remote-learning model.

“This is really a tribute to the students because they have bought into what we do,” Devoti said. “We really try to make sure our vision and our mission and our core beliefs center on that relationship building. Then, it’s looking at that child’s uniqueness and individual diversity.

“But first, it’s about building relationships.”

Piñon Elementary was one of 317 public K-12 schools and 50 private institutions nationwide to receive the honor this year.