By Alysa Landry

NEWCOMB — It's a good time to be in Newcomb.

This small community, barely more than a wide spot on U.S. 491, is poised to become the heart of south San Juan County. The chapter, home to about 800 residents, harbors a fire station, a rural library and three public schools.

By the beginning of the school year, Newcomb also will be the technological hub of the area, serving seven surrounding chapters with computer and Internet services.

"We're going to give students and the community opportunities they don't have now," Newcomb High School Principal Scott Story said. "We're going to put wireless Internet access everywhere."

The plans are rising from the ashes of Newcomb High School's repeated failure to meet Adequate Yearly Progress under the federal No Child Left Behind Act. The school, designated as "restructuring," applied for and received state School Improvement Grant funds totaling $3.9 million disbursed over a three-year period.

The designation forced the district to consider corrective action plans, including replacing school staff, reopening as a charter school or turning operations over to the state.

It also opened the door for dollars that mean improvements to the school and surrounding communities, Story said. Students attending school in Newcomb are bused in from Naschitti, Burnham, Sanostee, Two Grey Hills, Toadlena, Little Water and Sheep Springs.

The school plans to issue laptops to all 266 students, equip chapter houses with wireless Internet services and even rig the school buses with Wi-Fi so students can download, complete and submit homework assignments while traveling to and from school.

Student commutes to school are as long as an hour each way, Story said. Some students live without electricity in their homes, and most do not have Internet access, he said.

"Part of that trip on the bus could be spent working," Story said. "This is going to get the kids who are not equipped for the 21st century ready for college or careers."

The law

The federal No Child Left Behind Act, what President George W. Bush called the "cornerstone of my administration," was signed into law in 2001.

The bill was a reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965, and it set in place requirements for every public school in America, with particular aim at disadvantaged students.

The act is based on measures that gauge student achievement and hold schools accountable for progress. It requires annual testing and improvements aligned with state standards.

All students must be testing at the "proficient level" on state tests by the 2013-14 school year, and individuals must meet state Adequate Yearly Progress benchmarks for student populations as a whole and various demographic groups.

Failure to meet the standards results in corrective measures, including possible intervention and governance changes.

Newcomb High School has never met Adequate Yearly Progress, Assistant Superintendent Tim Kienitz said.

According to its 2010-11 accountability report, the school met standards in reading, but not in math. It missed the benchmarks in both subjects last year. The school has a graduation rate of 69 percent.

Grant money

Newcomb High School was one of nine New Mexico schools to receive funding in May from an $11.3 million School Improvement Grant. The schools all were labeled as the "persistently lowest-achieving" schools in the state.

Naschitti Elementary School also qualified for funding and received $500,000 last year.

The funds are part of $28.5 million received from the U.S. Department of Education. The funding, disbursed by the state Public Education Department, is federal money set aside in 2009 under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act.

Newcomb got a $1.5 million chunk for this school year, Story said. It must reapply annually for the additional funds, which will come in $1.2 million installments over the next two years, totaling nearly $4 million.

Although Story's position is not covered by the grant, his title is "turnaround principal," he said. He was hired in May.

Former principal Glenn Haven resigned in October 2009, and assistant principal Al Madera took over for the remainder of last school year.

Schools receiving grants submitted proposals outlining how dollars would be used. Suggested uses included lengthening school days or years, purchasing new curriculum, paying for professional development, hiring instructional coaches and social workers and upgrading software.

Newcomb proposed using funding for extended learning opportunities, implementation of a community health clinic, paying for cultural training and installing smart labs powered by solar energy at selected chapter houses.

"Our proposal was heavy on personnel," Story said. "In order to try to change things, we needed to hire some new positions."

The school welcomed three coaches: one each for math and English and one to coach teachers of the Din? language. It also hired a math teacher, a language arts teacher, a licensed alcohol and drug counselor and a communications specialist.

Communications specialist Jasper Joe was offered a unit in the teachers housing in Newcomb. There, he headquarters a major networking effort among district staff and community leaders.

"There are two main goals right now to attain AYP," Joe said. "One is on the academic side, to increase math and reading scores. The other is to increase parent involvement in everything."

Joe, in addition to coordinating events and programs at the school, also travels to chapter houses, community functions and students' homes.

"I go to all the chapter houses, all the trading posts, I put up fliers every place I can find," he said. "I go to homes to try to get the students to come to school."

Since his hire in August, Joe's tally of off-campus visits has reached 114, he said.

Additional grant dollars went to upgrade the on-campus health clinic to eliminate health-related trips to Shiprock or Gallup, and $40,000 per year is going to upgrade the library with "culturally relevant materials."

But the funding piece that is making the biggest difference is the extensive technological upgrades, both to the school and the community.

"The technology is the biggest, most exciting piece," Story said. "Technology is something we felt was important for kids who don't have this opportunity. The technology piece also makes teaching easier."

Technology boost

Newcomb High School's classrooms are already wired to allow teachers immediate feedback on lessons and communication with individual class members. The school used improvement grant funds, along with Title 1 money, to further upgrade the technology.

One of the first pieces the school secured was a tech lab, located at the neighboring Newcomb Middle School. Shared by middle school students, the lab fosters a hands-on and computer-assisted learning environment.

The lab also houses a state-of-the-art video and audio recording studio. The cameras and equipment arrived in January.

"The kids really ate this up," Story said. "Hopefully by next year, we will have student-based video announcements, commercials, reports."

For the classrooms, the school purchased graphic calculator touchpads that allow students to type in answers from their desks. The system then can graph class results onto a screen so students immediately can see how their classmates did.

"This engages them," Story said. "They will learn things better, and when they use this correctly, it will help them bring their scores up."

Interwrite boards are hung in every classroom, and teachers can use hand-held devices to write on the boards from across the room, Story said.

"All this gives teachers instant feedback," he said, "and it means the teacher doesn't have to be at the front of the room. She can be at the back, next to the student who needs to be kept on task."

Technological upgrades won't be limited to the classroom, however, Story said. The school plans to issue each student a laptop at the beginning of next school year in a "one-to-one initiative."

"They'd be able to take this to class, do work, upload it directly to the teacher's computer," he said. "We're looking at being able to send a laptop home with every kid."

The technology piece is expected to dramatically boost student scores, even those on the tests required for graduation or to attain Adequate Yearly Progress.

It also will propel the students into the future by equipping them with knowledge and skills necessary to succeed, Story said.

"We've been behind in math, in language," he said. "We're getting further behind in technology, so we need to do this."

Learning on the go

The biggest technological waves will become apparent when the district unveils a major Internet connection project that essentially will tie together the eight chapters feeding students into Newcomb High School.

When the project is complete, students will have access to the Internet and homework via laptop from many locations they already frequent.

The school plans to equip buses on eight routes and local chapter houses with wireless services.

But students won't have a monopoly on the services. Community members also can access the Internet outside chapter houses. This could be the first opportunity some parents have to view online records of their children's grades and other activities, and to communicate on-line with teachers and administrators, Story said.

Grant funds will pay for installation of wireless service, which will allow connectivity inside and in the parking lot outside the chapter houses, Story said.

"Even when the buildings are closed, they can access Internet outside," he said.

No demographic data exists about the number of families in the Newcomb area who have computers in their homes, Story said.

"There is a fairly limited number of families who have Internet," he said. "Many prior to this don't have computers in their homes."

With the technology initiative, students can download assignments, access the Internet for research and upload their work directly to the school's network, Story said.

Teachers will not have to assign "paperwork" at all.

But curriculum requiromg students to work on penmanship and other skills will still exist.

"These are students with no library to do research, no computers at home, no Internet services," Story said. "We will need to balance the basics like writing with 21st century skills. We'll do everything from the fundamentals to the new stuff."

Saving a school

Story, in his first year as principal, gave up a career as a family attorney to pursue something more upbeat, he said.

"All those divorce cases, child custody, it really gets you down," he said. "I come from a family of educators, so I decided to go into education."

A native of Cortez, Colo., Story attended Fort Lewis College and the University of Colorado, where he earned his law degree.

He worked in the Dolores School District for 11 years before completing a master's degree in education administration.

"I liked the size of Newcomb High School," he said. "I also liked the opportunity to try and help in a turnaround effort where we can really make a difference for students."

The district sought applications from principals who were willing to help turn the school around, Kienitz said. The job description and posting called for a "turnaround principal."

Story, whose energy and dedication is evident as he takes visitors through the school, was "exactly what we were looking for," Kienitz said.

"We are excited about what's going on there," he said. "Scott is doing a dramatic job, and we're already seeing that with the increase in enrollment and short-cycle scores."

Story commutes daily from Cortez, where he lives with his wife and four children.

His goals for the school include graduating more students who are ready for colleges and careers. He also wants the school to meet AYP.

"I am very aware that we're spending taxpayer money," Story said. "We have to have fidelity to the students, to the results. We have a fiduciary duty to the taxpayer."

For students, the change brought about by the grant is evident in the environment of the school, as well as the tech-heavy classrooms.

"Our school obviously needs improvements," said Cornelius Tsipai, an 18-year-old senior. "This will motivate students more. This grant is a free ticket for us to get an education."

More students are involved in their education this year, said Tsipai, who has attended the school for four years.

"It's both an attitude change and more stuff in the school," he said. "This has lifted people. The improvements to the school have allowed them to change the attitude and improve themselves."

Although the grant money means a lot of improvements are on the way, it also means fun, Story said.

"It's a good time to be in Newcomb," he said.