Q&A: New Clovis Christian superintendent talks about path forward

CLOVIS - Jim Haley knows he's got big shoes to fill, as he succeeds Ladona Clayton to become the new superintendent at Clovis Christian Schools.

He's hoping he can do that, and hoping to fill up the enrollment a little with the team Clayton has left for him.

Haley, an Abilene native, comes to Clovis from Pecos, Texas, where he was superintendent at the Pecos-Barstow-Toyah Independent School District since January 2016. He's been with CCS for about four weeks, and was able to see the school in action for its final week with students before learning other facets with Clayton, who is taking a position in Dallas.

He sat down with The News on Monday to talk about the path forward for CCS.

How did you first get interested in education?

My great-aunt was a counselor and school teacher her whole life. That had a lot to do with it, as well as the relationships I had with my teachers and coaches growing up. They had a very positive impact on me. I was a fifth-grade teacher in Abilene many years ago. I've got 30 years experience, and that was my first job. I became principal for a number of years, and for the last nine years I've been a superintendent.

How does your time as an educator influence your decisions as an administrator?

Every school has different priorities and challenges they're trying to address. In the Clovis Christian Schools, since we don't get funding from the state, we have to rely on enrollment and donations. That is a big area that is a priority this year. They've been successful every year. We're looking for some new ideas, or maybe recycle some of the great ideas from years past. We have to raise about $100,000 to balance our budget.

I think you've identified your top challenge as a private school. What's the biggest challenge after that?

Recruiting teachers. It more or less should be a calling for those educators because they don't make the salary public schools offer. We try to do the best we can and always reward the teachers with raises along the way, because you have to pay your bills. But at the same time, we have a wonderful environment and awesome students and facilities. It helps balance that, but other than funding the challenge is recruiting teachers. But I think that's everywhere.

What are the immediate challenges you've observed?

It still goes back to recruiting. We've hired three professional positions, but we have three or four to go along with support positions. Mr. (John) Dansby, the high school principal and I, that's what we're trying to do first and foremost. We want to have positions filled around the first of August. We're giving the campus a facelift, doing some new painting and carpet in the elementary classroom and painting outside as well as fixing up the area between the buildings out front. We're trying to do some xeriscaping, and it's eventually where we'd like to build a bell tower. An intermediate goal is to build the bell tower and use the old bell from Hinkle Street (former CCC location). Summers, it's always about technology. We're installing two new servers to run things better and be more secure. We're also purchasing some new laptops. We've had laptops for the high schoolers for several years, and some of those need to be replaced. Some of our computer lab computers do as well. That's what you do in the summer.

What's a long-term goal?

We want to build a gym that attaches to the high school building. It would be a multipurpose facility where we could play basketball, volleyball and possibly also have a stage along with restrooms and showers. That's several million dollars, so we'll continue that fundraising effort until we find enough money to build it. We have sketches and drawings of it, and it's probably a five- to seven-year goal.

Any goals you'd like to accomplish in your first year to set the path forward?

To increase enrollment and add some programs and sports that maybe haven't been offered in a while. Our school board has approved a reduction in the fee of 50 percent for new families. It's normally around $4,700 a year, and they're cutting it in half for new families. That will hopefully help us generate more enrollment. I'd like to be able to add 25 or 30 kids. We'd like to add a music program in the fall. Not this year, but next year we could have a varsity-level soccer team. We've been at the junior varsity level for a number of years, but we should have enough students now to field a varsity team. Maybe we could bring back football, even if it's six-man.

What's the most important thing you've learned at your prior stops?

Probably how to involve all of the stakeholders in the decisions. I think Clovis Christian is doing a great job of that. They have surveys of the students, the parents and the community. They're taking that input going forward. You also want to be open to ideas from the community and the students and the teachers. You just have to be willing to listen all around.

- Compiled by Editor Kevin Wilson