New Tuba City ed boss has long ties to region

efore the passing of Superintendent Hector Tahu last spring, Tuba City schools had one of the longest-serving leaders of any school district on the Navajo Nation.

Following his death last spring from heart complications at the age of 64, the district sought a replacement who could maintain both stability and evolution in the face of tightening state and federal education requirements. Gene Thomas could offer both.

Thomas, who started as the new Tuba City school district superintendent in July, is no stranger to Native American education. He's not even a stranger to the Navajo Nation.

Thomas, 59, comes to the job from the Peach Springs school district on the Hualapai Reservation in northwestern Arizona, where he was superintendent for two years. Prior to that, Thomas served one year as principal of Shonto Preparatory School in Shonto, Ariz.

Thomas received his master's degree in school administration from Western New Mexico University in 1997 and his doctorate in education from Kennedy-Western University in Thousand Oaks, Calif., in 2001.

He also has a master's in special education from WNMU and a bachelor's degree in business administration and computer information systems from National University in San Diego.

Thomas's wife, Linda Scott-Thomas, is from the Western Agency, and the couple has lived in the area for years.

"My wife is from here, so we think we'd be better served working around the Navajo Nation," Thomas said.

Tuba City has nearly 2,300 students, making it one of the largest school districts on the Navajo Reservation. Last year more than half of its schools - four out of seven - achieved adequate yearly progress, the federal benchmark of educational progress.

Traditionally, students from minority groups, particularly Native American, and those from low-income families test lower than average for math and reading proficiency.

Part of the problem, according to national education experts, is a higher than average turnover rate among education administrators in such districts. Unstable leadership makes it difficult to implement reforms and measure results.

With the exception of Tahu, no superintendent in a public school district on the Navajo Reservation has served for more than two years.

Tuba City would make Thomas' fourth school district since 2000, when he left the Dilkon district for his yearlong stint at Shonto. He just completed his second year with the Peach Springs district.

Although his professional history shows that Thomas has moved from districts relatively quickly, the new Tuba City superintendent said his career goals mixed with his family situation will keep him in the district for the foreseeable future.

Alvin Harvey, president of the TCUSD school board, which selected Thomas, did not return calls seeking comment.

Still, Thomas has his plans to address the district's needs.

Thomas entered the education field following a lengthy stint as an air traffic controller, which ended with the national strike in the early 1980s when then-President Ronald Reagan refused to sign a new contract with the employees union. Reagan then fired all who refused his order to return to work, prompting an exodus of experienced personnel from the Federal Aviation Agency.

From there Thomas went into defense contracting, but military-related spending declined after the Soviet Union collapsed and Reagan left office.

"I thought, what can I get into that Reagan cannot affect," Thomas said. "And I haven't been sorry one minute."

Thomas started teaching special education but, with his experience working with the military as a defense contractor, quickly climbed the ranks as a school administrator. He has also contracted with schools independently, helping classes obtain Internet software.

Among his prime duties is to continue Tahu's work to increase student achievement, Thomas said.

"I'm already impressed with the quality of teachers here," Thomas said. "We can add to this talent pool and provide them with the necessary training so they can contribute immediately."

Thomas said he plans to implement an assessment program that would constantly monitor students and their performance. The program would require teachers to follow weekly lesson plans that are based on the state standards.

Students would be tested every two weeks on the materials, with the results used to help teachers see where each student may need help. Students could then be placed in the appropriate group to focus on their areas of need.

"When we see a child is not getting it, then we can work on other strategies," Thomas said. "And we have to do this in real time, not in October or April when it's too late to make changes. We have to test every other week so we can make changes every other week."

Once students are mastering the material they need to learn, Thomas expects that fewer of them will leave the district.

Like many of the larger reservation districts, Tuba City has seen a significant decrease in student numbers in the past decade. Thomas suspects much of it is due to families taking their students to off-reservation schools in search of a better education.

"The problem at the district is that the product we are putting out is discouraging parents and what we have to do is improve our product," Thomas said.

During his two years at Peach Springs, the district fell from the state's adequate yearly progress status. However, Thomas spent his time there overhauling the district's system, an effort that would take years to accomplish and show benefits.

During his time with the district, Thomas increased special education faculty and instituted child study teams at each school site. He also helped secure laptop computers for all district faculty and connected each classroom to the Internet.

The number of highly qualified teachers in the district increased dramatically during Thomas' administration. The number of teachers with a bachelor's degree increased from 10 to 35 and those with a master's degree increased from 11 to 16, according to the Arizona Department of Education.

Thomas added that he has no plans to leave the district any time soon. In fact, he is already rooted Tuba City, where he is surrounded by friends and in-laws.

"I can't see migrating someplace else," Thomas said. "As far as I'm concerned, when you're looking at a district with this much talent and potential, you'd be a fool to look at where your next location is going to be."