Seated in his office at the Mingus Union High School District office, newly hired Superintendent Eric Harmon smiled when asked if he had enjoyed his brief introduction to Cottonwood.
“Oh, it’s hot …. Everything except the heat is awesome,” Harmon said, laughing. His first proper introduction to Cottonwood occurred over the weekend of June 17, when the temperature rose to 113 degrees.
Harmon and his wife have occupied themselves over the last few weekends, visiting some of Old Town’s best restaurants — which Harmon said are a far cry from the few venues they had access to in Window Rock, where the couple lived during Harmon’s tenure as principal of Window Rock High School.
“I just can’t believe I got this lucky,” Harmon said of his appointment for the 2016-17 school year. “It’s just such a good fit for me. It just feels right.”
Harmon explained that his interest and expertise is in high school education, but that acting as superintendent will come with a “huge learning curve.” The most challenging single aspect of accepting the position, he added, was realizing that he would not be interacting with students as much.
“For me personally, that will be the hardest part,” Harmon said. “I’ll have to figure out how not to be a principal.”
For much of his life, Harmon defined himself through wrestling, first as a national champion freestyle wrestler and then as a coach, helping a dozen students make it to state championships at Blue Ridge High School.
Asked if he would become involved in Mingus Union High School’s wrestling program, Harmon laughed. “I’m going to try not to take it over …. That was my identity for 20 years. And we still have to find a head coach.”
Harmon praised what he had seen of the school after only a few weeks, saying that Mingus’ school culture struck him as “very strong.” He added that the MUHSD Governing Board had welcomed him and appeared to function well.
According to Harmon, there are four tasks that need to be addressed soon:
- Summer projects. Harmon said he would like to see the tennis court improvements and other bond construction projects finished before the start of school.
- Override push. Harmon said he intends to gather data to support another budget override.
- Galileo. Harmon said he will evaluate the testing assessment methods currently provided by Galileo Educational Network, which some teachers find challenging to interpret.
- Textbooks. Harmon said determining if the district should purchase new textbooks now or delay the decision — potentially to invest in emergent technologies to replace or complement textbooks — will be a top priority.
“There’s some work to do, but the culture is there,” Harmon said, adding that a good environment has contributed to student, teacher and staff contentment. “Personnel is really good, as far as I know. We have all our teachers for the year.”
As for the departed superintendent, Paul Tighe, who has been retained as a consultant for 2016-17, Harmon said, “Those are big shoes to fill. Not only is Dr. Tighe likable, but he really knew what he was doing.”
