Story by Sarah Reed

The Yuma Sun

July 11, 2010

YUMA - Aztec High School is getting fresh leadership with Molly Kelly as their new principal during a time when schools are struggling to find qualified staff for their facilities.

Before she was hired at Aztec, Kelly was an assistant principal at Kofa High School for 10 years, at Cibola High School for 2-1/2 years and most recently the principal at Vista School for 3-1/2 years.

“When I heard about the Aztec job from a friend, I looked into the school and realized what a perfect fit it would be,” Kelly said. “It was hard to leave my Vista family, but they are an awesome staff and will do great.”

While working at Vista School, Kelly also oversaw the Yuma Union High School District Continuation School and was able to gain experience in working with probation officers.

Kelly hopes to stay at Aztec for about seven to 10 years and is very passionate about working with students.

“I really hope to continue the excellent programs that Mrs. Linda Munk put into place before her retirement this June,” Kelly explained. “Aztec is a school for students who are looking for a small school setting with personalized attention from the teachers.”

Because of the smaller class size, Kelly said that they can offer various classes that might not be offered at some of the bigger schools in the area.

Aztec looks to educate at-risk students and help them assume responsibility for themselves and their actions along with encouraging social and educational growth.

“The biggest difficulty we face is like that of Vista, where people think it is where the ‘troubled' students go,” Kelly responded. “While we do have students who are on probation, like all high schools, we are an open public charter school.”

Since Kelly is coming straight from Vista, which is a public high school, she said that one thing she would like to carry over to Aztec is having students remain enrolled throughout the semester, even after the students are off probation.

“That would really help students earn their credits and not get lost when they try to reenroll at the larger high schools in the middle of the semester,” said Kelly. “It would also help the traditional campuses and teachers to not have students showing up in the middle of the semester and trying to play catch up.”

When the Aztec staff sits down to set goals for the fall semester, they will look at how to help improve attendance and how to encourage students to be on time.

“We can do miracles when the students are at school,” Kelly stated.

In addition to attendance issues, the staff will also talk about including a 30-minute advisory period that will prepare students for the future on things like AIMS testing, careers, and character education.

“I know right now the people who have been involved with Aztec know and understand what a great school this is for the community,” Kelly explained. “I hope by the time I leave the school, when people ask about Aztec, the entire Yuma County knows what a great school we are and how many students have had an opportunity to earn their high school diploma and are ready to go out and be productive members of our society.”

Kelly said they have 101 students enrolled and room for 19 more students.

Sarah Reed can be reached at sareed@yumasun.com or 539-6858.