Lights seem to be out at SFHS

Waiting.

That’s what a new football scoreboard for Santa Fe High School’s Ivan Head Stadium is doing right now.

It’s the replacement for the original scoreboard — with its mix of fading or burned out light bulbs making it hard to see the score, time, down and quarter, even at night — that has stood since the stadium was first erected in the mid-1970s.

It’s waiting because there are no plans to install it.

It would have been a welcome addition Saturday afternoon, with the 75th meeting between the city’s two oldest high schools in St. Michael’s and Santa Fe High. But no, everyone at the stadium was left staring at an old dilapidated piece of electronic history, which is all it really is now — history.

As it is with all things at Santa Fe High, we’re left staring.

And waiting.

The absence of a new scoreboard is just another reflection of an absence of leadership with Santa Fe High’s athletic program. Ron Shirley was named interim athletic manager two weeks ago, but six weeks came and passed between his hire and the resignation of Alicia Stewart, who didn’t even spend a day on campus before taking a similar job at Valley High School in Gilcrest, Colo., at the end of July.

The absence of leadership within the athletic program was just a reflection of the absence of leaders at the high school level at Santa Fe Public Schools. Santa Fe High is down two assistant principals under new principal Daniel Webb because two assistant principals were moved to Capital High to fill vacancies there, which include the principal’s office.

It was a domino effect from the resignation of Capital High principal Darlene Ulibarri in July, but this tumble had its seeds planted several years back. Both high schools have churned through principals — Santa Fe High is on its fourth in five years, while Capital has had three in the past five — with almost as many different faces for assistant principals.

What eventually happens is that a school district runs out of leaders because it has gone through so many.

It becomes even harder to identify and develop replacements because they see an new administration almost every year and don’t want to be a part of that trend. Ultimately, the cycle hits the athletic program for much the same reason.

When a school district finally hits the wall, such as what Santa Fe Public Schools has done, it’s left with too many positions to fill and too few leaders to choose from and an athletic director or manager becomes a secondary issue.

With nobody to devote time solely to athletics, cracks begin to form. That’s when scoreboards are left in storage. Or a boys soccer match, such as the one between Santa Fe High and Capital on Sept. 18, is canceled because officials weren’t hired for it.

Then everyone is left watching.

And waiting.

Contact James Barron at 986-3045 or jbarron@sfnewmexican.com.