Los Lunas dance team supporters seek coach reinstatement after firing
Parents pressed for Jonelle Thompson Armijo’s return after Los Lunas removed her, then the district named Blake Sabol as head coach seven weeks later. The shift hit a Tigerettes program that had just finished fifth at state.
The removal of Jonelle Thompson Armijo left the Los Lunas High School Tigerettes heading into summer with questions about leadership, morale and who would guide one of the school’s most visible programs. The team had just finished fifth out of 22 squads at the New Mexico Activities Association Spirit Competition, a result that underscored how much the coaching change mattered to dancers and families across Los Lunas.
Those concerns came into public view at the Los Lunas Board of Education meeting on April 14, when dancers, parents and supporters showed up to ask for Thompson Armijo’s reinstatement. They described her as a mentor, a friend and a central reason the Tigerettes had been successful, turning a staffing decision into a broader test of how the district communicates with families when a trusted adult is removed from a student program.
Superintendent Susan Chavez declined to discuss the personnel matter, but said coaching positions are at-will, meaning the district can remove coaches without prior notice or cause. That explanation offered a legal framework, but it did little to settle the practical concerns that followed the April meeting. For students who rely on the Tigerettes for identity, routine and community, the absence of a clear public explanation raised immediate questions about continuity and offseason preparation.
The district did not publicly announce a replacement until June 5, when Los Lunas Schools said Blake Sabol had been hired as the new head coach. The district identified Sabol as a teacher at Sundance Elementary, and the Los Lunas High School dance page now lists him as head coach. Los Lunas Schools says it educates more than 8,300 students in 12 surrounding communities across the Rio Grande Valley of New Mexico, which helps explain why a coaching decision at one high-profile extracurricular program resonated far beyond the high school gym.
Thompson Armijo had led the Tigerettes through a run of competitive success. News-Bulletin coverage in 2023 said the team won several titles at the American Dance/Drill Team National and International Championships in Denton, Texas, and another report said the Tigerettes finished seventh out of 21 teams in 5A at a prior state spirit championships. That record gave weight to the community’s reaction and made the loss of continuity harder for families to absorb.
The timeline left its own mark. Thompson Armijo was still listed as an inclusion support coach on the school website as of June 15, even after Sabol had been announced as her replacement. For parents and students, the sequence pointed to a transition handled over weeks, not in a clean public handoff, and it left the district facing lingering questions about trust as the new season approaches.
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