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New faces to join all of New Mexico's largest school district boards
February 4, 2015
By Abbey Smith
Newcomers will take 11 of the 20 seats that were up for election in New Mexico's eight largest school districts by enrollment on February 3, 2015. Five of the newcomers unseated incumbents who sought re-election, while the remaining six won open seats. This left each of the top eight school districts welcoming at least one newcomer to their school boards.
Two districts, Las Cruces Public Schools and Rio Rancho Public Schools, saw all their seats up for election go to newcomers. Only one incumbent, Connie Phillips, filed to run in the Las Cruces Public Schools election, and she was defeated by challenger Edward Frank. The District 4 seat was left open to four challengers, and Maury Castro won the election. In Rio Rancho Public Schools, only incumbent Carl Harper filed to run for re-election, but he withdrew from the race. This left the two seats up for election open and unopposed for newcomers Ramon Montano and Ryan Parra.[1][2][3][4]
In addition to newcomers Montano and Parra running unopposed, write-in candidate and newcomer Sherry Galloway ran unopposed and won the District 5 seat on the Farmington Municipal Schools Board of Education. Four incumbents were also unopposed in this election, maintaining their seats on the boards of Farmington Municipal Schools, Gadsden Independent Schools and Santa Fe Public Schools.[4][5][6][7]
Once the new members are sworn into office in March 2015, both Albuquerque Public Schools and Farmington Municipal Schools will continue their search for new superintendents in earnest. The superintendents of both districts left during the 2014-2015 school year. Farmington's newly re-elected District 1 incumbent Mike Isaacson said hiring the new superintendent will be the board's first task.[5][8][9]
Spotlight: Albuquerque Public Schools
Two newcomers will be sworn in as members of the Albuquerque Public Schools Board of Education in March 2015. Peggy L. Muller-Aragon defeated incumbent Kathy Korte for the District 2 seat, and Barbara Petersen defeated four fellow challengers for the District 4 seat. Incumbent Analee Maestas defeated two challengers to retain her seat in District 1.[10]
In addition to hiring a new superintendent, the board will look into solutions for the district's truancy problems. The district held a "Truancy Blitz" in January 2015 to solicit parent and community feedback on the issue. During the 2013-2014 school year, 13,000 students in Albuquerque Public Schools were considered habitually truant with 10 or more unexcused absences. The board will also continue to collaborate on building a new charter school building with the Central New Mexico Community College. The decision of whether or not to pursue the building plan will be put before the people in the form of bond measures from each district in the 2016 bond elections.[11][12]
Candidates
Note: An (i) next to a candidate's name indicates incumbent status.
Footnotes
- ↑ Doña Ana County Clerk's Office Facebook, "Election Summary Report, Las Cruces Public Schools, Unofficial results - 15 of 15 reporting," accessed February 3, 2015
- ↑ Rio Rancho Observer, "School board hopefuls file; Patel won't seek third term," December 16, 2014
- ↑ Rio Rancho Tea Party, "School Board Elections February 2015," accessed January 9, 2015
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 Albuquerque Journal, "Maestas keeps seat; Korte defeated," February 3, 2015
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 Daily Times, "Service on area district school boards decided," February 3, 2015
- ↑ Doña Ana County Clerk's Office Facebook, "Election Summary Report, Gadsden Independent Schools, Unofficial Results - 15 of 15 Reporting," accessed February 3, 2015
- ↑ Santa Fe County Clerk, "Unofficial Summary Results," accessed February 4, 2015
- ↑ KOB 4, "Search for superintendent triggers community survey," January 6, 2015
- ↑ Daily Times, "Farmington Municipal School District hires consultant to help in superintendent search," October 30, 2014
- ↑ Bernalillo County Bureau of Elections, "APS / CNM School Board Election, Unofficial Results," accessed February 3, 2015
- ↑ Albuquerque Journal, "APS, CNM plan to build site for 2 charters on college campus," January 2, 2015
- ↑ KOAT 7, "APS takes aim at truancy problem," January 20, 2015
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