APS board responds to PED on school fixes
Letters say state keeps changing reform criteria
The Albuquerque Public Schools Board of Education pushed back on the state Public Education Department’s decisions aiming to improve three low-performing schools in the district.
Late last month, PED conditionally approved plans to restructure and redesign two of the schools assessed as needing “more rigorous interventions,” or MRIs, while choosing a different overhaul option for the third.
And Wednesday night the board approved three letters from Superintendent Raquel Reedy to send to PED in response — with conditions of its own.
Two of the letters reacted to PED’s conditions on Los Padillas and Whittier elementary schools’ approval.
PED required the district to staff the schools exclusively with teachers who have a multiyear track record of being
rated highly effective or exemplary, per the state’s controversial evaluation system, by the start of the next school year. But the district’s response reflects that APS will try to accomplish this goal but also states if the entire teaching staff doesn’t have the high teacher rating marks, then it will continue “aggressive recruiting efforts to complete staffing as soon as possible” while the school continues to operate.
APS also addresses PED’s principal requirement that stipulates students have to show a certain amount of progress by benchmark dates or the principal and assistant principal will be removed from the schools. The letters highlight that those principals, who were replaced earlier this year, have multiyear contracts and say any changes “will be done in accordance with the Principal Evaluation System required by the PED.”
The letters also say more time may be needed to implement some of the agency’s requirements and asks for clarifications on certain expectations.
PED’s conditional approval sent to the district last month said all conditions had to be agreed upon to move forward. If not, PED could elect to choose a different option for the schools, including closure.
Reedy’s letters also claim PED has changed requirements throughout the MRI procedure.
“It cannot go without noting that all along in this application process there has been changing PED criteria, which gives APS real concern that its efforts will not be judged objectively,” say the letters.
APS pointed to the staffing criteria as an example, saying PED has altered the expectations of who should be teaching in the schools.
“APS believes that it, and reasonably informed observers of the process will agree, that APS is justified in its skepticism and lack of confidence in the Secretary and PED,” the letters continued.
Secretary-designate Christopher Ruszkowski said “the fact that we want the best for their students is an opportunity APS could have seized at any point in the last six years.”
And he said district leadership should have taken responsibility “for failing an entire generation of students.”
A separate APS letter was approved for Hawthorne Elementary School, which had its restructuring plans denied and is instead required to “champion and provide choice.”
That means the school must outline all existing schooling options for parents, make sure they know of higher-performing schools their children may attend in the area and help transfer students, if needed.
APS agreed but said it will also, in addition, be working on improving the school.
“APS intends to implement its redesign plan for Hawthorne while also giving school attendance choice options to parents and students,” Reedy wrote.
The letter also says APS was disappointed in PED’s “arbitrary” decision.
Ruszkowski previously told the Journal that PED selected the “champion and provide choice” option for Hawthorne because the agency had less confidence in that school’s ability to execute its restructuring plans.
“Interestingly the PED did have confidence that the virtually identical plans could be implemented at Los Padillas and Whittier Elementary Schools,” Reedy wrote in response to Ruszkowski’s comment. All three letters were approved by the board with member Peggy Muller-Aragón voting no.