Elder a good choice to tackle big issues APS is facing now

It’s a job with challenges so immense one might argue it would be hard not to fail. But Albuquerque Public Schools veteran Scott Elder appears to be an excellent choice to lead APS. The experienced educator and administrator will become interim superintendent July 1 when Raquel Reedy retires.

Elder, 53, APS’ chief operations officer, is a native New Mexican whose career in public schools began in the 1990s. He began teaching at Highland High in 1991 and has been principal at McKinley Middle and Highland and Sandia highs.

What sets him apart from too many in the education “establishment” is a record that shows he doesn’t buy into the claim poor kids of color just can’t learn. At Highland, he raised the school’s graduation rate by an astounding 17 percentage points. He found and supported innovative teachers who connected with kids. At McKinley he boosted attendance.

And Elder isn’t afraid to ruffle feathers. He describes his leadership style as “honest, open-minded and decisive,” later adding “collaborative” to the list. He told Journal education reporter Shelby Perea he wants to remove barriers for students and staff to help them do their jobs effectively.

Elder, whose wife Deborah is APS’ executive director for innovation, says he doesn’t anticipate turning the processes upside down when he takes over. “I think change is just an inevitability of what’s going on in the world around us.”

His salary will be increased from $152,000 to $225,000. While Reedy is “probably more willing than I am to wait on a decision and really build more consensus, ... I like to get things to move.” He went on to say “that’s good sometimes, and sometimes it has drawbacks.”

But it sounds like the brand of leadership this district needs as it faces huge new budget challenges in addition to many lagging academic achievement indicators. The community needs him to be the public face of the district rather than someone who stands behind public relations staff.

The challenges are daunting. APS already was facing a $10 million projected budget shortfall for next year due in large part to another projected dip in enrollment — 1,649 fewer students. And that was before the pandemic shutdown dried up gross receipts revenue and oil prices cratered. Incredibly, in another failure of leadership from Santa Fe, school districts are stuck preparing budgets based on legislative actions taken before the financial disaster hit like a meteor. That includes now-unrealistic hefty raises. So even though he doesn’t take over until July 1, and a special legislative session is likely in June, Elder should have a lot to say about what a real budget looks like and how APS will move forward. That includes developing a plan for reopening schools. Even one of the nation’s most aggressive shutdown governors, California’s Gavin Newsom, is talking about getting kids back into classrooms by starting next school year early in the summer with a number of precautions.

Despite efforts at online and PBS at-home learning, the already unacceptable achievement gap is growing by the day. N.M.’s schools need a Plan A (how to safely reopen) and a Plan B (how to make distance learning actually work) sooner rather than later, and if the Public Education Department won’t deliver it, then superintendents like Elder need to.

The APS Board of Education has given Elder a contract through June 2021. That’s enough time to get APS pointed in the right direction. For the sake of roughly 80,000 APS students, we hope he can and wish him luck.