De Vargas principal to helm merged middle school
Du Charme plans to seek community input at forums
Santa Fe Public Schools has tapped De Vargas Middle School Principal Marc Du Charme to lead a new middle school that will open on the De Vargas campus in the fall of 2017.
Du Charme, 50, who has been principal at De Vargas since 2013, said the first thing he plans to do is hold a series of public forums to find out what kind of programs the community wants at the new school, created by a controversial merger of De Vargas and Capshaw middle schools.
Outgoing Superintendent Joel Boyd said in the spring that he wanted to hire a recruiting firm to conduct a nationwide search for a principal to lead the new school, but school board members made it clear they wanted someone at the helm who already works for the district or at least lives in the area.
A 13-member advisory committee interviewed three people who applied
for the job and then recommended Du Charme, said Boyd, who is leaving the district in August to work in the private sector. Boyd said he conferred with incoming interim Superintendent Veronica García and with Almudena “Almi” Abeyta, the district’s deputy superintendent for teaching and instruction, before making the final decision.
The other two candidates for the job were Laura Jeffrey, principal of Capshaw Middle School, and Robin Chavez, assistant principal of the private St. Michael’s High School.
The Santa Fe school board voted 4-1 in April to consolidate the two middle schools to address declining enrollment at both sites and in an effort to offer students more programs.
Capshaw served about 420 students in 2015-16, while De Vargas had about 235. A drop in the number of students at the schools over the past five years has been partially attributed to new K-8 community schools, which draw students away from the campuses of the traditional middle schools.
The decision to consolidate the students came after months of often contentious debate about the impact on the two school communities.
Some critics said the consolidation would cause each school to lose its culture and identity. Others said the district was making the move simply to save money or to benefit the Mandela International Magnet School — a small school that opened in 2014 in a wing of the De Vargas campus.
Mandela only serves 150 students now, but it plans to expand its capacity to 300 or 400 students and needs more space to grow. In 2017, under the consolidation plan, the Mandela students will move permanently to the Capshaw campus.
Even after the school board approved the middle school merger, there was fiery debate about where the new school should be located, with students, parents and staff from both Capshaw and De Vargas favoring their own site. In June, the board voted to locate the new school at the De Vargas campus on Llano Street, based on cost estimates for renovating each facility.
Built in 1962, De Vargas is older than Capshaw. But according to a recent estimate, it would cost about $18 million to upgrade the 21-acre campus to suit the needs of the new school, compared to $25.5 million to renovate and expand the 18-acre Capshaw campus on Zia Road. That school was built in 1978.
Du Charme will continue to oversee the final year of De Vargas Middle School before it officially closes and makes way for the new school. Only about 110 eighth-graders will attend De Vargas in the upcoming school year. Seventh-graders slated to enter De Vargas this year will instead attend Capshaw — the first phase of combining the student bodies.
Boyd said teachers who work at De Vargas and Capshaw will not be out of a job once the transition takes place, but some of them may be employed at other schools. “Nobody is going to lose their job.”
He also said the district will have to determine whether it should hire an assistant principal for De Vargas this year so Du Charme can have enough time to plan for the new school, which doesn’t yet have a name.
Board member Steven Carrillo said Wednesday that the board will choose the name for the new school and let the school community pick its own colors and mascot.
Boyd and Du Charme said views of the community, including teachers, will help determine whether the new school will focus on a particular line of study, such as art, science or computer technology.
Following the announcement Wednesday, Du Charme said, “I’m really looking forward to making the new school with the help of the community, teachers and kids.”
His priority, he said, is “getting feedback.”