School board interviews pair to fill vacancy
Candidates unaware of basic function of group; sound similar themes on growth, technology
The two candidates vying for appointment to replace outgoing Santa Fe school board member Linda Trujillo stressed their support of the public school system, their experience working as county employees and their willingness to make an unpopular decision if need be.
But neither Rudy Garcia, who works as a legislative liaison and project manager for county government, nor John Salazar, who works in the county’s Growth Management Department, knew that one of the board’s main jobs is to hire and, if necessary, fire, the superintendent.
Nor did they display any knowledge of the board’s relationship with the local teachers union, the National Education Association of Santa Fe. The board approves the district’s collective bargaining agreement with the union.
School board members Maureen Cashmon, Steven Carrillo, Kate Noble and Lorraine Price asked both candidates the same 10 questions during separate, roughly 30-minute interviews Monday evening at the district’s Educational Services Center on Alta Vista Street.
Trujillo is resigning from the board in early December so she can focus more heavily on her responsibilities as a member of the New Mexico House of Representatives. She represents District 4 on the school board, which includes a number of southside schools, including Capital High, Ortiz Middle and Sweeney Elementary.
Only some 10 people, most of whom are district employees, attended Monday’s board event. Carrillo called it “absolutely deplorable” that no members of the general community showed up.
For the most part, both Garcia and Salazar answered with short, broad responses to questions ranging from the responsibilities of the board (approve the district budget, set policy and hire and fire the superintendent) to the need to sometimes accept public ire when making policy decisions that benefit the district.
Though the two men were not
in the same room at the same time during the interviews, they often responded to the questions in similar manners. Each said they felt the board made the right, albeit not uniformly popular, decision to close Capshaw and DeVargas middle schools to consolidate the students of both facilities into the new Milagro Middle School, for example.
Both said they would support the efforts to renew a technology bond issue, which runs out in two years, for another five years. Both said schools in District 4 are overcrowded and the district needs to work with both the city and county to address that issue.
Here and there, both men offered specific ideas and occasionally elaborated on a thought. Salazar, 40, and the father of three sons in the school district, said he would like to find a way to get parents more connected to their children’s education.
“There’s got to be a way to get parents more involved,” he said.
Garcia said the board should come up with its own policy to deal with charter schools, which advocates say offer more school choice and personalized learning while critics say they draw money away from traditional public schools without necessarily improving student achievement scores. He also said the district should work on increasing teacher pay to help recruit and retain educators — an action the district has been grappling with for some time.
Garcia has worked for the county for 19 years, Salazar for 16. Both are graduates of Santa Fe schools.
Trujillo will step down following the Dec. 5 board meeting. The next night, the remaining four school board members will choose her successor in a public meeting. Price said the details of that event are still being worked out.
Then, on Dec. 12, the new board member will be sworn in and start representing District 4 until the end of Trujillo’s term — March 2019. Both Garcia and Salazar said if they are chosen they would stand for office in the February 2019 election.
The board might have to undergo this selection process again in March if Noble, who announced last month that she is running for mayor, wins the election. The municipal election is March 6 and the new mayor will be sworn in sometime in April, which would give the school board less than a month to replace Noble should she win.
Price and Cashmon said anyone who wants to weigh in with an opinion about either candidate can email their school board representative or show up at Tuesday’s planned 5:30 p.m. board meeting to speak during the public comment session.
Price said Trujillo was absent Monday night because she was ill.