APS superintendent talks on hold after family member dies

Board to discuss retaining Reedy

Albuquerque Publ ic Schools’ Board of Education has postponed its closeddoor discussion of the superintendent position.

The board was scheduled to talk about the district’s top job in an executive session after Wednesday’s meeting, but delayed until April 20 because board member Peggy Muller-Aragón’s father died.

At issue is whether to retain acting Superintendent Raquel Reedy permanently or conduct an open national search.

Members of the Albuquerque Teachers Federation have stumped for Reedy, saying she is a competent, stable leader.

On Wednesday, Reedy also received an endorsement from Albuquerque NAACP President Harold Bailey, who sent a letter of support to Board President Dave Peercy.

“The Acting Superintendent is a skillful administrator who can maintain stability, establish effective rapport with others and who has a vision of inclusion,” Bailey wrote. “APS does not need another Superintendent from outside of New Mexico who needs a crash course on local community awareness and multi-culturalism.”

Reedy stepped in Aug. 31 after then-Superintendent Luis Valentino resigned in a scandal that generated headlines across the country.

Valentino’s deputy superintendent, Jason Martinez, had been discovered to be facing child sex assault and assault charges in Denver — legal issues that weren’t caught because Martinez never submitted to a mandatory background check.

The board asked Reedy, a longtime APS administrator, to help bring the district back on course. Her contract runs through June.