Candidates vie for seat on APS Board of Education
Lorenzo Garcia, vice president of the Albuquerque Public Schools Board of Education, is battling three contenders and a write-in candidate to win another term representing District 3, which covers the North Valley and Downtown areas.
The 65-year-old retired public health expert, who has held the seat since 2009, said he would like to serve again to “continue to build relationships” that address “chronic and emerging needs within our district and flailing economy.”
He faces a diverse group of community members who are new to politics but have strong ties to education.
Ali Ennenga, 53, worked in APS elementary and middle schools from 2009 to 2015 before starting Color Clarity LLC, a business that helps children and adults improve their reading. From 1991 to 2009, she worked as a paralegal for various attorneys.
Retired principal Amy Legant, 65, headed Eugene Field
Elementary, Cochiti Elementary and Alvarado Elementary during her career, which also included stints as an adjunct professor at the University of New Mexico, and as manager of a Gates Foundation grant for the New Mexico Initiative for Leadership and Technology.
Charles White, 77, also has a long history in education administration, serving as APS deputy superintendent and Las Cruces Public Schools associate superintendent of human resources and deputy superintendent. He has worked in real estate and education consulting.
Kathleen Chavez, a retired teacher, is running as a write-in.
All the candidates agree budget cuts are a major concern for APS — the district is facing a possible $7 million to $12 million reduction for the current fiscal year on top of $12.5 million taken during the special session in October. The Legislature, which is working to address a $69 million deficit, will determine the final numbers over the next few months.
“The first priority will be how best to determine what cuts can be made while still doing as little harm to children’s education opportunities in each classroom,” Legant said.
The candidates split on the value of Common Core, a national initiative outlining English and math standards for each grade.
Garcia called Common Core an “important methodology.”
“If implemented thoughtfully, it can help students build their basic competency skills as learners,” he said.
Legant and Ennenga have both worked with Common Core in the classroom. The standards are “solid instructionally,” but have been “distorted vastly when attached to the high-stakes testing and teacher evaluation,” Legant said.
Ennenga argued that, “in actual practice, Common Core does not work for the student or the teacher.”
To White, Common Core is “insufficient as a standards guide.”
While the contenders agreed that the board must collaborate with the New Mexico Public Education Department, most did not support several key state initiatives.
The APS board candidates all said PED’s teacher evaluation system weighs standardized test scores too heavily. Currently, student improvement on exams makes up half of a teacher’s evaluation in most cases, with other measures like classroom observation and attendance comprising the other half.
Garcia, Ennenga and Legant said assessments should not factor in the evaluations, while White believes they should represent a smaller percentage.
“Research indicates that a percentage much lower than 50 percent would be more valid,” White said. “To establish a valid percentage, educators must take into account factors such as student mobility, attendance and teacher training.”
Only one candidate backed third-grade retention — the practice of holding back thirdgraders if they can’t meet reading benchmarks.
Ennenga supports the policy, but not the specific reading remediation practices advocated by PED.
“APS needs to be open to innovative, research-based, out-of-the-box interventions to move students forward, discarding what doesn’t work,” Ennenga said.
Gov. Susana Martinez and Education Secretary Hanna Skandera have pushed for an end to “social promotion” during each legislative session, but never gotten the bill into law.