Former interim secretary Bobroff resigns from PED
Kara Bobroff, who briefly served as interim head of the state’s Public Education Department last year and headed its efforts on equity and transformation, has resigned.
Department spokeswoman Deborah Martinez said Bobroff ’s last day was July 1.
Bobroff, who is of Navajo and Lakota descent, was named the PED interim secretary last summer after Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham fired Karen Trujillo. Bobroff ran the department until a permanent successor, Ryan Stewart, was named in August 2019.
Bobroff, who founded the highly regarded Native American Community Academy charter school in Albuquerque in 2006, could not be reached for comment Monday. Martinez said Bobroff will continue to work in education but did not provide specifics.
“Deputy Secretary Kara Bobroff will transition from the New Mexico Public Education Department to serve Indigenous communities in alignment with the mission and core values of service, holistic wellness, culture, and identity,” Martinez wrote in an email. “We support her continued journey as an Indigenous leader in New Mexico.”
Bobroff left the department the same week First Judicial District Judge Matthew Wilson denied a motion to dismiss the Yazzie/Martinez v. the State of New Mexico lawsuit, in
which late Judge Sarah Singleton ruled the state denies Native American, English-language learners, poor and special education students their constitutional right to a sufficient education.
Martinez wrote Allison Briceño, who has been managing director at the Public Education Department since January, will take over the department’s division of Identity, Equity and Transformation until a successor is hired. The department is also working to recruit an assistant secretary of Indian education, Martinez said.