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Wednesday, March 5, 2008

APS SUPERINTENDENT FINALISTS Diego Gallegos Takes a Second Run

By Andrea Schoellkopf
Journal Staff Writer
    Heading Albuquerque Public Schools is something Diego Gallegos has wanted to do for a long time.
    His first try was in 1998. Although he didn't get the job, he was quickly hired by the successful candidate, Brad Allison.
    Ten years later, he's one of six finalists the current board is considering for the top job.
    "I've learned that you can't mandate change from the top," he said of his experience under the last three superintendents. " ... I've learned that we spend a lot of time doing things for schools that they might not ask for."
    Gallegos, 57, is now assistant superintendent for continuous improvement.
    He grew up in the South Valley's Atrisco neighborhood, helping his father cut tile and haul cement. He and his younger brother, Steve, earned money from neighbors by cutting weeds in the neighborhood and at the local church. Steve Gallegos is a former city councilor and county commissioner.
    Gallegos spent a few of his teenage years in a Cincinnati seminary— nixing his priesthood goals before returning to become student body president of West Mesa High's first graduating class in 1968.
    At the University of New Mexico, he was involved in Chicano activities and helped unionize the school's maintenance workers.
    During this time, former student Alan Armijo returned to UNM to get his education degree and met up with Gallegos.
    "His big thing was always about kids, especially minority kids— how we needed good teachers out there to give some guidance to some younger kids," said Armijo, now a county commissioner and retired APS lobbyist.
    Before he became an administrator, Gallegos spent six years as a bilingual special education teacher at Valle Vista Elementary, where he had been a student years earlier. He also has been an APS school board member.
    "I think Diego has done a good job," former board member Leonard DeLayo said. "He's a good consensus builder."
    Over the years, Gallegos has built relationships throughout New Mexico, said former state superintendent Alan Morgan, who hired him in 1994.
    "So often, we have had school district leaders that feel that their only obligation is to the board," Morgan said.
    Recently, Gallegos disclosed to the search committee a flaw on his record— a 1985 petty misdemeanor shoplifting charge.
    At the time, he was working as area coordinator for APS at its Stronghurst Complex and ran to the nearby Kmart on Fourth NW to get eyedrops. He opened the box in the store to put them in his eyes.
    "Then I put them in my pocket," he said this week. "What was I thinking? It was a dumb thing to do. ..."
    "I was cited," he said. "I got a ticket to go down to the county courthouse and was assigned to a (petty larceny) class."
    "I think it's a public position," Gallegos said. "And if you can't be honest about what you've done in the past, how are you going to be honest about what you do in the future?"
    In the last 10 years, much of his role has been overseeing APS' low-performing schools.
    "Here in Albuquerque, we have the infrastructure that very few districts in New Mexico have to support our teachers, principals and school staffs in their work," he said.
    Moises Venegas, a frequent critic of APS who monitors South Valley schools, said Gallegos is an insider candidate with political connections who has overseen too many failing schools during his tenure.
    "He's already been in that position to try to move the school district, and nothing has improved," said Venegas, a member of the Superintendent's Equity Council, the Hispanic Round Table and a former director of the Albuquerque Partnership.
    Gallegos said he measures his success in seeing many of the low-performing schools named to the state's "Schools on the Rise" list for meeting achievement goals for two consecutive years.

    The six finalists will be in Albuquerque for open meetings with the public on Friday— a day before the board is scheduled to select one of them as the new superintendent.
    Here's whom the candidates will meet with on Friday:
    6:30-8 a.m.— APS student body officers.
    11:30 a.m. - 1 p.m.— local business and government leaders.
    4-5:30 p.m.— APS employees.
    6-7:30 p.m.— APS parents and student family members.
   
CANDIDATE Q&A
    1. What is your priority for APS and what steps will you take to achieve it?
    2. Have you ever been arrested for, charged with, or convicted of drunken driving, any misdemeanor or any felony in New Mexico or any other state?
   
DIEGO GALLEGOS
    AGE: 57
    PLACE OF RESIDENCE: Albuquerque
    EDUCATION: Bachelor's in special education, University of New Mexico, 1973; master's in educational administration, UNM, 1978; doctorate, UNM, 2004
    JOB EXPERIENCE: APS assistant superintendent for continuous improvement and director of the Regional Quality Center; owner of Ventana Educational Specialists since 1985; assistant superintendent positions since 1999; state Department of Education assistant superintendent for learning services, 1997 to 1999; state director of special education, 1994 to 1997; executive director, Central Region Educational Cooperative; APS area coordinator of special education 1980-85; APS program coordinator of special education, 1979-80; Valle Vista Elementary teacher and bilingual special education, 1973-1976.
    FAMILY: Married to Theresa Archuleta; stepchildren, Jordan, 11, and Madison, 7. Daughter Ileana Gallegos, 25.
    1. Closing the achievement gap, increasing graduation rates and improving our relationship with our community and community leaders; I will reach out to our students, staff and community and community leaders to help us to improve by engaging them in providing APS feedback based upon our goals, measures and our success rates. Public reporting of progress on a regular basis will provide our community with continual information, "a report card" of district and student progress.
    2. Yes. Cited for a petty misdemeanor shoplifting charge in 1985 for failing to pay for eyedrops in a Kmart. Gallegos said he put some drops in his eyes, then, "I put them in my pocket. What was I thinking? It was a dumb thing to do. …"