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Wednesday, February 21, 2007

Leonard Delayo Is Facing His Final Board Meeting

By Amy Miller
Journal Staff Writer
    Leonard DeLayo Jr. flips through a scrapbook half-filled with newspaper clippings, letters and a campaign flier designed by his then-7-year-old daughter.
    His wife stopped pasting and labeling mementos of his 20-year career on the Albuquerque school board long ago.
    "I don't think anybody thought I'd be on the board for 20 years," DeLayo said.
    These days, he files clippings of his public fights and victories in ordinary office folders, in no particular order.
    And as he prepares for his last board meeting tonight, the clips tell the story of a formidable public servant whom colleagues say rarely hesitated to try new and sometimes controversial approaches to public education.
    "One of Leonard's greatest strengths is his creativity," said Mary Lee Martin, who was elected to the board in 1987, the same year as DeLayo.
    "Sometimes the ideas didn't always work. But he wasn't afraid to try them."
    Some parents weren't happy when he pushed for year-round schools.
    Others complained when he spearheaded a 2002 plan to hire four superintendents after one of the more tumultuous times in Albuquerque Public Schools history— the controversial departure of former Superintendent Brad Allison.
    But DeLayo, 57, said he never wavered from a commitment to high-quality public education.
    Being involved in education was a natural for the attorney. His father, Leonard DeLayo Sr., served as state superintendent for 22 years.
    The younger DeLayo once had higher political aspirations. In 1992, he ran for state Senate and lost.
    Those days are past, DeLayo said, and his regrets on the school board are few.
    "The education kids receive today is better than it was 20 years ago," DeLayo said.
    Enrollment is up in Advanced Placement courses, especially among students of color, something he pushed school administrators hard to accomplish.
    The achievement gap isn't shrinking as fast as he would like, but there's progress, DeLayo said.
    And a "good ol' boy network" no longer controls the district, as it once did, he said.
    DeLayo's tenacity could be a double-edged sword, said Terri Cole, chief executive officer of the Greater Albuquerque Chamber of Commerce.
    "There is no one better than Leonard DeLayo when he's trying to get something done," Cole said. "On the other hand, when he disagreed with you, there's no one worse to have to deal with."
    But even when DeLayo disagreed with the chamber, Cole said, he always listened.
    "My strategy was always to get to him early and often," she said. "Because when his mind's made up, his mind is made up."
    While DeLayo downplays the sacrifices he made to his law practice and two children, now grown, his wife of 36 years doesn't.
    "He made a tremendous sacrifice," Jean Ann DeLayo said. "But the positives have definitely outweighed the negatives."
    DeLayo said he's just looking forward to afternoons of playing golf. He'll be around to offer advice to his replacement, Martin Esquivel, and other board members, who said they'll miss his wit and wealth of institutional knowledge.
    "But they're on their own now," DeLayo said. "And so am I."