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Friday, October 7, 2005

S. F. Public School Board Picks Acting Superintendent

Journal Staff Report
    The Santa Fe Public School board took outgoing superintendent Gloria Rendón's advice and agreed to make Leslie Carpenter acting superintendent during a special meeting Wednesday night.
    Since June, Carpenter has been the district's chief operations officer. Except for a recent four-year hiatus, Carpenter's experience in the district dates to 1975, when she was a classroom teacher.
    "I feel that it is very fortunate in our organization that we have the ability to bring someone up within the ranks," said board member Frank Montaño before the vote.
    Board president Martin Lujan agreed. "She's been through the trenches," he said.
    Carpenter's contract extends until the end of this school year with a salary of $113,000. Also specified in her contract: The board must inform her in January if they intend to launch a national search to fill the superintendent's position.
    From what has been's Rendón's chair next to the board members at the meeting, Carpenter said she was pleased and honored to take the interim position.
    "I promise to work hard," said the 59-year-old. She also pledged to place the needs and interests of students first, simplify district-wide operations, strengthen the math curriculum and monitor the achievement gap between white and minority students.
    Following the announcement, Carpenter said she wanted to pay a lot of attention to the district's communications climate.
    "I want to make sure people feel like they can be heard," she said.
    Last fall, the Panasonic Foundation announced results of a survey to assess employees' reflections on working in the district. Many described the district's culture as being "negative" and "mistrustful." Others said they feared retaliation if they were to point out problems within the district.
    Carpenter said she had seen this year's survey results.
    "There's a lot of room for improvement," she said of the findings.
    Aside from being a classroom teacher for 10 years, Carpenter has also served as principal at Acequia Madre and Wood Gormley elementary schools for 10 years and directed the district's internship program with the University of New Mexico. She was also the district's director of business partnerships. In 2000, she left the district after a year as the assistant superintendent for facilities, planning and construction.
    In that interim, Carpenter earned her Ph.D from UNM, taught at New Mexico Highlands University and started her own educational consulting firm.
    Before the board voted on her appointment Wednesday, associate superintendent Bobbie Gutierrez applauded the board's decision to approve Carpenter as the superintendent.
    "On behalf of the executive team, you are about to vote on a very wise decision," she said to the board before a crowd of principals and other administrators.