Redistricting Upsets Some

Albuquerque Public Schools board member Analee Maestas said this week she is “disappointed” the school board did not move a new seat to the West Side when it voted Monday on a new redistricting map. Maestas, who represents the South Valley, was en route to Washington, D.C., during the meeting, and did not vote.

“I wish that it had not come to a vote, because I wasn’t there and because I think it’s a district issue that every board member needs to vote on. So I’m disappointed that I wasn’t able to cast my vote,” Maestas said. “My priority was trying to get another seat on the West Side because I think we need one there. I’m a little disappointed that that’s not what happened.”

In her absence, the remaining six board members unanimously approved a plan that shifted portions of districts west to absorb increased population, but did not dramatically change the map of board districts, and ensured that all sitting board members will still live in their current districts.

The vote has led to frustration among West Side advocates, who had lobbied for a plan that would move an entire district from the Northeast Heights to the West Side to absorb explosive population growth.

Maestas said she was in Washington to attend a conference on future uses of the National Assessment of Educational Progress – a test given to a sample of students in every state, and often used to make cross-state comparisons. Maestas said her flight arrangements were made before the meeting was scheduled and she could not avoid the trip.

“I was hoping they would postpone it or have a discussion and not a vote, but that didn’t happen,” Maestas said. “I think there will be a lot of disappointment because I think the community overall expected we would have another seat on the West Side. I just have to trust what they did was the right thing.”

Although the vote was 6-0, Maestas’ absence could have affected the redistricting outcome. West Side board member Kathy Korte said losing Maestas’ vote affected her decision to work toward a compromise, and board member Lorenzo Garcia, who represents the North Valley and part of the West Side, said before the vote that he didn’t have “the votes to do what I want to do.”

Candelaria Patterson, vice president of the West Side Coalition of Neighborhood Associations, spoke at Monday’s meeting in favor of creating a new West Side board district and expressed frustration after the vote.

“We don’t have a voice,” Patterson said. “The east side always makes decisions for the West Side.”

And Laura Horton, who is president of the Ventana Ranch neighborhood association and a longtime West Side activist, said after Monday’s vote that West Siders would consider all possible remedies, hinting at the possibility of legal action.

Former school board member Robert Lucero, who left the board last year after representing the West Side for many years, said he was “beyond floored” by the board’s decision.

“If I had been there, I would have been screaming,” Lucero said. “I would have threatened for a lawsuit, and I would be leading the charge to split this district.”

Lucero, who left the board partially because of poor health, said he doesn’t know if he’ll be active in fighting the board’s decision, but he may help “incite” others to act.

“I’m getting too old to fight that fight, but I sure hope the community is going to jump up and down,” he said.

Lucero said the West Side was poorly represented when redistricting was last done in 2002, and that when he left the board, he was assured the West Side would be adequately represented

“How could they do this again?” Lucero said. “How could they not give the West Side the rest of the representation it needs? Does the rest of the board want the West Side to split off?”
— This article appeared on page 1 of the West Side Journal