Brooks’ Pact Is Extended By One Year

The school board voted Wednesday night to extend Superintendent Winston Brooks’ contract by one year, and also decided to change the timing of his annual evaluations.

Previously, Brooks’ contract required the board to take up his evaluation in January. In odd years, this means the evaluation happens in the middle of a school board election, and has been a subject of some controversy since it locks the new board into a three-year contract.

Brooks has a three-year rolling contract, which means that each year the board considers whether to extend it by one year. After Wednesday’s vote, he is on contract through June 2016.

In the future, the board will consider Brooks’ contract in November, to avoid the politics of having Brooks’ evaluation done during an election.

Two board members objected to the change. Analee Maestas and David Robbins both voted against the new contract, while specifying that they support Brooks and were not voting against him.

Maestas said she believes the current board should evaluate Brooks, but that the incoming board should vote on whether to extend his contract.

“I think we all support the work that he has done, I think we have given him a fair evaluation, but I still have the concern of the board making the extension of the contract before the election,” she said. “I think it’s only fair that whoever is going to be the board should have some say in that.”

Maestas’ South Valley seat is currently not up for election.

Robbins said he voted against the contract because he is concerned about the possible public perception that the board is giving Brooks a longer contract, by voting in November on whether to evaluate him.

The contract will still be three years long, which is the maximum allowed under state law, but the decision to extend the contract will be made sooner.

“The perception in the community is that the superintendent will have a three-and-a-half year contract, regardless of how we word it, I think that’s the perception,” Robbins said. “I like Winston, I want him to stay here, I think he is the best thing Albuquerque Public Schools has had in a superintendent in decades, not just years, but decades.”

Robbins, who represents the East Mountains, is up for re-election this year in a four-way race.

Board member Kathy Korte, who is not up for election, said she believes moving the evaluation process to November is better for the incoming board, because it means they will have a say in Brooks’ contract in just 10 months, after they have been on the board for a while and have witnessed Brooks’ performance in person.

Brooks was hired in 2008 and earns $256,000 per year. This contract extension did not change his pay, although his contract stipulates that if teachers get an across-the-board raise, Brooks gets a raise of the same percentage.

School board member Martin Esquivel, whose seat is not up for election this year, said the board gave Brooks generally favorable feedback, and asked him to improve his communication with school-level staff and with state officials.

When it comes to state officials, Esquivel said that doesn’t mean supporting every state-level education initiative, but it does mean having more productive conversations.

“What can we offer as a counterpoint, to demonstrate to the community that we’re not satisfied with the status quo?” Esquivel said.

He also said the board asked Brooks to work with teachers and other staff to ease the perception that the district is managed in a top-down way. Brooks said he felt the evaluation was very positive, and he is considering creating an advisory council of teachers and other employees that he can consult with on district matters. He also said his relationship with state education chief Hanna Skandera has improved considerably, and he is currently sitting on a state advisory panel on rewarding exemplary teachers.

“I think most people in this state would like for APS and the state administration to work better together, and so we’re trying to do that,” Brooks said.