APS hosts a packed-house, but mostly tame, school board candidate forum

Improving student outcomes and Albuquerque Public Schools’ new five-year strategic plan to do so were among the issues eight school board candidates, each sitting in a seat that may soon be his or hers, took up at a forum hosted by the district on Monday.

The vast majority of the packed-house, two-hour forum was tame and apolitical, although two challengers in the hotly contested District 2 race, where incumbent Vice President Peggy Muller-Aragón is defending her seat, did at times fire shots in her direction.

“I won’t attack,” she said during closing statements, during which challengers Adrian Nogales and Ronalda Tome-Warito accused Muller-Aragón of not putting students first and of neglecting safety concerns at her alma mater, West Mesa High — a school that is not in her district.

Muller-Aragón, board member Barbara Petersen and board President Yolanda Montoya-Cordova are the three longest-serving members of the board, with the former two being elected in 2015 and Montoya-Cordova being elected in 2018.

Montoya-Cordova, who represents South Valley District 1 and Petersen, of District 4, which includes the International District and much of Nob Hill and Uptown, have both decided not to run for reelection. Muller-Aragón, of Northwest Albuquerque’s District 2, is the only incumbent fighting to retain her seat.

The forum covered a range of topics, including school safety, how to address findings from a judge in the landmark Yazzie-Martinez education sufficiency lawsuit, and how candidates would approach consolidating schools.

At least one member of the audience said the forum helped inform her decision as a voter.

“I felt that we had a good chance to understand all the different personalities,” said Diana Shea, a retired 27-year veteran teacher. “By the time (it) was over, I identified six people up there that I would be willing to see on our school board.”

Turning the ship

Everyone agreed on one thing: APS must do better in educating its students.

None of the candidates tried to argue that the district doesn’t have a lot of ground to cover. Just over a third of its students were proficient in reading and a quarter were proficient in math, according to statewide standardized assessments during the 2021-2022 school year.

But how to improve was another issue.

Some candidates held up early childhood education as the key to the future. Some referenced reducing class sizes, or emphasizing literacy more, or “not teaching to the test” so teachers can focus on teaching and meeting children where they are.

Some, like District 1 candidates Robert Trujillo and Janelle Astorga, also spoke about trusting teachers’ professional expertise to educate their students, an issue that has been contentious for the current school board, with members last year controversially tabling a proposed teachers contract over language about that right for teachers.

“I don’t know how to teach a kid,” Trujillo said in response to a question about what high-quality instruction means and how it should be implemented. “That’s what our teachers are here for.”

Astorga added that “teachers know best when it comes to educating our students because they are the ones that are in the classroom.”

The plan

Some questions asked of candidates, as well as many of their answers, centered on APS’ recently unveiled five-year strategic plan and on goals developed by the current board earlier this year.

Some said they are for the plan. For example, Muller-Aragón, Trujillo and District 4 candidates Heather Benavidez and Stephen Cecco all spoke in support of the current board’s goals or the district’s strategic plan.

On the other hand, candidates like Nogales and District 1 candidate Verland Coker spoke against it.

“These goals and guardrails are a slap in the face to what we can accomplish,” Coker said.

Most of the goals call for improvements of at least 10 percentage points in proficiency levels or other metrics of specific student groups and grade levels over the next five years.

But ultimately, Muller-Aragón said, turning student outcomes around is a long game for APS.

“When it comes to low proficiency, it (has) been, obviously, a long-term problem for APS,” she said. “I see a pretty simple solution, (that) every child can learn. And if the adults in the room believe that, that’s exactly what’s going to happen.”