Doing 'everything for kids': Muller-Aragón is sad her time as school board member is over, yet proud of accomplishments

Editor’s note: This concludes a series of Journal “exit interviews” with outgoing Albuquerque Public Schools board members.

Initially, now-former Albuquerque Public Schools board Vice President Peggy Muller-Aragón said she was leaning toward not running for reelection.

But on the counsel of people involved in education and business, reminding her of the wealth of experience she would bring to the board — which will soon be filled with freshman and junior members — she said she convinced herself to run again.

All things considered, she ran a strong campaign, raising the most funds during the initial campaign finance reporting period than any other school board candidate.

But come Election Day, her challenger, Ronalda Tome-Warito, took an early lead that Muller-Aragón could not make up, even as in-person voting results flowed in.

By the next day, the outcome was clear: by a slim margin of 287 votes, Tome-Warito had upset Muller-Aragón, evicting her from the seat she’d held for almost nine years.

“I was sad,” Muller-Aragón said. “... I will miss it.”

Muller-Aragón’s final meeting on the board was Dec. 20. As the end of her tenure approached, the initial sting of her loss turned to pride — pride in her accomplishments and in her unwavering dedication to the children of APS.

“I feel proud of the fact that I, no matter what … always put the kids first,” Muller-Aragón said. “I never backed away from that.”

One of the initiatives she was proudest to see was the expansion of fine arts and music classes in APS, a multi-phase project the district has implemented over several years to bring such offerings to all the district’s elementary schools.

Muller-Aragón said she is also immensely proud of all her service to APS, not just with the board — from 1980 to 2010, give or take, she taught in schools all over the city, giving her a better appreciation not every teacher gets of the district’s communities.

“I’ve given most of my life to APS and to the kids, and I’m very proud of that,” she said.

Her efforts on the board have been recognized by school staff even beyond her board district.

Patrick Arguelles, principal of APS’ Career Enrichment Center and Early College Academy, said Muller-Aragón was so fiercely “always about what was best for the students” that at times, her style during board meetings could come off as harsh.

“She really was not afraid to ask difficult questions. And I think a lot of times, she would ask questions, and people would make faces or they would just cringe at the question she asked,” he said. “But it was the right question to ask, and it needed to be answered.”

Tribulations

Muller-Aragón’s tenure began in the wake of a tragedy and nearly ended that way.

The week before her final meeting on the board, she was involved in a head-on crash that totaled her car and left her bruised and with broken bones.

The experience precluded her from attending her final meeting in person, and she connected to the meeting remotely, with her camera turned off.

“When they say your life flashes before your eyes, it literally does,” she said. “I’m lucky to be alive.”

The incident harkened back to when she first joined the board. A few weeks before she was first elected in 2015, Muller-Aragón’s family suffered another crash — this one claiming the life of her daughter, Amberlee.

The loss, Muller-Aragón said, basically brought her campaign to a standstill. Nevertheless, she upset the incumbent and was elected to the seat by a wide margin.

So she took the win as a sign that the school board was where she was meant to be, and Amberlee became Muller-Aragón’s motivation to make the most of that responsibility.

“When you lose a child, you know how important they are, but then you realize how much more important children really are,” she said. “That really was a driving force to me … to do everything for kids that I possibly could.”

Even though her tenure was cut shorter than she wanted, Muller-Aragón feels she made her daughter proud.

“I’ve tried my best to be more like her since her passing because ultimately, when it’s my time to leave this earth, I want to see her again and talk to her and hear her amazing stories and give her the biggest hug and kiss and tell her what I did in her name,” she said during a speech to the board during her final meeting.

“And I’m certain she’d be very proud of her mom.”