How would you describe your ideal candidate? APS picks community's brain on new superintendent.

Integrity. Experience. Accessibility. Data-driven. Community-minded.

That’s how parents, students and other community members described their ideal superintendent on Monday during a meeting in the library of West Mesa High School as Albuquerque Public Schools board members picked their brains on what the person to replace outgoing Superintendent Scott Elder should look like.

Elder is set to leave his post at the end of his contract in June 2024, in what he’s described as a mutual agreement with the school board. He was officially given the full position in March 2021.

“Our teachers and our students and our (families) need consistent leadership,” said Nikkie Baum, an APS parent and a community schools coordinator at Marie Hughes Elementary School. “I think our families are hurting right now, in a lot of different ways, and I think that stability comes from consistency.”

In addition to questioning them about what they want to see out of Elder’s successor, board members also asked attendees what they do not want to see out of that person.

“Super old,” was the response of Alexa Rodriguez, a sophomore at West Mesa. “I feel like there should be an age cap for a lot of certain things …(because) they haven’t been in school for a while, so they don’t know what it’s like to be a student. Thirty to 40 years old is the ideal age.”

Several people also mentioned that Elder’s successor should continue to support community schools, which in part aim to address opportunity gaps among students by leveraging outside resources to integrate such things as health and social services and community engagement with academics.

Monday’s session was the first of two scheduled for this week, the other slated for Manzano High School at 6 p.m. Thursday.

The district has also circulated an online survey, which asks community members to lay out the characteristics they see as the most important for a new superintendent, the greatest strengths of APS, and the district’s top challenges.

Before the session, board President Yolanda Montoya-Cordova told the Journal that the community feedback APS is seeking holds the greatest sway in her mind in selecting the district’s new chief.

“We represent the community. That’s our job. And so I’m heavily weighing towards what the community believes is important,” she said. “It’s a way for us to check ourselves against what the community’s vision is.”

The town hall at West Mesa comes more than five months after the school board announced Elder’s departure. Since then, the district quested for a search firm to find his successor, landing recently on McPherson & Jacobson, which boasts of helping to recruit over 750 superintendents and other officials across the country.

The board has said it aims to have named its pick by the coming spring.

According to a job posting on the McPherson & Jacobson website, the board is looking for a “visionary” superintendent who, among several other characteristics, is: a “data-driven change agent”; of the belief that every child can learn; respectful of New Mexico’s culture and APS’ workforce; and is committed to the board’s goals and the district’s strategic plan.

The salary range for the position is $245,000 to $325,000, according to the posting, but is subject to negotiation. As of June, Elder made around $241,000 per year. When he first came on as interim superintendent, he made $225,000.

The deadline for applications is Dec. 12, and the board is set to select candidates to interview Jan. 8. Board member Danielle Gonzales on Monday said the board plans to introduce the community to finalists later that month, in an effort to keep the community looped in on the board’s decision.

At the end of the night, board member Barbara Petersen echoed that sentiment.

“Sometimes when we ask for community voice, I know it doesn’t always feel like we hear you. But I can tell you from the bottom of my heart, that we have a board that does listen — can’t always do everything that everyone wants — but we really and truly take to heart the voice that we hear, your voice,” she said. “The only way we can succeed is when we pull together.