'Our district heard us': APS teachers take part in back to school training

Thousands of Albuquerque Public Schools teachers poured into the convention center Monday morning as the district, in collaboration with the teachers union, hosted a first-of-its-kind ceremonial back-to-school event in conjunction with workshops and training.

“This day marks a significant change in our district,” Ellen Bernstein, Albuquerque Teachers’ Federation president, said in her speech Monday. “Every conversation that I have with all of you as educators, you pretty much say, ‘no more consultants, no more I’m here to tell you how to do your job this one way.’ The clear message has always been, ‘let me learn with and from my peers.’ This year, our district heard us.”

Following speeches from Bernstein, Superintendent Gabriella Blakey, and a recorded video message from Mayor Tim Keller, teachers hosted different training and classes to guide their peers ahead of the new school year.

The event comes as the teachers union is in the middle of ratifying its contract with the district. Among some of the negotiated changes are modifications to how eighth-12th grade teachers do “Next Step Plans” to allow more time for teachers and students to build relationships, a new policy that allows new teachers to have a minimum of two workdays to prepare to begin teaching and pay increases for some teachers’ work outside of classrooms.

“I don’t know if there are any really big changes in the contract,” Blakey said in an interview with the Journal after her speech. She predicted the union’s negotiated changes to the contract will pass and did not express any concerns with the proposed changes.

“I’m pretty comfortable with it. I mean, one of the things that came out of the negotiations last year was actually this event,” Blakey said. “Teachers need time to be able to do the work, and I wish that we could give more time throughout the year too, because what they learned today, they have to continue to be able to use throughout the year.”

Voting on the contract began for union members on Friday and closes Aug. 15 before it goes to the school board for their approval.

“This is a first for Albuquerque Public Schools, thousands of us, educators from every corner of the city, all together in one place, and that is something worth celebrating,” Blakey said in her speech. “It might not be perfect, and that’s OK. It can get better, but what matters most is that we showed up for each other.”

APS students — except for those in kindergarten and pre-kindergarten — return to classrooms on Thursday.