The APS board is set to meet Wednesday. Here’s what’s on its loaded agenda

The Albuquerque Public Schools board on Wednesday is expected to discuss the process of finding a new coaching contractor to help it focus on student achievement, and do a self-evaluation.

The agenda for the meeting, one of the last times the board will meet before the start of next school year, includes a discussion about the request for proposal process to hire a new consultant to coach the district on its student-focused governance model, which is an approach school boards take to prioritize student outcomes by setting clear goals and monitoring progress.

The contract with the previous consultant, the Council of Great City Schools, expired on June 30. The board didn’t renew it after working with the group for three years and roughly $50,000.

Other items on the docket include a monitoring report on students’ math proficiency, a self-evaluation of the board’s work over the past quarter and a proposed change to the board’s governance manual regarding which board members are allowed to speak to the media.

“There’s a lot on our agenda,” Board Member Ronalda Tome-Warito said in an interview Tuesday. “I hope we do really ask the critical questions with this RFP process, and we start moving forward with it. I think that’s really important right now.”

APS Superintendent Gabriella Blakey wrote in a June superintendent report that despite APS’ contract for coaching and professional services with the CGCS expiring, “Albuquerque Public Schools remains an active member of CGCS, as we have been for many years.”

“Membership in the Council connects us with 77 other large school districts serving urban areas across the country,” Blakey wrote. “Through this network, we gain access to high-quality research, technical assistance, and the collective expertise of district leaders navigating challenges similar to our own.”

Her memo was obtained through an Inspection of Public Records Act request. Blakey was not made available for an interview. APS spokesperson Martin Salazar said the district paid $55,077 in membership dues — separate from the contract for coaching services — for the 2024 fiscal year to CGCS.

In February, the board adopted a policy that appeared to restrict board members who aren’t the president from speaking publicly on certain topics. An item on Wednesday’s agenda could reverse that.

The proposed change strikes a line from the policy that says: “Board members will support the legitimacy and authority of the final determination of the board on any matter, regardless of the member’s personal position on the issue.”

“It is in response to some concern that we’ve had from board members and from the public about different interpretations of what the policy means,” School Board President Danielle Gonzales said in a Tuesday interview. “The policy has always been grounded in both best practice and recommendations from our New Mexico School Boards Association, but I think there were some different interpretations of what the policy means, and so we’re just trying to clarify.”

The board will also conduct a quarterly self-evaluation. During an April meeting, the board gave itself 58 out of 100 points for its work, with its lowest scores coming in the categories of communication and collaboration.

“The board committed to ourselves and to the public that we would hold ourselves accountable for our own actions,” Gonzales said. “What we’re looking at, is how focused on student outcomes are we and what progress are we making. We wrote it into policy that we would conduct a self evaluation, so we’re required to do it.”

She predicted Wednesday’s score would be lower than the latest evaluation.

Also on Wednesday, Blakey and other APS administrators will deliver a monitoring report on the progress of sixth and seventh grade Black and Yazzie-Martinez students, which includes Native and Hispanic students. Those students exceeded the district’s proficiency goals during the most recent school year, according to meeting documents.

The board is scheduled to meet one more time on Aug. 6, before the 2025-26 academic year begins the following day.