OPINION: Recent fencing of La Cueva High campus an unfortunate, but necessary safeguard

We remember the days when we could take family members to the airport and wait at the gate with them until they boarded their flights. That all changed on 9/11, and while we’d love to once again have the opportunity to see loved ones off at the gate, we understand the decision to limit access in the interest of keeping flights safe.

Similarly, we remember the days when no one gave a second thought to school playgrounds and other school facilities being open and available for neighborhood children and the broader community to enjoy after hours. We all took it for granted.

Then the world changed.

We began finding syringes on our playgrounds and fields, and school staff were having to sweep the grounds every morning and pick up the drug paraphernalia that littered our facilities.

Members of the unhoused community began taking refuge on school grounds, and staff would have to ask them to leave in the morning.

Vandals began spraying our facilities with graffiti, covering our walls with swastikas, racial slurs, and other vile messages, and causing tens of thousands of dollars in damage.

And we started getting hit with lawsuits from members of the public who were injured while using our facilities after hours – in one instance an individual tripped over a mound of dirt at one of our fields; in two others, kids tripped over artificial turf.

As much as we wish it wasn’t so, this is the world we live in today. It has forced us to take steps to safeguard our schools, playgrounds, and fields in order to keep our students safe and protect the substantial investment our community has made in these facilities.

Schools have asked for fencing following horrific school shootings across the country. About four years ago, voters approved our safety and security program, which included fencing of our campuses.

As you can imagine, it has been a major undertaking with more than 140 school sites. The recent fencing of one high school campus sparked criticism from some people who live in the area and are upset that the track and tennis courts situated within that campus are now locked.

We understand where they’re coming from, but we want to stress that we didn’t do it to be mean, to punish anyone, or simply because we could. We’re responding to health and safety concerns across our district. We’re dealing with vandalism. We’re trying to mitigate real liability issues. And, ultimately, we’re trying to keep our students safe.

It’s also worth noting that no area of town is exempt. These issues have cropped up on the West Side, in the Valley, and even in the far Northeast Heights.

It’s unfortunate, but that’s our reality now.

That said, we’re a part of Albuquerque and we want to work with our community. We have hundreds of groups that reserve our fields every year, and our principals work with the community to keep facilities open as appropriate. Unfortunately, there have been times when groups that reserved a facility showed up to find others already using the field.

We’re open to exploring potential solutions because we don’t like the idea of having to lock up our facilities either.

We want to end by telling you about a woman who lives next to one of our school baseball fields. She saw the television news story about APS fencing a high school and came to our Board of Education meeting on Wednesday evening to address the issue. She said kids use the field after school and on weekends, and stray baseballs are frequently crashing onto her property. She said she lives in fear of being hit by one of those stray balls, and brought a shopping bag filled with balls that have ended up near her house to illustrate what she lives with.

She pleaded with us to fence and lock the field next to her house so she can have some peace. It’s an example of the competing interests we face each and every day.

John Dufay is the chief operating officer of Albuquerque Public Schools. Steve Gallegos is the APS police chief.