OPINION: Why is APS leadership ignoring student safety?

An officer shouts commands as he aims his rifle above the heads of several teenagers. His gun is focused on a boy darting around the stunned students. In the background, a cheery sunflower adorns the classroom’s whiteboard. The video ends when kids start running for their lives. This scene at West Mesa High School was one of five gun incidents involving Albuquerque Public Schools on Aug. 23, the 10th day of the school year.

Protecting our students is the district’s most sacred duty, yet APS officials used this horrific day as a public relations opportunity to pat themselves on the back. The Albuquerque school board leadership tried to gaslight voters by suggesting that the day’s events were positive demonstrations of APS systems “working.” An APS press release agreed with the sentiment, then name-dropped a corporate security vendor.

Satisfied with themselves, APS leadership neither proposed actions to improve student safety nor acknowledged the trauma experienced by students and teachers who feared for their lives. As parents grappled with how their worst nightmare almost came to fruition, the school board convened a meeting where board leaders offered no condolences, but instead applauded themselves for minor gains in a few cherry-picked metrics (despite growing gaps among populations and many performance measures being lower than pre-pandemic levels). Board members expressed no curiosity of why kids keep bringing guns to our schools — perhaps due to what is essentially a gag order hidden in the leadership’s governance policies.

The current school board leaders have the wrong priorities and approach to escalating campus violence. Nearly 50 guns have been found on APS campuses in the last three years, including a record-breaking 17 guns in one year.

Why are Albuquerque’s children arming themselves at school? When I ask families and teachers, they overwhelmingly provide the same answer — self-protection and rampant bullying. In fact, this is one the top reasons given by the arrested students themselves. Four years ago, a child at Washington Middle School was shot and killed while protecting a friend from a bully.

Enough is enough. I’m running for Albuquerque school board to represent the Northeast Heights District 7 to protect our students. Nearly a third of last year’s gun incidents were on campuses in the Heights, including a loaded gun at La Cueva. This year, a student was detained just outside Del Norte High School. As an international English teacher, a financial watchdog over millions of dollars addressing violent crime, a public safety expert and the proud mom of a gifted student with disabilities, student safety is my top concern.

We need to work together to make school a place where kids can learn, grow and feel safe. I’ll prioritize mental health services, professional development, family engagement and offender accountability. We need more counselors, social workers, special education services and trained staff to intervene and support children earlier. Too many students are struggling in isolation with violent fantasies, suicidal ideation, abuse, substance abuse, bullying and harassment. We can change the trajectory of a child’s life by providing the tools, community support and accountability they need to make positive decisions — which can also change the trajectory of our greater community by reducing crime rates.

Every child deserves an advocate on the School Board fighting to keep them safe. My name is Kristin Wood-Hegner, and I’m asking to be your child’s advocate on the Albuquerque school board.