News from the Superintendent: December 8, 2008

December 7, 2008

Dear APS Community Member,

Members of the Albuquerque Educational Assistants Association ratified a contract agreement negotiated by the district and union officials that will give EAs a 5.05 percent wage increase. I want to thank the negotiating teams on both sides who worked so diligently on the agreement. This was not an easy process; it took a lot of patience and willingness to communicate to complete it. I’m so pleased that the EAs, who are so vitally important in our students’ lives, have voted to move forward. The contract will be sent to the Board of Education for approval at its Dec. 17 meeting.

Now we can move on to the next step of coming together to work with our state legislators on a plan to better compensate all district employees. There are no guarantees, but we will do our best to come up with a plan that can work for everyone in a tight economy.

I wanted to offer congratulations to the Eldorado High School Eagles. They put up a tremendous fight in the state championship football game on Saturday, and the loss was a close one. The team put together a phenomenal season. A lot of things have to go right in order to win a state championship, so it is no small feat.

If you don’t believe me, ask the coaches of other APS high school teams who have won 5-A state championships this fall. Congratulations to the Sandia girls soccer team, La Cueva boys soccer team and the Cibola boys cross country team for their accomplishments. Kudos also go to Bryce Palmer of Eldorado for winning the 5-A boys individual championship in cross country. You have all made APS proud.

Coming up on Wednesday, leaders from APS, UNM, CNM, the city of Albuquerque and Bernalillo County will hold the annual joint meeting to discuss education matters. The meeting is at 5:30 p.m. at the Albuquerque Museum, 2000 Mountain Rd. NW. Though this will be my first meeting, these institutions have been meeting for a number of years to consider the best ways to work together to improve education for New Mexico’s thousands of students.

The highlight from the past year is the Memorandum of Agreement between APS, UNM and CNM that will provide seamless educational transitions from pre-kindergarten through graduate school. President Schmidly, President Winograd and I have been meeting regularly since the agreement was signed to discuss the details of our collaboration.

The MOA is on the joint meeting agenda, along with discussions on community partnerships and our respective legislative priorities. I’m looking forward to working with our government officials as we create new ways to encourage students and provide opportunities for them to succeed. This is an exciting time in our educational system.

Have a great week.

Sincerely,

Winston Brooks, Superintendent
Albuquerque Public Schools