News from the Superintendent: October 12, 2009

October 11, 2009

Good afternoon.

Hope you had a good fall break. I plan to spend most of this week in meetings preparing for the legislative special session that starts this Saturday. APS and the governor are in agreement that we don’t want to see further budget cuts in education, but we’ll have to see how legislators crunch the numbers.

Over the weekend, it appears that legislators are working off a deficit of $650 million, much higher than originally feared. It sounds like there are at least three proposals for cuts on the table—none of them particularly easy to swallow. Again, I will do my best to argue against further education cuts, or at least keep them away from the classroom. I appreciate your support and good wishes as we go forward and decisions are made.

High schools are trying something new this week, and middle schools will follow two weeks from now. Student-led parent/teacher conferences begin, and I want to encourage both teachers and parents to work together with students to get the most out of them. These are not Next Step conferences; students have been putting together portfolios and creating presentations for their parents that outline their accomplishments and goals for the year. My hope is that students will take greater ownership of their academic careers and it will lead to more student success.

Congratulations to all of the high school marching bands who participated in Saturday’s annual Pageant of the Bands. Albuquerque High took first place in Class 4-A, while Highland, Eldorado, Manzano, Sandia and Cibola finished in the top three in their classifications. Nice job!

APS Human Resources-Employee Benefits staff is holding an employee health fair from 10 a.m. to 5:30 p.m., Wednesday and Thursday at City Centre. You can complete an online health assessment, get a mammogram and even donate blood. You also can get information from APS health benefits providers and APS departments, and speak to representatives from APS health care and insurance providers.

Free health screenings are available from 7 to 9 a.m. Wednesday and Thursday at City Centre before the health fair. You can get your blood pressure, cholesterol, blood sugar and body mass index checked. Reservations are required for some of these checks. More information is available online on Blackboard by clicking on the Training and Resources link on the upper-right, and then the 2009 APS Health Fair link. With so much illness going around, you owe it to yourself and your family to know all you can about staying well. See you there.

Have a great week.

Winston Brooks
Superintendent