News from the Superintendent: September 2, 2008

September 1, 2008

Dear APS Community Member,

Welcome back. I hope you had a safe and enjoyable holiday weekend. September is going to be a busy month as we have a number of community meetings and visits around the city scheduled, including the bus tour of Board District 3 on the West Side and North Valley next Monday. I will be telling you more about these gatherings in the coming weeks.

Last Friday, Dr. David Schmidly and Dr. Kathy Winograd, presidents of UNM and CNM, respectively, joined me to announce a formal working partnership that will provide seamless educational transitions from pre-kindergarten through graduate school. We will have the opportunity to connect our programs, share ideas, explore cost-cutting measures and even coordinate calendars. There is also an element that allows us to expand current programs where our principals and other leaders can draw from the expertise of CNM and UNM. While we already work with CNM on dual enrollment programs, this three-way agreement opens up so many possibilities for collaboration. I’m delighted that APS has such good neighbors in education.

We made the announcement at Sombra del Monte Elementary, where Principal Donna Key and teachers were gracious enough to let us visit with kindergarteners for a few minutes. Drs. Schmidly and Winograd don’t get that opportunity very often (nor do I, as much as I’d like), and they enjoyed themselves thoroughly. Those students are just beginning their educational journeys, and this agreement will help steer them toward a future without limits.

Communication is key to making our agreement work. It’s how we were able to put the agreement together in the first place. Following a sound internal and external communications plan is one of the two goals I wanted to talk about today. Not only do we need to improve our communication with all of the stakeholders of the district, we need to examine and evaluate how we communicate. These messages and community meetings are just the beginning. I will let you know more when the plan is completed.

The other goal is that the Board of Education and I will keep ourselves up to date on the most effective ways to lead the district. We will all be participating in professional training in October and I look forward to sharing with you what we learn.

Let me take a brief moment to acknowledge to a wider audience the incredible job done by Deedee Stroud and the Schools and Community Partnerships team on the recent school supplies drive. Between the backpacks and supplies distributed at the Pit and later deliveries around the city, 8,400 students were served at 127 APS schools and another 59 schools outside the district. That’s more than 5,000 more students than in any previous year! The supplies are worth an estimated $308,000. I can’t tell you how proud I am of the outreach done by APS to help those in need.

Have a great week.

Sincerely,

Winston Brooks, Superintendent
Albuquerque Public Schools