News from the Superintendent: September 8, 2008

September 7, 2008

Dear APS Community Member,

As you read today’s message, several members of the school board, my leadership team and I are on the road on the second of our bus tours covering each Board of Education District. We’re visiting schools on the West Side and North Valley located in District 3, as well as a couple of charters and a community center. If your schedule allows, please feel free to join us at Taylor Middle School at noon for a roundtable conversation about anything at all that concerns APS. For future reference, we have two more community meetings next week: Sept. 15 at Jefferson Middle School (District 4) and Sept. 18 at Volcano Vista High School (District 2).

These meetings are an important part of our outreach to the community. The best way to fulfill the goal of communicating effectively with stakeholders we don’t see every day is to invite them into the schools and meet them face-to-face. I look forward to meeting as many of you as possible during the school tours, and I encourage anyone who is able to attend the community meetings.

You have heard me say before that students belong in their classes so they can be learning. Truancy continues to be a problem, but we will continue to find ways to reduce it. The board and I, along with District Attorney Kari Brandenburg and members of her staff, met last week to discuss the best way to handle the problem. No parents have been convicted of keeping their kids out of school, and maybe putting them in jail isn’t the best solution, anyway.

I’m considering reviving a community group that used to meet to find answers to this issue. It isn’t going away, so the group shouldn’t, either. We have to look at what makes them avoid class. Is it boredom? Overwork? Lack of support at home or in class? Hanging with the wrong crowd? Problems at home? We do have ParentLink now, but that makes us aware of a truant student, not the cause for the truancy. If we can work it at both ends—improve the graduation rate 3 percent per year and, therefore, reduce truancy by the same amount—the district will be making significant improvement. This is an achievable goal.

Finally, I would like to mention the tour I took last week at the Assistance League of Albuquerque. Their Operation School Bell program provides a tremendous service to APS students in need. This year, they have provided school uniforms for more than 3,000 students, well over the number they have ever served before. They work with our Join-a-School program to identify elementary and middle school students who need help. I have to say I was very impressed by the work they do. Students will focus better on their studies if they don’t have to worry about having the right clothes for school.

Have a great week.

Sincerely,

Winston Brooks, Superintendent
Albuquerque Public Schools