Superintendent's News

I’m proud of you.

And I’m proud to be a part of Albuquerque Public Schools, made up of thousands of people like you who doggedly work even in the most challenging of circumstances so that others may succeed. We are in the business of bright futures, motivated by a desire to improve the lives of our students and their families, and to make our community a better place to live.  

But for the most part, public educators – and if you work on behalf of our students, I include you in this group – tend to be a modest bunch, hesitant to brag about success, even though their days are filled with it.

Each time you help a child read, solve a problem, fill out a college application, dribble a ball, paint a picture, sing a song, you are a success.

Every time you prepare and distribute a meal for a child, clean a classroom, get students safely to and from school or therapy, counsel them, nurse them, encourage them – you have done good work.

Whenever you assist a colleague, implement a plan to better your community, reach out to a family in need – you make a difference.

I hope you take pride in what you do. You should. In fact, I suggest you take it one step further, at least for one day, and brag a little about yourself, your school, your office, your students, your co-workers. 

Let’s say we do that next week. Let’s say on Monday, Oct. 26, we put on our school and department t-shirts or sweatshirts and show our pride while zooming and googling and meeting and teaching and working.  

We’ll call it APS Spirit Day. We’ll tag it #APSProud.

That’s actually the plan for next Monday when we celebrate the third annual APS Spirit Day, a tradition started by the APS Education Foundation to kick off our annual United Way campaign.

On APS Spirit Day, you are encouraged to take a picture of yourself in your spirit wear and post it to social media along with the hashtag #APSProud. You can download signs from our website to hold or hang in the background of your photo.

Feel free in those social media posts to boast about the work you are doing. Sing the praises of our students who are stepping up and doing great things in their remote classrooms. Praise your colleagues who are working alongside you to help our students do their best, despite the obstacles the pandemic has placed in front of them.

No one will fault you if you want to set your modesty aside for a day and share your accomplishments. When you post your photos to Twitter or Facebook or Instagram, include a sentence or two about what makes you feel good about your job.

What makes you proud?

You’ll soon get a personalized online pledge form from United Way. I hope you consider giving. You can choose where your money goes, and many of the nonprofits supported by the United Way share our focus on educational attainment and family stability. Like our very own Foundation, which has placed more than $2.5 million into classrooms, schools and departments throughout APS.

Give if you can and what you can. As our United Way representative said, every single dollar makes a difference; every single dollar counts.

Thank you, and thanks for all you do.