Albuquerque Public Schools
Creating Opportunities to Hear from Our Community
In her weekly message, Superintendent Blakey discusses the new family, business, teacher, and principal advisory boards she is creating.
Ever since the Board of Education selected me as Albuquerque Public Schools superintendent, I have made it a point to go into the community to speak to students, families, teachers, elected officials, community leaders, civic organizations, and so many others.
I’ve been investing that time because I feel it’s important for the leader of New Mexico’s largest school district to be present and visible in the community. I’ve also gained invaluable insights from speaking to students, parents, and the leaders of nonprofit organizations, educational institutions, and government agencies.
Hearing from members of the Albuquerque community helps me understand how APS is being perceived and brings into focus what we are doing well and where we still need to improve. It also allows me to tell our story–the work we’re doing throughout the district to improve outcomes for all students, the real-world barriers to seemingly simple solutions like converting all of our swamp coolers to central cooling systems, and the amazing opportunities we provide to our students.
Advisory committees provide the same benefits, which is why I’m planning to add several.
I want to create advisory boards for families, businesses, teachers, and principals to get advice and feedback from the community we serve. My goal is to have these boards meet quarterly and to open up a dialogue with each of these important groups.
We already have a Superintendent Student Advisory Council, which will continue.
SuperSAC has been a fixture at APS for many years. Each APS high school can send two representatives. Those monthly meetings are a great opportunity to hear from high schoolers throughout the district about any issues they’re having at their schools and, just as importantly, about the things they love about their schools.
I’ve attended many SuperSAC meetings over the years, but last week I had the privilege of hosting my first SuperSAC meeting as superintendent. We had a full house, and the students were incredible!
As an icebreaker, we spent a little time bragging about their schools and Albuquerque. Among their brags: Our bilingual programs, the fine arts offerings, our amazing teachers, inclusivity, and the opportunities they have at APS. Before anyone calls me out on this, yes, it’s part of the Start Bragging campaign I’ve been pushing since becoming superintendent.
I truly believe in our students, in our schools, and in APS, and it frustrates me when I hear people talking negatively about us. So I urged our SuperSAC kids to start bragging about the good things happening in their schools. And I told them that if things need to change, they should lead the charge for that change.
On the SuperSAC agenda for next month is high school credits. State lawmakers have made changes to the law that give us some flexibility in setting graduation requirements. We want our students to weigh in on what our district’s graduation requirements should be.
Have a good weekend.