Josefina E. Dominguez

Josefina E. Domínguez
District 6
Policy  Committee Chair 

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Video Introduction

Board Role 

• APS Board Member: 2022-present 
• Term Ends: Dec. 31, 2025
• Officer/Chair:
• Policy: 2024
• Capital Outlay, Property, and Technology Committee Chair: 2022 
• APS Board Committees: 
• Policy (chair) 
• Represents the APS Board: 
• Community Capital Advisory Commission
• Mid-Region Council of Governments

Biography

Josefina E. Domínguez is the oldest daughter of Maria Socorro Hernandez, an immigrant who came to the U.S. to give her children more opportunities. Despite the obstacles her family encountered, her mother taught her children to respect anyone involved in their education, especially teachers.

Domínguez is a product of public schools. Throughout her school years, a special cadre of teachers and counselors mentored and guided her and, in time, encouraged her to apply for academic scholarships and financial assistance. With that help, she attended Colorado College, a highly ranked, small liberal arts college in Colorado Springs.

Domínguez is the proud mother of two children who graduated from APS, one from Highland High School and one from Valley High School. She is also a grandparent of two APS students and three grandsons who are part of a military family.

Though Domínguez is retired now, if she is asked, “What do you do?” she still says “I am a teacher.” Domínguez spent 28 years in high school and middle school classrooms. During those years, she taught in seven different districts in Colorado, Texas, and New Mexico. Still, the majority of her experience was in APS. She has taught in classrooms with no more than 15 students and in classrooms with 40 students.

Domínguez wants to advocate for recruiting and retaining talented teachers and school site personnel by increasing salaries and wages. She also wants the district to focus on hiring more minority teachers in the core subject areas and question the over-represented numbers of minority and poor children in Special Education programs. She believes that all teachers, but especially minority teachers, must understand or represent the historical memory and experiences of the children they teach and the families that inform that child's school experience. The same must be true for all administrators and support staff. Only then can APS ensure that schools' social programs and curriculum will better serve the needs of children.

In Her Own Words 

“I know my colleagues in the classroom are committed to engaging and to encouraging students of all aptitudes and backgrounds. I want to advocate on their behalf. As a community, we all benefit when our children are loved, supported, and inspired. The type of public education that reinforces those values is within our reach.” – 2021

“The Yazzie/Martinez ruling presents the most significant challenge and opportunity because it requires systemic changes, from the State down to the local districts. It serves as a clarion call to reimagine how we will give access to voices that have been left out of our conversations state-wide and district-wide. In all of my 28 years as a classroom teacher, I was the lone minority honors teacher and often one of two or three minority teachers in English departments. All children, special education, honors, and regular education students, deserve a rich sampling of who we are as a community.” – 2021

“Equity must be the standard in the classroom, at the school site, and at all levels of administration. School systems must hire people of color with the historical memory and experience that informs their day-to-day decisions regarding the most vulnerable students and families. Curriculum cannot reflect minority people until school systems hire staff that reflects a race, gender, and class perspective. Budgets must reflect this commitment.” – 2021

Organizations Present and Past

• Modern Language Association
• League of Women Voters of Central New Mexico
• Writing Facilitator for New Mexico State University Biomedical students in Research Initiative and Scientific Enrichment (RISE) Program
• Veterans and Military Families Caucus

Possible Conflicts of Interest

Member Domínguez's son and daughter-in-law are APS employees. Her grandchildren attend APS schools.   

Contact Josephina E. Domínguez

This page was last updated on: December 15, 2023.