'We Have to Reject the Status Quo'

In her State of the District address, Superintendent Blakey invites students, families, staff, and the community to work with her to give kids the future they deserve.

Fifty-nine days into her tenure as superintendent, Dr. Gabriella Blakey highlighted success stories, acknowledged the district’s poor proficiency scores in reading and math, and invited students, families, staff, and members of the community to work with her “to give our students the future they deserve.”

“I’m committed to doing everything I can to improve outcomes for all of our students, but I can’t do it alone,” she said during Albuquerque Public Schools’ inaugural State of the District event.

“I’m asking our teachers to embrace high-quality instructional materials and teach our kids at grade level,” she said. “To parents and families, I ask that you recognize the importance of education to your child’s future … and, please, make sure that your child is getting to school every day.”

She urged students to try their best, ask for help if they’re struggling, and to “work toward the future you want and deserve.” And she asked the community to believe in APS and continue to support the district, noting the school supplies, food donations, and other contributions make a difference for students and their families. 

More than 350 people attended the State of the District, while another 1,300 watched it on YouTube. Among the attendees were state Cabinet secretaries, lawmakers, tribal leaders, city councilors, and county commissioners. Students, parents, and community members also were at the event.

The address comes amid a targeted push to improve academic outcomes for all students. A year ago, the APS Board of Education unveiled four five-year goals: improving reading and math proficiency rates, preparing students for life after graduation, and equipping them with the life skills they need to be successful.

“Achieving these goals means our kids will have the tools they need to thrive in the world – to be the masters of their own fate,” Dr. Blakey said.

Emceeing the event were Eldorado High senior Mischa Hedges and Sandia High senior Kaylie Labombard. Acoma Pueblo Lt. Gov. Wendell Chino delivered the invocation. Also speaking were Mayor Tim Keller and APS Board of Education President Danielle Gonzales.

“”So often, institutions set goals and then put them on a shelf and forget about them,” Gonzales said. “That’s not what’s happening at Albuquerque Public Schools.”

Performing before the State of the District were La Cueva’s string quartet, the guitar group from Rio Grande High, and the Volcano Vista Hawk Band.

Challenges

During her speech, Dr. Blakey acknowledged the significant challenges the district faces, including high student absentee rates. Among the other challenges she cited:

• Only 38% of APS third-graders are proficient in reading.
• Only 26% of the district’s eighth-graders are proficient in math.
• Only 72% of APS seniors are graduating on time.
• And students affected by the landmark Yazzie-Martinez court decision are even further behind.

“Despite those realities, we have largely operated the way we always have, making slight corrections here and there but generally shying away from big changes out of fear that they might ruffle feathers,” she said.  

“We have to reject the status quo and embrace a culture of accountability if we’re going to move the needle on student outcomes at APS,” the superintendent added.

Meeting the moment

Since taking over as superintendent on July 1, Dr. Blakey has:

• Implemented an administrative reorganization geared toward better positioning APS to meet its goals.
• Fine-tuned the strategic plan to better align it with the goals.
• Worked with teachers to create units of study to help align what’s being taught at each grade level throughout the district and when.
• Committed to getting every elementary school teacher and principal trained in LETRS,  a professional development program that has shown promising results in boosting literacy scores elsewhere. 
• Pledged to increase community schools partnerships to provide students with the support they need. 
• Launched Let’s Talk, a new communication tool aimed at making APS more responsive to the people it serves.
• Completed the fine arts expansion so that every APS elementary student now has access to art and music classes.

“We’ve also implemented a new system that gives greater autonomy to schools that are doing well and invests more of our time in those schools that are struggling. The idea is pretty simple: Schools that need more help will get it – faster,” Dr. Blakey said. “Schools that are doing well will have more freedom to innovate new strategies that can take them even further.”

She said she and her team also are working diligently to address chronic absenteeism by expanding a program that alerts school staff of students developing attendance and academic challenges so they can intervene. 

“We know we can’t improve student outcomes if our students aren’t in school,” she said. “Last school year, nearly 31% of our students were chronically absent, which was a slight improvement from the prior school year but still way too high.”

Celebrating successes

While she acknowledged the district’s challenges, Dr. Blakey also highlighted success stories.

At East San Jose Elementary, a TOPs School, third- through fifth-grade reading scores increased by 19.1 percentage points, and math scores increased by 19.7 percentage points. 

“Those are incredible gains, and I want to recognize East San Jose Principal Eder Ortiz, his students, and his staff for their hard work,” Dr. Blakey said. “We started the TOPS model as a model of innovation in our elementary schools to help students by increasing staff time and instructional time at those schools, including adding Genius Hour.”

She said Sandia Base Elementary, Mission Avenue Elementary, MacArthur Elementary, SY Jackson Elementary, Grant Middle School, and Eisenhower Middle School also saw significant gains in internal assessments. 

Dr. Blakey also recognized career-connected learning classes for engaging students and opening the doors to good careers for them. 

She referenced Shawn Coffey, a 35-year welder “who has been inspiring students at Valley High School for the last five years.” The welding fabrication program, part of APS’ Engineering the Future magnet, is a gateway for students to hands-on work in trade fields. 

“His students focus on real-world applications…,” Dr. Blakey said. “Many have already landed good-paying jobs.”

She also acknowledged the work Community Schools are doing providing students with the wraparound supports they need to succeed in the classroom. 

“Their work takes many forms,” Dr. Blakey said. “Kelly Davis, our community school coordinator at Wilson Middle School, worked with the Community School Councils from her school and Whittier Elementary to organize a walking school bus two days a week to ensure that students are safe when walking to school.” 

She stressed that APS employees make a difference in students’ lives through the newcomer program, clothing and food banks, drug counseling programs, schools of choice, and many others.

“Last year we were emerging stronger,” Dr. Blakey said. “Today we are APS Strong! We know where we are and we recognize the hard work ahead as we strive to improve outcomes for all our students. We’re embracing that hard work and the journey that lies ahead!”