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Gallup/ Navajo Nation Suing Gallup Schools Over Redistricting
By Hailey Heinz
ABQ Journal Staff Writer
December 26, 2012
The Navajo Nation is suing the school board of Gallup-McKinley County schools, alleging the district's redistricting process unfairly disenfranchised American Indians.
An attorney for the school board said members were diligent in their efforts to create a fair redistricting process.
With the release of 2010 census data, boards around the state have been shifting their district boundaries to reflect changes in population.
The lawsuit, filed in federal District Court earlier this month, alleges the school board "packed" American Indian voters into three of the five board member districts - or 60 percent of the districts - even though 70 percent of the voting age population in the school district is American Indian.
In the other two districts, the American Indian voting age population is near or below 40 percent, according to the lawsuit, "making election of a Native American candidate of choice in those two districts extremely difficult, and unnecessarily diluting the power of the Native American voters in those districts."
Andrew Sanchez, an attorney representing the school board, said the board took all necessary steps to create a fair redistricting plan.
- "They really did their due diligence. They hired Research & Polling Inc. to assist them in doing the redistricting so they made sure they were compliant with law," Sanchez said.
- "The board is committed to ensuring every community within the county has a voice with regard to the education of their kids."
Research & Polling Inc. helped districts around the state draw redistricting maps that meet federal legal standards for fairness, including fair representation for racial groups. Officials at the polling firm declined to comment, citing pending litigation.
The lawsuit alleges that Research & Polling provided the school board with multiple maps from which to choose, and that some were "less offensive" to the Navajo Nation than the one the board chose.
According to the suit, the Navajo Nation advocated for a plan that would spread American Indian votes more evenly throughout the five board districts, creating three districts with a strong American Indian majority and two where American Indians would have a strong voice.
The lawsuit seeks an injunction to stop a school board and bond election scheduled for February, on the grounds that the new district map is unconstitutional.
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Carlsbad/ School District Officials Talk Success and Safety
By Natalie Gross
Carlsbad Current-Argus
December 25, 2012
As 2012 draws to a close, Carlsbad school officials say it's been a good year for the district, but Superintendent Gary Perkowski warned that there will be some big changes up ahead.
The fall semester saw the beginning of a new way of teaching, reported the superintendent and Director of Secondary Education Kelli Barta.
- At the elementary level, schools began implementing the new common core state standards.
The new standards are state mandated and nationally recognized, explained Perkowski, and they will allow Carlsbad schools to evenly compare test scores and other assessment measures with other school districts across the nation. By the time the common core standards are completely adopted by all grade levels in 2014, they will do away with the New Mexico standardized assessment tests in place now.
- "They (the new standards) are very rigorous and application and real-world based," said Barta. "We're very excited."
Among many improvements Barta thinks they will bring to education, they are intended to help students better-or maybe finally-understand the age-old question, "When will I actually use algebra in real life?"
The only bad thing about the common core standards, said Barta, is the predicted dip in test scores over the next couple of years.
- "Any time you implement a test or new curriculum, it takes time to adjust to that," said Barta. "For a year or two, our test scores may not really be an indication of what's going on in the classroom."
Barta said the new system should one day improve test scores overall, however.
Another exciting thing for the Carlsbad school district is the success of Eddy Alternative School-the only institution like it in the state, said Barta.
- Since its reopening in August, the school has become a bridge between addressing chronic behavioral problems in the classroom and continuing the at-risk students in a steady school environment.
- This has successfully done away with the out-of-school suspensions that Barta said she felt only reinforced the bad behavior.
"Kids saw that as their ticket out of school," she said. "Now not only do you not get to go home, you continue academics and get therapy that you need to be better. Kids who have proven to have multiple discipline problems at school-somewhere in there is an underlying problem that needs to be addressed."
Barta and Perkowski say the continued goal of Eddy Alternative is to provide kids with chronic behavioral problems the help they need to return to their regular school and be successful, and they hope the upcoming legislative session on Jan. 15 will address the need for funding of such programs.
Perkowski said he plans to bring a few more things to the attention of the legislatures in 2013.
- For starters, he has six capital outlay projects he'd like to see accomplished in Carlsbad, primarily with the safety of the schools in mind.
- The Early Childhood Education Center needs a better playground surface, Perkowski said, as there have been many children who have fallen from the equipment and broken limbs on the woodchips below.
- Another safety concern in the district is the slick gym floor at Carlsbad High School.
"We've had teams threatening not to play us because they're afraid of injury," said Perkowski. And because the whole community uses the high school's gym facilities, Perkowski said this is a project that needs to happen soon.
The school district just needs the funding that he hopes will come from capital outlay, the severance money that the governor, state representatives and senators are given to send back to their districts for projects like this.
Barta said the new legislative session will be an important one for education and that the community should be aware of, and even involved in, what's going on.
"No one else is going to fight for the Carlsbad schools," she said.
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Clovis/ Education Year in Review
By Kevin Wilson, Staff Writer
Clovis News Journal
December 25, 2012
Clovis school officials made preparations for a new middle school and several other construction projects, Texico said goodbye to the only superintendent it knew for more than two decades, and an improving economy meant a declining student base for Clovis Community College.
The year was busy for Clovis and Curry County in the schools. Here are some of the highlights:
- Clovis Municipal Schools has numerous construction projects going, most notably the new W.D. Gattis Middle School. The $27.2 million project covers 132,000 square feet and includes a two-floor design and is set to open next school year.
- Other construction projects include a new Lockwood Elementary, built just north of the existing campus on South Oak Street,
- an expansion of the Arts Academy at Bella Vista,
- roofing and HVAC improvements at Clovis High and the CHS Freshman Academy.
- In 2013, work is scheduled to begin on a new James Bickley Elementary School.
Clovis Community College, first housed at a former Clovis elementary school, indicated a steady decline in enrollment since it had 4,282 in the fall 2009 semester. This fall, it was 3,672.
The high enrollment then could be tracked to the economic meltdown, and President Becky Rowley said the economy's improvement usually lowers community college enrollments more than four-year universities because students are often looking for a specific certification.
- "If people are working they tend to not attend community colleges as much because they already have a job," Rowley said.
After 22 years at the helm in Texico, R.L. Richards accepted a job as assistant superintendent at the Muleshoe Independent School District.
- "Muleshoe looked like a great place to go and try to help another school district," said Richards, a 1976 Roswell High graduate and three-year superintendent at Grady. "Texico was a great place too, but I felt like it was a good time in my career before I get too old to make a job adjustment."
Texico replaced him two months later with an internal hire, but a relatively new face. Miles Mitchell, hired just a few weeks prior to be assistant principal and athletic director, applied for and received the position. The 1989 Melrose High grad was a former agriculture teacher in Melrose and Silver City and served as Grady's principal for two years.
In other school developments:
New Mexico's statewide average high school graduation rate slipped to 63 percent last year, but the Public Education Department said Friday it had changed the graduation calculation to meet a federal mandate.
Students are tracked from the time they are freshmen and the latest figures show that not quite two-thirds of the class of 2011 received their diplomas in four years, according to the department. The average graduation rate was 67.3 percent for the class of 2010 and 66.1 percent in 2009, but those were based on a slightly different methodology.
- Over the same time period, graduation rates fluctuated at Clovis High School, from 71 percent in 2009 to 80.2 percent in 2010 and 72.1 percent in 2011.
The state released its first report card under a letter grading system.
- Of Clovis' 16 schools measured, Zia Elementary was the only school to receive an A.
- Four schools received Ds, four received Cs and seven received Bs.
- No rural school received a D or below, and Melrose Middle School was the only one to receive an A.
Texico students spent the spring semester renovating its shop facility.
About three dozen students participated in the renovation, which agriculture teacher Terry Whitener said taught students to measure, weld, calculate material's bills and listings, estimate building costs, draw plans, do precision cutting and fitting of building materials and maintain and repair equipment.
"It's a lot of fun to work with these young people," Whitener said, "and see them develop their skills in critical thinking, problem solving, math application, precision and accuracy."
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ABQ/ Taylor Middle School Program: More Than Music
By Olivier Uyttebrouck
ABQ Journal Staff Writer
December 25, 2012
Learning a stringed instrument offers plenty of challenges for young students, so Taylor Middle School music teacher Maria Stefanova-Mar needs to use ingenuity to slip in some citizenship lessons.
She gets some help from the music itself. Each piece the students play contains built-in lessons about people and cultures around the world.
- "I think the arts are a great way to teach character and citizenship," Stefanova-Mar said after teaching music for two hours to sixth-, seventh- and eighth-grade students.
- "The arts are not just isolated by themselves," she said. "They teach other things."
Stefanova-Mar teaches a program called "tolerance through music," funded by a one-year $1,000 grant from the Not In Our School Foundation.
The program uses music to expose students to other cultures. It also reaches beyond the classroom by encouraging students to confront intolerance and bullying in non-aggressive ways.
In particular, students are encouraged to use the phrase, "not in our school," anytime they observe malicious behavior.
Students said the slogan has power to stop bad behavior. Between pieces, Stefanova-Mar asks students if they have heard or used the phrase around the school. Several students say they have.
- "I heard someone on our bus say, 'not in our school,' which means it's spreading around the school," said David Marler, 11, the school's lone double bass player.
Marler is one of about 55 Taylor Middle School students who meet each school day in a portable classroom to learn how to coax musical sounds from violins, violas and cellos. Add to that, Marler's double bass.
Stafanova-Mar teaches one class each for sixth-, seventh- and eighth-grade students. The school provides many string players for the Cibola High School orchestra.
On a recent afternoon, the eighth-grade orchestra ran through five pieces on the billing for a December concert. The pieces offer a musical journey around the world.
They included a fado, a Portuguese genre that dates to the early 19th century; "Carol of the Bells," a familiar Christmas carol from Ukraine; and "Rhythm 'n' Blues," an arrangement of African-American music that requires some clapping and vocals.
Another, " 'Twas the Moon of Wintertime," is Canada's oldest Christmas song, written by a French missionary among the Huron people in 1643.
"When you play music from different cultures, you talk about other cultures," said Karina Adams, 12, a seventh-grade viola player.
For students, the class is primarily about learning to play and perform on a challenging instrument.
"Being able to play a musical instrument is really nice," Adams said. "I learn about the culture and the music."
For Sammi Hopkins, a 14-year-old cellist, performing is the big reward for all the practicing.
"I like the way, when we all come together, it sounds so pretty," she said.
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Isleta Pueblo/ Strengthening Tewa Language Program Goal of New Governor
By Ungelbah Daniel-Davila
Valencia County News-Bulletin
December 25, 2012
Edward Paul Torres Sr., who will take over as Isleta Pueblo governor on Jan. 1, says he has plenty of goals to work toward - "a whole page of them" - including strengthening the pueblo's language programs to help preserve its culture and a host of capital projects.
Torres, who was elected governor during tribal elections on Nov. 24, has served four years as first lieutenant governor under current Gov. Frank Lujan.
Torres, 64, who is a traditional leader in the community, says his familiarity with current projects at the pueblo led him to run for governor after Lujan chose not to run for re-election. Among the projects he wants to see through are amendments to the pueblo's tribal Constitution, rebuilding the Palace West Casino, and work on the elderly center and an assisted-living facility.
Changes to the Hard Rock Hotel and Casino are also anticipated, as the tribe has ended its franchise agreement with Hard Rock and expects to have their presence completely removed by June 2013. The tribe plans to introduce more Isleta-specific elements into the casino, creating a more family friendly, "quiet" atmosphere, said Torres.
Serving alongside the new governor will be Antonio Chewiwi, as first lieutenant governor, and Isidor Abeita, as second lieutenant governor.
Chewiwi has served the last four years with Torres as second lieutenant governor under Lujan and has a background in law enforcement.
And Abeita, says Torres, is very involved with cultural preservation in the community, a top priority for the new governor.
Torres says it's an "ongoing project" for the pueblo's traditional leaders to keep the pueblo's "culture and traditions intact."
Strengthening Tewa language programs, Torres said, is as a fundamental step in that mission.
- "That's the most important - the language," said Torres. "We have to teach our younger kids, because that's our future. In order to understand our culture, our way of living, our tradition, to understand it better you need to understand the native language."
Torres, who said he's not a lifetime politician, was the executive director at the Isleta Housing Authority before being appointed first lieutenant governor by Gov. Lujan.
"When I was asked to be lieutenant governor, I thought about it, and I thought to myself that I would be able to help more people by being in the tribal government, and that's how I started," said Torres.
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ABQ/ COLUMN: Replication Reforms Education
By Bruce Hegwer [Executive director of the New Mexico Coalition for Charter Schools]
ABQ Journal [monthly column]
December 25, 2012
One of the guiding tenets behind charter schools as education reformers has to do with the concept of replication. Replication means taking a model or program that has proven to be successful in a charter school, copying that model or program, and putting it back into the traditional schools.
Albuquerque Public Schools is doing exactly that with the implementation of an International Baccalaureate (IB) Program at Sandia High School. For a number of years now, several charter schools in Albuquerque have been conducting very successful IB programs that attract a large number of students. It appears that APS has caught on to that and is now replicating the IB program into its system.
- According to Jane Marx, Governing Council member at Cottonwood Classical Preparatory School, a tuition-free public charter school in Albuquerque that has a successful IB program: "Cottonwood Classical Preparatory School initiated efforts more than five years ago to become an IB Diploma Program school, and the charter school received IB Diploma Program accreditation in early 2010.
Other charter schools in New Mexico have been leaders in pursuing the IB program for younger students:
- Corrales International was the first accredited Primary Years IB program in New Mexico, and
- The International School at Mesa del Sol is also IB PYP (Primary Years Program) accredited.
- New Mexico International is in the process of obtaining Primary Years Program accreditation, and
- Cien Aguas Charter School is seeking Middle Years Program accreditation."
The IB program charter schools in Albuquerque are very popular, and they have waiting lists of students wanting to enroll in their schools.
Cottonwood Classical has already been approved once by the Public Education Commission to increase its enrollment, and it is my understanding that it will soon be seeking permission to increase its enrollment again.
Seeing the popularity of IB programs and the success that students are having in those programs must surely have been a motivating factor in APS' decision to replicate the program at Sandia.
Marx went on to elaborate, "the International Baccalaureate Diploma Program is a world-renowned, high-quality college preparatory program which aims to develop inquiring, knowledgeable and caring young people prepared for a global future with a strong sense of global responsibility.
To receive an IB diploma, students must:
- successfully study and test in six academic subjects (literature, foreign language, science, math, social science, art/music),
- write an extended essay involving independent research,
- complete an additional Theory of Knowledge course, and
- participate in 150 hours of ongoing creativity, action, and service activities equivalent to about three hours per week.
IB certificates are awarded to students who successfully complete IB coursework and examinations in specific courses. All exams are graded by an internationally-selected team of reviewers to ensure the rigorous academic standards of IB are maintained worldwide."
While it will be a while before students actually graduate from Sandia High School's IB program, I personally had the honor of attending an awards ceremony held several weeks ago at Cottonwood Classical to honor the first IB diploma and certificate students to graduate from a public school in New Mexico.
I congratulate APS for recognizing the value of the educational models offered in charter schools and wanting to see the successful programs from charter schools replicated in its system.
It is inspiring to see charter and other public schools leading the way in bringing to students the choice to pursue a high-quality college preparatory education. I also want to praise APS Superintendent Winston Brooks for acknowledging that "one size does not fit all" when it comes to education, and that students and parents need options that meet their needs.
The truth is that we all should put kids first, learn from one another and work together to improve our educational system.
On behalf of the members and staff of the New Mexico Coalition for Charter Schools, I would like to extend our best wishes to everyone for a safe, restful, and joyous holiday season.
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