Ledes from the Land of Enchantment

Santa Fe Public Schools’ superintendent ready for round 2 | Education

Superintendent Hilario “Larry” Chavez has only held the top job at Santa Fe Public Schools for five months, but he could be about halfway through his tenure if the school board doesn’t renew his one-year contract.

Santa Fe School Board President Kate Noble declined to discuss Chavez’s performance and prospects for a contract renewal ahead of an evaluation scheduled for early 2022, which will take place behind closed doors at the board’s meeting. In a recent interview, however, she described him as a “level-headed” leader who is equally open to the concerns of parents and school staff.

During his brief tenure, Chavez has guided the district through difficult challenges: a COVID-19 spike that has impacted local classrooms, sharply declining enrollments, open teacher and staff positions that have reached crisis levels, and, he said, an increase in student behavior problems.

He claims that, as he did when he took office on July 1st, he sees the superintendent position as a landing pad and not as a “stepping stone”.

“I want to be the director of the Santa Fe Public Schools for as long as possible,” he said.

The board members will elect their officers in January when the term of office for newly elected members begins. Noble said whoever becomes chairman of the board will determine when talks on the superintendent’s contract will begin – and she hopes this will happen sooner rather than later.

“I’m happy to say that I hope we can do it in January,” she said.

The outcome of Chavez’s initial assessment will likely tell whether the board intends to keep him in the position.

But is six months in office enough time for the board members to decide whether to stay?

There really is no other choice, said Noble, who defended the board’s decision to hire Chavez on a one-year contract, given his lack of experience as a superintendent and the uncertainty caused by the pandemic.

“To speak of an evaluation after five months – who of us would want that?” Edel said. “But that’s the schedule we have with our schools. Here, too, when I think through all possible scenarios, each and every one of them benefits from the fact that we evaluate and discuss the superintendent contract sooner rather than later. “

Chavez – previously deputy superintendent of the District Athletics, Activities and School Support and a former special education teacher – was hired after Veronica García retired, who was in her second job for five years. He said he hadn’t thought much about the board’s discussions about his contract. Instead, he has focused on running the district amid unprecedented challenges.

One of the district’s greatest emergencies is the 50 vacant teaching positions – more than before the start of the school year – and over 100 other vacancies.

The district has advertised vacancies and contract awards, and has listed higher pay as one of its top legislative priorities for the 2022 regular session. But teachers are still leaving and not enough educators are jumping in to take their places.

The problem exists throughout the state. A New Mexico State University study found more than 1,000 teaching vacancies in September.

“If we don’t do anything now and we don’t do something drastic, it could get worse next year,” Chavez said, adding that he had urged the state education department to find solutions.

With the staff few and far between, some of Chavez’s original goals have been delayed.

The administrators had planned to review the district’s 2018-23 strategic plan that sets goals for academic achievement rates and graduation rates, but no changes were made.

“We felt the strategic plan could come later,” said Chavez.

He still hopes the Santa Fe Public Schools will have the highest graduation rate of any major county in the state. In 2020, 86 percent of Santa Fe seniors received a record high, a quota that was exceeded by 88 percent of Rio Rancho Public Schools.

The school principal and staff have also postponed the deadline for schools to switch to standards-based grading, an initiative to get rid of traditional letter grades planned for the next school year. Schools prepared for the change will do so in the fall of 2022, Chavez said.

“Because of the pandemic, we decided to step back a little because of the teachers’ fatigue,” he said. “The schools that need a little more help, a little more technical support, we will wait another year.”

With the pandemic losing more than 600 students in the first year of the pandemic, enrollment numbers remain an issue for Chavez. Recently published student numbers from a count on the 40th day of this school year show the potential for even greater school enrollment losses – which would mean much less government funding for running schools.

This year’s 40-day number was 11,176 students, compared with 12,033 on the 40th day in 2020-21 and 12,603 ​​in the previous year. In 2013-14, the 40-day count was nearly 14,500.

District spokesman Cody Dynarski said it was difficult to directly compare school enrollment numbers from year to year because the district analysts’ programs differ with each census and how the numbers are calculated.

Still, it is clear that a year-long trend of declining enrollments at Santa Fe Public Schools has been accelerated by the pandemic.

Chavez noted an increase in enrollments at the Desert Sage Academy, the district’s online option. It has added 271 students since the end of last year, according to the recently published 40-day numbers.

He and other administrators have sought to raise awareness of the variety of options for students at Santa Fe Public Schools to withdraw the children.

The recent voter approval of a new $ 100 million bond is a “shot in the arm” when it comes to upgrading facilities – and therefore attracting students, he said. Some of the biggest renovation projects ahead involve two alternative high schools: Mandela International Magnet School and Early College Opportunities, where enrollment has remained relatively stable since last year.

When asked to speak of his greatest accomplishments to date, Chavez said, “It’s hard for me to answer. I am my own worst critic. “

He still lives with his family in Rio Rancho, he said, but also rents an apartment in Santa Fe to avoid commuting in the mornings and after particularly long school days. There were many.

“There is no such thing as a work week,” said Chavez. “… The job doesn’t end. When I entered the position, I knew that it would not end and that it would not have a specific time frame. “

It is perhaps no wonder Chavez hasn’t given much thought to his upcoming board of directors evaluation or the future of his contract.

“The first five months, almost six months, went by really quickly,” he said. “We don’t have time to focus on what we can’t control.”

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