Albuquerque Journal

Superintendent Picks Come Under Fire
By Andrea Schoellkopf, Journal Staff Writer

The new superintendent of Albuquerque Public Schools has been on the job for roughly a month now, but the number of non-minority hires he has made is already drawing some concern.
       
School board member Dolores Griego said she first questioned Superintendent Winston Brooks, who officially began July 1, right "from the get-go" after he announced that his chief academic officer would be Linda Sink and that chief operating officer would be Brad Winter. Neither is a minority.
       
"The color of APS does not reflect the color of people that it serves," Griego said in an interview.
       
Two associate superintendents carried over from the last administration, Raquel Reedy and Eddie Soto, are Hispanic. Brooks has since hired North Star Elementary principal Diane Kerschen, who is Hispanic, as one of two new associate superintendents.
       
Griego said she doesn't think Kerschen or Reedy has much experience with high-poverty schools.
       
"I believe these people are competent and capable," Griego said. "I simply don't believe that the perspective of minorities can be addressed by anyone other than a minority."
       
Brooks defended his hires and said that Sink and Winter were both in place to do the jobs when he promoted them.
       
"Linda was interim for six months, and her background is strong academics," Brooks said.
       
He added that Winter replaced deputy superintendent Tom Savage, who was also not a minority, and that Winter has since promoted transportation director J. Patrick Garcia, a Hispanic, as his replacement overseeing APS maintenance and operations.
       
Brooks said the principal hiring is generally left to a selection committee.
       
He said minority hiring is an issue he will address.
       
"I think it's imperative our administrator teams, administrators in our buildings, secretary and everybody else reflect the student population we serve," he said. "Absolutely, I'm concerned about it."
       
Others in the community have been quietly taking notice of Brooks' appointments.
       
Juan José Peña, co-chairman of the Hispano Roundtable and a member of the Superintendent's Equity Council, said the Hispanic Roundtable plans to begin collecting data on minority hires and will discuss the issue with Brooks this month.
       
Hispano Roundtable member Moises Venegas said that he has counted at least four nonminority principals who have been hired recently, although a black principal was hired at New Futures alternative school.
       
"We'll give (Brooks) 100 days," Venegas said. "... But it doesn't seem to be going in the right direction."
       
School board member Marty Esquivel defended Brooks, saying that keeping Soto and Reedy on board counts as naming them to his cabinet.
       
"It seems pretty balanced to me," he said. "I think minorities are pretty well represented in the administration that Winston has chosen to proceed with."