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District 1 鈥� South Valley school board candidates are emphasizing campus safety
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In the race to represent Albuquerque Public Schools鈥� soon-to-be open South Valley board seat, the three candidates for District 1 have made one thing clear: The district must bolster student safety while at school.
But they all offer different solutions for how to do that.
For Robert Trujillo, who owns a contractor business, the solution to stemming the tide of guns found on school campuses is 鈥渋mplementing increased education and awareness on the dangers of firearms,鈥� as well as collaboration between APS and law enforcement agencies.
Janelle Astorga, a licensed educational assistant, said she supports things like trauma-informed care for students, 鈥渃ommon sense gun reform and safety workshops for parents,鈥� a larger budget for more counselors and social workers and, as an intervention strategy, self-defense classes.
But Verland Coker, a substitute teacher, pointed out a need for restorative justice practices, arguing that many instances of students bringing guns to school 鈥渃ould have been prevented鈥� and that 鈥渨e often criminalize students rather than see the root cause of violence in our communities.鈥�
Last school year, District 1 had four guns reported or seized on non-charter school campuses 鈥� the highest of any board district. Across Albuquerque, schools saw more guns on campus than any in recent APS memory.
In the face of mounting safety concerns, APS has invested millions of dollars in security infrastructure and has already implemented some of the things mentioned by candidates.
Albuquerque has seen more guns at schools this year than any other in recent memory. How far is APS going to trace the weapons' origins?
For example, APS often coordinates with the Bernalillo County Sheriff鈥檚 Office, which in fact responded to an early-September incident in District 1鈥檚 Atrisco Heritage Academy High School in which two teenagers allegedly brought guns on school grounds.
For some time, the district also has been implementing restorative practices in schools, sometimes using them for conflict resolution between students.
But other solutions aren鈥檛 so simple.
New Mexico at large has had ongoing issues with filling vacant counselor positions, for instance. While such positions don鈥檛 have the vacancy rates of that of teachers and educational assistants, they have been between 30 to 60 statewide over the last five years, according to annual reports from New Mexico State University鈥檚 Southwest Outreach Academic Research Evaluation & Policy Center.
In early October, APS put its counselor vacancies at 17.
The candidates
Trujillo has been endorsed by the Albuquerque Teachers Federation, whose support has held a lot of weight in past school board elections. Thus far, he鈥檚 run on his record of community service and South Valley roots, but he has had to fend off concerns stemming from battery charges dating back to 2006 that, over a decade later, were conditionally discharged.
Astorga has been endorsed by several local unions but was passed over by the ATF, despite her educational-assistant credentials. Nevertheless, she touts a decade of experience working in schools and says she aims to close academic opportunity gaps.
Coker is no stranger to school board races. In 2019, he made an unsuccessful bid for the District 4 seat, currently held by outgoing board member Barbara Petersen. This year, he鈥檚 been vocal about pushing APS past stagnation, and has criticized the five-year goals the current school board has set for the district as not lofty enough.
While school board candidates run nonpartisan campaigns, the District 1 race is less politically divisive than the others, which are more or less evenly split. In a Journal questionnaire, Trujillo and Astorga identified as Democrats, and Coker identified as an Independent.
