Albuquerque district announces 39 school chief applicants

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) — Former Newark, California superintendent Patrick Sanchez and Marnie Hazelton, a former superintendent in a Long Island, New York, district are among the applicants seeking to become the next school chief of Albuquerque Public Schools, the district announced Wednesday.

District officials said they hope to have a new superintendent by July. Almost half of the applicants are from New Mexico, the district said.

The applicant pool also includes Deming, New Mexico, superintendent Arsenio Romero and Austin, Texas, school administrator Michelle Cavazos.

Albuquerque Public Schools board president David Peercy said the board is looking to hire a leader who will understand the unique needs of a diverse school district in one of the nation's poorest states. “We need to get the right person who puts students first,” Peercy said. “The stakes are pretty high.”

Peercy said about eight semifinalists will be named later and the district will hold forums with community members with candidates.

Hazelton led the Roosevelt Union Free School District outside New York City for four years until she left last year after a family accused her of deleting a student's transcript over a vendetta. The majority Latino school district ranked among the poorest on Long Island.

According to 2019 state data, about 20% of students were proficient in math and 30% proficient in English in Albuquerque Public Schools. The district is 67% Hispanic.

The incoming superintendent will replace Raquel Reedy, who announced her retirement after more than four years.

Previous school chiefs left the troubled district in the state’s largest city amid complaints of favoritism, contentious tenures, and allegations of drug addiction.

In 2015, for example, Superintendent Luis Valentino...