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Many Teachers Optimistic About New APS Superintendent

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The Albuquerque Board of Education signed off on hiring the district’s next superintendent. The local teachers union approves the board’s choice.

By mid-summer Luis Valentino will be at the helm of the Albuquerque Public School District. 

Originally from Texas, Valentino has been everything from a guidance counselor to a school principal. He currently oversees curriculum for the San Francisco School District.

Ellen Bernstein with the Albuquerque Teachers Federation said educators attended public forums with top candidates earlier this month. She said when she polled teachers afterwards the overwhelming majority of them thought Valentino was a good match because he understands public education from multiple vantage points.

“Like being a bilingual teacher,” Bernstein explained, “but I think he also understood the layers of politics and how they impact teaching and learning and that he wasn’t coming from a point of view of, basically, privilege.”

Former Superintendent Winston Brooks was mysteriously bought out of his contract last year for reasons the district has not made public.

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