Albuquerque Public Schools

This Saturday, the New Mexico Chamber of Commerce and Albuquerque Public Schools will host the 3rd Annual National Civics Bee state finals. The competition brings together middle school students to consider ideas of government, leadership, and civic responsibility.

Albuquerque Public Schools is changing how it allocates federal funds designed to help ensure an equitable education for students living in poverty. It means some schools in APS will see less funding from the state.

A year after Albuquerque Public Schools released its “Emerging Stronger” strategic plan, new Superintendent Gabriella Blakey said in the first ever State of the District address that APS is now “strong.” Still, she acknowledged there’s a lot of room for improvement.

Albuquerque is the state’s largest largest school district serving over 80,000 students across 143 schools, and on Wednesday morning its new superintendent, Gabrielle Blakey will hold the an inaugural ‘State of the District’ event to that will address improving student outcomes and other issues, like chronic absenteeism.

Albuquerque Mayor Tim Keller plans to veto the City Council’s proposal to change the city’s voting system this week, but if councilors vote the same way they did initially, they will have enough votes to override it.

Wednesday morning the White House hosted the ‘Every Day Counts Summit’ that heard from schools districts throughout the country about different strategies to address the growing problem of chronic absenteeism. Albuquerque Public Schools participated in the summit and shared their strategy for addressing chronic absenteeism.

U.S. Representative Gabe Vasquez visited Polk Middle School in the South Valley Thursday to tour its student-run farm. The congressman has championed federal legislation that aims to make the outdoors more accessible for underserved youth as a means of preserving a culture of land stewardship.

For many of New Mexico’s students, school meals are crucial, with more than 80% of them receiving half their daily calories from school breakfasts and lunches. Now, new nutrition standards from he U.S. Department of Agriculture aim to make these meals healthier and prevent diet-related diseases which are on the rise.

Albuquerque Public Schools is holding community forums this week as it stares down budget cuts. While the numbers aren’t finalized, administrators Monday said they expect to be working with around 13% less next fiscal year. They broke down the various pots of money the total will get split into and asked community members which programs they’d prioritize over others. Some participants were displeased, saying they wanted more specifics and more money to work with.

Amid low test scores, sagging enrollment and graduation rates, and a court mandate to provide a more sufficient education to students who’ve been left behind, Albuquerque Public Schools Monday named its next superintendent. Gabriella Durán Blakey was the only internal finalist for the job and said her long history with the district is an asset.