sa国际传媒官网网页入口

With another school year in the books, I want to celebrate the exceptional accomplishments of our students and staff, while reflecting on the significant strides sa国际传媒官网网页入口 Public Schools has made this past year.

Our success is best illustrated by the roughly 4,600 seniors who graduated in May 鈥� impressive young men and women poised to become our future doctors, engineers and educators. Among them are leaders like Wealth Eze, a Del Norte High graduate who moved here from South Africa and is now headed to Grand Canyon University in Arizona to study business information systems, and Kacee Larra帽aga from Valley High, who will study mechanical engineering at the University of New Mexico.

Kacee, a recipient of the Horatio Alger Association National Scholarship, exemplifies resilience. Despite a diabetes diagnosis at age 5 and navigating family loss and his mother鈥檚 battle with Stage 3 breast cancer, he maintained a perfect GPA and secured a full-ride scholarship. His engineering teacher, Ms. Serri Grube, ensured he stayed healthy and focused on his goals.

We鈥檙e proud to say that our graduation rate is trending upward and that two of our high schools 鈥� Rio Grande and Highland 鈥� exited school improvement status thanks to their sustained gains in graduation rates.

We also celebrated our strongest performance yet on the New Mexico Measures of Student Success and Achievement this past fall, with language arts proficiency increasing by 4.8 percentage points and math proficiency by 2.3 percentage points compared to the previous year. We鈥檙e particularly encouraged by the progress in early literacy 鈥� the essential foundation for all learning. We recognize that we still have a long way to go in both student proficiency and graduation rates, but we鈥檙e thrilled with the gains we鈥檙e seeing.

Beyond state testing, more students are excelling in Advanced Placement courses and participating in career-connected learning. 

On the athletics front, APS teams secured eight state championships this year, with La Cueva boys winning 5A championships in soccer, golf and tennis, and La Cueva winning the 5A state cheer championship. Eldorado girls won 5A championships in cross country and soccer, and Sandia boys won the 5A championship in powerlifting. And, of course, there was the Volcano Vista boys鈥� basketball team, which made history by winning its fifth consecutive Class 5A state championship!

In the arts, Eisenhower Middle School won the state concert band championship, and La Cueva senior Hadas Frish was named the New Mexico Poetry Out Loud state champion.

Our students also excelled in extracurricular leadership. At the Educators Rising New Mexico State Conference, 40 APS students earned top honors and qualified for the national competition.

We had successes in other areas as well. We reduced teacher vacancies and improved substitute coverage across the district. More teachers are achieving LETRS certification, high-quality instructional materials are becoming standard in our classrooms, and assistant superintendents are spending more time providing coaching and support.

And despite a challenging start to the year, we saw a decrease in guns on campuses compared to previous years. This indicates that our "See Something, Say Something" strategy and our clear communication regarding consequences are effectively fostering a safer environment for our students.

While we celebrate these victories, we remain focused on the future. We have embarked on an ambitious redesign of our schools to ensure they are more relevant and responsive to student needs.

At the elementary level, programs like Genius Hour allow students to engage in deeper learning by exploring their unique interests. At the middle school level, the Next Education Workforce Initiative is creating student-centered environments where teachers collaborate to meet individual needs through project-based learning and inclusive practices.

In our high schools, we are transitioning to the Academies of sa国际传媒官网网页入口. This model connects students with career pathways 鈥� ranging from engineering to health services 鈥� developed alongside industry partners. This journey begins with the Freshman Academy, which provides ninth graders with team-based, career-oriented environments.

All these efforts share a single goal: ensuring our students have access to a world-class education that prepares them for success in an ever-changing world. We are proud of our progress and remain dedicated to the work ahead.

Dr. Gabriella Dur谩n Blakey is superintendent of sa国际传媒官网网页入口 Public Schools.