Parents from Kirtland AFB met with Highland Cluster principals and APS administrators on Tuesday, January 20th at the 377th Air Base Wing conference room. Highlights:
The meeting was short (1.5 hours) and had a narrow focus (three questions):
-- What are your top three priorities for your child's education?
-- What are your top three concerns about your child's education in APS?
-- If APS could do one thing to address your concerns, what that be?
Col Bower struck a positive, constructive tone to start the meeting.
-- Past meetings have been productive and resulted in positive changes for military dependents (e.g., now need only two semesters in APS to attain class ranking, which is consistent with other districts nationwide).
-- Meetings like this help get and keep importnat issues on the table so that they can be addressed.
-- Strong performance by APS helps the base by attracting the "high-tech" employees that KAFB and Sandia need, and helps create those kinds of employees among ABQ residents. (Potential employees often consider public schools a major factor in decisions to relocate.)
-- There are long-standing, often unjustified perceptions about APS performance that must be addressed.
Attendance was "sparse" -- probably a 15-18 parents -- a common problem district-wide. For future meetings, all parents with children in school (private or public, Highland cluster or not) should be encouraged to attend.
There were common themes among the focus groups' priorities and concerns:
-- Academic challenges / opportunities to excell.
-- Education for responsible citizenship.
-- School atmosphere (safe, nurturing, open / friendly)
-- Accountability
-- Consistency of standards, discipline, and treatment across the board (between classrooms, across the district, and with other districts nationwide)
I'll add more info here as it becomes available. Please call or email me if you have questions, comments, or suggestions.
Mike Kruchoski
480-5000 (cell)