Filing day surprises came a week early in the Española School District when Board President Joe Romero announced in a Dec. 11 public meeting he would step down when his term ends in February.
The Rio Arriba County Clerk’s office made the process easier this year for candidates facing inclement weather when it decided Dec. 15 it would let candidates sign up in Española offices and not only at the County seat in Tierra Amarilla.
Yet only two candidates, both of whom had announced plans to run, filed to replace Romero — and none filed to replace Board Vice President Floyd Archuleta — by the time filing closed Dec. 16.
Only one month ago, Romero said in strongly-worded statements he planned to run in the election, and anyone who opposed him would surely fail. Rumors sprouted days later that Romero did not plan to run, and had only made those statements to clear the field for another candidate.
Though Romero flatly denied those rumors the night of Dec. 10, he announced the following evening he would not run because he plans to spend the next year traveling with his recently-retired wife.
Two candidates — Rick Vigil and Joe “Coco” Archuleta — surfaced to replace Romero. Both attended and spoke at a Dec. 11 community hearing to help select the District’s next superintendent.
Archuleta is now on his way to keep his seat with no opposition. Española Valley High School social worker Dennis Galvan, who a month ago was considering running against Archuleta, did not file. Rumors had also circulated former District special education director Mary Agnes Martinez or a relative planned to run, though it is unclear against whom.
Four candidates filed in Mesa Vista to shape what look like to opposing slates, one each to represent the El Rito and Ojo Caliente areas of the District.
If Board President Joe Gurulé keeps his seat and Marvyn Jaramillo, of La Madera, replaces Board member Braen Alire Terrazas when her term runs out, the Ojo Caliente-area faction will grow to a 4-1 majority. But if Edna Campos, of El Rito, edges out Gurulé and Joseph Henry Lopez, who grew up in El Rito, replaces Terrazas, that town’s politicians would regain the majority they lost in 2006.
Gurulé acknowledged Jaramillo was his man in the race over Lopez.
“He has some of my ideas behind him,” Gurulé said. “If he wins, maybe we can push them forward.”
Rio Arriba’s five public school boards, as well as the Pojoaque School Board, each have two contested seats in the Feb. 3, 2009, election. A two-mil levy question will also appear on Jemez Mountain School Board ballots. Voters must register by Jan. 6 to cast a ballot, and early voting will take place by mail from Jan. 9 to Jan. 30.
The following candidates will appear on school board election ballots for the election in Rio Arriba and northern Santa Fe counties:
Española School District
Position 2
Floyd Archuleta is the Board’s current vice president and will face no opposition to keep his seat. He was appointed in early 2007 to replace Joe Guillen, who resigned to take a job as director of the New Mexico School Boards Association. Archuleta left the Española City Council in 2004 after five terms and ran unsuccessfully for mayor in 2006. He is a retired employee of Los Alamos National Laboratory.
Position 3
Joe I. “Coco” Archuleta, 56, of San Pedro, is a retired employee of the Los Alamos National Laboratory and the husband of former District superintendent Patsy Archuleta.
Rick X. Vigil, 37, of La Mesilla, is director of social services for Santa Clara Pueblo and holds bachelor’s and master’s degrees in social work from New Mexico Highlands University. Vigil is a former Española Public Housing Authority executive director and social worker for the Española School District.
Both are running for elected office for the first time.
Mesa Vista School District
Position 4
Joe Gurulé Jr., 54, of Cañon Plaza, is the current Board president and is coming up on the end of his first term. He is director of the Family Learning Center in Española, and former Mesa Vista principal and assistant superintendent.
Edna M. Campos, 30, has a son who attends El Rito Elementary and studies radiation technology. She claims support from the two Board members who represent her hometown — Steve Archuleta and Braen Alire Terrazas, whose term expires in February — and from District employees, including Superintendent Robert Archuleta. Her partner, Edward Kedge, is the District’s technology director. Campos said this is her first foray into politics.
Position 5
Joseph Henry Lopez, 47, lives in Vallecitos but is originally from El Rito, where he claims to have community support. He is a maintenance operator for the Army Corps of Engineers at the Abiquiú Dam, and has two children who attend District schools.
Marvyn V. Jaramillo, 31, is a Santa Fe County sheriff’s deputy and a staff sergeant with the state National Guard. He claims support from Ojo Caliente and surrounding towns — and at least two of the three current Board members who hail from that part of the District. He is also the son of former Española and Mesa Vista superintendent Vernon Jaramillo.
Neither has run for elected office before.
Chama School District
Position 4
Gary B. Salazar, 41, who is a manager at Ghost Ranch, is running for his third term on the Board. He did not return a call for further information.
He is challenged by Higinia Cordova and Billy Joe F. Samora, a former member of the Chama Village Council who lost a re-election bid in March. Neither could be reached for comment.
Position 5
Arthur D. Espinoza, 69, of Tierra Amarilla, is the current Board president and is nearing the end of his second term. He is currently a state District Court bailiff, and drove a District activity bus in the four years between his two terms. Espinoza said he once ran for the Rio Arriba County Commission “way back,” but did not remember what year.
His opponent, Thomas R. Rivas, of Chama, could not be reached for comment.
Jemez Mountain School District
Position 1
Incumbent candidate Billy T. Cordova, of Gallina, is a logger and a Coronado High School graduate.
Bernadette A. Serrano, of Youngsville, was elected to the Board in 2001, then lost her seat to Cordova in 2004.
Neither returned calls for further information.
Position 5
Mark W. Valdez, 39, of Gallina, is a disabled veteran and stay-at-home father of four District students. He is running unopposed for his third term on the Board.
Pojoaque School District
Position 4
Claudine E. Armenta, 42, of Nambé, is running against Jon Paul Romero for the vacant seat left by Paula Roybal Sanchez when her term expires.
Armenta is a chemical technician at Los Alamos National Laboratory and the mother of two District students. She has a bachelor’s degree from New Mexico State University. Romero could not be reached for comment.
Position 5
Sharon Dogruel, 65, of Nambé, is challenging Secretary Lilliemae Ortiz, who is running for her fourth term on the Board.
Dogruel taught for 20 years in Pojoaque before going to work for the Los Alamos School District and later the state Education Department, where she was a program manager for curriculum instruction. She currently owns, Education Center, a non-profit organization.
Ortiz, 57, of Pojoaque, is a former president of the New Mexico School Boards Association and a former chairwoman of the National School Boards Association’s Hispanic Caucus. She is retired from the state Finance Department, where she was a division director.
Dulce School District
Position 2
David Montoya, 46, of Dulce, is running unopposed for his fourth term. He is a Dulce High School graduate and the director of the Jicarilla Student Residence. He has also served in the tribe’s higher education committee.
Position 5
No candidates filed to replace Secretary Steve Cata, who didn’t file to keep his seat either. Rio Arriba County Clerk Fred Vigil said write-in candidates can still file for that seat until Dec. 30.