Jose de Wit
SUN Staff Writer
Administrative upheaval at the Mesa Vista School District this summer translated into five-figure raises for a part-time preschool teacher and the District’s athletic director.
Meanwhile, the District cut at least two classroom positions — a reading coach and a special education teacher.
In a matter of months, Ruben Lucero went from being the Mesa Vista Middle and High School’s assistant principal and athletic director to becoming principal, then back again — with one important difference. He came out of the transaction with a $19,000 raise, District documents state.
The contract Lucero received at the start of the fiscal year, which began July 1, made him principal of the school and raised his salary from $65,060 last school year to $84,250 this year, according to District salary documents. Roughly two months later, Superintendent Robert Archuleta demoted Lucero to his old job when he hired as high school principal former Pojoaque School District assistant superintendent Janette Archuleta.
Robert Archuleta said he made Lucero principal in June because he was the best choice out of a slim pool of applicants that materialized after former principal Felix Garcia left for a job with the Cuba School District.
“We got a few applicants (for the principal position), but they didn’t have the qualifications I needed,” Robert Archuleta said. “Then (Janette Archuleta) applied and just hired her right away. Just look at her resume — it’s loaded.”
Janette Archuleta’s career includes 20 years at the Pojoaque School District, seven years with the Española School District before that and a year at Holy Cross Catholic School, she said.
Robert Archuleta said he “just doesn’t think it would be right” to lower Lucero’s salary after having issued him a contract with a raise. Archuleta also said Lucero’s new contract gives him additional responsibilities and extends his working calendar.
That means while his annual salary increased by a wide margin, his daily rate did not increase as much. Under his 261-day contract for this school year, Lucero’s daily rate amounts to $322.80, $5 a day more than under his 205-day contract last year. Lucero will also oversee the District’s 21st Century grant, a federal program that allows schools to stay open longer to provide tutoring, counseling and extracurricular activities, Archuleta said.
Archuleta said Lucero’s salary is partially funded by the grant, so his salary could drop in future years if the grant runs out. Lucero did not return calls for comment.
Lucero was sanctioned last school year by the New Mexico Activities Association for selling 100 more tickets for a basketball game against Peñasco High School than he was entitled to sell under District III-AA bylaws. The sanctions, sparked by a complaint from Peñasco Superintendent Ernesto Valdez, cost Lucero his District III-AA presidency and forced the District to reimburse Peñasco $500 for the oversold tickets.
Janette Archuleta’s 12-month contract with the District includes a salary of $88,000. Because her official start date is Thursday (8/28), that salary was prorated to $75,862, Business Manager Jeanette Trujillo said. Archuleta said she would have made an $81,000 base salary at Pojoaque this year. She will also be the District’s director of special programs, which charges her with developing curriculum, analyzing data and working with schools in need of improvement, she said.
Archuleta said her decision to leave Pojoaque was unrelated to her unsuccessful bid for the superintendent’s spot in that school district. She applied for the job after current Superintendent Toni Nolan-Trujillo said she would leave in late September due to health reasons, but Archuleta did not get the job. Archuleta said she inquired about job openings with the Española and Los Alamos school districts, but chose the job in Mesa Vista because she wanted to be “closer to kids and teachers.”
“At this point in my life, it was a good move professionally and personally,” Archuleta said. “I wanted to have direct contact with students and staff.”
The District also promoted Lillian Griego, who was the District’s preschool teacher last school year, to replace former Director of Instruction Angela Ortiz. Robert Archuleta fired Ortiz at the end of last school year for unspecified reasons.
Robert Archuleta said Griego was the District’s director of instruction under former superintendent Vernon Jaramillo, then retired to become a housewife. She will make $73,000 — $12,000 less than her predecessor, but $50,000 more than Griego herself made last year. Griego will be responsible for overseeing federal programs in the District, Robert Archuleta said. She did not return calls for comment.