After months of speculation and rumors about the return of an Española School District leader, the School Board rehired former superintendent Bobbie Gutierrez as the District’s top administrator.
Board members, on Tuesday, agreed by a 3-1 vote, to give Gutierrez a two-year contract to serve as the superintendent. She will begin the job immediately and replace Denise Johnston as acting superintendent.
Gutierrez will officially start her tenure as superintendent at the beginning of the 2018 Fiscal Year — July 1.
Salary and other terms of the contract won’t become public until after the New Mexico State Department of Education approves the employment contract.
It is isn’t clear how long it will take for the contract to get approved by state regulators because the Department’s public information officer has not returned calls seeking answers to this and other questions.
The Board chose Gutierrez, following a fast-tracked search that started some time around May 12, when Johnston empaneled the search committee.
Board members settled on a final candidate, following a series of public and private meetings, which included a June 8 candidate forum.
Gutierrez said she is pleased to be back with the District and looks forward to following through on some of projects, like the security upgrades at Española Valley High School, that were abandoned when she resigned shortly after firing controversial former coach Richard Martinez.
“I am excited to be back,” she said. “It feels like I am returning home. It has been a warm welcome.”
The incoming superintendent said she isn’t lost on the fact that some community members believe the process was tainted and her selection was a “done deal.”
However, she said deciding to apply for the position, then competing against the other two candidates — Denver’s Robert Stannard and Española’s Art Blea — wasn’t an easy task.
“I think that it was a good process — a learning experience,” Gutierrez said. “I had to put a lot of thought into deciding if I wanted to come back.”
Besides feeling that her work wasn’t complete, the incoming leader said she decided to return because she felt her work made a difference to the students and teachers she served.
Two of those critics were Board members Pablo Lujan and Patrick Herrera.
While Lujan has maintained, ever since outgoing superintendent Eric Martinez was placed on leave, March 6, that the Board would stop at nothing to bring Gutierrez back, Herrera didn’t lose faith in the process until late.
Although Herrera voted to approve hiring Gutierrez, he expressed discontent with the process. He said he believes the Board wasted everyone’s time because he doesn’t think they ever had any intention of selecting any candidate other than Gutierrez.
“They are no different than the previous Board if they bring Bobbie back,” Herrera said, following the June 9 candidate forum. “It is sad the kids always pay the price for the Board’s agenda.”
Herrera said he gave in and voted to approve Gutierrez’s employment contract, despite his displeasure with the process because, overall, he believes she will probably be a good leader.
Board President Ruben Archuleta dismissed his colleagues’ assertions that the process was rigged.
“We didn’t waste anyone’s time,” he said. “The committee wasn’t stacked whatsoever. If you look at the list of criteria, they were the top three applicants.”
Lujan questioned the integrity of the process, considering Johnston and Gutierrez shared a home during the latter’s first term as superintendent.
“It worries me having Denise Johnston oversee the process because it is automatically skewed toward Ms. Gutierrez,” he said when the search committee was empaneled. “She should refrain from the process to make it fair.”
Johnston dismissed the idea and reiterated the process was transparent and that her role in the search was limited.
Archuleta said he didn’t consider the living arrangement during the search process.
“I didn’t even think about it,” he said. “It never came to mind. That is personal. I can care less where they live.”
Candidate forum
Herrera and Lujan, in a brief bout of cooperation, were on the losing end of the 3-2 vote that solidified Gutierrez’s status as a sole finalist.
The pair voted for Stannard, while Archuleta, Vice President Yolanda Salazar and Treasurer Gilbert Serrano voted to send Gutierrez to the next round.
Herrera said he liked Stannard because he was an outsider with no apparent ties or political connections that could interfere with his ability to move the District forward.
After interviewing, then listening to Stannard in an open forum, Herrera said he was convinced that the Denver resident was the ideal candidate to address the District’s myriad issues.
During the forum, the candidates were asked a wide range of questions, such as how to stop the student exodus, how to use existing mental health resources to improve student outcomes and how they would ensure the classrooms had textbooks, to name a few.
While Blea and Gutierrez explained they would look at using more technology or work with principals to determine what type of instructional materials are needed, Stannard said he would meet with the teachers who actually use the materials, to see what they think is needed.
All three candidates agreed that a robust plan of action is needed to stop the students from leaving the District.