7/16/09
The Española School District filled two high-profile positions in a matter of weeks when Fidel Trujillo was hired July 1 as human resources director and Pat Lopez was rehired in late May as special education director.
Trujillo has been an assistant professor at University of New Mexico since 2008, while he completed a doctorate in language, literacy and sociocultural studies, according to his resume. He was previously a liaison officer for an education program run by the federal Agriculture Department, a program director at University of New Mexico and an assistant athletic director at New Mexico Highlands University.
Trujillo, of Mora, also has a bachelor’s degree in communications and a master’s degree in sports administration, both from New Mexico Highlands University, his resume states.
He will start work in early August and will be paid a $76,000 annual salary, Superintendent Janette Archuleta said
Former superintendent David Cockerham had been human resources director since late 2008, when the School Board cut his contract short by 12 months and raised his salary by $60,000.
Lopez Rehired
Lopez was originally brought in to clean up the District’s Special Education Department in 2006, but she left last fall to care for her ill mother. Lopez returned June 1 at a $76,000 salary, human resources assistant Kina Quintana said.
When Lopez was first hired, the District faced 17 special-education complaints with the state Education Department and three pending federal lawsuits. The last of those, filed by the family of former high school student Jeremy Montoya, was settled for about $200,000 two months before Lopez resigned.
Only one federal lawsuit arose during Lopez’s previous stint with the District. Denise Quintana filed the federal complaint Feb. 4 claiming Lopez’s department failed to comply with an agreement to provide services to her disabled son.
The state Education Department received at least 10 complaints against the District just during the 2005-06 school year, the last year in which Mary Agnes Martinez, Lopez’s predecessor, oversaw special education in the District, Department spokeswoman Beverly Friedman said. Out of seven complaints that have been filed against the District since mid-2006, only one has not been resolved, Friedman said.
The Department has not fulfilled a request for complaints filed since August.
By and large, the District’s Special Education Department improved under Lopez’s first tenure according to state Education Department measures. Standardized test scores and graduation rates increased between 2006 and 2008 among special education students while dropout rates fell, data shows. However, the District backtracked during the same period of time in efforts to integrate special education students in regular education classes.
Both Lopez and Trujillo were picked from a list of applicants that included several current District administrators (see sidebar).
Alfred Garcia, the District’s interim special education director during Lopez’s absence, applied unsuccessfully for both jobs. He is now overseeing elementary and secondary summer school programs, he said.
Garcia said he plans to retire at the end of the summer to care for his elderly mother. He was formerly principal at Española Middle School, and he also applied this spring to replace Cockerham, whose last day was June 18.