New Española Valley High School Co-Principal Leslie Romero-Kilmer is back home.
Born in Española, Romero Kilmer returns after a long administrative career, and a recent stint as a district athletic director and former high school principal at Santa Fe High School, the school from which she graduated.
“Leaving Santa Fe was difficult,” Romero-Kilmer said. “But I kind of wanted to get back into the instructional part of academics.”
Romero-Kilmer, who’s held five principal positions at various New Mexico and Texas middle and high schools over the past 12 years, was attracted to the high school co-principal position after hearing good things about the school.
“I think there’s some really good things that are happening here,” Romero-Kilmer said. “I heard some really nice comments about what great kids are here, and a lot of community support.”
The former district athletic director also reflected on the high school’s well-known athletic programs.
Romero-Kilmer’s athletic background also stems from her husband, a football coach at Cleveland High School in Rio Rancho, and her son, a football coach at Texas Tech University. Her son-in-law is also NFL quarterback Garrett Gilbert, currently with the Detroit Lions.
Despite working in the Española School District for the first time, Romero-Kilmer is no stranger to the area.
“My parents are actually from Taos,” Romero-Kilmer said. “Taos, Española, Santa Fe is where we spent all of our time growing up. I’m very familiar with Northern New Mexico.”
According to her résumé, Romero-Kilmer received her bachelor’s degree in elementary education in 1984 from St. Mary’s of the Plains College in Dodge City, Kan., before receiving her master’s degree in secondary education at Eastern New Mexico University in 1990. She earned her administrative license from the same university in 2002, and additionally earned superintendent certification at West Texas A&M University in 2005.
Romero-Kilmer, 53, was the principal at Belen High School for one year and briefly an assistant principal at Pojoaque Middle School, before her administrative positions in Santa Fe.
“I don’t really say that being the athletic director was my career path,” Romero-Kilmer said.
She transitioned to the position after it was vacant five months.
“I’m just really glad I had that experience, but I want to get back into instruction,” Romero-Kilmer said.
Superintendent Bobbie Gutierrez said Romero-Kilmer was selected because of her strong showing to the hiring committee.
“Her answers were very thorough, very comprehensive,” Gutierrez said. “She just really did a very nice job with her interview and bringing real solutions to the table for some of our challenges at Española Valley High School.”
Gutierrez said Romero-Kilmer’s teaching and administrative philosophies aligned with hers and the District’s. Although Gutierrez worked with Romero-Kilmer for approximately a year-and-a-half during Gutierrez’s time as Santa Fe superintendent, she said it was important teachers and others at the school felt the same way.
Romero-Kilmer was selected among four other candidates, among them two other principals:
• Hector Cavazos, principal of Questa Junior/Senior High School.
• Jerry Baca, Pecos High School physical education teacher and middle school special education teacher.
• Ruben Salazar, principal of Hernandez Elementary.
• Bernice Fresquez-Life, educational diagnostician for educational diagnostic services in Española.
Romero-Kilmer, officially hired July 27, could not address the specific challenges she will face in the upcoming school year, as she has not had a chance to work with people.
“Just visiting with (Principal Elizabeth) Lucero, I can see that she’s putting in a lot of systems and structures at the high school,” Romero-Kilmer said. “I think just continuing the work that she has started last year is really where I need to step in and support the work that she has done.”
Gutierrez said she’ll help bring focus to several of the high school’s goals.
“Increasing student achievement, increasing our graduation rate, celebrating our successes,” Gutierrez said of Romero-Kilmer’s goals this year.
Romero-Kilmer, who is a certified superintendent in New Mexico, briefly entertained the idea of considering a superintendent position in the future.
Gutierrez is on a one-year contract, and although she’s said she was happy to help the District, she has also said in the past it is not a position she expects to hold for multiple years.
“I’m at the point in my career where I’ve felt I’ve done a lot,” Romero-Kilmer said. “That is something I would certainly consider. Given the right circumstances? Yes.”
Gutierrez said Romero-Kilmer’s current challenge will be to get acclimated with the school community, but spoke highly of her potential.
“It seems she and Ms. Lucero would make a very strong team,” Gutierrez said. “They seem to be a good fit for each other.”