Welcome back to another year of educating our children! You are each critical to the development of the future citizens of our state. In these continuing days of challenge, I appreciate your commitment to our mission. You form the backbone of our public education system. I am proud to be associated with each of you.
As we move into the school year, I am keenly aware that all of you are dealing with decisions that are crucial to your students, staff, and communities. Among those are conditions for reopening and student in-person learning, virtual educational implications, staffing metrics and challenges, state local and federal funding implications, short- and long-term, and consistency of service for children. Sometimes it is overwhelming and all of the time it is compelling. As we proceed through the year, it is our intent to assist in the communication and dialogues that will help inform you. To that end, I am pleased to tell you that our Secretary Designee, Dr. Kurt Steinhaus has agreed to author “The Secretary’s Corner” which will facilitate communications to you each issue. (Thank you, Kurt).
I want all of you to understand that NMCEL/NMSSA will continue to prompt communications opportunities through the year for you as practitioners that will support understanding and clear opportunities to access the decision-makers. Among those, we will continue to support the Tuesday Superintendent Virtual Call as well as the NMSSA/Charter Leaders/Leaders Virtual Call that occurs on several Thursdays each month. We also suggest that you email me or Jo Lynn with other communication needs. We are in this together.
In each edition, we will also have guest “corners” for your organizational leadership (all 18 affiliates) to provide communications to all of us on pertinent topics as you see fit. We also will continue our introductions and profiles of our new leadership in New Mexico for your review and reflection. We are only as strong as our relationships.
Finally, we are already working on our legislative platform and have been involved in our legislative work all summer, and are refining our “asks” as we move towards the Legislature of 2022. We are seeing many of our legislative leaders vitally interested in our public school mission and, while there are varying ideas floating around from them, in every case I have heard a unanimous request of us to be explicit in our needs and our recommendations.
Best Regards,
Stan Rounds