The Santa Fe School Board has named former City Councilor Roman “Tiger” Abeyta as the District 4 Council member.
The Board voted unanimously to appoint Abeyta to replace Vice-President Rudy Garcia who resigned last month for health reasons.
Abeyta served on the Santa Fe City Council from 2018-2021 and is the chief professional officer for Boys and Girls Club of Santa Fe/Del Norte.
He says he wants to find ways for the City and County Councils to work together with the School Board for the betterment of the entire community.
Abeyta says he also wants to see more dialogue with local non-profits like his Boys and Girls Club.
“The nonprofits play a vital role in afterschool time and summertime,” he said. “For the first time I was reached out to by the Superintendent (Larry Chavez) and we had a meeting. So hopefully we can build on that not just with the Boys and Girls Club but all the other youth serving organizations in our community.”
Board Secretary Sarah Boses says all five candidates would have been excellent choices and she was impressed with all of their answers.
In a secret ballot of the four board members Abeyta was ranked as the first choice for two and second for the other two.
He’ll take seat immediately with a swearing ceremony to be held at a later date.
Board President Kate Noble says the board will name a new vice-president to replace Garcia at its next regular meeting in August.