The superintendent of the Espanola School District won’t be in that office anymore because she resigned last night. The Espanola School Board appointed Bobbie Gutierrez to the northern New Mexico schools post a year ago with a goal of raising its graduation rate and test scores. The 59-year old Gutierrez, who had also headed Santa Fe Public Schools for four years prior to current superintendent Joel Boyd, resigned during an executive session of the Espanola board last night. The Santa Fe New Mexican reports the school board meeting room at Carlos Vigil Middle School was filled with parents who voiced concerns for over an hour. The New Mexican story says a teacher at Espanola High School saw Gutierrez secure a $300-thousand dollar grant to hire counselors, and that she made other advances to set the Espanola schools on secure footing for the future. Neither school board President Pablo Lujan nor Gutierrez would say why she stepped down. It’s not clear if it had anything to do with her placing head basketball coach Richard Martinez on leave several weeks ago.
The Albuquerque Public School Board has postponed a discussion about whether to extend the contract of acting Superintendent Raquel Reedy or open up the job to other candidates. The board had been set to discuss the matter Wednesday, but delayed any action until April 20 because a board member had a death in the family. Reedy's contract with the district runs through June. Members of the Albuquerque Teachers Federation and the Albuquerque NAACP have voiced their support for Reedy, who they describe as a strong leader. Reedy took over as superintendent on Aug. 31 after Luis Valentino resigned. Valentino had faced criticism after the district failed to complete its background check on then-deputy superintendent Jason Martinez, who had been charged with sexual assault on a child in Colorado.
The National Weather Service says last month marked the driest March for New Mexico in more than 100 years. The agency said New Mexico saw its driest March since 1895 as drought has returned to the state. Close to 20 percent of New Mexico is in moderate drought. Almost all of the remainder of the state is classified as abnormally dry. A dry spell that started in January and continued through February and March has permitted drought and very dry conditions to creep back into the state. The wet El Nino that was predicted fizzled out after a couple of early winter snowstorms raised hopes that the drought was over.
A member of the Supreme Court says U.S. law has become too complex for someone without extensive legal experience to work on the nation's highest court. A student at St. John's College in New Mexico asked Justice Sonia Sotomayor last night whether there is still a place on the court for non-jurists like Earl Warren and Louis Brandeis. Sotomayor says the law has become exponentially more complicated since their time and that a lot of that is the Court's own creation. She said legal experience is a must. Questions were not allowed regarding Supreme Court appointee and federal appeals court Judge Merrick Garland and the Republican effort to delay the current confirmation process.
A judiciary committee has redrafted state district court rules to bar judges from setting a bail bond higher than a defendant can afford for the sole purpose of keeping the person behind bars before trial. The move Wednesday came less than two months after state lawmakers approved a proposed constitutional amendment with similar language that will go before voters for final approval in November. Officials say the changes approved by the state Supreme Court's Pre-trial Release Committee at a meeting yesterday aren't tied to the proposed constitutional amendment. The amendment also would allow judges to deny bail to defendants who are considered a danger to the public. The committee's proposed changes must still be approved by State Supreme Court justices.
Nearly 50 mining sites in southwestern Colorado, including one that spilled a torrent of wastewater into New Mexico and Utah last summer, are a bit closer to getting funding for a comprehensive cleanup. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency proposed adding the sites, along with seven other locations nationally, to its list of sites with priority to get Superfund funding Wednesday. The EPA has proposed a Superfund designation for the Gold King Mine and other nearby sites before but residents feared it would hurt the tourist-dependent economy. Local governments along with Gov. John Hickenlooper now endorse it. The EPA will take public comment on the proposal before deciding whether to add the sites. If they are, cleanup work could still be months or years away after studies and planning.
Santa Fe officials will consider an updated plan to bring water to the city through a pipeline from eastern New Mexico. Roswell rancher Ron Green proposed a similar plan in 2007, causing widespread opposition in the southern part of the state. The controversial idea was the subject of 35 protests before the Office of the State Engineer rejected it in 2011. Green says Santa Fe officials invited his company Berrendo LLC to discuss the new proposal. A City Council committee meeting will continue the discussion on Wednesday. A memo by city water resources coordinator Andrew Erdmann says the new pipeline route would take water from Fort Sumner to Encino, then north along U.S. 285 to Interstate 40, east on I-40 and north into Santa Fe.
Staff attorneys and advisers to the New Mexico State Legislature are standing by their refusal to turn over documents to prosecutors in the criminal investigation of former state Sen. Phil Griego. The Legislative Council Service said Wednesday in court filings it is duty-bound to protect privileged communications between lawmakers, including Griego and aides who help draft legislation. New Mexico Attorney General Hector Balderas alleges that Greigo used his role as a senator to profit from the sale of a state owned building, and has subpoenaed background files on a legislative initiative that paved the way for the sale. Prosecutors also are seeking records from a Senate ethics committee that investigated the matter. That investigation prompted Griego's resignation in March 2015. Griego has pleaded not guilty to fraud, bribery and other charges.