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Superintendent Finalists Named
The Misadventures of the Missing Barber Government Attacks Recession November 21, 2007
By Bill Whaley
 FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact Person: Arsenio CĂłrdova, Chairman, Taos Municipal School Board
(575) 758-4020
Three finalists of twelve applicants for the position of Superintendent of the Taos Municipal Schools will advance to the next round of consideration for the post (listed alphabetically): Christina C. Baca of Northern New Mexico College; Dr. Loretta De Long of Mankato, Minnesota; and an unnamed person who requested anonymity at this time.
The finalists emerged after a 15-member selection committee rated each applicant. Each board member selected three committee members, including an educator and two other community members. The diverse group met and selected officers. Organization members selected Juma Archuleta, a former member of the UNM-Taos Search Committee as the chairman and Madelyn Marmol, a teacher at Ranchos Elementary School, as secretary.
At a 1:30 p.m. meeting Tuesday November 20, 2007, secretary Madelyn Marmol presented the committee report to the school board.
Christina C. Baca currently serves as an adjunct professor at Northern New Mexico College. Her duties include training prospective teachers in the New Mexico performance evaluation process for instructional improvement. At the Mesa Vista School District, she held the following positions: El Rito Elementary School Principal; and Testing Coordinator and Principal at Ojo Caliente Elementary School. She served as Director of Instruction, Testing Coordinator and Interim Superintendent for the Cuba School District. Other experience is as follows: New Mexico Department of Education Intervention Monitor and Middle School Principal for the Santa Fe Public Schools. In a 14-year period in San Diego, Baca held the following positions: Program Evaluator, Integration Coordinator, Race/Human Relations Facilitator, and Vice Principal and Principal of an elementary school. Baca also taught Special Education at the Las Cruces Schools, Taos Municipal Schools and as a graduate student, at Harvard University. She attended New Mexico State University, New Mexico Highlands University and Point Loma Nazarene College in San Diego. Harvard University Graduate School of Education granted her a Master of Education degree.
Dr. Loretta De Long currently serves as an Associate Professor of Educational Leadership for the College of Education at Mankato, Minnesota. Past positions include Manager/Writer/Editor at Turtle Mountain Community College in Belcourt, North Dakota and Principal at the Ojibwa Indian School in Belcourt. She also served as a Teacher in a day treatment program for emotionally disturbed students, social work and bilingual educator at the college level and Assistant Professor at the University of North Dakota in Grand Forks. In addition, Dr. De Long served as Vice President for United Tribes Technical College in Bismarck, North Dakota, a Bilingual Director at a tribal school, and an Education Specialist for a five-state region (Minnesota, Wisconsin, Iowa, Montana and Nebraska). She also worked as a Youth Alcohol Education and Prevention Coordinator for the Turtle Mountain tribe in Belcourt, North Dakota. She received her Doctor of Education degree in Educational Administration from the University of North Dakota.
The third person selected by the committee requested that the Taos Municipal School board refrain from public mention of a name at this time. “The individual is highly qualified. However, public mention of this person’s name right now could adversely affect current employment. Eventually, the board plans to release the name, in a proper and timely manner. We request that the media and the public honor this individual’s privacy and wishes,” stated Board Chairman Arsenio Córdova.
As the next step in the process, the board plans to schedule a public forum with the top candidates at the Enos Garcia School Auditorium on Tuesday December 11, 2007 at 6:00 p.m. The community will receive the opportunity to listen to the candidates and ask them questions. On December 12, 2007, the board will interview the three candidates prior to making a final selection.
“The board is very grateful to the committee for their hard work and difficult decision in this process. We had a pool of applicants that were very qualified and the board is satisfied that we have conducted a dignified search,” concluded Board Chairman Córdova.
Serial Satire: The Missing Chicano Barber, Part IV
Depending on decisions being made at the highest levels of Homeland Security, the El Prado Barber Shop will remain closed until at least Wed. of next week. As Horse Fly has reported, local barber, Juma “Raoul” Archuleta, aka Ali Khalid Rachman, was abducted by unidentified agents of Homeland Security on Saturday. He is currently being held in a minimum-security facility near St. George, Utah. During a call from the abducted to Horse Fly, the barber said, “I’m confined to the fairways of the St. George Links by electronic bracelets on my wrists. They call’em wristlets here.” Archuleta-Rachman joked, “The residents call it `golf-course arrest.’ If you hit a ball in the rough-ruff, you take a two-stroke penalty because the alarms go off if you leave the fairway. I played with Joe (Bananas) Bonanno (New York family) and James Coletti (Denver family), yesterday. O.J. may join our foursome tomorrow. They call me Trevino, Jr.” (Juma’s golf partner, Joe, is pictured above. He’s about 95 but plays a mean game. "He's got his own rules and enforces 'em," says the barber.)
Archuleta-Rachman is being detained in a federal witness protection program under a Patriot Act statute. He’s charged with “impersonating a foreign national.” Though Archuleta-Rachman has yet to deny his relationship to distant Mid-East cousins, he claims the government has engaged in “racial stereotyping. They don’t know a Chicano from a Saudi or a Sunni.” Then he added, “Martha Stewart’s former cook is executive chef here He specializes in Italian. Most of the residents are here because of the mid-fifties Appalachian mob bust. It’s a RICO thing. The food is good.” He laughed, “It better be.”
Archuleta-Rachman said his brother, a reportedly wealthy retiree, is afraid of showing up as a character witness, due to his own similarity to the Persian Brotherhood. “You might have to call Erminio (Martinez) to bail me out,” said the barber, momentarily worried. “I’m worried about my customers with Christmas coming up.” Then he brightened, “There’s no water-boarding here like Gitmo. Mexican nationals employed by Halliburton take care of the facility. We just report to the golf course.” A spokesperson for the Chicano Chamber of Commerce said members are considering a fund-raiser to help “Get Juma out of Jail.” Tessa Cordova is coordinating the event.
Town of Taos
Town manager Tomas Benavidez clarified the $6.5 million bond issue for town hall last night. According to the discussion, the town’s proposed expansion of town hall by some 14,000 square feet will be paid for by an extension of current GRT bonds, which means taxes will not rise but will be a continuation of bonds already in place. Councilor Darren Cordova noted that the combination of local building projects, the new pediatric clinic at Holy Cross Hospital (estimated 6400 square feet), the town’s estimated 14,000 square foot expansion project, and the county’s Judicial and Administrative Center’s estimated 100,000 square feet will be a boon to the local economy.
According to the latest figures from the Taos Economic Report, gross receipts taxes have failed to keep pace with growth factors for four quarters suggesting that a recession is in effect (due to a decline in real estate, construction, and retail business.) Among other crucial issues in the 2008 municipal election will be the allocation of Lodgers’ Tax Funds—some $1 million in town and county revenue, generated by the hospitality business. Only a small percentage, about ten or fifteen percent, is used for direct marketing. Lodgers, retailers, and some elected officials argue that lodgers’ tax revenue should be reinvested in marketing so that the community can remain competitive with other New Mexico and Colorado tourist destinations. There are an increasing number of local leaders who say the town and county need to push marketing and create events and a focus on services—like sporting events or festivals or cleaning up the community—that make the community more attractive to both residents and visitors.
School News
On Tuesday, Nov. 20, at about 2:20 pm, the Taos Municipal Schools Board emerged from executive session to announce that they had accepted the recommendations of the committee for a superintendent. Apparently, the committee selected three finalists out of twelve. After the finalists are notified, the board will announce the names. Public will be invited to meet the applicants on Dec. 4, 2007 at the Enos Garcia School.
Board Chair Cordova thanked committee members, saying they have done “a wonderful service to the community. Each board member named three committee members. We are going with the recommendations of the committee.” Cordova called the process a “dignified search.” Board member Michael Torrez also reminded listeners that the committee had made recommendations to the board.
Taos Regional Water Plan
A citizens’ committee will meet with the Town of Taos and Manager Tomas Benavidez today at 2 pm to try and iron our differences concerning the Public Welfare Statement. See Agenda. Commissioners, some councilors and activists will meet with the Interstate Stream Commission on Nov. 28 in Santa Fe. In general, Benavidez has objected to public oversight recommendations in the public welfare statement. Recent national and local weather reports about declining snow melt and increasing demand for water have created a sense of urgency about local water issues. Taos County is located at the headwaters of the Rio Grande in New Mexico. The importance of the way we preserve and protect the watershed can’t be overemphasized and requires cooperation among all the entities involved.
Special Meeting
Taos Town Council
Town Council Chambers
120 Civic Plaza Drive
Taos, New Mexico
November 21, 2007
2:00 p.m.
AGENDA
1. CALL TO ORDER BY THE HONORABLE MAYOR BOBBY F. DURAN
2. ROLL CALL
3. PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE
4. APPROVAL OF AGENDA
5. MATTERS FROM TOWN MANAGER
Review and approval of Taos County Regional Water Plan
6. ADJOURNMENT
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