The Albuquerque School Board has chosen Luis Valentino as the district's next superintendent. Valentino, who now serves as an associate superintendent and chief academic officer in the San Francisco district, will begin the job on July 1.
“I look forward to collaborating with the board and the district on a shared vision and working together to see that all...students receive a world-class education,” Valentino says in a news release.
Valentino takes over the nearly 88,000-student district from Brad Winter, who has been interim superintendent since August. Winter came out of retirement to take the job on a temporary basis after the Albuquerque board ousted superintendent Winston Brooks and as part of a settlement, paid him $350,000 to buy him out of the final two years of his contract.
The Albuquerque board selected Valentino over finalists Almudena Abeyta, deputy superintendent for Santa Fe (N.M.) Public Schools, and Michael Cardona, chief school officer for Houston Independent Schools.
“The Board believes that Dr. Valentino has the right combination of professional experience, ability and vision to lead the Albuquerque Public Schools to even greater success than it has enjoyed in the past,” board president Don Duran said in a news release. “This was an extremely difficult decision We had an exceptional pool of finalists to choose from.”
Valentino has been with the San Francisco district since 2012. Before that, he worked in the Los Angeles school district for more than 20 years--as a teacher, assistant principal, principal, and director of school services.
As chief academic officer in San Francisco, Valentino developed a three-year strategic plan for the redesign of curriculum and instruction and helped raise more than $70 million to pay for it. He holds a doctorate in education leadership from UCLA, a master’s in educational administration from Pepperdine University and a master’s in instructional technology from California State University.
