Indian, Bilingual Positions Refilled by School District

The Bernalillo school district has filled two director positions that were temporary eliminated.

The Indian education and bilingual directors positions, once victims of budget cuts, were filled last week with the appointments of Abby Moquino and James Lujan

Moquino, a 14-year educator and Santo Domingo Pueblo native, takes over the Indian education position.

Lujan, a former bilingual teacher who had recently completed an administrative internship at two Albuquerque elementaries, becomes the new multilingual director.

The school board approved the hiring of the two employees at its July 13 meeting.

Superintendent Gary Dwyer planned to cut the positions and hire specialists at each school to change the Indian and bilingual education emphasis from administrative to teacher training.

The two previous directors resigned from the district in March in anticipation of their positions being cut.

The district’s enrollment is more than 40 percent Native American and 87 percent bilingual, according to state records.

The district includes San Felipe, Sandia, Santa Ana, Santo Domingo and Cochiti pueblos.

The pueblo governors had asked the Bernalillo school board in May to reinstate the Indian education director or elevate the position to that of deputy superintendent. The district responded by reinstating both of the positions, as well as a Title I director whose responsibilities had briefly been shifted to another position.

Moquino said Thursday that while the pueblos have begun to be receptive to change in the schools, it appeared they didn’t follow the direction Bernalillo was taking. It did have its benefits.

“What was so neat about this situation is it finally brought tribal leaders to come together and talk about common issues,” Moquino said.

Dwyer said Thursday that with the revamped positions, the directors will be spending a lot of time in the classrooms training teachers.

The bilingual director’s position has changed to that of “multilingual,” even though the duties have always included instruction of children who speak languages other than English.

“Most people think it’s just Spanish,” Lujan said. “It’s a misinterpretation by society.”

The position has been held by three directors in the last three years, most recently by Penelope Cisneros.

Lujan, who has been in education for six years, said he would like to see the district offer incentives to teachers who have bilingual certification.

Bernalillo now requires its teachers to have bilingual or English as a second language endorsements.

An Albuquerque native, Lujan played collegiate volleyball at the University of New Mexico, taught Folklorico dance and has appeared as an actor in “Unsolved Mysteries.”

Moquino, a resident of Cochiti Pueblo, has spent the last three years working on training programs for new teachers in the Bernalillo district when she applied for the position, formerly held by Barbara Vigil-Jiron.

“I just felt that someone needed to be in there that was from this particular area,” Moquino said of her new job.

She said she observed different classes and saw the types of teaching styles preferred by Native American students.

“I think it’s really ideal that other teachers learn about it,” Moquino said.

She taught social studies at both Bernalillo High, where she sponsored a Native American student leadership group, and at Santa Fe Indian School.

Moquino, who has a master’s degree in education from the University of Illinois and is pursuing a doctorate in language, literacy and socio-cultural studies, said she has spent the last few years developing an expertise in Native American education issues.

“When they see you as an Indian educator, they see you as an Indian education expert,” said Moquino, whose daughter, Trisha, teaches at Cochiti School and whose 15-year-old twins attend Bernalillo High School.



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