Albuquerque Public Schools: March's Outstanding Employees

Press release from Albuquerque Public Schools:

March 9, 2022

Four APS employees are recognized each month during the school year through the Employee Recognition Program. Anyone can nominate an outstanding employee. A committee made up of people from different employee groups reviews nominations, looking for those employees who go above and beyond to make a difference in their role. 

The honorees are being featured on the APS electronic billboards around town and will be recognized by the APS Board of Education, receiving a lasting memento of the honor.

Carla is described as kind and strong. She always maintains professionalism, respect, kindness, and connection when presenting information, tackling tough conversations, offering support, and problem-solving.

As an SLP Liaison, Carla has to juggle the needs, questions, and concerns of about 160 SLPs. She also maintains a caseload, working with deaf or hard-of-hearing students.

"She steps into hard meetings when needed, offers help to work through difficult problems, and provides resources to get additional information when she doesn't have it," said Kathryn Walters, a contract SLP teletherapist. "She does this all with kindness and calm, which sets her apart from other candidates. She listens and acts without judgment and offers support without conditions."

Michael (Mikey) comes to work every single day with a smile on his face and is ready to step in and assist in any way possible. He is the best teammate anyone could have. Always the first to offer a helping hand, first to share really bad (I mean really bad) jokes just to make people smile, and the first to offer words of encouragement.

Mikey knows all of the students by name, and he goes above and beyond to get to know them and make them feel welcome and special. Everything he does, he does quietly and without being asked. Mikey has stepped in repeatedly to help keep this school clean during COVID and staffing shortages and has done it all with a smile on his face. He assists at the Mobile Food Pantry every month, come rain or shine, and the clients have come to know and love him.

"We are so grateful to have Mikey at Jefferson to laugh with and to be reminded of what it means to be a truly good and kind human being," said Family Liaison Mary Slota. "We have a saying at Jefferson; Always be JetKind. Mikey exemplifies what it means to be JetKind."

Bobby Juarez goes above and beyond his job description every day, and he does so with kindness and a great sense of humor. He is reliable, supportive, and extremely positive with the students at Lowell. 

Bobby never says no when asked to help. When the school didn't have night custodians, he volunteered to stay to make sure the school would be ready for the next day. The caliber of his professionalism is well above standard.

"I have had multiple head custodians over the past 15 years at several locations, and he is by far the best I have ever worked with," said Carlos Trujillo, assistant principal at Lowell. "We would not be the same school without Mr. Juarez to keep our school clean and to be available, no matter the task."

You can nominate an employee by filling out an online application. The nomination must be completed by someone other than the nominee  ( .e., no self-nominations are eligible for consideration).

 Award recipients will be selected monthly by a Peer Praise Task Force.

This press release was produced by Albuquerque Public Schools. The views expressed here are the author’s own.