Sanchez takes reins as Assistant Superintendent

Socorro Consolidated Schools announced the appointment of Kimberly Sanchez, San Antonio Elementary principal, as the new superintendent assistant.

"I am very excited to expand the impact that I hope to have," Sanchez said.

Socorro Consolidated Schools wrote in a statement that they are pleased that Kim Sanchez has accepted the position of Assistant Superintendent beginning mid-August.

"Sanchez comes with 23 years of experience in education, including bilingual education and early childhood education. She has a son who attends school at New Mexico Tech and a daughter who attends school at UNM," the statement said.

Sanchez said in her one year at San Antonio Elementary, they have become a family, and the hardest part will be leaving them.

"I got to know all of our students and staff very well and just have an immense love for them and a passion for their success moving forward and so leaving them in someone else's hands to continue forward. That is a bit of a challenge, remedied maybe only by the fact that I'm not that far away," Sanchez said

She said her priorities will be ensuring consistency and alignment across the district.

"In the role that I'll be in, I will have a lot of the responsibility for our federal funds for our grant monies," Sanchez said. "And making sure that we're spending our federal and state funds where they will have the most impact at the classroom level."

Denise Canon, who has served as assistant superintendent for seven years announced her decision to retire in June. The school board said in a meeting that they approached Cannon to be the interim superintendent after they terminated Ron Hendrix's contract. Cannon decided to retire instead.

Cannon has worked in public education for 32 years in New Mexico.

"Her love for the people of Socorro has kept her energized and excited to come to work each day, but with four young grandchildren, she decided it was time to volunteer in their classrooms and dedicate as much time to them as she can," the SCSD statement said.

Cannon was Teacher of the Year for the state of New Mexico in 2008, a national board-certified teacher, an academic coach and a principal prior to working for Socorro Schools.

Sanchez said Cannon has been a mentor to her and always brought encouragement and new perspectives.

"Denise Cannon has had a profound impact on this school district and the high level of character and community focus that we see in our district. She is a leading force; it's a big role to follow and big shoes to fill," Sanchez said.