School Board taps Gormley as new Superintendent

Joyce Gormley, one of the two candidates selected by the stakeholder committee, was unanimously voted for the position of superintendent by the Socorro school board during its regular meeting on Monday night.

First on the agenda was an executive session to review candidate finalists for the superintendent position and threatened litigation. A full house in attendance waited two hours for the meeting to resume out of executive session.

“Community members, thank you very, very much for all being involved and caring enough to even be here tonight and sit through a two-hour executive session,” Dave Hicks, school board president, said.

Before the superintendent vote, three people spoke during the open forum and Hicks said each person would get three minutes to speak.

“I want to let everybody know we as a board, cannot respond, so please don’t take that as we don’t care or we don’t have an opinion, we’re legally not allowed to respond,” Hicks said.

Peggy Mitchusson read a letter that addressed the board with her concerns about failing to follow the procedure and timeline for a superintendent search approved by the board in October.

“The members of the committee, myself included, followed all instructions and selected two applicants to continue in the process as instructed. We were assured the board would hold interviews with only these two applicants and select one of them to be our new superintendent. We took this responsibility very seriously. Then at the December 2 board meeting, we learned the board held a three to two vote during their executive session to override the selection committee’s recommendation and add a third candidate of their choice to the superintendent selection process,” Mitchusson said, “This vote violated the Open Meetings Act, undermined the committee’s work and went against the Board’s own adoptive selection process.”

According to Mitchusson she contacted superintendent Aubrey Tucker, who told her he had self-reported an open meeting act violation. Tucker told her that a special meeting at 8 a.m. on Monday December 9 would address the violation. She said she objected to the meeting time because it would be hard for the members of the public to attend.

“I believe this meeting was scheduled intentionally when the board would not have to face the public. A few of us took leave that day to attend the meeting, along with a handful of others who were available,” Mitchusson said. “Board, tonight is your final opportunity to right your wrong and choose one of the best two qualified applicants from the position as selected by the committee. I implore you to start rebuilding the relationship with your voters, your community, the district, staff, and do what is best for our students. Thank you.”

Gwen Luna also spoke about the superintendent selection process and said as a member of the union she has heard many concerns from teachers who are worried about backlash for voicing their opinions.

“I am hoping there will be no backlash to any of the teachers who have given some indication of their displeasure at how the board has acted and how they have not supported the committee that was appointed for the very reason to help with getting a superintendent,” Luna said.

She said the teachers are dedicated to prioritizing the children’s needs, which is what they want to see from the school board as well.

“We just want y’all to back us because we do have our students’ needs first, and that was the only thing that we went into when we went to help with the selection of superintendent,” Luna said.

Last to speak was Elizabeth Rivera, Socorro High School principal. She thanked the board for their hard work and support and encouraged them to stay grounded.

"I know that your job is not easy. I know it's hard being a leader in our community, and you can't make everyone happy all the time, but you know what you have to do with your heart, and so I do believe that you're here and you're sitting there because you want to support children in our community, their future, their academic excellence and our schools," Rivera said.

After the five-zero vote for Gormley, board member Ocampo thanked the candidates, staff, administration and students for their contributions in the superintendent search.

“It wasn’t perfect, but there was a lot of work that went into it, and I can appreciate absolutely that whole process, it was a really tough decision,” Ocampo said.

The next board meeting is at 5:30 p.m. on January 6.