APS Superintendent Scott Elder announces resignation

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. – Albuquerque Public Schools will be looking for a new superintendent after next school year. That’s when the district will part ways with Scott Elder. 

APS Scott Elder announced his resignation Wednesday night after a closed-door meeting discussing his contract – which ends June 2024. 

“I am proud of my service to APS and this community, and I am particularly proud of the progress APS has made, despite the challenges we faced and the unique issues created by the pandemic,” Elder said in a statement. “I am grateful to the Board for the opportunity and to the many wonderful APS employees who work so hard every day for our students.”

Elder became interim superintendent in 2020 before getting the permanent job in 2021. 

The school board thanked him in a statement.

“Superintendent Elder has led APS through some challenging times, and we are grateful for that leadership,” Yolanda Montoya-Cordova, board president, said. “We wish him well in his future endeavors, and we look forward to having his help as we transition to APS’s next era.”

Elder became superintendent of APS in July 2020, just months after COVID-19 hit.

“He is someone who is really grounded in our district, he has brought stability and he works with us as employees in a respectful way and I really appreciated that,” said Ellen Bernstein, president of Albuquerque Teacher’s Federation.

After the announcement, many employees and union members said they didn’t see this coming.

“I was half shocked,” Bernstein said. “I knew there were a lot of board meetings where they were talking about the superintendent’s contract. I wasn’t sure where that was going, but I’m, at the same time, surprised.”

An APS spokesperson said the board is still deciding how to move forward in the search for a new superintendent, but they say they do want the public to be involved in the process. They are just not sure how that will look at this time.