Families gathered Monday evening at the Alice and Bruce King Educational Complex as Albuquerque Public Schools prepared for the start of the new academic year. The event offered a glimpse of what students can expect when classes begin.
The APS Board of Education hosted a “Welcome Back to School” listening session. It gave families an open house preview of the district’s future. Attendees enjoyed a “Menu Sneak Peek” of new cafeteria items and toured one of the district’s new electric school buses. It also featured a facilitated discussion on APS’ plans to modernize student services
Feedback from previous sessions prompted APS to adopt the interactive format. Parents requested more engagement and hands-on demonstrations. Through the listening session, the district aimed to bridge the gap between administrative policy and classroom reality.
“We recognize that we’re doing some things, but we also know we need to grow,” said Antonio Gonzales, deputy superintendent of operations. “We need to be better tomorrow than we were today.”
What’s New in APS Cafeterias
Families will notice the biggest changes in cafeterias, where nutritious meals and food waste reduction efforts continue to expand. A state law enacted several years ago makes all APS students eligible for free meals.
Marie Johnson, executive director of Food and Nutrition Services, showcased items that will debut this semester. She emphasized a shift toward more made-from-scratch food, requiring 50% of all meal components to be freshly prepared.
Menus will now feature “chef hat” icons to identify freshly prepared items. The district will also introduce culturally relevant meals each month to align with heritage observance. Additionally, whole milk will now be offered as an option at both breakfast and lunch.
Johnson said 61 elementary schools are participating in the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Fresh Fruit and Vegetable program this year. That marks the highest participation the district has ever recorded.
APS is expanding salad bars to additional schools, she said. This is following the successful launch at all comprehensive high schools last year. By mid-September, all APS middle and K-8 schools will offer salad bars in their cafeterias.
Central kitchen staff plan to launch a hydroponic lettuce-growing operation to supply the salad bars. The system can produce more than 100 pounds of greens in three weeks.
Meanwhile, Johnson unveiled the “Lunch Out of Landfills” pilot program. Donated refrigerators will help 12 community schools save pre-packaged food that would otherwise go to waste. Students experiencing food insecurity can take the items home at the end of the day.
Food and Nutrition Services serves 46,000 meals each day across 142 school sites. The department operates with a team of 580 staff members.
How APS is Improving Student Transportation
Outside the complex, APS showcased one of its electric school buses, giving families a glimpse at the fleet’s technological future. The district will operate 23 electric buses this school year.
Royce Binns, executive director of Transportation, outlined several initiatives to improve safety and communication with families. The district is piloting a real-time tracking app that lets parents monitor bus locations in real time. Binns said the feature will be particularly helpful during the winter months.
“Safety is our first priority,” Binns said.
Binns said the district is extending interior camera surveillance to all contracted bus carriers. The move will ensure consistent monitoring across the entire fleet and align contracted buses with district-operated standards. He said the department plans to pilot optical readers that notify families when students board and exit school buses.
The Transportation Department buses serve almost 32,000 students daily. They travel about 27,000 miles a day and about 4.5 million miles a year. The department operates with a staff of about 380.
Families Share Feedback with APS
Beyond the hardware and menus, the evening centered on a facilitated discussion with families. Board members and staff joined them at tables to solicit candid feedback on district strengths and areas needing improvement.
Families recommended improving the look of cafeterias and adding grab-and-go breakfast options. They also urged the district to increase bus ridership to ease drop-off and pick-up traffic.
More than 4,100 community members responded to surveys ahead of the listening session. The current board now relies on that feedback loop as a core part of its strategy.
Officials are preparing for the upcoming school year with initiatives designed to balance operational changes and improvements to students’ daily experiences. APS will hold another listening session in November to continue gathering feedback from families. The district aims to keep improving the student experience throughout the school year.
