"Charged with Promise"? Not yet…

[Erin Gallegos]

This year, having finally paid off my own student loans and settled into a decently paying job, I found the time and the money to make a sizable donation to the Charged with Promise campaign, specifying that the money should go toward scholarships. As a scholarship kid myself (I think I was accepted in the days of need blind admissions) the thing that I hold most dear about the Academy was actually the endowment – because for me, that’s what made everything else that I loved (and still love) about the school possible.

I have known / heard for a few years about the mismanagement, specifically related to the poor investments in Mariposa, but had not realized that things had gotten so bad in the wake of that debacle. Reading the open letter, I have to say that I’m not surprised by the high salaries of the CFO and head of school, but I do find them completely out of touch with the actual performance of their duties vis a vis the endowment, and completely baffling when compared with the leaders of other NM educational institutions (who, we know, also compete nationally for leadership). But mostly, I’m appalled at the board’s and the leadership’s seeming refusal to engage with the questions and concerns of those in the community who are demanding answers.

While I don’t regret giving the money to the Charged with Promise campaign at this stage, perhaps giving it directly to a student would have been a more effective and direct way of giving someone else the support they need to attend the school. I had planned to give more, and regularly, but any such gifts will have to be suspended until the board and school leadership are forthcoming with answers and are being held accountable – to the satisfaction of the community – for having lost most of the foundation on which so much that is great about the Academy once stood.

Erin (Penner) Gallegos
Class of ’02

[Admirer]

Dear Ms. Gallegos,
I just want to say how much my husband and I appreciate your post. This is exactly how we feel. We know several families whose children attended the Academy with our own, only because of the endowment. To think that those families might not be able to afford the Academy if they applied today is so sad.
We too have decided not to contribute until we see real accountability from the board and leadership.
Thanks again.

[Author]

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