Albuquerque Journal from Albuquerque, New Mexico • 9

ALBUQUERQUE JOURNAL 11 I 'PUT THIM Iti JAIL Lc nuJ.tr suggests proseculions in Cerro Grande Fire ir Business 4 -TiOS Weather 8 Deaths 8 1 3 sMeiife QeesltaoE District Idea uuu LI I I i Bo Re j- School Board Panel Hears Plan brano Agreement, to focus on South Valley schools. The citizens group set up to monitor the agreement filed a complaint earlier this year contending the district wasn't living up to its promises. Arlene Cabal Jon, co-chairwoman of the Sambrano Monitoring Committee, said she worries about the motivations behind the campaign. "If there is money involved, there may be politics involved" she said Sigala said supporters know there are questions, but he said it's too early to hold mass meetings. He said questions about the motivation of the movement's leaders can be answered when more research has been done.

"I understand why questions are being raised" he said "They are legitimate questions." Sam Sanchez, another organizer, said the APS board doesnt need to be involved now. The state Department of Education is the body that can make a new district happen, he said Sanchez said he will meet with state Superintendent Michael Davis later this week to discuss a new district "This board will not be in a position to give us permission," Sanchez said "Anything right now is purely premature." wonders whether it would continue under a new district She also believes teachers and administrators who have made a commitment to schools in the South Valley would leave if the area became independent "We don't want to take 20 steps forward and start over again," she said South Valley schools consistently report some of the lowest test scores and highest dropout rates in APS. Failures at schools in the valley prompted parents to complain to the U.S. Justice Department That resulted during the 1980s in a series of promises by APS, called the Sam- showing there have been strides in South Valley schools. Afterward, Allison said he has focused more on achievement in the South Valley than any other area.

"I am not going to hold anybody back if they feel they can do a better job of educating the children," he said "But fve said my administration will rise and fall oa achievement in the South Valley." Diane Carriag a-Cuaron, mother of a child at Barcelona Elementary, in an interview questioned the value of a new district Carriag a-Cuaron said she is seeing improvement Barcelona adopted a new reading program, and she cluster. More than 20 people interested in learning about the proposed district also attended the meeting but didnt get to air their questions or concerns. Some supporters of the proposed district questioned whether the time is ripe to be talking to the board But former school board member Ralph Sigala said he wanted to follow "the diplomatic route." "It is our unequivocal belief that the educational needs of our children have not been met," Sigala told the board's Policy Committee. During the meeting, Superintendent Brad Allison said data will be reported to the board next month BY RlTI KEX4LE iurnaj Sh JJ Writer South Valley residents who ques-! tan the isdom of an independent district say they wonder hether the change will make edu-'. ition better for their children.

i A key proponent of the idea went an Albuquerque school Hard committee Monday to explain lie propcsal to form a new district Tom the Flo Grande High School Police Na i mm 1 Oj ,1,1 TAJUN3 IT IN: Logan Garcia reads during a class of the APS Summer Reading Academy at Hawthorne Elementary School. uspect Attack Reported In Retirement Home 4 ITER Aft i I I 6-week Summer Reading Academy gives children with lagging skills a helpful boost Vt I i if 1 By Andrew Papu la Journal Staff Writer A 25-year-old Albuquerque man was arrested early Sunday for allegedly raping an 83-year-old woman at a retirement home, and police say they believe he might have committed a similar crime last year. Richard Vespender, whose address is listed on Nakomis NE, was arrested in a parking lot just blocks away from the Camlu Retirement Apartments, 12101 Lomas NE, where police say the crime was committed. He was charged with criminal sexual penetration, kidnapping and aggravated residential burglary, according to a criminal complaint filed with the Bernalillo County Metropolitan Court. The complaint said Vespender matched a description given by the victim.

Sgt. Stan Gloria of the Albuquerque Police Department Sex Crimes Unit said an 85-year-old woman was raped at the Camlu apartments in September and he believes the suspect also might have been involved in that crime. "We feel that the similarities between what was done then by the perpetrator and what was done now are close enough that there is a link," Gloria said. Gloria said the perpetrator gained access to the apartments the same way and that both victims were elderly. "Unfortunately (the first victim) had bad eyesight," Gloria said.

"She was unable to provide a lot of information that would have helped us develop any more leads." He said DNA tests will be performed to see if Vespender can be linked to both crimes. The criminal complaint filed Sunday states that a male subject broke into the victim's apartment and raped her sometime before 2 a.m. The subject fled through the apartment building's front door after being spooked by an alarm that had gone of the complaint states. "It's unknown whether it was a car alarm or another alarm in another room," Gloria said Police arrested Vespender after receiving a call about a suspicious man who had been seen in a nearby parking lot. Vespender had blood on his hands, according to the complaint Camlu's manager Gene Andrews said the apartments in the complex are all accessed from the inside and the perpetrator must have hidden inside until the doors were locked at 7 that evening, "What we're thinking is that the person came in prior to 7 p.m.

and was apparently hiding in the building somewhere," Andrews said. He said the complex had taken measures to beef up security after last September's rape, including adding fences and lighting. He said Camlu is in the process of getting a security guard "But when a person wants to commit a crime, he'll do it," Andrews said. Vespender was being held Monday in the Bernalillo County Detention Center Monday on $45,000 cash surety bond. By Ri-di Keu.er Journal Stuff Writer When Juan Aguirre's mother told him he would be going to school over the summer, he didnt like the idea.

The 8-year-old who will be a third-grader at La Mesa Elementary School in the fall, wanted to stay home to play with his dog. He didnt want to go to Hawthorne Elementary every day for a reading class. "I thought it was going to be boring until I heard we were going to leave at 12 o'clock," Juan said. That early quitting time and the extra attention he gets in a class of six students make the day easier, he said. Juan is one of more than 100 Albuquerque Public Schools students in the' Summer Reading Academy, a program designed to take students who are a year or more behind in reading and advance them to the level of their peers.

The program, in its second summer, is funded by APS, federal Title I money, Indian education funds and private donations. The program is offered at four schools, one in each quadrant of the city. Students were recruited based on their scores on reading tests. The cost, more than $1,000 per stu- dent, is worth the investment, said Linda Lefton, director of summer school programs. Of the 71 students who took part last summer, 93 percent advanced at least a year in reading ability, she said.

All the students will be entering third grade this fall. The program was designed to take 144 students, she said, but there weren't enough teachers willing to work the six-week class schedule, "This program requires some real specific skills on the part of the teachers," Lefton said "And it is really hard to work all year and then work aU summer The llispano Chamber of Commerce and Intel are two of the biggest con-: tributors to the more-than $40,000 in r- to 1 ROSE PALMISA NO JOURNAL Ctt: Teacher Mary Ready works with Jose Valenzuela during a Hawthorne Elementary School class of the APS Summer Reading Academy. Mora than ICO students are enrolled In the program at four schools. trict could benefit from the program. Unfortunately, he said, the district doesnt have the money to expand it.

The district is examining the test scores of students enrolled in 1999 to determine whether they kept pace with their peers in the third grade, Allison said The reading program is part of the district's focus on preventing academic failure in early grades and remedying problems in later years, he said Every day, teacher Lisa Rodriguez charts Juan's and his classmates' progress, sometimes recording them as they read aloud Students return log sheets every week showing that they spent at least 20 minutes each evening reading with their parents, Rodriguez said. All of the students working with Rodriguez were reading at the level of beginning first-graders when the program started June 12, she said. "Almost all have moved up at least a level," or a month, in reading skills, she said. private contributions to the program. Jon Barela, chairman of the chamber's board and public relations director for Intel, coordinated the gifts to support 30 students, said Loretta Armenta, president of the Hispano chamber.

"Any opportunity we have to provide another learning opportunity is very important to us, and this is something where you see a result immediately after the program," Armenta said APS Superintendent Brad Allison said "thousands" of students in the dis ties St ate-of-Art Newsplex, Welcomes Old Hand unc the television news business, resigned suddenly from KOAT-TV, Channel 7, in May after 10 years there. He has worked for all three of Albuquerque's largest television stations and will be making his third stop at Channel 13. I le was first hired as a reporter at Channel 13 (then KGGM) while if "I'm happy to be back" I Longtime TV journalist Knipfing joins Channel 13 staff in behind-the-scenes Irolefornow i By Barbara Cuavkz Jtwrnnl Stuff Writer KRQE-TV, Channel 13, unveiled its $1 million newsplex Monday evening. Then KRQE executives introduced the latest addition to their staff, veteran newsman Dick Knipfing. The announcement by KRQE general manager Bill Anderson capped off a private party at the station's new television studio with more than 200 guests on hand to see the first newscast in the new studio and to welcome Knipfing back to television news.

Knipfing, 57, strolled through an upper-level doorway and walked down a stairway, took the microphone and told the Crowd he was back. 1 "I was a college student when I was Hired here, and that's when my love affair ith news reelly began," he said "I'm happy to be back and happy to be with a news team like this one." Knipfing, who has more than 35 years in the reporters and staff. "He will do this until such time as his contractual obligations have been fulfilled with KOAT," said Salamone. "I'm happy to be back, and I'm thrilled to be looking at the future," Knipfing said, referring to the state-of-the art newsplex that took KRQE six months to complete. Knipfing said after he left KOAT, he contemplated retiring from television news.

"But this is what I love, and this is what I do," he said. "I'm not ready to just step away for good and I think I have something to offer a staff such as the one here," The $1 million KRQE expansion involved renovating an old sound stage at the station and turning it into an updated newsroom and studio. Viewers see the KRQE anchors in the foreground with the open newsroom in the background. The studio incorporates the latest in technology and production, said Anderson. "This project is for our viewers, but it's also for our news team that for the past year has really proven it is capable of getting the job done," he said.

"Now they have the kind of environment to let them do their jobs even more effectively, and that's what they deserve." he was still at the University of New Mexico 37 years ago. From 19o3 to 1979 he worked at KOAT. He worked the next 10 years at KOB-TV, Channel 4, and at Channel 13 and then was hired back at Channel 7. Because of a noncompete clause in his contract with KOAT, Knipfing will have an of f-the-air role at KRQE until next year, KRQE news director Dan Salamone said KRQE also is unable to promote Knipfing on the air or in any public capacity until the contract details esr-ire, Salamone said Salamone said Knipfing will run the daily news meetings and serve as a mentor to MARK HOLM, XXIRNAi Camera technician Dlno gets the KRQ news set realty tor Its debut at anchor Art Barron and Desnna Saucetfa prepare to open the p.m. it awe-cast.

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