Board Members
Jesús Moncada
President
Jesús Moncada, President of NMABE, lives in Albuquerque, New Mexico. He is a bilingual graduate from Deming High School. He completed his Bachelor’s Degree in Elementary Education with Endorsements in Bilingual and TESOL from New Mexico State University in 1999. He began teaching for Las Cruces Public Schools and was encouraged by his supervisors to work on a Master’s Degree in Educational Administration. In 2002, he was selected to participate in Project S.I.L.T.S (Supporting Innovative Leaders in Today’s Schools), a fellowship to take bilingual teachers in a cohort through a Master’s Program in Administration with a strong focus on educating English Language Learners. In 2004, he completed his Master’s Degree and accepted a job offer in Dallas Independent School District where he worked as Assistant Principal for a year and then returned to New Mexico. He also worked for Albuquerque Public Schools as an Administrator. He is currently the school principal at Christine Duncan’s Heritage Academy, a Dual Language K-8 School with a focus on Environmental Stewardship. This is his sixth year as principal at the same school. He is currently NMABE’s representative at the New Mexico Coalition for School Administrators board and in the past served as a NMABE’s representative on the board for Dual Language Education of New Mexico. He also completed a term as member in the State Bilingual Advisory Committee. His life experiences as an immigrant from Mexico, and attending school since age 11 in this country, makes him a strong advocate for bilingual education. His passion is educating children and promoting higher education, especially with minorities and children of poverty. He strongly believes that education is the key for a better future!
Florence Acque
President Elect
Florence has been in bilingual education for 32 years, 25 of which were as a Bilingual Education teacher for the Zuni Public School District. She then spent the next four years in her career coordinating the district’s Bilingual/Title III Program. Florence was then called upon to serve in the Bilingual Multicultural Bureau of the New Mexico Public Education Department as the State Title III Coordinator. She served in that position for three years and has completed her career cycle as she has now returned to work in the Zuni Public Schools.
Emilia Vigil
Past President
Emilia Vigil, Past President of NMABE, lives in Gallina, New Mexico. She was a bilingual teacher and administrator for 32 years in the Jemez Mt. School District. She was Assistant Supt. of Cuba Schools and Principal at Na Neelzhin Ji Olta School in Torreon, New Mexico. She received the Bilingual Administrator of the Year Award from NMABE in 2005. Mrs. Vigil has a K-8 Lifetime Elementary License, a K-12 Lifetime Reading Specialty Area License, and endorsements in TESOL, Modern and Classical Languages, Bilingual Education and K-12 School Administration. She is now retired from the classroom but remains active in education as a school board member, State PTA Diversity Chair, educational consultant and grant writer. Her passion is bilingual education and her dream is that someday New Mexico will graduate all students with a dual language diploma. She strongly believes in the preservation of heritage languages and cultures and hopes to work with those on the NMABE Executive Board to realize this dream.
Dr. Rubén Córdova
Vice President
Dr. Ruben Cordova is the Superintendent of the West Las Vegas Schools and has spent most of his professional career in New Mexico schools where he has served as a special education teacher, a school guidance counselor, an assistant superintendent, a school superintendent, as the executive direction of a regional educational cooperative and as a Deputy State Superintendent. He holds undergraduate and graduate degrees from New Mexico Highlands University. He earned his doctorate from the University of Colorado where he also served as a BUENO fellow.
Dilia Manzanares
Secretary
Dilia Manzanares, NMABE Secretary, is currently employed as Federal Programs Secretary for the Jemez Mountain School District in Gallina, NM. She has been involved in education for the past ten years. Her first position for the schools was Bilingual Education Secretary. She has three grandchildren and it is her dream to one day hear them say they are fluent in two languages: English and Spanish.
Javier Arellano
Treasurer
Javier Arellano is a Tier II educator with five years of experience in education. Mr. Arellano is currently teaching middle school Math for the Mesa Vista Consolidated School District. He received his Bachelor of Arts Degree in Public Administration from New Mexico State University and an Associate’s Degree in Information Technologies from the University of New Mexico. Javier enrolled in and completed the Alternative Licensure Program at Northern New Mexico College, and he recently received his Master of Arts Degree from New Mexico Highlands University. Mr. Arellano is very involved in the arts, jewelry making, sculpting, and in the making of Spanish colonial furniture.
Mercedes Sandoval
Parent Representative
Bio pending.
Lorenzo Sánchez
Dual Language Education of New Mexico Representative
Bio pending.
Rosalinda Carreón Altamirano
So. Consortium
Bio pending.
Vernon Jaramillo
No. Consortium
Mr. Vernon Jaramillo is a native from La Madera, New Mexico who now resides in Ojo Caliente, New Mexico. He has been and continues to be a strong advocate for Bilingual Education and Multicultural Education Programs. He holds a Bachelor of Arts Degree in Education and also holds two Master of Arts Degrees in Counseling and Guidance and Public School Administration from New Mexico Highlands University. He has 38 years of experience in Education in Northern New Mexico. He is the former Superintendent for the Española Public School (2003-2005) and the former Superintendent for the Mesa Visa School District (1987-2001). He has worked with the Ojo Caliente School District, Española Schools, and Questa School District as an instructor, counselor and administrator in a bilingual setting. He also worked for the Peñasco School District and Mesa Vista School District as the Bilingual Director/Coordinator for a number of years. He served as a School Board member to the Mesa Vista School District for approximately five + years (1981- 1986). He served as a member to Board of Regents to Northern New Mexico Community College in Española, New Mexico for six years (1993-1999). He also completed a term as a member to the State Bilingual Advisory Committee; and a former board member to the New Mexico Public School Insurance Authority Advisory Board of Directors (1997-2002). He received the Bilingual Administrator of the Year Award from NMABE in 1995. He is the recipient of the New Mexico Administrator of the year in 1995. He was also the President of the Executive Board of Directors of the Cooperative Educational Services. He is a member of the Knights of Columbus. Mr. Jaramillo holds a K-8 Lifetime Elementary and Secondary Teaching License, a K-12 School Guidance and Counseling License and a K-12 School Administrator’s License. He retired from the education profession in 2005. However, in 2007, he returned to work as a Counselor to the Española Military Academy Charter School (2006-2008). On 2008 Mr. Vernon Jaramillo was employed as the Chief Executive Officer, Chancellor and Counselor at Cariños de los Niňos Charter School, a Dual Language K-8 School with a focus on Environmental Awareness, inclusive of Agriculture. This is Mr. Jaramillo’s fourth year as Chief Executive Officer, Chancellor and Counselor at Cariños Charter School. He is also the president for the Northern New Mexico Bilingual Consortium and a member to NMABE’s Board. Mr. Jaramillo strongly believes wholeheartedly in the movement to promote Bilingual and Multicultural Education Programs globally for ALL students; especially for English Language Learners, through effective leadership, commitment, planning, implementing best researched practices, professional development, mentoring and by encouraging parental involvement.
VACANT
Pueblo Representative
Louise Benally
Navajo Representative
Born in Rehoboth and raised in Church Rock, New Mexico, Louise graduated from Rehoboth Mission School in 1968. She received her B.S. and M.A. in Elementary Education from the University of New Mexico in 1973 and 1975 respectively. Her interest in language issues was sparked when, as a work study student, she worked for The Navajo Reading Study at the University of New Mexico under some famous linguists; Dr. Robert Young, Dr. Bernard Spolsky, and Dr. Jim Kari. She began her career as an educator at one of the first Navajo local community controlled schools, Rough Rock Demonstration School, in 1973. Her work has primarily been involved with language and culture education; Navajo language curriculum development at the Native American Materials Development Center where she wrote and produced several Navajo Literacy materials which are still in use today; coordinated and wrote for a Navajo Division of Education project that developed the first and only Navajo Bilingual Teacher Language Proficiency Assessment that is still in use today by Dine College; and as a writer for the Beauty Way Curriculum Project, a substance abuse prevention curriculum for K-12 B.I.A. schools, she developed lessons which produced many beautiful posters that are still on display in various offices. In 1991, she began an 11 year stint with the B.I.A. as an Education Specialist- Contract Officer’s Representative at the Fort Defiance Agency. Since 2001, she has been a Language Specialist and now, Coordinator of the Bilingual and Title III programs for the Gallup McKinley County Schools. This is home; where her work continues in promoting and maintaining, not only Navajo, but all Native American languages and cultures.
Maureen Olson
Apache Representative
Maureen Olson currently teaches at the Dulce Middle School. For many years she taught 1-4 grade in the regular classroom while also coaching the elementary girls basketball team for a few years. She began teaching Jicarilla Apache language and culture at the Dulce Elementary School then began working for the Jicarilla Apache Nation on several projects which included youth cultural camps and youth cultural day camps. She was on the Jicarilla Apache Language team which assisted in writing an M.O.A. between the Jicarilla Apache Nation and the NMPED. During this time she was also working with Matilda Martinez, Wilhelmina Phone, Melissa Axelrod (Linguist), Jule Gomez de Garcia (Linguist), Jordan Lachler, and Sean M. Burke to write a Jicarilla Apache Dictionary. On the home front, she has a son Shane Valdez, and two daughters, Robin Begaye and Camille Harrison, and nine grandchildren.
David Briseño
Executive Director
nmabe@suddenlink.net
505.238.6812
David Briseño is the Executive Director of the New Mexico Association for Bilingual Education (NMABE), a position he has held for the past 8 years. He retired from the Clovis Municipal Schools in January of 2009 after 26 years of service. He served the District as a bilingual teacher, building principal and he spent the final 12 years of his career as the Director of Federal/Bilingual Programs. He immediately began working as the Director of Outreach and Clovis Practice Manager for La Casa Family Health Center, a primary health care center in Eastern New Mexico dedicated to providing access to medical and dental services to the underserved. David and his wife, Margaret live in Clovis, New Mexico and have 4 children, Abran Gonzalo, David Roberto and his wife Marina, Agustín Lorenzo and Maria Consuelo. They also have a granddaughter, Dara Aricia.
Mary Jean H. López
Associate Director
maryjeanhl@msn.com
Mary Jean has many years of experience and expertise in the field of bilingual multicultural education at the local, state, national, and international levels. She was the state director for the program at the Public Education Department, a bilingual education secondary education coordinator, a middle school ESL teacher as well as an elementary bilingual education instructor. She has prepared and delivered workshops, talks, institutes, and university courses in schools and school districts in New Mexico, at national conferences, and in Spain and Mexico and has served as a consultant for the USDE, the Council of Chief State School Officers, the Embassy of Spain, and the White House Initiative on Educational Achievement for Hispanics, among others. She authored the chapter “Multilingualism in New Mexico” in Nuevo Mexico: An Anthology of History, published in 1990. Currently, she is the Associate Director for NMABE and an adjunct professor for New Mexico Highland University, providing courses in bilingual education for preservice and inservice teachers.