By Susie Gran
Tribune Reporter

They've been called the four-headed monster of Albuquerque Public Schools.

In kinder circles, they are known as the executive team.

They are being watched nationally as trend setters, breaking from the tradition stipulating that a school district requires a single leader.

On Wednesday, a new label, the "four headless horsemen," was offered by a school board member who has been persistently critical of the team approach to running the school district.

Albuquerque Board of Education member John Emery likened the group approach to a 1960s commune. "We can't expect everybody to agree all the time," he said. "We need somebody who at the end of the day can take responsibility and say, `This is the way it is going to be.'"

Despite the name calling, the four APS superintendents now have contracts through June 30, 2004, with automatic annual renewal starting Nov. 1, 2003, if the board takes no action on their contracts by that date.

Three will draw an annual salary of $125,000; the fourth, $105,000. Annual raises will be tied to raises given teachers.

The Albuquerque Board of Education on a 6-to-1 vote, with Emery dissenting, approved employment contracts with the foursome Wednesday.

Their contracts set the record straight: Joseph Vigil, Beth Everitt, Michael Vigil and Tom Garrity are the "Superintendency Team" with Joseph Vigil as "lead superintendent."

Each was given a distinct title: Beth Everitt, superintendent for education; Michael Vigil, superintendent for business, Garrity, superintendent for advancement. Garrity's salary is $105,000. He joined the team in June. The others were paid $120,000 each as interim superintendents after the ouster of former Superintendent Brad Allison, who resigned in April. All except Garrity were senior members of the discredited superintendent's cabinet.

Emery voted against all of the contracts, saying he wanted Michael Vigil's and Garrity's to run only until June 2003 because they are noneducators and don't need as much lead time to get another job. He also said he had specific concerns about Michael Vigil's job performance and started to talk about the way Vigil has handled the issue of allowing school police to carry firearms.

Emery said Vigil's actions were a "clear attempt to deceive the board to implement his own policy" on guns.

But Board President Leonard DeLayo stopped Emery, saying concerns about performance need to be addressed in November when each of the superintendents will have a job evaluation.

A second evaluation will be conducted prior to June 1, 2003, according to the contracts.

As the board promised earlier, the contracts do not include bonus provisions, although each superintendent's job evaluation will be tied to the district goals and expected results. For instance, one of the goals is high graduation rates with the expectation that student drop-out rates be reduced annually by 5 percent.

The previous contracts contained controversial provisions for bonuses tied to specific goals. Everitt, Michael Vigil and Joseph Vigil were all paid bonuses last month, but decided to donate the money to a newly created fund intended to reward excellence among the district staff.

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