Rio Rancho schools superintendent finalists outline priorities with community

RIO RANCHO — Three finalists for superintendent of Rio Rancho Public Schools met with stakeholders Monday to outline their priorities for the role and share who they are.

Todd Resch, RRRP's executive director of athletics; Heather Sánchez, chief operating officer of the Bellevue School District in Washington state; and Robert "Robby" Dodd, an administrator for Montgomery County Public Schools in Maryland, gave back-to-back presentations to various groups, including the public, at the RRPS Training Center. Further meetings between stakeholders and finalists are expected Tuesday.

The meetings were facilitated by the school board's hired search firm, Ray & Associates, with representatives asking finalists submitted questions at the end of their presentations.

The meetings came on the first of a multi-day visit to Rio Rancho by the finalists, who, if selected, would be only the second superintendent in the school district's history, following Dr. Sue Cleveland. The five-member RRPS Board of Education is expected to name their choice in a public meeting at 5:30 p.m. Wednesday at the training center.

Todd Resch

Resch, RRPS's athletics director since 2023, gave attendees a number: 34%.

That was the percentage of Rio Rancho students who were proficient in math during the 2024-25 school year, he said. 

 The statistic alone is why Resch wants RRPS to have a districtwide math goal.

 "A districtwide math goal makes it clear that improving math outcomes is everyone's priority," he said.

Specifically, Resch would like to boost the math proficiency score from 34% to 44% by the end of the 2026-27 school year.

"This goal matters because math matters," Resch said. "Math matters because, as a core content, it provides success for students in college, career and life."

He wants to accomplish that goal by recruiting more math teachers and assigning them mentors to carry out lesson plans. Current teachers will get more professional training on how to provide math education, Resch said.

Before joining Rio Rancho, Resch was an executive for Albuquerque Public Schools and a principal at several APS schools. He got his start as a physical education teacher at Annunciation Catholic School in Albuquerque. 

Resch is a U.S. Navy veteran. He is married and has one daughter, who is studying nursing at Central New Mexico Community College. 

Heather Sánchez

In Bellevue, Sánchez currently oversees one of Washington state's top-rated school districts, which has a budget of over half a billion dollars and 19,000 students. She was also a teacher and administrator in Colorado and New Mexico before moving to the Evergreen State.

"When I think about the course of my career, I think that things have always worked out as they should in the end and fewer things are left to coincidence," Sánchez said. "I believe that my personal journey and my professional preparation have prepared me in a truly unique way to step into the role following the legacy of Dr. Cleveland."

She said she was asked by the search firm to focus on one topic, but she wanted to focus on several because "you as the community have a right to know what I'm seeing as emerging key priorities."

Sánchez wants RRPS to continue early literacy efforts, student well-being and experiences as well as districtwide "operational excellence."

She said RRPS's literacy results is above the state average, much like it is in her home school district. Yet only about half of RRPS's students are proficient in literacy, she said.

"We must provide — especially in grades K-3 — quality literacy experiences," Sánchez said.

She wants to focus on "safe, supportive and inclusive schools," prioritizing students' physical safety, social and emotional safety and schools that include everyone. "They all work together," Sánchez said.

Part of "operational excellence" includes RRPS being transparent about and completing projects related to the $80 million bond overwhelmingly approved by voters in November. Sánchez also wants to recruit and retain staff at every level as part of her operational excellence platform. 

She wants to work with RRPS's staff and board to update the strategic plan, which expires at the end of the year. 

Sánchez — born in Hobbs and a graduate of Albuquerque Public Schools — began her presentation by greeting attendees in Spanish.

Then, in English, she told attendees "how excited I am to have the opportunity to return home" to her native New Mexico, where her grandfather arrived in a covered wagon.

Sánchez even joked about her age, saying she graduated from Highland High School in Albuquerque two years before the inception of Rio Rancho schools in 1994.

Sánchez met her husband at Western New Mexico University in Silver City, where she earned her bachelor's degree, and had three boys.   Sánchez currently has family who reside in Rio Rancho.

Robert "Robby" Dodd

Dodd, an administrator in Maryland's largest and most diverse school district, described his plan for RRPS as "honoring the past, building the present and inventing the future."

He said Rio Rancho schools has a solid foundation thanks to the leadership of Cleveland.

He praised Rio Rancho schools not only for its leadership but also for schools where students are "known, safe and supported." Dodd said he felt that way when he visited several Rio Rancho schools, including RioTECH, which opened this school year.

In terms of "building the present," Dodd would like to see RRPS continue to outperform the state on graduation rates — and raise them. He would also like to raise the district's reading and math literacy rates.

Dodd said these goals can be achieved by the time students graduate high school in 2040.

"We, as a community, really need to begin planning 15 years out," he said.

Dodd presented his plan,  "the seven keys to student success in 2040."

"This is a draft. This will require us to work together over the next year to agree on these seven keys: 'What are the seven things, pre-K through 12, that will allow us to invent the future for this next generation?" Dodd said.

He also wants to conduct regular feedback sessions with stakeholders and be transparent about results for the school district.

Dodd, the son of a school administrator and teacher, went on to serve not only as an educator himself but as principal of all three levels of public school: "not a career path I'd recommend to anybody," Dodd said to laughs. "Just kidding; it's been great!"

He is married with a son and daughter. "I hope they're not watching me tonight, but I hope they're proud," Dodd said.