By Rodd Cayton
Robert Dodd says he’s unlikely to be teaching anybody math or reading during the upcoming school year.
However, he says, it’s his job as the second ever superintendent of Rio Rancho Public Schools to ensure the people who will be teaching math, reading and everything else have the resources, the guidance, and the support they need to ensure student success.
To underscore the way he views his role, Dodd has given a new name to where he works: it’s now central services, not the district office.
Dodd called the 2026-2027 school year a “bridge year,” connecting the current high-performing district and his stated goal of having the best schools in New Mexico.
“It is a bridge to inventing the future,” he said. “The bridge is about our early assessment of the things that are really important to Rio Rancho public schools, the things that are really going well in Rio Rancho public schools, but also identifying several things that will lead us into the future and into the development of our strategic plan.”
Dodd said that strategic plan could be in place by the spring or the conclusion of the school year. He said specifics will be formed after the district gathers substantial stakeholder input, but the strategic plan will likely be built around what I refer to as the “big three” — student success, school success, and district success.
Dodd said student success will be defined by seven keys he identified in March in his 100-Day Entry Plan. Having a successful school in every community, he said, means that all 21 Rio Rancho schools will earn Spotlight School status from the New Mexico Public Education Department, and district success will be RRPS establishing itself as the premier school district in New Mexico.
The latter Dodd acknowledged, is a lofty goal. He said it’s also a realistic goal.
“Ten of 11 of our elementary schools improved in literacy in 2026,” he said. Eight of our 11 elementary schools improved in mathematics. So all of our schools are really trending in the right direction. There’s work to do, but that work, in my opinion, as the superintendent — I think the Board of Education agrees — is that we always have to raise the bar because we know that our kids, our schools, our employees, and our families deserve that, and they will meet the challenge.”
Dodd told The Paper he’s excited about new offerings for the district’s oldest and youngest students. Puesta del Sol Preschool hosts a grand opening Monday with about 100 4-year-olds (the Class of 2040) expected to attend, and RioTECH, a specialized high school focused on career-oriented education, is entering its second year of operation. Dodd said possible new programs at RioTECH include nursing and early childhood education.
He said both of those are tied to his goal for the Class of 2040 — that every student graduate with a credential, a plan, and the confidence to take on the real world.
Going into the new school year, Dodd said, RRPS is launching some new initiatives aimed at providing bigger opportunities for students. One example: some fifth-graders will be working to complete sixth-grade math, so they’re on track to complete algebra by eighth grade and get into algebra II earlier. “Because we know success in algebra two is a strong predictor of success on the SAT and also in higher education,” Dodd said.
He said students who need more academic support will benefit from standardized academic interventions. Dodd said he wants children who enter RRPS at age 4 or 5 to stay on track for graduation.
Citing state test data from this spring, Dodd said Rio Rancho third-graders are outperforming their peers across the state by 13 points in literacy, while the district’s eighth-graders are 12 points ahead in mathematics.
He said RRPS had more than 1,000 high school students in advanced placement courses last school year and expects that to continue to grow this year.
The year starts with new players in two other key positions: Janna Chenault is the chief academic officer, and Renee Saucedo is the chief of schools. They were previously elementary improvement officer and secondary improvement officer, respectively.
Dodd said their pair were selected after a highly rigorous interview process, which speaks to not only “their success as leaders in the district, but also the way the district has developed people like them over many years.”
He said that RRPS has done well in employee development since its inception, creating a strong pipeline of talent in every department and at all levels.
After being hired in March to replace V. Sue Cleveland, who had been the only superintendent RRPS ever had, Dodd visited all 21 campuses “They were really substantive visits,” he said. “They weren’t just dropping by to say ‘hi.’ Those visits typically ran from an hour to two hours, and they were worth every minute that I spent. I was really able to see the strong foundation that’s been established in RRPS over the last three decades, but then also see things that I knew that we could start to change to improve what we do on behalf of kids.”
One initiative Dodd wants to push in 2026-2027 is more high-expertise teaching, which he would like to see in every classroom. He said that success aside, he wants to continue to improve outcomes in mathematics and literacy.
“In relative terms, compared to the state, we’re doing very well in both of those areas,” Dodd said. In absolute terms, we can do better.”
Dodd, like many education leaders in New Mexico, said improving attendance is vital, and urged parents and students alike to work in that direction.
“We have amazing educators and support staff that lead our schools every day, and it’s critical that our students are in school on time as much as possible,” he said. “That’s how we maximize learning.”
Dodd said he’s also looking forward to attending sporting and other events early in the school year.
“I’ve got to get to some football games,” he said. “I’ve heard lots of stories about Friday Night Lights here at Rio Rancho Public Schools; but I am a big fall sports person, so I expect to try to get to as many different kinds of fall sports as I can.”
Dodd said going to school and community events will allow him to meet families and get to know community leaders in a different setting.
He said he’ll measure success in a variety of ways, but with probably many more similarities than differences, compared to Cleveland’s approach.
“We may place more emphasis in some areas than has been placed in the past, but we are still all about ensuring that our students maximize their potential,” he said. “It really comes down to learning every day, whether it’s learning to play the clarinet well in fifth grade, or whether it’s demonstrating mastery of quadratic equations in algebra in eighth grade. We are going to be in the business of looking at student outcome data all the time to ensure that our kids are maximizing their potential.”