Sonya C’Moya appointed to Los Lunas Schools Board of Education

LOS LUNAS — The Los Lunas Schools Board of Education appointed Sonya C’Moya to the vacant District 2 position last week and she was officially sworn in at the Aug. 20 BOE meeting.

In a phone interview with the News-Bulletin, C’Moya said she is honored to have been unanimously appointed by the board, and is looking forward to working for the district and being able to serve District 2 again.

“I previously held that role, both as an appointed individual and as an elected individual, for District 2, so I’m very familiar not only with the constituents in my district and their needs, but the needs of the entire Los Lunas Schools district,” she said.

C’Moya was first appointed to the board in 2014 and, in 2016, she was elected into the position for a four-year term. In 2021, Moya was named as the public education secretary’s first designee to assume temporary governance of the LLS district when the former board was suspended. She unsuccessfully campaigned for the District 2 position in the November 2023 election.

The LLS Board of Education appointed C’Moya to the position at a special meeting held Aug. 13 following the resignation of Monica Otero, who previously represented District 2. Otero reluctantly submitted her immediate resignation from the board on Friday, July 26, after moving outside the district boundary.

“I have total faith and confidence that (C’Moya) will be a good asset to this team,” said board member Bruce Bennett at the Aug. 13 meeting.

Board member David Vickers said C’Moya was the only person to apply or express interest in the District 2 position since it was vacated.

As a new board member, C’Moya said the biggest and most immediate priority she wants to focus on is budgetary concerns and shortfalls the district is facing.

More specifically, “how to rectify that with the least amount of disruption to the students, educators and the departments that support the workings of the system."

“The shortfall has come from the ceasing of the COVID funding,” she said. “Almost every district in the state had come to count on those funds for operational means to support their districts, so we are not alone in this.”

C’Moya will fill the vacated term until the next regular local school district election in 2025.