Felony surprise changes APS naming rule

ALBUQUERQUE (KRQE) - Right now one of New Nexico's most corrupt politicians has an Albuquerque Public School library named after him.

Manny Aragón cannot visit the library because he is in federal prison on corruption charges .

That has the district trying to make some changes.

APS said naming a school after a living person is risky, especially if they get into trouble later on as Aragón did.

So now if you want a building named after you at APS, you must be dead.

Most schools are named after presidents and writers like Rudolfo Anaya, someone APS board member Paula Maes said was a good pick.

"He's a prominent person," she said. "A legend in this community."

Anaya is still alive.

So what if he were to say or do something controversial?

That is what happened with Aragón, a former state senator once one of the most powerful politicians in New Mexico.

His names is on the library at Lowell Elementary School, and he in prison for helping siphon millions of dollars from construction of the Bernalillo County Metropolitan Court building in Albuquerque.

"People are so unpredictable these days," Maes said. "Someone who is an upstanding citizen today could just flip out on your tomorrow."

So to try and avoid embarrassments like Aragón, APS will no longer name a building after someone if they are still alive.

Maes said the idea is, if your dead you are less likely to embarrass the district.

APS mom Regina Springer says it is a shame it have come to this.

"Well, I can see where they are coming from," Springer said.

But she added she wants her daughter to respect the name above her as she walks into school.

"We want someone who has a good reputation in the history of the community to represent the building, the school, the library," Springer said.

There is no guarantee that if APS names a school after a dead person, skeletons will not later come out of their closet.

But if that does happen, the school and surrounding community can petition to change the name.

APS and the neighbors near Lowell are working to have Aragón's name removed from the library.