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The new face of the Albuquerque Public Schools is well known, well compensated and - district leaders hope - well skilled at telling the good things the district is doing.

Monica Armenta, an Albuquerque native and veteran TV anchorwoman, has taken a newly created $105,000-a-year position as head of the district's communication department.

Armenta, whose children are APS students, joined the district as head of the APS Education Foundation in 2005. She will lead a department with three other communications officers.

Armenta starts her job as the district faces criticism on a number of fronts. They include:

Outcry over a changed grade that allowed the child of a local politician to graduate with his class. The change was ordered by an administrator over the objections of a Rio Grande High School teacher. The administration says the school failed to inform the student's parents about his status.

The investigation into the district's police department and its 16-year chief, Gil Lovato. Lovato was suspended in January; his contract will not be renewed when it expires June 30. The district is considering whether it should disband the department and contract out for security services.

Armenta and District Superintendent Beth Everitt said the position was not created solely for public relations. They said better communication has been a common plea from parents in the district, which serves more than 87,000 students.

"The No. 1 criticism of the district, regardless of who the superintendent has been, is communication," Everitt said.

Armenta said she will focus initially on internal communications.

Then, Everitt said, she hopes Armenta can assume more of an advocate role, telling of the district's successes.

"There are a lot of good people doing a lot of good things," Everitt said. "Everyone says we need to communicate more, and now we have another person to help us do that."

A similar position in the district has been controversial in the past. In 2004, school board members said they didn't want a superintendent-level public relations person after Tom Garrity resigned his six-figure post amid a budget crisis when 83 jobs were cut.

Everitt said Thursday that money for Armenta's post already exists in the budget and is being shifted from contracting outside services to an in-house position.

Everitt said she has been eying Armenta for the job ever since she joined the APS Foundation 1 years ago.