About 11,000 students filled the halls of Santa Fe Public Schools last week — many for their first day in a new grade, some in new schools and others new to the district altogether.

As students settle into their new routines, a new Santa Fe leader is doing the same — Superintendent Christine Griffin.

Like many adjusting to unfamiliar settings, Griffin, formerly the superintendent at Humboldt Unified School District in Arizona, faces a tough job in a community where some are frustrated with public education leadership.

She enters the role amid stagnant academic growth rates, a scandal that ousted her predecessor, legal complaints and an upcoming election in which the district will ask voters to approve a $150 million, property-tax-funded general obligation bond, part of which would be us

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