Take a second to consider the plight of new Santa Fe school board member Barbara Gudwin. Not three months into her tenure, she has been faced with balancing what is best for the entire district against the needs of one of the schools in her district.

Until the state of New Mexico stepped in last week to offer an extra $200,000 to assist Santa Fe Public Schools with its budget shortfall, Gudwin appeared ready to put her head on the chopping block, ready to anger her constituents and ready to do what she believes is the right thing.

Not only that, the fledgling school board member had the temerity to point out that the school in the middle of the controversy — Alvord Elementary School in the Railyard — is performing well below standard. Only one in five Alvord students who took state tests last year showed proficiency in math while fewer than half were proficient in reading.

At issue — the same lingering, never-dealt-with issue that has plagued Santa Fe Public Schools for more than a decade — is the reality that elementary schools on Santa Fe's southside remain crowded, while schools in the downtown area don't have enough children to fill the seats. Most downtown schools stay at or near capacity because of transfer students. However, because these schools were built in different times, they hold many fewer students — while the smallest southside elementary school is around 500 students and others are as big as 700 students.

Alvord was the one downtown school that was both small and under-capacity. But parents still love the school and came up with the notion of turning it into a magnet school focusing on sustainability and ecology.

Their application, more than a year in the making, still has not been approved. Again, Gudwin showed courage. She — Alvord's representative on the board after defeating incumbent Martin Luján — asked for a delay because the application presented "was not a quality proposal."

The delay on Alvord's magnet status happened to collide with a severe budget shortfall for Santa Fe and all school districts around the state. This time, it appeared that the board of education was ready to swallow a bitter political pill and reduce the number of schools the district operates, including Alameda Middle School and Alvord.

Alvord was to be consolidated with Larragoite Elementary School, combining forces and creating a kind of super-magnet school — one still around 300 students, a small school.

Understandably, the parents who have worked so hard at Alvord wouldn't give up. Its closing would only save about $100,000 a year — and the parents, along with board President Angélica Ruíz, talked the governor into coughing up enough money to keep Alvord open. The money is coming from an emergency fund for schools; all the district has to do is apply.

It's clear that the biggest need in education statewide is hardly the survival of a 140-student elementary school in the middle of Santa Fe. Rio Rancho asked teachers to take voluntary unpaid leave. Out in Gallup, teachers aren't getting a raise. The elementary school in Coyote might be on the chopping block.

However, the folks at Alvord won their case for the time being, and you have to respect their dedication and determination. Let's hope the magnet is everything they envision and more. You also have to respect a board member who wants very much to do the right thing even when it might very well be the wrong thing for her political career.

As for the south side, maybe some day, someone will dip into an emergency fund to help the kids who lack access to a computer or who rotate time on playground equipment, those children who eat lunch in shifts because there are too many of them to fit in the cafeteria.

Because really, the emergency in Santa Fe isn't at Alvord. The emergency is taking place every day in our crowded southside elementary schools. And that emergency remains unresolved.

Reach Inez Russell at inezrussell@msn.com.