Española school ordered teachers to delete student immigration data during inquiry, union alleges
The entrance to Española Valley High School in an undated photo. The union representing Española teachers filed a labor complaint related to an effort to collect, and later delate, student immigration data at the high school. (Photo courtesy EVHS)
The union representing teachers at an Española high school has filed a complaint with the state labor board, alleging the school committed an unfair labor practice when it asked teachers to collect — and, soon after, delete — student immigration data in recent weeks.
As Source reported last month, the National Education Association initially issued a cease-and-desist letter to the Española School District superintendent regarding the high school's effort to collect student immigration data as part of a standardized workplace readiness exam, though a spokesperson for the exam company told Source New Mexico that the company has no need for that information and does not ask test administrators to collect it.
In response to the NEA letter, the superintendent told the union that teachers were no longer required to collect student immigration data. However, soon after, high school leaders 'began requiring educators to delete the information they had previously collected regarding students' immigration and citizenship statuses,' NEA spokesperson Edward Webster said in a news release Thursday.
Española high school sought students' immigration status as part of standardized test
Deleting the information amounted to 'destruction of evidence during an open union investigation' and prompted the union to file a Prohibited Practice Complaint with the Public Employee Labor Relations Board of New Mexico.
The new complaint alleges the school violated aspects of the Public Employee Bargaining Act of New Mexico, which defines unfair labor practices as those that violate employee rights and carry legal consequences.
The state labor relations board had not yet scheduled a hearing for the case, according to its website.
Española Superintendent Eric Spencer, who will retire in late June, did not respond to a list of questions Thursday from Source NM. He has previously said that his staff is working with the union on the matter and that, 'The district takes all matters of student confidentiality seriously.'
According to the union, the emailed letter from the union cited the 1982 Plyler v. Doe U.S. Supreme Court case that guarantees the right to a free, public education for all children, regardless of their immigration status.
Mary Parr-Sanchez, NEA-NM president, said in a news release Thursday that the effort to collect student immigration information plays into the Trump administration's targeting of immigrants. She noted that the Española school district and others around the state have students in different and precarious immigration statuses, including students brought to the United States as minors and others who are seeking asylum due to political persecution.
'The current administration is targeting children in this country because of the color of their skin and origin of their birth,' Parr-Sanchez said in a statement.
'This is no different than the harassment that our Las Cruces students experienced when they were going to a swim meet in Albuquerque when ICE officers boarded their private bus and demanded proof of citizenship from children,' she said.
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