Española school ordered teachers to delete student immigration data during inquiry, union alleges
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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New York Post
5 days ago
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San Francisco Chronicle
03-08-2025
- San Francisco Chronicle
Can Trump eliminate the NEA? Experts sound off
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Fox News
30-07-2025
- Fox News
Teaching hate, hiding truth: NEA's real agenda revealed in leaked handbook
The National Education Association (NEA) tried scrubbing its radical 2025 handbook from the internet after I leaked its contents on X, but I saved a copy of their 434-page manifesto. This document, meant to guide America's largest teachers' union, exposes a radical agenda: erasing Jews from the Holocaust, blaming "white supremacy culture" for systemic racism, pushing illegal racial quotas, calling for "educational reparations," and attacking homeschooling while ignoring their own failing schools. The NEA, armed with a unique 1906 federal charter, has become a money-laundering operation for the Democratic Party, funneling over 99% of its 2022 political contributions to Democrats. Its president, Becky Pringle, an at-large Democratic National Committee member, engages in histrionics to rally this partisan machine. The "Stopping Teachers Unions from Damaging Education Needs Today (STUDENT) Act," introduced last week by Senator Cynthia Lummis and Representative Scott Fitzgerald, would gut this cartel by banning lobbying, political activity, and racial quotas, mandating transparency, and stopping strikes that shutter schools. Congress must pass this bill to leverage the NEA's charter, force it back to education, or make it beg to lose its special privilege. The NEA's handbook is a blueprint for extremism, not education. It downplays the Holocaust's targeting of Jews, framing it as a generic tragedy while emphasizing other groups, effectively erasing Jewish suffering from history. It declares that "educators must acknowledge the existence of white supremacy culture as a primary root cause of institutional racism, structural racism, and white privilege," vowing to push "strategies fostering the eradication of institutional racism and white privilege perpetuated by white supremacy culture." It demands school districts provide training in "cultural competence, implicit bias, restorative practices, and racial justice." Worse, it calls for illegal racial quotas, stating, "The National Education Association believes that at every phase of governance and on all decision-making levels of the Association there should be minority participation at least proportionate to the identified ethnic-minority population of that geographic level." These quotas prioritize identity over merit, dividing teachers and distracting from student needs. The handbook even attacks homeschooling, claiming "home schooling programs based on parental choice cannot provide the student with a comprehensive education experience"—ironic, given that only about a quarter of public school eighth graders are proficient in math despite $20,000 per student in annual spending. The NEA's federal charter, a privilege no other union enjoys, was meant to advance teaching and learning, not fuel a partisan agenda. With nearly $400 million in annual revenue from teacher dues, the NEA bankrolls Democratic campaigns while neglecting classrooms. Pringle's DNC ties and histrionic convention speeches ensure the NEA serves progressive politics, not educators. The union's 2025 convention in Portland, Oregon, doubled down this month. Ashlie Crosson, the 2025 NEA Teacher of the Year, declared teaching "deeply political." Resolutions read like a DNC war plan: one pledged thousands to smear President Trump as a "fascist," misspelling "fascism" as "facism." Another committed over $200,000 to evade a Supreme Court ruling allowing parents to opt out of gender ideology instruction. The NEA also vowed to fight Trump's immigration and education policies. In 2019, it rejected a resolution to "rededicate itself to the pursuit of increased student learning in every public school in America." The NEA's attempt to erase its handbook after my X leak shows they fear transparency. That 434-page document, which I preserved, reveals an organization obsessed with divisive ideologies and political power, not education. Over a million families have fled public schools since 2019 for charters, private schools, or homeschooling, driven by the NEA's focus on politics. Its attacks on parental choice and accountability, coupled with embarrassing academic outcomes, prove it's failing students and teachers alike. The STUDENT Act is a kill shot. Unlike revoking the NEA's charter – a symbolic jab that wouldn't stop its antics – this bill dismantles its power. It bans lobbying and political activity, choking off its Democratic pipeline. It ends racial quotas, ensuring merit-based leadership. It mandates annual reports to Congress, exposing Pringle's $400 million war chest. It prohibits strikes, keeping schools open for nearly 50 million students. It scraps the NEA's D.C. property tax exemption and requires informed consent for dues, ending automatic deductions. A charter repeal would bruise the NEA's ego, but leave its operations intact. The STUDENT Act cuts deeper. The union might beg Congress to ditch its charter to escape these shackles. The teachers unions are destroying the public school system. Test scores are tanking, teacher morale is at historic lows, and families are fleeing. The NEA's radical handbook – erasing Jews from history, pushing racial quotas, and attacking homeschooling – shows it's part of the problem. The STUDENT Act can force the NEA to refocus on students or fade away. Congress must pass this bill, leverage the charter, and end the NEA's reign as a partisan cartel. The handbook is out there for the world to see, NEA. You can run, but you can't hide.
