Latest news with #EdwardWebster
Yahoo
28-05-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Union calls on Española School Board to intervene in student immigration data dispute
The Española Valley High School football picture in an undated photo. A teachers union is calling on the Española School Board to intervene after an effort last month at the high school to collect student immigration data. (Photo courtesy EVHS) The National Education Association of New Mexico sent a letter Tuesday to the Española School Board asking for a 'full and detailed explanation' of who authorized Española Valley High School's directive to teachers last month, ostensibly as part of a standardized test, to collect students' immigration statuses. The union also accused the district of deleting the information it collected, which leaders said amounted to 'destruction of evidence during an open union investigation.' That prompted the union to file a Prohibited Practice Complaint with the Public Employee Labor Relations Board of New Mexico. 'We fear not only the impact these actions have on our membership but the students as a whole,' the union wrote in the letter. 'We are writing to seek your help to rectify these matters. The district and staff deserve to have a school district that is lawful and free of fear and intimidation.' A teacher posted on Reddit on April 21 that they had reached out to the union after teachers were asked to collect the data as part of the WorkKeys standardized test, an assessment that the ACT created to measure job readiness. An ACT spokesperson told Source New Mexico last month that it never seeks that information, saying its collection is 'not a requirement for taking our exams and is not information we collect or use in any way.' Española high school sought students' immigration status as part of standardized test The letter calls on the school board to, by June 2, provide copies of all internal communications and documents regarding the directive; an 'explanation of the rationale' for later deleting the collected data; and confirmation about whether the data was ever transmitted to ACT, Inc. In an interview Tuesday with Source New Mexico, NEA-NM spokesperson Edward Webster said the district needs to 'stop playing the game' with the union and teachers about what happened and be transparent about what happened and why. Eric Spencer, the Española superintendent, did not respond to an email Tuesday afternoon from Source New Mexico. The school board meets this evening at 6 p.m., but the matter is not on the agenda. School board president Javin Coriz did not respond to a request for comment Tuesday afternoon. The effort to collect the data occurred amid fears that that information could be turned over to federal immigration authorities, and a few months after border patrol agents boarded a Las Cruces swim team's school bus. Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham recently said in an interview with Source that the state is continually beating back efforts by the federal government to collect private data about New Mexicans, including immigration data. The Legislature also passed several bills aiming to keep immigration data out of federal hands. The state Health Care Authority also recently denied a request from the federal Agriculture Department for cardholder data of those who receive Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program assistance.
Yahoo
27-05-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Union calls on Española School Board to intervene in student immigration data dispute
The Española Valley High School football picture in an undated photo. A teachers union is calling on the Española School Board to intervene after an effort last month at the high school to collect student immigration data. (Photo courtesy EVHS) The National Education Association of New Mexico sent a letter Tuesday to the Española School Board asking for a 'full and detailed explanation' of who authorized Española Valley High School's directive to teachers last month, ostensibly as part of a standardized test, to collect students' immigration statuses. The union also accused the district of deleting the information it collected, which leaders said amounted to 'destruction of evidence during an open union investigation.' That prompted the union to file a Prohibited Practice Complaint with the Public Employee Labor Relations Board of New Mexico. 'We fear not only the impact these actions have on our membership but the students as a whole,' the union wrote in the letter. 'We are writing to seek your help to rectify these matters. The district and staff deserve to have a school district that is lawful and free of fear and intimidation.' A teacher posted on Reddit on April 21 that they had reached out to the union after teachers were asked to collect the data as part of the WorkKeys standardized test, an assessment that the ACT created to measure job readiness. An ACT spokesperson told Source New Mexico last month that it never seeks that information, saying its collection is 'not a requirement for taking our exams and is not information we collect or use in any way.' Española high school sought students' immigration status as part of standardized test The letter calls on the school board to, by June 2, provide copies of all internal communications and documents regarding the directive; an 'explanation of the rationale' for later deleting the collected data; and confirmation about whether the data was ever transmitted to ACT, Inc. In an interview Tuesday with Source New Mexico, NEA-NM spokesperson Edward Webster said the district needs to 'stop playing the game' with the union and teachers about what happened and be transparent about what happened and why. Eric Spencer, the Española superintendent, did not respond to an email Tuesday afternoon from Source New Mexico. The school board meets this evening at 6 p.m., but the matter is not on the agenda. School board president Javin Coriz did not respond to a request for comment Tuesday afternoon. The effort to collect the data occurred amid fears that that information could be turned over to federal immigration authorities, and a few months after border patrol agents boarded a Las Cruces swim team's school bus. Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham recently said in an interview with Source that the state is continually beating back efforts by the federal government to collect private data about New Mexicans, including immigration data. The Legislature also passed several bills aiming to keep immigration data out of federal hands. The state Health Care Authority also recently denied a request from the federal Agriculture Department for cardholder data of those who receive Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program assistance.
Yahoo
15-05-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
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.
