Logan board approves resolution to PED

The Logan Board of Education last week approved a resolution to the New Mexico Public Education Department that demands more local decision-making by school districts, but not before the board faced criticism from at least two residents for not challenging the state’s mask mandate.

The resolution, which passed unanimously, states the board “believes that standardized, one-size-fits-all school-related mandates from the Governor’s office and the Office of the Secretary of Public Education regarding our students can stifle innovation and creativity and consume precious and limited staff time and resources,” and “such standardized and inflexible mandates constitute an overreach” by the state.

It also alleges some of the state’s decisions lack “sufficient statutory authority.”

The resolution concludes the Logan board “supports local decision-making authority of each school board and opposes executive action that restricts the ability of locally-elected school boards to respond to the varied and ever changing needs of their districts, students and communities.”

Superintendent Dennis Roch said he drafted the local-control resolution after consulting with other area superintendents. He said the measure was more “all-encompassing.”

“Obviously, it’s much bigger than masks,” he said.

About 45 minutes was used during the public comment portion of the meeting to hear comments from attendees, plus responses from board members.

One woman asserted the state’s mask requirement for all students and school staff regardless of vaccination status was unconstitutional and that Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham’s health orders constituted “a dictatorship.”

She asserted masks do not prevent COVID-19 infections. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention states properly worn masks prevent the spread of coronavirus from afflicted people and offers some protection to the wearer.

Another woman, also alleging the mask mandate is an infringement of the U.S. Constitution, said board members “need take a stand.”

“Our forefathers fought and died for our freedoms, but y’all are laying down and giving up,” she said.

The Quay County Sun covered the meeting through the board’s livestreaming archive. The camera angle did not show how many people attended the meeting, though loud applause could be heard after the speakers’ comments. Roch in an email declined to say how many attended, nor did he identify the speakers, saying such data “do not relate to actions taken by the board.”

Three school board members, while expressing empathy for the speakers’ frustrations, directly or indirectly cited the Floyd school board’s suspension for their reluctance to flout the mask mandate.

The PED suspended the Floyd board for at least 60 days after it voted in August to disregard the mask mandate. In the meantime, one PED appointee is acting as the Floyd school board.

Logan school board President Scott Osborn said he’d rather have students be at school and wearing masks than his board lose all control or students having to go back to remote learning.

“If we get shut down one more year, a lot of those kids won’t come back,” he said. “We need local control here. I’m not going to take a chance getting those kids sent home again.”

Osborn also noted few parents were willing to run for school board. Two seats will be decided during the Nov. 2 election; only one seat is contested.

Board member Tom Humble also voiced his unwillingness to defy the state and the board then lose local control.

“How far are you guys willing to go to defy the governor?” he asked audience members.

Board Vice President Laurie Strebeck voiced the importance of children having in-person instruction.

“We’ve got kids who need to be in school,” she said. “We can’t make decisions based on these masks. We have to make decisions on what’s best for these children, and it’s being here and learning in front of a teacher.

“I’m not willing to turn our children into martyrs so we can make a political statement,” Strebeck added.

One audience member said some parents in Artesia are considering pulling students out of public school and starting a private school or enrolling them in one. Strebeck responded that not every parent can drive to or afford tuition for a private school.

Board member Kyle Perez, a previous critic of the state’s mask mandate and health orders, asserted masks cause children “a lot of harm” and “robs them of their identity.”

“The total agenda of this was to keep us silenced,” he added.

Board member Kene Terry, who made the ultimately successful motion during the board’s August meeting to table action on a resolution that stated opposition to the mask mandate, remained silent during the discussion.

Humble encouraged audience members to participate in a videoconference of a regional school board meeting scheduled for Sept. 21. He said it was likely the new New Mexico Education Secretary, Kurt Steinhaus, would attend.

Roch noted early in the meeting that President Joe Biden’s new vaccine mandate for federal employees and businesses with more than 100 workers was virtually identical to New Mexico’s and nine others states’ current edicts for teachers and school staff — be fully vaccinated or submit to weekly COVID-19 testing. Roch said the mandate still maintains “individual choice.”