Union calls on Española School Board to intervene in student immigration data dispute

By: PATRICK LOHMANN
Courtesy of Source NM

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.”

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.