On June 11, 2019 District Court Judge James T. Martin from
the 3 Judicial District Court in Dona Ana County ruled that a citizen group
could proceed to collect signatures to recall three school board members. Judge
Martin found the citizens group have provided evidence and testimony to show
probable cause that Ray Jaramillo, Terrie Dallman and Maria Flores all violated
The Open Meetings Act (OMA), The LCPS School Site Selection Policy, and The
Inspection of Public Records Act (PRA) regarding the use of Administrative
Leave. Should the citizens group be successful in obtaining the required signatures
a recall election would be schedules at the local expense to determine if these
three board members should indeed be recalled.
The judge did not find that the other issues sited within
the complaint were under the scope of the statue (NMSA 1-25 to 13) used to
recall board members. This is not the same as finding that no wrong doing had occurred.
The judge did rule that if these individuals appealed the ruling to the State
Supreme Court that his order would be put on hold until such time as the State
Supreme Court could decide if there were any reasons for them to hear the case.
The problem with local school board is that they consider themselves little kingdoms where they can break state laws without anyone holding them accountable. These boards often behave in very unethical manners that cause harm to the individuals working within the school districts. The PED has failed to provide oversite of these boards. The elected board members have been known to misuse state money and to provide outrages salaries for administration while failing to pay teachers and support staff a living wage.
The problem with local school board is that they consider themselves little kingdoms where they can break state laws without anyone holding them accountable. These boards often behave in very unethical manners that cause harm to the individuals working within the school districts. The PED has failed to provide oversite of these boards. The elected board members have been known to misuse state money and to provide outrages salaries for administration while failing to pay teachers and support staff a living wage.
I would hope that the State Auditor’s office is already conducting
an investigation to determine if any financial wrong doing was committed by
these school board members. It is often the case that these type of issues come
to light once the State Auditor’s office does an independent audit. It would then be the state attorney general
office’s responsibility to press charges for any misusage of state money.
The governor and her PED cabinet member should follow up to ensure that misconduct stops when it comes to these school boards. While they are elected the governor does have oversight responsibilities and can even dissolve boards in the extreme in order to protect state funding to education. Past governors have considered such actions in the past due to misuse of educational funding. While in best case these board allow for local control of school districts by residents that live within the districts, worse case has members of these boards profiting off of taxpayer’s money and depriving students of a quality education.
Other articles covering this story:
https://www.bordernmvoice.com/2019/05/24/judge-to-consider-las-cruces-school-board-recall-petition/
Case Numbers that can be looked up at the NM Courts Home under find a case:
D-307-CV-2019-01397
D-307-CV-2019-01400
D-307-CV-2019-01399
Case Numbers that can be looked up at the NM Courts Home under find a case:
D-307-CV-2019-01397
D-307-CV-2019-01400
D-307-CV-2019-01399
