No additional days will be added to the 2021-2022 school calendar, following a unanimous vote by the Las Cruces Public School Board.
Options presented to the board included the addition of ten extra days to the calendar as well as an expansion of the school day by 30 minutes for elementary school students—which failed to be approved.
School Board Member Teresa Tenorio says the district needs to explore other options to help with the student learning experience, such as smaller class sizes and more support staff, rather than just adding extra time.
“Going forward, I just don't understand how 30 extra minutes a day, or ten extra days, where everything else is structured the same, would benefit my kids or any kids in our district,” Tenorio said. “Because it's not working, it hasn't worked. We need to really try something different.”
After gathering feedback from the public, the district received 232 responses, with over 100 people indicating they felt no changes to the calendar should be made—the most of any category. School Board Member Terrie Dallman says she felt a responsibility to take into account the wishes of the community.
“I'm listening to my constituents. I'm listening to our parents,” Dallman said. “We even had students writing to us, telling us that they were exhausted, and they did not want any more days added on.”
Hillrise Elementary Teacher Delilah Morales spoke out against expanding the school year. She noted the extra stress that teachers have been under this year, stressing that instruction has continued despite the challenges of the pandemic.
“We need time to grieve,” Morales said. “Teachers have been vilified, criticized and blamed for everything from not having schools open, to kids having to wear masks…We have not stopped teaching. These calendars give the impression to the community that the kids have not been learning, that we have not been teaching. We have been, and the kids have been learning.”
One parent addressed the board with concerns over learning loss, asking the district to expand the calendar.
“My kids fell behind this past year,” the commenter said. “And I don't think it's something that they're going to overcome, just like that, at the blink of an eye in the upcoming school year. I think they fell behind and if we don't supplement the upcoming school years we're going to continue falling behind.”
School Board President Ray Jaramillo addressed the potential funding during the meeting, saying that if the state wanted to address learning loss, they could provide monetary assistance without requiring an extended calendar.
“The Public Education Department always talks about local control. This is not local control. This is fake local control,” Jaramillo said. “And I hope that Secretary Stewart understands that when you give a fake opportunity for local control, we know exactly that that's not what's happening. If the state really truly wanted to address learning loss it wouldn’t take a legal decision to make sure that the districts have the money to provide the necessary assistance.”
Jaramillo says his vote was a reflection of the hundreds of community voices that have reached out to him on the issue.
“I'm an elected official, and I represent the community. And the community has spoken out to me and with hundreds of emails,” Jaramillo said. “I had 100% that said that they wanted no change. I can't ignore that—I can't ignore that.”
