Los Alamos Parents, Staff, Students, and Community,
The Los Alamos community should be aware of an important rule change on School Instructional Time Requirements that the NM Public Education Department is proposing that would significantly impact Los Alamos Public Schools.
The NMPED has provided notice that they are taking public comment on a proposed rule change to 6.10.5 NMAC, School Instructional Time Requirements through email until Monday, Dec. 18 at 5:00 p.m. and in person at a public hearing to be held on Monday, Dec. 18 from 1:30 p.m.- 2:30 p.m. at Mabry Hall, located in the Jerry Apodaca Education Building, 300 Don Gaspar Avenue, Santa Fe, New Mexico 87501.
This rule has several changes that will impact our schools.
1. The new rule would require districts to provide 1140 hours of instruction AND a minimum of 180 days each school year. This is a change from legislation that allowed districts to count hours not days.
2. Currently, up to 60 hours of professional development at the elementary schools and 30 hours at the secondary schools can be counted towards the total instruction hours. The rule no longer allows the district to include professional development as a part of the required instructional hours. This means that LAPS would most likely have to add additional days to the teaching contract to maintain professional development time provided through the collective bargaining agreement.
3. The rule will require that students are in school 5 days a week for at least 5.5 hours a day. This would eliminate the ability to have early release Wednesdays for elementary teacher planning and prep. LAPS would have to consider releasing elementary students earlier each day to meet teacher planning requirements. The district is still learning how this would impact advisement and testing days at the secondary level.
4. The rule requires secondary students to take 4 credit bearing classes each day (8 classes each week). Currently, LAPS secondary schools use a block schedule that has 3.5 classes each day for a total of 7 classes a week. This means that the district will have to change the master schedules at LAHS and LAMS.
5. High School students would not be allowed to have a free period. This means that LAHS would need to add additional classes, teachers, or have larger class sizes to ensure all students are placed in 4 credit bearing courses each day.
6. LAHS students would complete a total of 32 credits. Graduation requirements are for students to complete 24 credits. We are still studying what impacts this may have on students.
7. The rule change would go into effect for the 24/25 school year. The new calendar and class schedules would need to be finalized, approved, and submitted before the budget is submitted in April 2024. This is a great deal of change for the district to plan for in a very short amount of time.
8. This rule change could have serious financial implications to the district if increases to teacher contract days, increased meal and transportation costs, and other operational expenses are not fully funded.
The union and the school district are united in their concern about the sudden change in requirements. We are deeply concerned that the rule would be at odds with the law. We believe that this rule has unintended consequences that will limit critical staff planning time and would be disruptive to our secondary schools. We are concerned that the consequences of this rule change have not been fully considered. Although the district is still working to understand the overall impact of this rule change, we believe that NMPED is failing to give districts adequate time to prepare for this unexpected change that dramatically impacts our students, teachers, and families.
The Los Alamos Federation of School Employees, the Los Alamos Public School Board, and the Los Alamos Public School District administration are in agreement that we do NOT support the adoption of the proposed rule change.
What can you do to share your opinion?
1. Read the proposed rule, linked here.
2. Write an email with your comments about the proposed rule and send them to: rule.feedback@ped.nm.gov, referencing “NMAC Rule 6.10.5 “School Instructional Time Requirements” in the subject line. Any comments must be submitted by 5:00 p.m. on Monday, Dec. 18.
As always, we value all opinions on this issue and understand that others may have a different opinion than the concerns outlined here. We encourage everyone to evaluate the rule and share their own thoughts either in support of or in opposition of the rule.
Sincerely,
Stacy Martens, LAFSE President
Trey Pereyra, LAFSE President
Jennifer Guy, LAPS Superintendent
Antonio Jaurigue, LAPS School Board President
Ellen Specter, LAPS School Board Vice President
Christine Bernstein, LAPS School Board Secretary
Melanie Colgan, LAPS School Board Member
Sondra Wyman, LAPS School Board Member
Lauren Coupland, LAPS School Board Member Elect, 2024