GRANTS, N.M. – A September 7 school board meeting presented a forum for parents, angry with mask requirements in class, to express their anger. As the meeting progressed, that anger over masks turned briefly to anger over the Grants High School and Acoma Laguna High School MCJROTC programs, but eventually the anger returned to COVID-19 restrictions with School Board member Richard Jones declaring, “I would be the first one to make the motion, they [Laguna Pueblo] can have that school. We’ll go ahead and sweep it up on the way out.”
The Pueblo of Laguna is currently on lockdown for COVID-19, meaning that only people who live in the pueblo can live and enter there. On April 8, 2020, Governor Wilfred Herrera Jr. signed an executive order denying all nonresidents of the pueblo access, except for specific essential functions. Educators are not one of the allowed professionals to enter Laguna, and according to the school board, the LAHS was already having staffing issues, now the district has a hard time keeping staff in the school.
“We’ll make sure to lock the doors, and you [Laguna Pueblo] keep it, because it’s crazy that we’re listening to an entity that is not beholden to this school district,” Member Jones said, “We’re a school district that’s struggling to find teachers, but now we’re telling them to go away.” Jones’ comments were reflective of both his anger over LAHS and ROTC, which he blamed vaccine mandates over not being able to keep instructors.
“I’m not joking at all. Please, please, please. Because it’s a nice school, we’ll make sure to the lock the doors and you keep it,” Jones finished.
After discussion of the Bluewater Elementary School project, Dr. Guy Archambeau said, “A lot of comments I heard were pretty brash and create an antagonistic attitude between the so-called ‘East versus West’ again. I think we need to, as a board, be careful about how we communicate in a public setting, asserting things about getting rid of schools. It’s really is unconscionable, and I think inappropriate for things to be said. We need to be much more controlled and deliberate about how we discuss these things and not just fly off the handle.”
Superintendent Max Perez said that GCCS’ COVID-19 response is still being updated to address issues.
Anger over masks
The public comment portion of the meeting dominated the first half of the meeting, with five commenters discussing their disgust toward the school district because, “I know a lot of you haven’t done any research,” according to commentor Chrystal Clawson. Clawson asserted that masks do nothing more than cause health problems, and increase the opportunity for hypoxia, better known as low oxygen.
The second commentor, Courtney Clawson, argued that masks cause Co2 – Carbon Dioxide – to rise upwards of unsafe levels. He argued that after three minutes of wearing a mask, a child has an unacceptable amount of Co2 in their blood stream, explaining this as the reason children don’t want to go to school. “It took me a half-hour to research this… Do you really have our kid’s best interest in mind?” C. Clawson asked of the board.
According to the Mayo Clinic, “For many years, health care providers have worn masks for extended periods of time with no adverse health reactions. The CDC recommends wearing cloth masks while in public, and this option is very breathable. There is no risk of hypoxia, which is lower oxygen levels, in healthy adults. Carbon dioxide will freely diffuse through your mask as you breathe. If you feel uncomfortable in your mask, try to limit your talking and breathe through your nose. That will reduce the humidity level in your mask.” (https://www.mayoclinichealthsystem.org/hometown-health/speaking-of-health/debunked-mythabout-face-masks)
Chantel Garcia was the third person to comment, “We don’t have time to spend in line for hours to pick up packets,” and added, “You don’t know the damage you’re doing.” She alleged that her nephew received in school suspension for sharing chips with another child while maskless, and that her daughter was discriminated against by a teacher for having COVID-19 when her daughter did not. She added that vaccine mandates scare away teachers.
Grants City Councilor Erik Garcia spoke, telling the school board, “You’re in a tough position.” He explained his understanding as a councilor and said, “Help me turn Grants around, there are no studies saying that masks are effective.”
Speaking lastly on the mask issue, Jessie Mondragon introduced herself and explained that she had multiple studies for the school board to investigate. “Its our job to do what’s right for them [the students], even if its unpopular, even if it’s against our norms and rules and we might lose our jobs. Who is speaking up for them? As parents, we have to.”
Mondragon made the final comment toward the school board that night, a comment shared between most of the speakers who rose concerns over masks, “We come peacefully now, but who knows down the line? More parents will wake up to this.” She said, echoing a sentiment already asserted, that this election cycle for the school board was not going to be easily won.
Other action
When they finally entered regular business, the school board approved $147,338.15 unanimously for upgraded fire alarms. With a quick moving pen, the board then approved $370,944.66 for two new student activity buses.
The school board then approved a purchase of MacBook’s for the GHS computer lab to upgrade the media capabilities of GHS as a whole, the money amount for this purchase was not available by press time. The board then decided to allocate funding, the amount was unavailable by press time, for the purchase of new band equipment, with GHS Band Director William Griner saying that some of the instruments were over 60 years old.
The board announced that the Bluewater Elementary School project is still moving ahead.