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Parents and drivers press board on remote learning days, volunteer costs and bus contractor practices

Las Cruces Public Schools Board of Education · October 28, 2025
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Summary

Public commenters urged changes to district calendar remote-learning designations, questioned volunteer support and background-check costs, and detailed operational and safety concerns with the district's private bus contractor. The board heard calls for clearer expectations for remote days and for better contractor oversight.

Three members of the public addressed the board during the public-comment period, raising separate but policy-relevant concerns about remote learning days, district policies, and bus operations.

Rebecca Grama, a parent of two middle-school students, urged the board to reconsider four designated remote learning days on the district calendar (Aug. 28, Oct. 13, Feb. 13 and April 6, 2026). Grama said she found no guidance on district websites or the student handbook about expectations for those days and told the board she had been told by school staff that students should work on missing assignments but that no assignments were being required. She said the district counts those remote days toward the state-required minimum of 180 attendance days and 1,140 instructional hours and urged the board either to remove the remote-learning designation, designate them as off days while giving teachers paid planning time, or require substantive assignments for those days.

Paul Firth provided feedback on agenda policies, including suggesting the GBEC policy title focus on a substance-free workplace. He also asked why the district offers low-cost student physicals but does not subsidize volunteer background checks. The speaker added a public prayer for a safe election process.

Kenneth Justice, president of the Las Cruces Transportation Federation (school bus drivers union), described worker-safety, maintenance and environmental problems at the private contractor that operates district buses. Justice said the contractor had wrongfully dismissed him in a labor dispute that he successfully appealed; he also reported roof leaks and mold in the maintenance shop, inadequate shop equipment, fuel and DEF spills that were not remediated to reporting standards, insufficient sanitation time for bus cleaning, and poorly planned routes driven by routing software that did not account for traffic and signals. Justice urged the board to bring bus operations back under district control to ensure student safety.

No board action was taken during public comment, but board members acknowledged the concerns. Transportation staff later discussed EV bus infrastructure and noted they would coordinate with drivers, vendor partners and the utility on maintenance and software issues during implementation planning.