Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the School Safety topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Teachers and community members press Rio Rancho board on classroom aggression and LGBTQ 'safe‑zone' signs
Summary
Multiple teachers and community members described increasing aggression in elementary classrooms, urged more staff and supports, and several speakers and professionals urged the district to permit LGBTQ safe‑zone signs as a protective measure for students.
Multiple educators and community members addressed the Rio Rancho Public Schools board on Oct. 28 about student aggression in early grades and the district’s handling of LGBTQ+ 'safe‑zone' signs.
"Personally I have been hit, kicked, bit, spit on, or stabbed with a pencil approximately 20 times since August," said Angela Teardstra, a social worker at Colina del Sol Norte Elementary, describing school‑level counts she summarized as 62 reported incidents and 23 teacher injuries at her site. Teardstra told the board those daily disruptions are removing instruction time and harming students’ emotional safety.
Kindergarten teachers echoed the concern. "I have been verbally abused, physically abused, and emotionally ... I have students in my class that kick, punch, scratch, bite," said Penelope Lisio, a kindergarten teacher at MLK Elementary, who said the incidents have left her and colleagues overwhelmed and seeking systemic solutions.
Nicolette Guzman, an inclusion kindergarten teacher, said strategies like zones of regulation and calm‑down corners help but "the behavior is so severe that these strategies are only so effective" without more intensive staffing and specialist supports.
Supporters of visible inclusion signage also addressed the board. Billy Heelan, speaking as an educator and identified as the union president, said "These signs serve as beacons of acceptance that may prevent vulnerable students from pursuing self harm" and urged flexibility for educators to choose a rainbow design or a generic school logo for safe‑zone signs based on student needs.
Lynn Schreiger, a psychiatric nurse practitioner, recounted a family suicide loss and urged the board that visible, inclusive symbols can be protective: "The antidote ... to shame is empathy, and I think that's what the stickers are." Schreiger asked the board to consider mental‑health impacts when weighing any restrictions on stickers or signage.
Board members took no immediate policy action during the meeting but heard repeated requests for additional staffing, more systematic behavioral supports, and clearer guidance on safe‑zone signage. The public comments were followed by district presentations and later a second‑reading and adoption of Policy 806 (animals on school property), but no vote on signage policy occurred that night.
Follow‑up: district staff and board members asked for additional information on staffing ratios, alternative behavior supports and the HR recruitment work presented later in the meeting; the record shows community interest on next steps if signage or related policy changes are proposed.
