LAPS calendar changes will dramatically impact everyone (local businesses, schools, extra-curricular activities, summer camps, etc.)!!!! See the attached LAPS presentation presented Tuesday 3/14/23. Jennifer Guy, Acting Superintendent, pushed the board to get rid of the current “Traditional” calendar (without community discussion) and only focus on adding more DAYS (not just HOURS) to the school year and removing the long summer break. They will take Away 2-5 Weeks from Summer Break and ADD 2-5 weeks MORE School DAYS!!

NM State passed HB130 (https://nmlegis.gov/Sessions/23%20Regular/bills/house/HB0130.pdf) (waiting Governor’s signature) to increase student HOURS to 1140.  

LAPS would only receive more discretionary money if they increase their DAYS (not just HOURS) to more than 180 Days (our current calendar days). The Acting Superintendent pushed her agenda to get more money, thus more DAYS. See HB130, Section 3 regarding “K-12 Plus School”.

Elementary schools only need to increase HOURS by 78 hours (1140 – 1062 [current]), which would easily be accomplished by using 2 hours on Wednesday afternoons (currently no school).

High School only needs to increase HOURS by 25 hours (1140 – 1125 [current]).

Middle School requires NO CHANGES as they currently have 1170 HOURS.

See Slide 6 of LAPS presentation below:

If we only need to add a few HOURS, then why is the Acting Superintendent, calendar committee, and the LAPS Board trying to dramatically change the calendar and add DAYS (not just a few HOURS) to the school year? And why do this without clear communication with the parents and the community?

And while we’re discussing calendar changes, why aren’t we considering a four-day school week, which is allowed in HB130? In fact, the TrackBill website (https://trackbill.com/bill/new-mexico-house-bill-130-k-5-plus-program/2327501/) shows that with a 4-Day School Week (7.5 Hour/Day * 152 Total Days = 1,140 Total Hours), we could achieve the required 1,140 HOURS in 152 Days. 

Where is the real pro and con analysis of ALL Options? What problems are we really trying to solve? What are the proposed daily hours for new calendar options? The Acting Superintendent conveniently pushed the LAPS Board to remove our current “Traditional” calendar structure (long summers) from the discussion, but shouldn’t that still be on the table?

Please, we need the community to stand up and shout to be heard!!!

A community meeting (I assume led by the Acting Superintendent) will meet via Zoom on Monday March 20 at 5:30pm (https://www.smore.com/app/reporting/out/ub6ms?u=https%3A%2F%2Fus06web.zoom.us%2Fj%2F5056632222%3F&t=Zoom%20on%20Monday,%20March%2020%20from%205:30%20-%207:00&w=w-3872632299&i=&l=l-7112683800 )

Email comments to LAPS Public Comments: public.comments@laschools.net  

See LAPS Public Comments here: https://groups.google.com/a/laschools.net/g/public.comments/c/vnogOMcYWQ0

Contact your LAPS Board members:

• Antonio Jaurigue, President a.jaurigue@laschools.net
• Ellen Specter, Vice President e.specter@laschools.net
• Christine Bernstein, Secretary c.bernstein@laschools.net
• Melanie Colgan, Member m.colgan@laschools.net
• Sondra Wyman, Member s.wyman@laschools.net

By mid-to-late-April, LAPS will have their final revised calendar, so act fast!

The Acting Superintendent eludes to collaborating with local businesses, while in fact she has not.

Major impacts include:

• Sports (children MUST participate even during newly scheduled school breaks, thus losing time off)
• Music
• Student Jobs and Internships
• Local Business “Summer” Jobs turn into 1-2 weeks here and there
• Family Vacations – unable to take extended vacations since summer is too short
• Child Care
• Local Businesses
• Teacher Retention
• Summer Camps

The LAPS Board meeting mentioned that Las Cruces and Tucumcari implemented a “Balanced” school calendar this past year.

The following email was sent to Students on Sunday March 12 at 11:27am, but Parents did not receive this email. Parents were sent the LAPS Newsletter (https://www.smore.com/ub6ms-laps-newsletter?ref=email) on Sunday March 12 at 1:05pm, which mentioned the March 20 community meeting BUT DID NOT mention the March 14 LAPS Board meeting where they discussed the calendar changes. AND, the slides (see attached PDF) used at the March 14 LAPS Board meeting were hidden down in the survey link (https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLScenHGdRSfYBpujpy-7gZIpoBlaGqh21z_antlLAdVQlV_wNw/viewform) sent in the newsletter and student email.

Very nefarious!!

———- Forwarded message ———
From: Jennifer Guy <j.guy@laschools.net>
Date: Sun, Mar 12, 2023 at 11:27 AM
Subject: School Calendar Feedback

The state legislature is expected to pass a new law that requires an increase to the amount of time students are in school. This year students had to be in school for 1080 hours. The new law increases the time to 1140. It is important to me that we have your feedback. We will not have a choice about adding time or not adding time. We will have to follow the law. We will have a choice about how to add the time in a way that best meets the needs of Los Alamos. 

We have been looking at options such as keeping the current calendar but making the school day longer. We have also been looking at a balanced school year that creates longer breaks spread throughout the year. There is also a calendar option that is a compromise and adds a few days, creates some longer breaks through the year, but still preserves the summer months off. 

Please take a look at the survey with the calendar options here and give us feedback. 

Thank you! 

Jennifer Guy 

Acting Superintendent

Editor’s note: Letters and columns published in the Los Alamos Daily Post reflect the views of the writer. The Post encourages readers to do their own fact checking.