The Questa School Board is still in
time out. On Monday, the secretary-designate of the New Mexico Public Education
Department, Hanna Skandera, ruled the board – which
has essentially rendered itself paralyzed by infighting – has been
suspended until new members are sworn in after a school board
election scheduled in February.
The board has been consistently stuck
in a 3-3 voting split that has prevented the district from conducting
business.
In an 8-page decision, Skandera ruled that after a hearing last
week looking into the feuding board members, ”a preponderance of evidence”
showed “the behavior of the members of the Board exceeded the powers and duties
granted” to local school boards.
Skandera also noted that during the public
comment period during the hearing that “the citizens of the community
overwhelmingly requested that the suspension” remain intact until the school
board election.
Members of the Questa School Board has been exchanging insults,
charges and counter-charges to such a degree that it’s reminiscent of the
antics of the city council in Sunland Park, a border
town in southern New Mexico that’s made national headlines for political infighting and
criminal charges.
Even an investigative hearing leading up to Monday’s
ruling by Skandera was spiked with disagreement.
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