By Molly Ann Howell
Managing Editor
Over the past couple of months, Gallup-McKinley County Schools and the McKinley County Federation of United School Employees have engaged in heated contract negotiations. MCFUSE is actively challenging the district over alleged unfair labor practices, a lack of transparency, and contract violations.
Recently, the two entities hired an arbitrator to help resolve these issues outside of court.
An arbitrator files an arbitration agreement—a legally binding contract where parties agree to resolve disputes through a private, neutral third party rather than a public court trial. These agreements, often found as clauses in employment or consumer contracts, make the arbitrator’s decision final and enforceable.
The arbitrator, Edward B. Valverde, Esq., met with GMCS and MCFUSE on Feb. 9 to hear from both parties.
The parties have maintained a collective bargaining relationship since 2008, when the State of New Mexico Public Employee Labor Relations Board certified the union as the representative for licensed professional and classified employees. Since then, they have signed successive collective bargaining agreements. The most recent agreement covered July 1, 2022, to June 30, 2025, remaining in effect until the parties agree upon a new CBA.
During negotiations for a successor CBA, the parties agreed on a 4% pay increase for the current school year to meet a New Mexico State Legislature mandate. These pay increases took effect at the start of the school year.
The union proposed about 40 changes at the bargaining table. GMCS reported satisfaction with the status quo, seeking only minor updates. Eventually, the Union withdrew all but 11 items, leaving the parties at an impasse.
That’s where Valverde stepped in.
Under New Mexico law, an “interest arbitrator” reviews proposals from both sides and selects the more “reasonable” option. Valverde couldn’t pick and choose between individual items; he had to accept all 11 decisions from one side or the other.
In his March 26 decision, Valverde sided with MCFUSE. He focused on three key areas to improve the union’s representation of its members. None of these items created a financial burden or required major managerial adjustments for GMCS.
The first issue Valverdez focused on was related to salaries.
MCFUSE wanted significant raises beyond the 4% raise the N.M. legislation provided, arguing that the district had an enormous “cash balance” and that teacher pay needed to be more competitive to address a severe vacancy crisis. The district argued its budget was constrained by state funding formulas and that its reserves were earmarked for capital projects (such as housing for teachers).
Valverdez found that the district’s massive cash reserves (nearly $100 million) and the high turnover rate justified the union’s proposal for higher salary increases.
Secondly, MCFUSE proposed language to limit the number of mandatory meetings and ensure teachers had dedicated prep time. The district sought more flexibility in scheduling.
Valverdez noted that burnout was a primary driver of the teacher shortage in Gallup and that the union’s proposal provided necessary protections for educator work-life balance.
The third and final issue Valverdez commented on involved how many days teachers are required to work and how professional development is handled. He favored the MCFUSE’s calendar and professional development proposals, emphasizing that the district’s current practices were contributing to low morale.
In an interview with the Sun, MCFUSE’s president Graham McNeill said he believed the March 26 decision was final, and that there would be only limited conversation remaining to determine the specifics now that the two parties had come to an agreement.
“We thought the arbitration was the decision. It’s legally binding,” he said.
So it came to be a bit of a surprise for MCFUSE members when a discussion item to possibly overturn and/or mitigate the arbitration decision was placed on the school board’s April 2 meeting agenda.
Before the board discussed the matter, seven members of MCFUSE, including McNeill himself, spoke up about the issue during the public comment portion of the meeting.
Each speaker spoke about the hours teachers put in outside of work hours to complete lesson plans and other responsibilities required by the district.
Red Rock Elementary sixth grade teacher Kelli Hubbard laid out the reality of what is expected from elementary school teachers when it comes to lesson plans.
She explained that elementary teachers teach four subjects every day: math, reading, writing, and science. GMCS requires teachers to turn in a minimum of four Powerpoint slides per subject per day, for a total of 16 slides daily, or 80 slides each week. The district also has set requirements for what information needs to be on those slides.
Hubbard said that if a teacher spends a minimum of three minutes on each slide, they spend 240 minutes on the Powerpoints each week.
Elementary school teachers have three 45-minute prep periods and two 30-minute prep periods each week, for a total of 195 minutes worth of prep time. So, Hubbard argued, they’re trying to fit 240 minutes of work into 195 minutes.
“This is on top of actually preparing lessons, contacting parents, attending grade level meetings, making copies, and of course, using the bathroom, because elementary teachers only have their prep time and lunch to use the restroom,” Hubbard said.
Hubbard said she’s brought these numbers to district officials before, and she was told “teachers are just not using their time efficiently.”
McNeill told the board that after they conducted a survey, MCFUSE found that teachers work an average of 11 hours over contract hours each week to keep up with the extensive workload. He argued that the school district will also benefit if they get away from the tedious lesson plan requirements that are currently in place.
“I believe the district will benefit from having to shift away from evaluating teachers based on how good their paperwork looks to evaluating them based on how good their teaching is,” he said.
Former MCFUSE President Sawyer Masonjones, who stepped down from his position in February to accept a job at Six Directions Indigenous School, summed up what the union was looking for, during his comments.
“We ask [the board] to accept the arbitrator’s decision so we can finally put this matter to rest and that you instruct the district that moving forward we should negotiate in actual good faith and attempt to find middle ground so we can avoid this lengthy and expensive process in the future,” he said.
The discussion item was one of the last items on the school board’s agenda, but when they finally got to it Vice President Priscilla Benally proposed a solution.
She suggested that the board direct Superintendent Jvanna Hanks to sit down and meet with the union to resolve all the issues in implementing the arbitrator’s decision in order to comply with the applicable law. However, if the parties are still unable to reach an agreement that resolves the outstanding issues, Benally suggested giving Hanks the authority to seek judicial remedies.
Benally and others noted that the district has a new board and new leadership. She asked MCFUSE and the community to give them a chance to correct the issues.
“Give us a chance and offer compromises,” she said. “We need your compromise to continue to have that relationship to benefit the children in our district. We cannot continue to stronghold each other.”
She also said she believes they don’t need an outsider to help them come to an agreement.
“The one thing I think we all don’t want is for somebody out of our district that doesn’t know our children, that doesn’t know our area, to make these decisions for us. I think we are able to come together and make some compromises together,” she said.
School board member Barbra Colaianni-Wagner spoke from the perspective of a parent. She voiced concern over the wording of the union’s request, saying that much of it seemed too vague. She said that the requests concerning lesson plans made it almost seem as if MCFUSE was requesting that there be no lesson plans.
“What I would like to see is for everyone to come to the table and there be a middle ground so we can do the best for our students [and] do the best for our teachers because they are so valuable,” she said.
School board member Dr. Valory Wangler said she was fully in support of the idea of Hanks sitting down with MCFUSE. However, she said she couldn’t support the idea of possibly seeking judicial remedies. She said because of that, she would be voting no on Benally’s proposed solution.
“I don’t think that this is in the best interest of the district at this time,” she said. “I really feel like we’ve been mired in litigation and the like for a number of years, and I think it’s critically important that we move past that to a place where we can work collaboratively where we can refocus on our strategic plan.”
When it came time to vote on Benally’s proposed motion, Benally, Colaianni-Wagner, and Board President Kevin Mitchell voted to approve it. Wangler voted no. Board Secretary Georgianna Desiderio wasn’t in attendance.
At press time, MCFUSE had yet to schedule a meeting with Hanks. McNeill said he had previously met with the district’s assistant superintendents.
Hanks was unavailable for an interview with the Sun.
This is a developing story, and more information will be published as it becomes available.
