As parents and community members in the Española Valley, whose children attended/were enrolled in the La Tierra Montessori School of Arts and Sciences (LTMAS), we are deeply saddened by the closure of a vital school in our community. The school leadership acted in bad faith, leading families to believe that the school would be open while knowing that there was little chance of success with the appeal. We are also very concerned that the LTMAS leadership wasted thousands of taxpayer dollars during the appeal – while continuing to harass and slander former employees and community members, rather than doing what was needed to support families in the community.
We firmly believe the PEC correctly ruled to revoke based on the months of second chances and failures to remedy the many violations and problems by which the PEC became familiar with our school. Furthermore, the continuing actions of the Governing Council and school leaders in how LTMAS is being run compel us to apprise that no last-minute demonstration by the Governing Council might sway the Secretary otherwise and thus the appeal has failed.
We lay the demise of LTMAS at the feet of the Governing Council, its Chair Isaac Casados, and the principal Patricia Herrera. Their failure to accept the support of the parents, community, and the PEC guidance is a case study in school mismanagement and a failure to put students at the center of their decision making. Not only did the Governing Council and school leadership repeatedly refuse sincere offers of help from parents and community members along with requests to discuss the issues that put the school on the ladder of intervention, they also attacked anyone that questioned their decisions. This included publicly questioning the character of state PEC members and threatening the state agencies with lawsuits.
Over and over, the members of the Council continued to ignore the audience they were supposed to serve, and when faced with decisions they didn’t like, the GC ignored their own bylaws. They thwarted legal and valid actions by parents and community members to save the school from its own governance by throwing out applications for vacant Council seats and refusing to honor a parent petition to recall the President of the Council signed by the majority of parents and caregivers.
What we as parents and community members witnessed at these GC meetings was a pattern of behavior to blame everyone but themselves. They cited in their letter to appeal that they now have inadequate staffing to take care of the issues, but failed to mention that many staff members at LTMAS left the school in the fall of 2022 due to the toxic and unsupportive environment fostered by the revolving door of administrators and lack of communication to staff about why teachers were being put suddenly on leave. In the months between November and February, the students lost a Spanish teacher, a Librarian, two Educational Assistants, and a teacher was mysteriously placed on leave by the Head Learner with no explanation to parents. Many staff members and former staff members at LTMAS are seeking legal action against the Council due to myriad personnel issues supported or initiated by the members of the Council.
The revocation of the LTMAS charter is tragic and was avoidable. Now we are left with the ashes of what was once an amazing school. Please join us in our effort to put kids and community in the center and join our effort to discuss how to serve the students of our Valley the best way possible. A handful of parents and community members are working to create a new community based public charter school. We aim to utilize many of the resources and hard work that the community invested in LTMAS these past 10 years in order to s