The American Civil Liberties Union of New Mexico sued the department in March, saying the rule squelched free speech and that the state should stop using it.
But with Monday’s action, that lawsuit is unnecessary. Both sides asked the court to stay the matter until the Public Education Department removes the objectionable section.
“We are extremely pleased that the Public Education Department has chosen to do the right thing and strike this unconstitutional gag rule from the books,” ACLU staff attorney María Mártinez Sánchez said in a statement. “Many New Mexico educators have serious and legitimate concerns about over-reliance on standardized testing and the harm it can cause to individual students and the educational process as a whole. We should be listening to the teachers’ expertise on these issues, not trying to stifle their free speech by threatening their jobs.”
Sánchez said in March that many teachers are afraid to talk openly with the media or with parents about the effects of testing, even in parent-teacher conferences.
Robert McEntyre, a spokesman for the Public Education Department, said his agency never enforced the rule or punished any teacher who criticized state testing policies.
“We reviewed it, just as we said we would, and we’ve decided to roll it back,” he said.
But he added: “Any teacher using class time to disparage a test is not only a waste of time, but also detrimental to our students.”
One union leader, Charles Bowyer, executive director of the National Education Association of New Mexico, said the department’s policy of trying to silence teachers was destructive.
“Our view is, even though that gag rule hadn’t been imposed, it was a weapon that had a chilling effect on free speech, so we are glad to see an effort to remove it,” Bowyer said.
Teachers agreed. Anna Soeiro, a special-education teacher at Kearny Elementary School in Santa Fe and a plaintiff in the lawsuit, said it was unclear whether she could have an “open and honest conversation with parents about each student’s IEP [Individual Education Plan] and talk about what is good for their children, including the impact of testing.”
Another plaintiff, Mary Mackie, a technology teacher at Montezuma Elementary School in Albuquerque, said the gag order is vague but intimidating.
“Teachers want the right to be able to speak freely, whether it is to parents or to newspaper reporters, so I should be able to say, ‘I think this test is horrible,’ or ‘I think this test is good for some students and not right for others,’ ” she said.
McEntyre said it typically takes about 90 days to change a policy, meaning it would likely be done by the time the next school year begins in August.
The Public Education Department initiated the rule in 2009, when Democratic Gov. Bill Richardson was in office.
Bowyer said the gag-order language conflicted with the state’s Ethical Code of Conduct for teachers that reads: “Encourage the student to study and express varying points of view and respect his or her right to form his or her own judgment.”
“If a teacher can’t do that, it’s pretty hard for the student to do it,” Bowyer said.
©2016 The Santa Fe New Mexican (Santa Fe, N.M.). Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
