HOUSE JOINT MEMORIAL 71

49th legislature - STATE OF NEW MEXICO - first session, 2009

INTRODUCED BY

Patricia A. Lundstrom

A JOINT MEMORIAL

REQUESTING THE CREATION OF A NEW SCHOOL DISTRICT THAT INCLUDES RAMAH, NEW MEXICO.

     WHEREAS, Ramah lies in the outermost southeast corner of McKinley county, and the official attendance area of Ramah schools is a narrow strip of land approximately four miles in width situated between the Pueblo of Zuni on the west, Cibola county on the east and south and a combination of forest and private property to the north that is unpopulated; and

     WHEREAS, the Cibola-McKinley county line established as the official boundary of the Gallup-McKinley county school district attendance area is less than two miles east of Ramah; and

     WHEREAS, seventy percent of the students who attend Ramah schools live outside of the Gallup-McKinley county school district attendance area, the majority coming from Cibola county and who travel a distance from two to twenty miles; and

     WHEREAS, the Pine Hill school is located twenty miles southeast of Ramah and is located within the attendance area of the Grants-Cibola county school district, whose nearest school is situated approximately sixty miles to the northeast; and

     WHEREAS, the Pine Hill school is a federally funded school rather than a state public school; and

     WHEREAS, many of the parents who reside within the Grants-Cibola county school district have chosen to send their children to schools in Ramah; and

     WHEREAS, students residing outside the Gallup-McKinley county school district boundaries desiring to enroll in Ramah schools must present a signed transfer request prior to their acceptance stating that additional staff or services are not required by their attendance or that their attendance is required due to class populations exceeding class size limits established by state law; and

     WHEREAS, the current population of the Ramah schools is approximately four hundred students and, when including all of the Cibola county students, that number would increase beyond five hundred students; and

     WHEREAS, parents in the Ramah area experience a strong disconnect with the Gallup-McKinley county school district and feel their voices are never heard by the local school board; and

     WHEREAS, a reasonable solution to this problem would be the formation of a new independent school district that would combine all Cibola county students west of the Ice Caves and in the Pine Hill area with the students who reside in the town of Ramah, which would increase community ownership and involvement within a local school district;

     NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF NEW MEXICO that the public education department be requested to study the need for and feasibility of establishing a new school district encompassing the Ramah area; and

     BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that copies of this memorial be transmitted to the secretary of public education, the Gallup-McKinley county school board, the superintendent of the Gallup-McKinley county school district, the Grants-Cibola county school board, the superintendent of the Grants-Cibola county school district and the Ramah Navajo school board, incorporated.

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