Dr. Wendy Greyeyes, chairperson for the Navajo Nation Human Rights Commission (NNHRC), has been monitoring cases of racial discrimination against Navajo students for years.
“ This is important to me in terms of my own upbringing,” Dr. Greyeyes told Courier New Mexico. “It’s been known that schools have discriminated against Native American students long before these reports came out.”
She’s referring to three investigations, starting in 2022, that all concluded that disciplinary policies at Gallup-McKinley County Schools disproportionately punish Native and Latino students.
The New Mexico Department of Justice (NMDOJ) published a long-awaited report on July 2 that found that Native American students miss eight to 10 times more school than their white peers due to out-of-school suspensions; for Latino students, it’s three to four times more.
“Forced Out: How Exclusionary and Disparate Disciplinary Practices at Gallup-McKinley County Schools Rob Students of Instructional Time” concludes that GMCS’s disciplinary policies were vague, leading to “unbridled discretion in how—and against whom—they administer discipline.”
Jvanna Hanks II, GMCS superintendent, put out a press release that responded to the NMDOJ report and said it would be closely reviewing the recommendations — calling it “a moment of transition and renewed focus” while also arguing that the district has “already taken several steps to elevate community voices.”
“Policies like this, they’re not neutral,” Dr. Greyeyes reflected. “There are harsher consequences for the Native Americans than the white students. That shows there’s racial disparity happening in decision-making at GMCS.”
So what’s the solution?
As part of its own investigation, the NNHRC facilitated months of public input sessions from communities across the Navajo Nation where families gave emotional testimony about how GMCS students were excessively disciplined and feared retaliation for speaking out.
Based on four public hearings, the NNHRC decided that the state needed to do a better job of auditing GMCS disciplinary data and that new policies should be developed to provide alternative action plans for students.
The NMDOJ’s report also recommended working with developing alternative ways to discipline students like conflict resolution and restorative justice practices.
Restorative justice is a framework for reforming discipline that emphasizes rehabilitation over punishment. The philosophy encourages conflicts to be resolved through dialogue, mediation, and conversation.
It’s a model that Navajo school districts outside of GMCS have implemented.
“ We did reach out to schools to see samples of handbooks that integrate peacemaking strategies and we are set to meet with the Attorney General to show them what we’re doing in terms of defining what restorative justice means in school disciplinary action,” said Dr. Greyeyes.
Restorative justice, or “peacemaking,” is currently integrated into the Navajo Nation court system. Dr. Greyeyes told Courier New Mexico that there is currently a resolution to amend the Navajo Nation Tribal Code to include similar peacemaking policies for students.
The shift would be a departure from how most American public schools operate their disciplinary policies.
“That is a whole reshifting of ideology, of how to be less reactive to Native American students,” said Dr. Greyeyes. “It’s also being culturally and sensitive to the environmental, the social economic realities that many of these students come from.”
The big data problem
In addition to reforming the disciplinary policies at GMCS, the NMDOJ report recommended that the Public Education Department (PED) more regularly audit the disciplinary data submitted by GMCS. The NNHRC also raised this concern.
“ By law through the Indian Education Act, [GMCS is] supposed to report disciplinary action and that shows a comparative analysis of all the school districts who do submit their data,” Dr. Greyeyes pointed out. “And even there you’re seeing that, that disparity was just long ignored.”
The final recommendation in the NMDOJ report was a plea to the state legislature to pass a bill that would grant Attorney General Raúl Torrez more authority to further investigate civil rights violations.
Torrez claims that the findings of the report were limited by federal privacy laws that make student data harder to access. The NMDOJ’s report recommends legislation similar to 2023’s SB426, which would allow more information to be requested via a civil investigative demand, a power the Attorney General currently does not possess.
That bill was passed by the state legislature, but pocket vetoed by Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham.
But Dr. Greyeyes says that reintroducing similar legislation could help us further understand the true scope of discrimination.
“It’s hard to follow students because they can completely fall off the face of the earth. And if you’re trying to follow the progress of one student who left because of these exclusionary actions, you need student IDs, you need the names of the students. You do need to dig into the data.”
The next legislative session is scheduled to begin January 19, 2027. Gov. Lujan Grisham’s term will end at the end of this year and will be replaced by either Democratic nominee Deb Haaland or Republican Gregg Hull.
Until then, Dr. Greyeyes tells Courier New Mexico she looks forward to cooperating with GMCS administration and NMDOJ officials to develop meaningful solutions.
