OPINION: Our time must be spent in the classrooms, not the courtrooms

I’m an elected board member of Gallup-McKinley County Schools (GMCS), writing as a school board member and as a member of the Navajo Nation and New Mexico citizen. Being deeply rooted in our community, I know firsthand the challenges our children face: long distances to school, poor or no internet access, lack of computers, poverty and homelessness. The pandemic hit us hard.

During that time, our online learning provider, Stride, Inc., was entrusted to deliver quality education to our online students. Instead, Stride, led by CEO James Rhyu, imposed large class sizes, minimal student-teacher interaction, little access to academic and vocational counselors, no monitoring of student absences and enrolled disabled students unable to benefit from online classes, all with no accountability, and this was done behind our backs. Many students disengaged and were effectively “lost” and unaccounted for. How could this happen?

Why did Stride find it acceptable to rake in tens of millions of dollars at the expense of our students? They reported over half a billion dollars in profits each fiscal year from 2021 to 2025, with nearly a billion dollars in profits in the most recent year, not revenue, profits. While our district’s students suffered, Stride profited immensely and worked to keep the details hidden from us. You read that right: While Stride profited, our students suffered.

This is home. I know my family, friends, neighbors and our students well. What does Stride know about us? Nothing. Our story is not unique; other districts and students were exploited for profit.

What should have been a fresh start for our district and students is now clouded by Stride’s ongoing interference with our students’ futures. Why? Stride’s CEO leads a multibillion-dollar corporation loyal only to investors and the dollar. I serve McKinley County, New Mexico’s poorest county. We are not the same. And now Stride wants to keep taking from us and our children? Our trust was broken, plain and simple.

We are addressing our issues with Stride. GMCS has partnered with two new online education providers, Gradation Alliance and OpenEd, who we believe will significantly improve student education and access this school year.

Yet today, much of our time is spent addressing the past. Every moment spent on this robs time from our children. We understand concerns about what went wrong. We believe we can change the future. What we don’t understand are those who stand in our way.

GMCS must seize this opportunity to do right by our children while they remain in our care. Time is not infinite. We must act now, while we still can.

I hope the grievous injustices Native American students have faced in the past have not been forgotten. But now we face a corporate giant that enrolled students for money, doing little to educate them, maximizing profits. The state’s most important duty is to provide public education. When the school district discovered this betrayal by a contractor, it acted to end the manipulation and deceit.

Instead of walking away, Stride has attacked individuals, threatened their livelihoods and integrity, and assaulted the school district by every means possible, including lawsuits funded by the very money it was paid to educate students.

To every student: We have not forgotten you. We will fight for justice for our students, our community and our school district.

Kevin Mitchell is a school board member with Gallup/McKinley County Schools.