Cedar Attanasio, Associated Press/Report for America

Attanasio is a freelance journalist based in New York City. His work as a reporter for the Associated Press/Report for America corps included immigration breaking news in El Paso, Texas, with multimedia coverage of refugees, economic migrants, Border Patrol agents, and the communities of West Texas, Southern New Mexico, and Ciudad Juarez, Chihuahua. Attanasio covered the Greater New York City crime beat and immigration for Hearst and reported on immigrant populations and the Republican and Democratic presidential primaries for IBT Media's Latin Times. Attanasio has appeared live on Sky News and CTVT, and WNPR radio, to discuss crime and immigration. Attanasio is fluent in English, Portuguese and Spanish. He holds a bachelor's degree in Spanish and geography from Middlebury College, Vermont.
@viaCedarLinkedInMuck Rack

Education funding on ballots in New Mexico cities’ elections

Local governments across New Mexico are seeking to renew property taxes to pay for school buildings, computers and air ventilation systems even as school districts are slated to receive $900 million in federal pandemic aid. Ventilation upgrades are on virtually all lists after state authorities mandated upgraded systems better able to pull tiny virus particles out of the air. They often require new machinery. Due to recent changes in state law, all money raised by local school funding ballot initiatives will go to funding to local schools.

Latest New Mexico K-12 curriculum controversy, only on Zoom

New Mexico officials have been inundated with critical letters on proposed K-12 social studies standards over the inclusion of racial identity and social justice themes in a majority Latino state where Indigenous tribes have persevered through war, famine, internment camps and boarding schools aimed at stamping out their cultures.

National Guard deploys for new emergency: Teacher shortages

Dozens of National Guard Army and Air Force troops in New Mexico have been stepping in for an emergency unlike others they have responded to before: the shortage of teachers and school staff members that has tested the ability of schools nationwide to continue operating during the coronavirus pandemic.

New approach to teaching race in school divides New Mexico

A proposal to overhaul New Mexico's social studies standards has stirred debate over how race should be taught in schools, with thousands of parents and teachers weighing in on changes that would dramatically increase instruction related to racial and social identity beginning in kindergarten.

New Mexico awards $157M in grants to child care providers

New Mexico's child care department is sending millions to child care centers in an effort to keep them in business, awarding grants to pay for everything from salaries to rent. The state Early Childhood Education and Care Department announced Wednesday $157 million in awards to 1,004 child care providers, from large centers to those who offer child care out of their homes.

New Mexico education officials miss transparency deadline

An initiative aimed at providing greater accountability for public spending on education missed its inaugural deadline. The New Mexico Public Education Department acknowledged Tuesday that it missed a year-end deadline to launch a website to provide details about how much schools spend and on what. When the site went live following inquiries from The Associated Press, it did not include financial information from most individual schools. Lawmakers and transparency advocates decried the delay, which ran afoul of state statute.

New Mexico education policy director resigns over remarks

An education policy expert has resigned her post at the New Mexico Legislature following a long-simmering controversy over remarks she made about Native American students in 2019. Legislative Education Study Committee director Rachel Gudgel announced her resignation last week, ending her tenure as a top nonpartisan adviser to lawmakers focused on education policy, where she earned around $130,000 per year.

New Mexico pledges support for tribal adoptions in state law

The new leader of New Mexico's child protection department pledged to restore the agency's credibility following a series of scandals under her predecessor. New Mexico Children Youth and Family Department Secretary Barbara J. Vigil also promised to enshrine federal law prioritizing tribal members in adoptions of Native American children into the practices of her department and state law.

New Mexico summer programs for youth include new internships

New Mexico education officials are budgeting up to $10 million in pandemic relief money to create internships. As many as 2,600 students across New Mexico could participate in the internship program, according to the Public Education Department, which announced the program on Tuesday. The department started developing the program last year, and is in the process of hiring up to 150 part-time adult coordinators.

New Mexico to offer equal pay to Native American teachers

New Mexico will begin to offer equal pay to dozens of Indigenous language teachers as part of a new law aimed at improving K-12 education for Native American students and preserving their languages and cultures. A bill signed into law Thursday counts educators who are certified in the Indigenous languages taught in public schools and spoken by New Mexico's 23 tribes and pueblos as entry-level teachers eligible for the state's minimum salaries.

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