GALLUP, N.M. – Gallup-McKinley County Schools are getting some unwanted attention. Superintendent Mike Hyatt is being accused of violating state ethics laws.

The complaint was filed on behalf of Stride K-12 Virtual Schools, which has had a contract with the Gallup-McKinley Schools for the last five years to provide an online version of the district’s curriculum.

Stride K-12 alleges Superintendent Hyatt applied for a job at Stride in December 2024. He went through a full interview process from January to February 2024 with the company and then later was informed he did not get the position.

On April 1 Hyatt reportedly sent Stride a letter informing them he would be terminating the districts contract with the company.

In the letter, he alleged the program has been failing regarding student success and academic performance.

According to New Mexico law, it is illegal for a local public body employee to participate in the process to become or to be employed by a business in contract with that employee’s current employer.

So, the Gallup-McKinley School Board held a special meeting to vote on approving the termination of that contract, citing data they collected themselves to support the termination.

School Board President, Chris Mortensen, commented on the fact that it took the district five years to bring up these issues.

“We were happy right up until the moment that we weren’t,” he says.

According to Mortensen and the rest of the board members, Stride has not provided any data the district has requested.

An attorney representing Stride, Laura Sanchez, says otherwise.

“They had a lot of data that they shared, and they didn’t at all bring up any of the letters and details that we had provided to them in writing to their attorney refuting the allegations that they made. So, we have provided quite a lot of information and data,” Sanchez said.

Stride’s representative requested to have time to speak at Saturday’s meeting to give their side of the story, but that request was denied.

Despite suspicion that the move to terminate the contract is due to a personal vendetta held by Superintendent Hyatt, the school board denies he has had any involvement with Stride in this case, but Stride’s records beg to differ.

“He’s actually the person who signed the contract with Stride to begin with for this program. He’s the one who sent the letter initially informing Stride of these issues on April 1st. He sent the letter himself with his signature on April 22nd adding additional allegations,” says Sanchez.

Amid the back-and-forth battle between the school district and Stride, the people who are most affected are the families who are fighting for a seat at the table as the school board also prohibited public comment during the meeting as well.

“There was no public comment. We weren’t allowed to speak. They just basically said what they wanted to say. They don’t want us to have a voice, but we appreciate the fact that this community will stand together, and we will fight,” said Jennifer Klenck, a concerned parent.

The moves of both the district and Stride K-12 are unknown, but we will update this story as that information becomes available.