BLOOMFIELD, N.M. – The Bloomfield School Board placed the district superintendent, Kevin Summers, on administrative leave at Monday’s school board meeting.

On Tuesday, students and teachers held a protest, questioning the decision made by the board.

“I just hope that we get answers, because the stake of all our students is at risk, and I just want the best for all the students in the whole district,” said Brooke Nelson, a teacher at Bloomfield High School.

They want to know why the school board decided to remove Summers from his position after only about a year on the job.

“They didn’t have any good accusations against him, I guess that warranted it,” said Nelson. “ They haven’t given us any answers, and that’s what we were kind of just in the commons for this morning, just to, we just want answers.”

Nelson says, in a short amount of time, Summers has done a lot for the district since he took on the role.

“Just most of our staff and everybody support our superintendent, and so we just want answers. We’re just very upset, and we feel like they just did it so abruptly and didn’t try to explain to the public anything. So we just want answers,” Nelson said. 

The Bloomfield School District confirms James Olivas is now the acting superintendent. As far as Tuesday’s protest, it didn’t last long, and the school day got underway. The district send out a message on social media:

“Please be assured that all students are safe at school today. Students are in class and participating in their regularly scheduled courses. We are business as usual.”

“We were just trying to stand up for what was right,” said Nelson. “They ran us out. All of the administration and school board showed up to run us out of the commons, and we weren’t doing anything but teaching our students.”              

Nelson told KOB 4 she and three other Bloomfield high faculty members, including the principal, are now on administrative leave because of the protest.

We asked acting superintendent, James Olivas, about this, and he would not comment on a personnel matter.

A Public Education Department spokesperson sent us the following statement:

“The New Mexico Public Education Department is aware of the situation regarding the Bloomfield Schools Superintendent being placed on leave. Our priority remains the students, educators, and families of Bloomfield Schools.

NMPED will continue to work closely with district leadership to ensure stability, maintain a strong learning environment, and support the district in any way necessary.”