EEOC Sues Gallup-McKinley Schools for Hiring Records in Bias Probe

The federal job-rights agency is pressing Gallup-McKinley County Schools to turn over five years of hiring and personnel records as it investigates whether Native American applicants and employees were shut out of school jobs that anchor families across McKinley County.

The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission says the case began with an August 2024 commissioner’s charge filed by then-Commissioner, now Acting Chair Andrea Lucas. The agency says the charge alleges a pattern or practice of intentional discrimination against Native American job applicants and current employees, including failures to interview, hire, promote or properly classify people for classroom teacher, administrator and principal positions.

Those are the kinds of jobs that can shape who gets a steady paycheck in Gallup and across the county, where Gallup-McKinley County Schools says it employs 1,819 people, including 778 teachers. The district serves 9,778 students in 31 schools and two programs across about 4,857 square miles of McKinley County, which includes the Navajo Nation and the Zuni Pueblo.

The EEOC says it asked for the records in July 2025, including employee names, ethnicities, job titles, application and hiring dates, and contact information. The district refused, and its lawyer argued the request was a fishing expedition that would invade employee privacy. After that refusal, the EEOC issued an administrative subpoena. When the district still did not produce the documents, the agency filed in federal court on April 27 to enforce it.

The dispute reaches well beyond a paper fight over records. District data show 3,356 students are English learners and 132 are homeless. A New Mexico Public Education Department tribal education status report listed 8,858 American Indian and Alaska Native students in GMCS in 2019-2020, about 79.96% of enrollment. That makes any question about who gets hired, promoted or placed in leadership roles especially sensitive in a system that serves a largely Native student body.

The schools are now led by Interim Superintendent Jvanna Hanks, whom the board appointed effective March 2, 2026. The hiring probe lands as GMCS also faces broader scrutiny over treatment of Native students and staff, adding another layer of pressure on a district that sits at the center of life in Gallup and throughout McKinley County.